The Parish Gathering | Online House Church (November 15, 2020)
Welcome!
Throughout the Fall, we’re gathering in an alternating Sunday rhythm of all-Church gatherings and then House Church gatherings. Today is a House Church Sunday and the Online House Church is open for all to join right here. Click the button below to join at 10:30am:
Family Ministry
Join the 10:30am Online House Church
Note: These gatherings take place via Zoom. If you don’t already have one, please create a Zoom account and set up the software in advance of the gathering.
Join by Phone
Dial-in available for the 10:30am Online House Church only.
Please participate in the following liturgy, reading aloud all the parts in bold italics.
Welcome & Invitation
The Big Idea: Moving with Peace towards Others
Scripture Readings: Colossians 3:1-3, 7-10, 12-15
“So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God…
These are the ways you also once followed, when you were living that life. But now you must get rid of all such things — anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive language from your mouth. Do not be false with one another, seeing that you have stripped off the old self with its practices and have clothed yourselves with the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of its creator…
As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body.”
The Word of the Lord
Thanks be to God
Song: His Mercy is More
What love could remember no wrongs we have done
Omniscient, all knowing, He counts not their sum
Thrown into a sea without bottom or shore
Our sins they are many, His mercy is more
Praise the Lord, His mercy is more
Stronger than darkness, new every morn
Our sins they are many, His mercy is more
What patience would wait as we constantly roam
What Father, so tender, is calling us home
He welcomes the weakest, the vilest, the poor
Our sins they are many, His mercy is more
What riches of kindness He lavished on us
His blood was the payment, His life was the cost
We stood ‘neath a debt we could never afford
Our sins they are many, His mercy is more
Fears, Hopes, and Prayers of the People
Imaginative Exercise: Loving the Lepers
Practices to Move with Peace towards Others
- How might you ask God to help you move toward others with peace, mercy, humility, and justice?
- Which of these three practices* do you find bearing fruit in your relationships?
- Be unusually interested in others – “out-listening”
- Stay in the room with difference
- Stop comparing your best to their worst
* Learn more at 3practices.com
Communion
Jesus said, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.”
Most merciful God,
We confess that we have sinned against you
In thought, word, and deed,
By what we have done,
And by what we have left undone.
We have not loved you with our whole hearts;
We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves.
We are truly sorry and we humbly repent.
For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ,
Have mercy on us and forgive us;
That we may delight in your will,
And walk in your ways,
To the glory of your name. Amen.
And now we proclaim the mystery of our faith:
Christ has died.
Christ has risen.
Christ will come again.
Prayers for those with Communion elements
Take the bread in your hand and say these words as you consume the bread:
The Body of Christ, the bread of heaven.
Take the wine into your hands and say these words as you consume the wine:
The Blood of Christ, the cup of salvation.
For those without Communion elements, The Sacrament of Desire.
Now, in union, O Lord with the faithful at every altar of Your Church,
I present to You my soul and body
with the earnest prayer that I will remain united to you.
And since I cannot now receive You sacramentally,
I pray that you would come to me spiritually.
I unite myself to you, and embrace you with my soul’s affection.
Let nothing separate me from you,
that I may live and die in Your love.
Amen.
Song: Mystery
Sweet Jesus Christ my sanity
Sweet Jesus Christ my clarity
Bread of heaven, broken for me
Cup of salvation held up to drink
Jesus the Mystery
Christ has died and
Christ is risen,
And Christ will come again
Celebrate his death and rising
Lift your eyes, proclaim his coming
Celebrate his death and rising
Lift your eyes, lift your eyes
Community Life
- Parish Prayer + Community Forum
A new online space for the Parish community to share life together, lift up prayer needs, and build community.
Request to join online using your facebook account at thepari.sh/prayer - Advent Begins November 29th
We’ll begin our Advent gathering format on Sunday, November 29th. Details to come.
