Worship - July 22, 2007

Long Green Valley Church of the Brethren
Long Green & Kanes Rds., near Glen Arm, Md.
July 22, 2007
Worship 10:00 am

"Now as they went on their way, he entered a certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what he was saying."
(Luke 10:38-39)

Morning Praise (9:45 am)
Announcements
Prelude "For the Beauty of the Earth" Kocher

Hymn (vs. 1 only) "Immortal, invisible, God only wise" 70

Call to Worship Colossians 1:15-20 (Laughing Bird Version)

*Praise Song "Shine, Jesus, Shine"

*Opening Prayer (a-7)

Scripture Colossians 1:19-28 (Laughing Bird Version)

For Children "Grandmom’s cole slaw"
(Our younger children, ages 3-7, leave for Sunday School)

Scripture Genesis 18:1-15

Sharing a joy, a concern, a word of testimony or praise
(Please sign the attendance pad and pass it on)

Hymn "Let there be light, Lord God" 371

Pastoral Prayer

Hymn Reading "Lord, you sometimes speak" 594
(hymn is read in unison, not sung)

Scripture Luke 10:38-42

Message "At home with Martha and Mary"

Litany "Choose Jesus" back of bulletin

Unison Prayer back of bulletin

Responding with our Tithes and Offerings

*Hymn "Take my life" 389
(as you sing, bring your offering forward and place it in the basket)

*Benediction

*Postlude "Pleading Savior" American Folk Tune

#'s are from Hymnal: A Worship Book

Worship leaders - see basic guidelines

Call to Worship
Colossians 1:15-20 (Laughing Bird Version)

Jesus Christ is the spitting image
........of the God we cannot see.
Christ is the genuine original;
........the blueprint for all creation.

Everything else that exists had its origin in Christ:
........physical things and spiritual things;
................visible things and invisible things;
........things that govern the universe;
................things that regulate our lives;
........forces, powers and energies.
Absolutely everything that exists
........was founded in Christ
................and has its purpose in Christ.

Christ preceded everything else,
........and Christ is the glue that holds everything else together.

Christ is to the church
........as the head is to the body.
Life itself began with Christ
........and new life — born from the dead — began with Christ too.
Christ was, is, and will be Number One in everything.

God was fully present in Christ, and gladly so;
........reconciling everything in creation with its creator;
bearing the cost personally in the blood shed on the cross,
........to restore the peace between heaven and earth.

For Children
"Grandmom’s cole slaw"

Our resident children's storyteller, Ed, writes of this week's offering:

"Grandmom's cole slaw is a family favorite that was handed down (not on paper, but by word of mouth and by watching) on my mother's side of the family. The only people left who make it are my sister Ann (on the west coast) and myself. Making it can be labor intensive - which I will describe in detail. I always thought, as a child watching my Grandmother make it, that it would not be a hard to do. My Grandmother was not a " touchy feely" type person and she expressed her love for us children through the food she prepared for us. [If she fits the mold of a "Martha" (as in today's gospel story), maybe Martha expressed herself through her prep and fuss over the meal for Jesus.] When my Mom started making it I used to bug her to make it a lot. One day she said that if I grated the cabbage she would make it. Although, it took time to hand-grate the cabbage, it was no big deal.

"The other weekend I decided to make it, and while I gated and squeezed the excessive water out of the cabbage, the arthritis I have started cramping my hands. By the time I was done, I said a prayer - thanking my Grandmom and Mom (knowing they suffered with arthritis) for undertaking the making of this dish. I thought, "if these were Bible time, I would try and figure some way of making a burnt offering of this dish to God. In my prayer I thanked the Lord for giving me a Mom and Grandmom who made this slaw that my family enjoys so much. Like Grandmom's cole slaw, we are made with all the love that God has to give. Like the slaw we have no idea how much work it took God to create us."

Scripture
Colossians 1:19-28 (Laughing Bird Version)

........You yourselves are a good example of what this is all about. You used to be at odds with God. Your attitude to God was hostile and your conduct was corrupt. But Christ took action to reconcile you to God, even putting his own body on the line to see the job through. It cost him his life, but Christ succeeded in getting you back on side with God. Now you can stand before God with your heads held high as though you had never set a foot wrong in your lives and your every thought, word and deed had been above reproach. This is, of course, assuming that you stay firmly on track and rock-solid in the faith now, and that you don’t give up hope and turn your backs on all that you have been promised. These promises were contained in the message you heard; a message which has been announced to every creature in the universe; a message which I am dedicated to serving.

........I wear my present suffering gladly, as a badge of honour, because I know that it is the price of getting the message out to you. For the sake of Christ’s body — the church — I’m happy to suffer in my own body anything that will contribute to the completion of the business left unfinished in Christ’s copping of abuse. For your benefit, God commissioned me to serve the church by making God’s message fully known for the first time. Throughout history, the world has been in the dark about this mystery, but now it has been made as clear as day to God’s people. God decided to let them in on the whole fabulous picture — the wondrous mystery of the means by which God’s love embraces everyone, regardless of race or religion. And what is revealed is simply that Christ is in you. And because Christ is in you, you can confidently expect to share in the glory of Christ’s future. It is Christ, and Christ alone, that we are on about all the time. We preach Christ to everyone, warning them and teaching them with all the wisdom we can muster, so as to help them grow to the fullness of their potential as people of maturity and integrity — the spitting image of Christ!

Pastoral Prayer

written closer to the time (if not at the moment)

Litany
Choose Jesus

One: Choices! Choices! Choices!

All: Every day we are confronted with a multitude of choices.
One: Paper or plastic? Cream or sugar? Life or death?

All: Some choices are simple and we make them without even
         thinking twice.
One: But others are not so simple. Some choices call us to decide
         what is of the utmost importance in our lives. Some call us to
         choose life or death.

All: Martha loved Jesus, she worked hard to welcome him to
her home. But she was missing something important.
One: Mary loved Jesus too and she chose what was essential.

All: What is essential for us?
One: To sit at Jesus' feet and devote ourselves to his teachings.

All: Let us choose what is essential. Let us ignore all of the
choices that take our attention away from Jesus Christ.
We choose Jesus!

by Christy J. Waltersdorff, pastor
York Center Church of the Brethren, Lombard, Illinois
Church of the Brethren Living Word Bulletin
Anchor/Wallace, Sleepy Eye MN 56085, "The Living Word Series"

Unison Prayer

Gracious God, we ask your strength to guide us as we travel through each day. We seek your wisdom as we sort through all of the choices that constantly bombard us. We look to you for faith so that we may choose what is essential-to follow Jesus Christ.

by Christy J. Waltersdorff, pastor
York Center Church of the Brethren, Lombard, Illinois
Church of the Brethren Living Word Bulletin
Anchor/Wallace, Sleepy Eye MN 56085, "The Living Word Series"

Responding with our Tithes and Offerings

Just now, you are invited to respond to the message with your offering. The ushers will not be passing the plates. Instead, bring your monetary offering for this day forward as we sing and place it in the basket up front. Our offerings, however, are more than financial, as the hymn indicates. Therefore, seek to mean what you say when you sing to God, "take my life and let it be consecrated, Lord, to thee," whether you a "Martha" type of person, or more of a "Mary," or - for that matter - like Peter or any of the other disciples. Be "ever, only, all" for God.

Let’s stand and sing #389.

Benediction

When we offer our life to God -
         our moments and our days;
When we lay before the Lord all that we are
         our hands, our feet, our voice,
                  our will, our intellect, our heart, our love;
When we give to the One who has first given to us
         our treasure, whether it be made
                  of silver or gold ... or paper,
                           or flesh and blood;
When we say "take my life,"
         we are not giving up or giving in.
                  Quite the opposite, in fact.

As you return to the rest of your life,
         go with a sense of purpose and direction,
                  for together we have sat at Jesus’ feet.
         Trust that the Lord will speak through
                  all the many distractions of this week,
                           and help you to choose what is best,
                                    each and every day.

Go with God’s peace!
It cannot be taken from you!