Bulletin – Sunday, August 31, 2025 – Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost
Sunday, August 31, 2025
Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost
We Gather as People of Faith
Welcome
Minute Person
Announcements
Lighting the Christ Candle
We light the Christ Candle reminding us God is fully with us, fully here and fully now Christ is a light in our hearts that leads us on a good path that we might live in right relations with all God’s people.
Call to Worship
God is here within and among us, calling us to be present and awake. God renews our spirits, that we might use all our gifts collectively and individually in service to one another. She encourages us through her word; he stirs our hearts through the lifting of our voices in song. In this way we will know what God desires. Let us attune ourselves now to God’s wisdom and guidance among us.
Hymn – “Let Us Build a House” (MV #1)
Let us build a house where love can dwell and all can safely live,
A place where saints and children tell how hearts learn to forgive.
Built of hopes and dreams and visions, rock of faith and vault of grace;
Here the love of Christ shall end divisions:
All are welcome, all are welcome, all are welcome in this place.
Let us build a house where prophets speak, and words are strong and true,
Where all God’s children date to seek to dream God’s reign anew.
Here the cross shall stand as witness and as symbol of God’s grace;
Here as one we claim the faith of Jesus:
All are welcome, all are welcome, all are welcome in this place.
Let us build a house where love is found in water, wine and wheat;
A banquet hall on holy ground, where peace and justice meet.
Here the love of God, through Jesus, is revealed in time and space;
As we share in Christ the feast that frees us;
All are welcome, all are welcome, all are welcome in this place.
Let us build a house where all are named, their songs and visions heard
And loved and treasured, taught and claimed as words within the Word.
Built of tears and cries and laughter, prayers of faith and songs of grace;
Let this house proclaim from floor to rafter;
All are welcome, all are welcome, all are welcome in this place.
Prayer of Approach and Confession
By your word, in our singing and in our silence, you gather us into your mystery, O God, You come among us in humility, drawing us deeper into your love and your grace. We confess we too often seek approval and affirmation from false idols, instead of using all of our God given gifts to the betterment of your whole society. We have been trained to be attentive to our own achievements with little regard for the needs of others around us. We confess that we are caught in the confusion and anxiety of our times. O God, we ignore the opportunities to submit to your transforming grace.
Words of Assurance
Oh God of love, we trust you. We know that in this gathering and in our daily lives you renew redirect, and replenish us with your spirit. We cherish your spirit of wisdom unfolding in our relationships especially with those most vulnerable. We are grateful for your guidance that we may humbly release your spirit into the world groaning out for true justice and peace, dignity, and food for all.
Sung Response – “Trust These Words”
Trust these words: you are forgiven!
Through Christ’s mercy, broken hearts can be restored;
Trust these words: you are forgiven!
Live in peace, beloved, know you are adored;
Trust these words, trust these words, trust these words.
Trust these words: we are forgiven!
Through God’s mercy broken lives can be restored;
Trust thee words: we are forgiven!
Live in grace and peace, oh, love and serve the Lord;
Trust these words, trust these words, trust these words.
Trust these words.
A Story for All – Blessing of the School Supplies
We Hear God’s Word
Hymn: “Build a Longer Table”
Build a longer table, not a higher wall,
Feeding those who hunger, making room for all.
Feasting together, stranger turns to friend,
Christ breaks walls to pieces, false divisions end.
Build a safer refuge, not a larger jail;
Where the weak find shelter, mercy will not fail.
For any place where justice is denied,
Christ will breach the jail wall, freeing all inside.
Build a broader doorway, not a longer fence.
Love protects all people sparing no expense.
When we embrace compassion more than fear,
Christ tears down our fences: all are welcome here.
When we lived as exiles, refuges abroad,
Christ became our doorway to the reign of God.
So must our tables welcome those who roam.
None can be excluded; all must find a home.
Scripture Reading: Psalm 112
One: 1 Blessed are those who fear the Lord, who find great delight in his commands.
All: 2 Their children will be mighty in the land; the generation of the upright will be blessed.
One: 3 Wealth and riches are in their houses, and their righteousness endures forever.
All: 4 Even in darkness light dawns for the upright, for those who are gracious and compassionate and righteous.
One: 5 Good will come to those who are generous
All: 6 Surely the righteous will never be shaken; they will be remembered forever.
One: 7 They will have no fear of bad news; their hearts are steadfast, trusting in the Lord.
All: 8 Their hearts are secure, they will have no fear; in the end they will look in triumph on their foes.
One: 9 They have freely scattered their gifts to the poor, their righteousness endures forever; their horn will be lifted high in honor.
All: 10 The wicked will see and be vexed, they will gnash their teeth and waste away; the longings of the wicked will come to nothing.
Gospel Reading: Luke 14:1, 7-14
1 One Sabbath, when Jesus went to eat in the house of a prominent Pharisee, he was being carefully watched.
7 When he noticed how the guests picked the places of honor at the table, he told them this parable: 8 “When someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, for a person more distinguished than you may have been invited. 9 If so, the host who invited both of you will come and say to you, ‘Give this person your seat.’ Then, humiliated, you will have to take the least important place. 10 But when you are invited, take the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he will say to you, ‘Friend, move up to a better place.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all the other guests. 11 For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
12 Then Jesus said to his host, “When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or sisters, your relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. 13 But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, 14 and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”
May God speak to us through these readings of scripture.
Thanks be to God!
Sermon: “The Banquet Table for All”
Solo “When Jesus Sets the Table”
When Jesus sets the table, all people find a place.
The table is a promise of blessing and of grace.
So set the table fully. Invite the whole world in.
If we would share love’s welcome, in feasting we begin.
Whoever we find troubling and seek to keep outside,
That is the very neighbour who must not be denied.
So set the table fully. Invite the whole world in.
If we would share love’s welcome, in feasting we begin.
No race, no creed, no nation, no love of heart and vow,
No gender is rejected. The table’s waiting now.
So set the table fully. Invite the whole world in.
If we would share love’s welcome, in feasting we begin.
We Respond to God’s Word
Invitation to Share
Offering Sung Response – “There’s Enough for All”
There’s enough for all if we would learn to share it,
There’s enough for all, oh, help us to believe.
There’s enough for all.
Let’s bring our loaves and fishes, and offer them to Jesus.
There’s more than enough for you and me.
Offering Prayer
We pray that these gifts of money will provide compassionate care to all who are feeling alone and lost. We pray that these gifts of time will enable all who are sick to be encouraged and all who are newcomers to feel at home. We pray that these gifts of talent will enable young people to be taught and nurtured and all who are housebound to know friendship. Loving God, bless these gifts as they faithfully go to work through this community of faith. Amen.
Prayers of the People
One: Oh Loving Creator,
All: We humbly lift our prayers to you.
Passing of the Peace
The Prayer Jesus Taught Us:
One: Please join me in praying as Jesus taught us:
All: Our Creator who is like our Mother and our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: for thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.
We Go Into God’s World
Hymn – “They’ll Know We are Christians by Our Love”
We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord,
We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord,
And we pray that all unity may one day be restored.
And they’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love,
Yes, they’ll know we are Christians by our love.
We will walk with each other, we will walk hand in hand.
We will walk with each other, we will walk hand in hand.
And together we’ll spread the news that God is in our land.
And they’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love,
Yes, they’ll know we are Christians by our love.
We will work with each other, we will work side by side,
We will work with each other, we will work side by side,
And we’ll guard each one’s dignity and save each one’s pride.
And they’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love,
Yes, they’ll know we are Christians by our love.
All praise God, Creator, from whom all things come,
And all praise to Christ Jesus, God’s only Son,
And all praise to the Spirit, who makes us one.
And they’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love,
Yes, they’ll know we are Christians by our love.
Commissioning
Like a banquet feast, God provides. God calls us to share all of creation’s resources and our own gifts with others: that all may be fed, that all may be seen and respected, that all may live in peace with justice, that all may know the grace, mercy, and bountiful love of God.
Benediction
In honour of God our Creator, let us go out into the world in service to others. As followers of Jesus, let us go out ready to give all that we are to transform unjust structures. With the Wisdom of the Holy Spirit guiding us, let us go out, committed to persistent love of neighbour as ourselves. Let us go now, knowing that God is with us. Amen.
Sung Response – “May the Peace of Christ”
May the peace of Christ be with you,
May the love of God dwell deep in your heart.
May the Spirit enlighten your way.
May you walk in the comfort of God’s care.
