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SUNDAY, AUGUST 23, 2020 ORDINARY TIME
Henry Ossawa Tanner, 1859–1937
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“When our lives are shaped by gratitude, we’re more likely to notice the goodness and
beauty in everyday things. We are content; we feel blessed and are eager to confer
blessing. We are able to delight in the very existence of another human being. In a
grateful community, individuals and their contributions are acknowledged and
honored, and there is regular testimony to God’s faithfulness, through which the
community experiences the joys of its members. Expressions of gratitude help make
the community alive to the Word, the Spirit, and God’s work. Such a community is a
“beautiful land” whose culture is grace and whose inhabitants see life as a gift. In this
land, we often find abundant forgiveness and frequent celebrations.”
- Christine D. Pohl, Living into Community: Cultivating Practices That Sustain Us
Welcome
Leader: The Lord be with you.
All: And also with you.
Leader: O Lord, let my soul rise to meet you.
All: As the day rises to meet the sun.
Leader: Holy is God, who was, and is, and is to come.
All: Amen
Call to Worship
Leader: Be still and aware of God’s presence within and all around.
+Silence and Breathe+
Leader: All things came into being through Christ,
All: And without Christ not one thing came into being.
Leader: What has come into being in Christ was life,
All: and the life was the light of all people.
Leader: The light shines in the darkness,
All: and the darkness did not overcome it.
+Take a moment to light a candle to represent God’s presence with us +
Leader: Our help is in the name of the Living God,
All: Who made heaven and earth.
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Leader: In life and in death
All: We belong to God.
Leader: Washed by the Living Water which cleanses; purifies; refreshes; sustains.
All: We live unto God.
Leader: With our one sacred life we take this wonder-filled journey.
All: All are welcome.
Children’s Blessing
All: May God bless you and keep you.
May God’s face shine on you and be gracious to you.
May God show you kindness and give you peace.
May the presence of God be with you.
Kids: And also with you.
Worship in Song
Poem
Thankful for Now
By Todd Davis
Walking the river back home at the end
of May, locust in bloom, an oriole flitting
through dusky crowns, and the early night sky
going peach, day’s late glow the color of that fruit’s
flesh, dribbling down over everything, christening
my sons, the two of them walking before me
after a day of fishing, one of them placing a hand
on the other’s shoulder, pointing toward a planet
that’s just appeared, or the swift movement
of that yellow and black bird disappearing
into the growing dark, and now the light, pink
as a crabapple’s flower, and my legs tired
from wading the higher water, and the rocks
that keep turning over, nearly spilling me
into the river, but still thankful for now
when I have enough strength to stay
a few yards behind them, loving this time
of day that shows me the breadth