WELCOME

Say hello in the comments and let us know you're worshipping with us today. Towards the end of the service, we'll have a time to share joys and concerns and pray for one another. If you are joining us online, use the comments or message us to let us know how we can pray with you today, and we'll include those in our prayer time.

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CALL TO WORSHIP-
(Bold means everyone speaks together)

God loves the field mouse.
God loves the crows that take flight when church bells ring.
God loves the baby, cooing in the back pew.
God loves the child who rocks and claps.
God loves the one with wrinkled hands and soft eyes.
God loves the bumblebees and the tabby cats.
God loves those who walk, crawl, and roll.
God loves the giant oaks and the evergreens, standing strong over all of us.
God loves the young, the impressionable, and the earnest.
There is no bit of creation that God does not love.
So let us worship this good-news God! Amen!


[1] Liturgy by Rev. Sarah A. Speed | A Sanctified Art LLC | sanctifiedart.org, “Tell Me Something Good” Words for Worship

PRAYER OF CONFESSION
(Bold means everyone speaks together)

Family of Faith, every week we pray the Prayer of Confession,
because every week we need to be reminded of God’s abundant grace.
Every week we need to be reminded of God’s love.
Every week we need to be reminded that we too can grow and change.
So join me in this moment of honesty as we seek transformation.
Friends, let us pray:

Includes scripture verses from Leviticus 19:33, Matthew 5:9, Deuteronomy 24:21, Matthew 19:14, and Isaiah 43:1.

God said, “When a foreigner resides among you in your land, do not mistreat them.”
Holy God, we confess, we have mistreated the immigrants in our land.
Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.”
We confess, we have clung to guns and war more than we have pursued peace.
God said, “When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, do not glean what is left; it shall be for the alien, the orphan, and the widow.”
We confess, we have hoarded our resources and failed to care for our neighbors.
Jesus said, “Let the children come to me, and do not stop them.”
We confess, we have gatekept the good news in unfair ways.
Fortunately for all of us, God also said, “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are mine.”
By God’s grace, despite our sin and shortcomings,
we are redeemed, claimed, forgiven, and loved. May this good news change our lives! Amen.

SCRIPTURE READING

Deuteronomy 24:17-22 Common English Bible
Rights of widows, orphans, and immigrants
17 Don’t obstruct the legal rights of an immigrant or orphan. Don’t take a widow’s coat as pledge for a loan. 18 Remember how you were a slave in Egypt but how the Lord your God saved you from that. That’s why I’m commanding you to do this thing.
19 Whenever you are reaping the harvest of your field and you leave some grain in the field, don’t go back and get it. Let it go to the immigrants, the orphans, and the widows so that the Lord your God blesses you in all that you do. 20 Similarly, when you beat the olives off your olive trees, don’t go back over them twice. Let the leftovers go to the immigrants, the orphans, and the widows. 21 Again, when you pick the grapes of your vineyard, don’t pick them over twice. Let the leftovers go to the immigrants, the orphans, and the widows. 22 Remember how you were a slave in Egypt. That’s why I am commanding you to do this thing.

Matthew 19:13-15 Common English Bible
Jesus blesses children
13 Some people brought children to Jesus so that he would place his hands on them and pray. But the disciples scolded them. 14 “Allow the children to come to me,” Jesus said. “Don’t forbid them, because the kingdom of heaven belongs to people like these children.” 15 Then he blessed the children and went away from there.

This is the Word of Lord. Thanks be to God!

CHILDREN'S MESSAGE

SERMON

"The Good News is... protection and care for the vulnerable."
By Rev. Melissa Krabbe

MUSIC
Goodness of God

PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE: JOYS & CONCERNS
(We respond saying Lord, hear our prayer or Thanks be to God.)

THE LORD’S PRAYER
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 debts,
as we forgive our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
and the power, and the glory,
forever and ever.
Amen.