At-Home Worship for January 20, 2019
If you're missing worship today because church was canceled or the weather conditions make it too dangerous to drive, here's a worship service that you can use for your Sunday morning devotion. If you're with others, you can alternate the "One" and "All" parts.
CALL TO WORSHIP
One: We gather together—young and old; women and men; certain and seeking
All: We are many, yet we are one body in Christ
One: We gather together—rich and poor, proud and humble, foolish and wise
All: We are diverse, yet we are one body in Christ
One: We gather to worship the One who created us so differently
All: Hoping to learn to fit together in harmony
OPENING SONG "Holy Spirit"
CALL TO WORSHIP
One: We gather together—young and old; women and men; certain and seeking
All: We are many, yet we are one body in Christ
One: We gather together—rich and poor, proud and humble, foolish and wise
All: We are diverse, yet we are one body in Christ
One: We gather to worship the One who created us so differently
All: Hoping to learn to fit together in harmony
OPENING SONG "Holy Spirit"
OPENING PRAYER
"Holy Spirit, You are welcome here,
Come flood this place and fill the atmosphere.
Your glory, God, is what our hearts long for,
To be overcome by Your presence, Lord."
Gracious God, open our eyes to the gifts you have entrusted to each one of us and show us how to work together to realize your purposes in our midst. We long to live in a world where mutual caring and support replace selfishness and competition. Help us to honor one another’s gifts and strive for the greatest of all gifts—the embodiment of your love. Amen.
SCRIPTURE LESSON 1 Corinthians 12:1, 4-6, 12-27
Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed. Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone.
For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.
Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot would say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear would say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many members, yet one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” On the contrary, the members of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and those members of the body that we think less honorable we clothe with greater honor, and our less respectable members are treated with greater respect; whereas our more respectable members do not need this. But God has so arranged the body, giving the greater honor to the inferior member, that there may be no dissension within the body, but the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it.
Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.
MESSAGE "The Problem With Mr. Potato Head"
Early Mr. Potato Heads
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Mr. Potato Head circa 1973
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RESPONSE SONG "We Are Many Parts"
RESPONSE SONG "We Are Many Parts"
SUGGESTIONS FOR REFLECTION
What are your spiritual gifts? How has God gifted you for ministry?
What gifts do you see in others in your congregation? Are their gifts celebrated?
How are you using your gifts for God's purposes?
Have you ever volunteered to do something for which you are not gifted? How did that feel?
Do most of the members of your congregation share their gifts, or are there "missing body parts" (like Mr. Potato Head)?
PRAYING TOGETHER
Receive God’s gift of time to be in prayer, offering God any burdens or joys that you are aware of for yourself, others, the world. Don’t rush. Receive silence as well as words. Then join in the prayer that Jesus taught his disciples:
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, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen.
CLOSING SONG "Holy Spirit, Rain Down"
Opening prayer adapted from "Holy Spirit" by Katie Torwalt & Bryan Wilsonand; Lavon Baylor, Gathered By Love, pg. 37.