12 Oct Worship Bulletin: 10/15/23
Welcome to Worship at the McPherson Church of the Brethren
We invite your active participation in the life of this congregation, as together we continue to grow in grace and seek justice for God’s creation.
Sunday, October 15, 2023 @ 10:15 a.m.
Gathering Music | “O Day of Peace” vs. 1 | #408
“Beyond a Dying Sun” vs 1 and 3 | #323
Video Welcome
Sharing Time: Joys & Concerns | Dan Lichty
Moment in Mission – Jerry Bowen
Centering Music | “Jesus Loves Me” | arr. Carol Tornquist
Lois Grove, piano
Opening Responsive Words | inspired by Matthew 22: 1-14 | Eliza Buchakjian-Tweedy
In the midst of fear and anger; in the midst of mayhem and destruction, God calls us.
With everything else going on, who has time for a feast?
We’re busy, we’ll get around to eating eventually.
In the midst of our anxiety, our worry; in the midst of bill-paying and appointments, God invites us.
We are tempted to just grab a bite, a sandwich between errands,
a snack we can eat while driving, or checking email, or working on today’s big project.
The feast is spread! All are invited, all are welcome!
We are invited. We are welcome. We are worthy. How will we respond?
Opening Song | “Great God, Your Love Has Called Us Here” | text Brian Wren
Sing to the tune of “Faith of our Fathers” (St. Catherine)
Great God, your love has called us here as we, by love, for love were made.
Your living likeness still we bear, though marred, dishonored, disobeyed.
We come, with all our heart and mind your call to hear, your love to find.
We come with self-inflicted pains of broken trust and chosen wrong,
half-free, half-bound by inner chains, by social forces swept along,
by powers and systems close confined, yet seeking hope for humankind.
Great God, in Christ you call our name and then receive us as your own,
not through some merit, right or claim, but by your gracious love alone.
We strain to glimpse your mercy seat and find you kneeling at our feet.
Then take the towel, and break the bread, and humble us, and call us friends.
Suffer and serve till all are fed, and show how grandly love intends
to work till all creation sings, to fill all worlds, to crown all things.
Great God, in Christ you set us free your life to live, your joy to share.
Give us your Spirit’s liberty to turn from guilt and dull despair
and offer all that faith can do while love is making all things new.
Mack Kids Sing
“Bananas for the Lord” | words by Jules Riding
He’s a peach of a Savior, he’s the apple of my eye.
He prunes away the branches when the branches get too high.
He bears all my burdens and His love will never die.
And that’s why we’re bananas for the Lord.
Chorus:
Glory, glory, we’re the branches.
Glory, glory, we’re the branches.
Glory, glory, we’re the branches.
And that’s why we’re bananas for the Lord.
“Seek Ye First the Kingdom of God” | music/words by Karen Lafferty
Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness,
And all these things shall be added unto you.
Allelu alleluia! Al le lu ia, al le lu ia. Al le lu ia, al le lu, al le lu ia !
Story for the Children | Barbara Wagoner
Video Invitation to Give
Give online or send a check made payable to “McPherson Church of the Brethren,” 200 N. Carrie, McPherson, KS 67460
Musical Offering | “I Want to be a Christian” | arr. Mary McDonald
Ellen Gilbert, organ
Scripture Focus | Matthew 22:1-14 | The Parable of the Wedding Banquet
22 Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying:
2 “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son.
3 He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come,
but they refused to come.
4 “Then he sent some more servants and said, ‘Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared
my dinner: My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready.
Come to the wedding banquet.’ 5 “But they paid no attention and went off – one to his field,
another to his business. 6 The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them.
7 The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.
8 “Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to
come. 9 So go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.’ 10 So the
servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, the bad
as well as the good, and the wedding hall was filled with guests.
11 “But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing
wedding clothes. 12 He asked, ‘How did you get in here without wedding clothes, friend?’
The man was speechless. 13 “Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him hand and foot,
and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
14 “For many are invited, but few are chosen.”
Prayer of Intercession | based on Exodus 32:1-14 and Matthew 22:1-14 | Christine Longhurst
Scripture Song | “My God Thy Table Now is Spread”
Message | “Invited” | Kathryn Whitacre
Sending Song | “Here I am, Lord” | #395
Sending Words
Sending Music | “He Is Lord” | arr. Ron Sprunger
Ellen Gilbert, organ
Videography and Editing: Eric Goering
Music Coordinator: Ellen Gilbert
Choir Director: Becky Snell
Technical Crew: Eric Goering, Ryan Goering, Shane Kirchner, Steve Lolling & Chris Whitacre
Chancel Decoration Team: Jill Brax, Colleen Gustafson, Michele Johnson, Shane Kirchner & Lara Schoming