Online Worship for June 7, 2020: Trinity Sunday

Welcome to Church of the Holy Cross’s live streaming worship service for June 7th, 2020. Feel free to follow the service text by scrolling down, or you may download and print the service in PDF format from this link.

A Note on Communion

This is the week for us to celebrate Holy Communion. We invite you to prepare some bread and some juice ahead of time. The type does not matter much – it can be sliced bread or English muffins; it can be grape juice or passion/orange/guava. Have it near you when the service begins on Sunday morning. Although we can not be physically present to one another in this meal, let us trust in the blessings of God to come to us wherever we are and nourish us in body, mind, and spirit.

Online Worship, June 7, 2020
Trinity Sunday

Rev. Eric S. Anderson, Pastor

WE GATHER TO WORSHIP GOD

Welcome:                                                                                Rev. Eric Anderson

Prelude: Piano sonata No. 9 K 310 1^st mvt — Mozart                 Kanako Okita

Call to Worship based on Genesis 1:1-2:4                               Eric Tanouye
In the beginning, stillness. In the beginning, breath. In the beginning, movement. In the beginning, wind over the waters. In the beginning, God. In the beginning, light. In the beginning, goodness. In the beginning, day and night. In the beginning, goodness. In the beginning, the land and the seas. In the beginning, goodness. In the beginning, life growing, blossoming, swimming, flying, creeping, running. In the beginning, goodness. In the beginning, human beings in God’s image, male and female in God’s image. In the beginning, goodness. In the beginning, blessing. In the beginning, multitudes. In the beginning, it was very good. In the beginning, rest. In the beginning, God.

On this day so many days from the beginning, let there be goodness. Let there be God. Come, let us worship.

Opening Prayer based on Matthew 28:16-20
Leader: Let us pray:
All: Those who saw you resurrected, Jesus, worshiped you – and even then some doubted. So it is with us. We have seen your miracles of Creation so often that we call them… ordinary. We have seen the guidance of your Holy Spirit so often that we call them… ordinary. We have lived in the love of Jesus so long that we call it… ordinary. Reawaken us to the wonder of the ordinary, O Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier. Renew our summons to follow the way of our Savior. Revive your teachings within us, and be with us in this time of worship, as well as to the end of the age. Amen.

Hymn #277 Holy, Holy, Holy

Holy, holy, holy, God the Almighty!
Early in the morning we praise your majesty.
Holy, holy, holy, Merciful and mighty!!
God in three persons, blessed Trinity.

Holy, holy, holy, Saints adore you truly,
Casting down their golden crowns around the glassy sea;
Cherubim and seraphim bow before you only,
From the beginning, God eternally.

Holy, holy, holy, Though we know but dimly,
Though the eyes of humankind your glory may not see,
You alone are holy, you alone are worthy,
Perfect in power, in love and purity.

Holy, holy, holy, God the Almighty!
All your works shall praise your name in earth and sky and sea.
Holy, holy, holy, Merciful and mighty!
God in three persons, blessed Trinity.

by Reginald Heber

Scripture: Psalm 8
O Lord, our Sovereign,
    how majestic is your name in all the earth!

You have set your glory above the heavens.
    Out of the mouths of babes and infants
you have founded a bulwark because of your foes,
    to silence the enemy and the avenger.

 When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
    the moon and the stars that you have established;what are human beings that you are mindful of them,
    mortals that you care for them?

Yet you have made them a little lower than God,
    and crowned them with glory and honor.
You have given them dominion over the works of your hands;
    you have put all things under their feet,
all sheep and oxen,
    and also the beasts of the field,
the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea,
    whatever passes along the paths of the seas.

 O Lord, our Sovereign,
    how majestic is your name in all the earth!

2 Corinthians 13:11-13
Finally, brothers and sisters, farewell. Put things in order, listen to my appeal, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you.Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the saints greet you.

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with all of you.

Story and Meditation: What are Human Beings?              Rev. Eric Anderson

Prayer:                                                                                    Rev. Eric Anderson

Offering Call and Dedication                                                  Eric Tanouye
We are not sending ushers through the neighborhoods of Hilo to collect your gifts this morning, or any morning. We invite you to send your offering to support the spiritual, emotional, and physical ministries of this church in this time. Please mail your gifts to us at Church of the Holy Cross, 440 West Lanikaula Street, Hilo, Hawai’i 96720.

Please pray with me:

We are human, O God. We are made in your image. We see your face in the mirror. We see your face in our ‘ohana. We see your face in the stranger on the street. May our gifts strengthen our resemblance to you, O God. May our gifts extend our love to more closely resemble yours. May our gifts serve to create a community of justice and of peace, one created in the image of the Holy Trinity. Amen.

Music: My Life Flows on in Endless Song — Robert Lowry      
Eric Anderson & Doug Albertson

Celebration of Holy Communion

Invitation
This morning you are invited for Holy Communion
in the Body of Christ.
That Body of Christ is not the loaf of bread
you see on my plate on your screen.
The Body of Christ
is not even the bread on your table.

The Body of Christ is us
as we are strengthened by sharing together
this meal of hope and grace and presence.

The parables on the table this morning
include a mask and a glove,
symbols of care for the Body of Christ.
As Jesus might have said —
the Realm of God is like a mask of compassion
on the Bread of Heaven and a
gloved hand lifting the Cup of Blessing
so that all be served and safe.

We pause to honor with tender memory
the holy table in our church home
and to consecrate with love for all God’s children
these many holy tables in our home churches.

Prayer of Consecration
Leader: We Are the Body of Christ dispersed and gathered at the same time,
which is always true though we do not always see it.

In your many kitchens, and living rooms, rest your hands lightly upon these elements which we set aside today to be a sacrament. Let us ask God’s blessing upon them and upon us and upon all those who are in our prayers this morning.

Unison:
Gentle Host, rest upon us as you rested upon water and light, earth and creatures, human beings, all in your image, and holy Sabbath. Send your Spirit of life and love, power and blessing upon your children who are staying at home so that this Bread may be broken and gathered in love and this Cup poured out to give hope to all. Risen Christ, live in us, that we may live in you. Breathe in us, that we may breathe in you. Amen.

Words of Remembering
Leader: We remember the Creator blessed all creatures and all human beings with plants of the ground and fruit of the trees. We remember Sarah’s hospitality to angels, manna in the wilderness, oil that never gave out, and the Psalmist speaking down the ages, “Taste and see that God is good.”

We remember.

We remember a twelve year old at a Passover in Jerusalem, a meal cooked by Peter’s mother-in-law, a small boy’s lunch, Zacchaeus’ feast, Martha’s one-dish hospitality, a story about a fatted calf and dancing, another Jerusalem Passover, broken bread in Emmaus, and fish on the beach.

We remember.

We remember communal dining inspired by the Holy Spirit, Peter’s unkosher dream that meant all God’s children are accepted, Paul’s communion on a sinking ship and a vision of the fruit of the trees in the New Jerusalem.

We remember.

Our tables are as different from one another as these tables we remember were. They are as truly the meal of grace blessed by Creator, Christ, and Indwelling Spirit.

Sharing of the Elements

Leader: Let us at our many tables receive the gift of God, the Bread of Heaven.
Unison: We become the Body of Christ in the Bread we share.
Leader: Let us in our many places receive the gift of God, the Cup of Blessing.
Unison: We are one in Christ in the Cup we share.

Prayer of Thanksgiving

Leader: In thanksgiving for this meal of grace, rejoicing that, in the holy dispersion of virtual worship, we claim the risen Christ’s love is not limited by buildings made with human hands, nor contained in human ceremonies, let us pray …

O Holy One, our tongues have tasted the good news and our lives are filled with the Spirit that hovered over creation and blew fresh hope on Pentecost. Creator, open our hearts. Word, speak peace in our voices to all the people in all the hotspots and hurts of the world. As we journey masked through our lonely or dangerous or over-busy day, Holy Spirit, fill us with this blessing — that it is good. Amen.

Benediction:                                                                            Rev. Eric Anderson

The communion liturgy is adapted from “Holy Communion Liturgy for June 7, 2020, often called Trinity Sunday” by Maren Tirabassi, published at Giftsinopenhands.wordpress.com.