Worship for August 2, 2020

Welcome to the live stream of Church of the Holy Cross’s worship service for August 2, 2020. Feel free to follow the service text by scrolling down, or you may download and print the service in PDF format below.

A Note on Communion

This is the week for us to celebrate Holy Communion. If you plan to worship at home, 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. May the blessings of God come to us wherever we are and nourish us in body, mind, and spirit.

Worship for August 2, 2020
Ninth Sunday after Pentecost

Rev. Eric S. Anderson, Pastor

WE GATHER TO WORSHIP GOD

Ringing of the Bell

Pre-Service Music:                                                                  Kayleen Yuda

Welcome:                                                                                Rev. Eric S. Anderson

Prelude: No Shade So Rare — Handel                                      Kayleen Yuda

Call to Worship: based on Isaiah 55:1-5
Leader:        Are you thirsty? Come to the waters. Are you hungry? Come and eat.
People:       What if we have no money? What if we labor and receive little?
Leader:        You that have no money, come buy and eat; drink milk without price.
People:       Why do you buy what does not nourish or labor for that which does not satisfy?
Leader:        In the hands of God there is food that refreshes body and soul.
People:       May the nations see us fed and renewed. May the world see the blessings of God!
Leader:        Let them run to the LORD, who has glorified us. Let us worship.

Invocation: based on Psalm 145:8-9, 14-21
O God, we know your grace and mercy; we know how you restrain your anger; we know your steadfast love. Renew your compassion over all you have made. Come to us, for we are falling. Raise us up, for we have been bowed down. We suffer the cares and woes of our families, our communities, and our world. We suffer the cares and woes that we bear ourselves. Hear our cries. Bring us salvation. Watch over us as we call on you in truth. In this time of worship we will speak your praise. May all flesh glorify your name forever! Amen.

Hymn Duet with Movement #490 I Want Jesus to Go with Me (African-American spiritual)
                                                                                Eric Anderson
                                                                                Doug Albertson
                                                                                Movement led by Genie Phillips

Scripture: Genesis 32:22-31
Matthew 14:13-21

Story/Sermon: Out of Joint                                               Rev. Eric S. Anderson

Movement Prayer and Pastoral Prayer:                       Rev. Eric S. Anderson

                                                       Lord’s Prayer in unison:
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.

Instrumental Anthem: Transcendental Etude No. 3, Paysage by Franz Liszt
                                                                                                Kanako Okita      

                                                  Lay Reader – Call to Offering
It seemed like a gift too small to make a difference. In Jesus’ hands, five loaves and two fish became a feast. Let us place our gifts in Jesus’ hands today, whether you placed it in the calabash as you arrived in this sanctuary for worship or whether you send your contribution via mail or Internet at one of the addresses on the screen. With Jesus’ help, let us feed the multitudes in food for the body and for the soul.

Prayer of Dedication:
Our gifts are yours, O God. We are yours from our birth; we are yours throughout our lives. Because you have made us your children and not your robots, we freely choose to give to you in this moment for your purposes and for your glory. Bless these offerings so that they may, indeed, feed the world. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Anthem and Movement: Take My Gifts– Shirley Erena Murray & Colin Gibson
                                                                               Eric Anderson
                                                                               Doug Albertson
                                                                               Movement led by Genie Phillips

Celebration of Holy Communion

Invitation
Pastor: Christ’s invitation is simple —
sit down where you are.

You don’t need to run off somewhere else —
not a nearby village market or even this familiar sanctuary.
Communion is where you are — sit down.

The disciples complained —
it is a deserted place and the hour is late.
Jesus said, “They need not go away.”

No one needs to go away.
No one is deserted and no one is late —
not you who are alone,
because you are vulnerable to virus
or you who would feel alone
even in a not-distancing crowd
because something
has made your life a wilderness.

Jesus has compassion on every crowd,
healing them, even the hungers,
one by one by one.

Here is someone to help you sit down,
someone to help you stand up again,
someone to bless Communion,
so it will be enough,
and break it into pieces you can handle.

Sit down to be fed where you are.

Prayer of Consecration
Pastor: In the story about feeding a multitude, Jesus asked that people bring to him what they had. You have done that today. We have done that today. In your many kitchens and living rooms, do as I do and rest your hands lightly upon these elements which we set aside today to be a sacrament. We ask God’s blessing on them to make them enough and also to make them abundant for us and for all those who are in our prayers this morning.

Unison: God of compassion, you bless and break everything we are and everything we bring to you. Our deep scarcity becomes enough to sustain us, and then our “enough” becomes an abundance we could never imagine. We pray that your Spirit of life and love, of tenderness and power, rest upon every bread and every cup, that they may feed the inmost need of each child of God and pour forth a grace that can change the world. Risen Christ, live in us, that we may live in you. Amen.

Words of Remembering
Pastor: We remember the Creator
fed the aurora borealis and the ocean depths,
pterodactyls and diatoms,
all we see now that grows and breathes,
all that swims, swarms, slithers,
all that runs, flies, leaps and loves.

We remember Jesus Christ
played vintner at a wedding feast,
rubbed elbows with Zacchaeus’ friends,
taught the disciples they should not substitute
anything like stone or snake
for really important menus
like food pantry or meals on wheels,

and, in the midst of profound grief
for cousin John’s death,
he expanded the disciples’ understanding
of the hope recipe in
bread crust and fish scraps,
and then, when they forgot… he did it again.

We always remember a Passover in Jerusalem
when Jesus borrowed an upper room,
soaked and scrubbed the tired feet of others,
and explained that there is
a God-shaped hole in everyone’s belly
and Jesus would fill it with love.

Remembering is beautiful,
but there is not much taste in it.
Let us stop running to nearby villages
with our hunger and thirst,
and sit down here and now,
to eat and drink, to be blessed and broken.

Sharing of the Elements
Pastor: The bread is blessed and broken
like the picnic of grace.
Unison: Sharing love, we will never be hungry.
Pastor: Take and eat: remember Christ died for you.

Pastor: The cup is blessed and shared
like the overflowing of tears and joy.
Unison: Drinking deeply, we will never thirst.
Pastor: Take and drink: remember Christ lives and reigns and will come to us again.

Prayer of Thanksgiving
Pastor: In thanksgiving for the meal that heals yesterday and the unexpected grace that empowers tomorrow, we pray for the wisdom to give away as fast as possible some twelve baskets of leftovers.

O Holy One, as we received this sacrament in the holy dispersion of virtual worship and the holy distancing in folding chairs, we thought we “ordered” from a select gourmet menu, and never expected to become the curbside pickup of your love and justice, of your compassion and courage, of your hope and healing for all of your children who need a meal in a deserted place. Help us gather the leftovers from the miracles in our lives and give them away. Amen.

Announcements:                                                               Rev. Eric S. Anderson

Benediction                                                                             Rev. Eric S. Anderson

Postlude: Allegro Moderato — Handel                                      Kayleen Yuda

At the organist’s request, please refrain from applause after the Postlude.

The communion liturgy is by the Rev. Maren Tirabassi and found at https://giftsinopenhands.wordpress.com/2020/07/24/holy-communion-liturgy-for-august-2-2020/. Gratefully used by permission of the author.

“Take My Gifts” Contributors: Shirley Erena Murray, Colin Gibson
Tune: © 1992, Hope Publishing Company Text: © 1992, Hope Publishing Company. Streamed with permission under ONELICENSE #A-735890

Minister: Rev. Eric S. Anderson
Moderator: Bob Smith
Ushers: Ming Peng, Nalyn Ang, Woody Kita, Anne Sadayasu, Moira Tanaka, Eric Tanouye

Lay Reader: Barbara Iwami
Chapel Decorations: Anne Sadayasu
Choir Accompanist: Kanako Okita

Choir Director: Doug Albertson
Organist: Kayleen Yuda
Hand Bell Director: Anna Kennedy
Childcare Coordinator: Evonne Shioshita
Projected Imagery: Sue Smith
Web Master: Ruth Niino-DuPonte  
Office Manager: P. “Momi” Lyman

This week at the Church of the Holy Cross

• The Gathering Place –Mondays: Pickleball at 12 noon in the Building of Faith.
• Bible Study with Pastor Eric: Tuesdays, 3:00 pm via Zoom
• On Line Song — Wednesdays, 11:00 am on line
• Community Concert — 2^nd & 4^th Fridays, 6:00 pm on line