Online Worship for September 6, 2020

Welcome to Church of the Holy Cross’s live streaming worship service for September 6th, 2020. Feel free to follow the service text by scrolling down, or you may download and print the service in PDF format below.

This Sunday, September 6, we will share Holy Communion in morning worship. Those who are blessing and receiving the sacrament at home, please prepare a slice or small loaf of bread, corn tortilla, or rice cake or what is sacramental and joyful to share and a cup or small cups of juice — perhaps grape or cranberry — or wine, with or without alcohol. We look forward to being with you at the table.

Online Worship, September 6, 2020
Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Rev. Eric S. Anderson, Pastor

WE GATHER TO WORSHIP GOD

Welcome                                                                                 Rev. Eric S. Anderson

Prelude: Open My Eyes That I May See – Scott arr. Whitworth     
Kayleen Yuda

Call to Worship: based on Exodus 12:1-14                             
Carolyn Lum-Bellem

Leader: Imagine the fears of the Israelites, slaves in Egypt, told suddenly that tonight would be the night, and they would leave the Empire free.
All:    They must have been frantic with preparations. Their hearts must have beat hollowly in their chests with worry that Pharaoh’s soldiers would come.

Leader: Amidst it all, God paused to give new instructions to Moses and Aaron: how to celebrate the night that freedom was attained.
All: Before they breathed the air of liberty, the people heard how they would rejoice in it.

Leader: Rejoice in God, all people, not just for the things God has done, but for the things that God has yet to do.
All: We will rejoice in the God who liberates, who strengthens, and who heals: the God who has done so and the God who will do so again and again.

Invocation (unison): based on Psalm 149
We praise you, O God, amidst our fears and out of the things you done for us in our lives. We are glad of you, our Maker. We rejoice in you with dancing, with the melodies of drums and strings. We ask your grace upon us in this time of need, that you bring wisdom to the people and integrity to the nations. May your healing come to our bodies, our minds, and our souls. Amen.

Hymn Duet #337 Draw Us in the Spirit’s Tether by Percy Dearmer and Harold Friedell
                                                                                                Eric Anderson
                                                                                                Doug Albertson
                                                                    Movement led by Genie Phillips

Scripture: Romans 13:8-14                                                     
Carolyn Lum-Bellem
Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery; You shall not murder; You shall not steal; You shall not covet”; and any other commandment, are summed up in this word, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law. Besides this, you know what time it is, how it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers; the night is far gone, the day is near. Let us then lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armor of light; let us live honorably as in the day, not in reveling and drunkenness, not in debauchery and licentiousness, not in quarreling and jealousy. Instead, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.

Matthew 18:15-20
“If another member of the churchsins against you, go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone. If the member listens to you, you have regained that one. But if you are not listened to, take one or two others along with you, so that every word may be confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If the member refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if the offender refuses to listen even to the church, let such a one be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.  Again, truly I tell you, if two of you agree on earth about anything you ask, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.”

Story/Sermon: Like a Tax Collector                                Rev. Eric S. Anderson

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: Bach: Prelude and Fugue No. 6 Well Tempered Clavier, Book 1                                                                                               
Kanako Okita

Call to Offering:                                                                     Carolyn Lum-Bellem

Once more we invite you to an offering. You cannot place your gifts in a calabash or a plate. Instead, they must make their way through the mail in an envelope sent to 440 West Lanikaula Street, Hilo, Hawai’i, 96720, or as information on the Internet submitted at holycrosshilo.com/donate. However you send them, let them be gifts of the heart that extend your love and compassion to your neighbors and your friends, and also to the stranger on the far side of the world. Let us pray together:

Please join me in the Offertory Prayer:                                 
Carolyn Lum-Bellem

May we live in love, O God, and never bring harm to a neighbor. May we live in love, O God, and fulfill your will for us. May we live in love, O God, in all our days and doings, and in these gifts presented to you. Amen.

Anthem: This Is a Day of New Beginnings– Brian Wren and Carlton R. Young
                                                                                                 Eric Anderson
                                                                                                Doug Albertson
                                                                      Movement led by Genie Phillips

Celebration of Holy Communion

Invitation from Psalm 81 (responsive)
Pastor:
We make a joyful muffled noise –
rhythm and blues, Hawaiian, rap,
a masked, distanced, sweet response to the voice of God,
who says –

All:
“I relieved your shoulder of the burden
and your hands were freed from the basket.”

Pastor:
We pick up the tambourine and the bass guitar –

All:
“I relieved your shoulder of the burden
and your hands were freed from the basket.”

Pastor:
We Zoom and Live stream.
Others Drive-in and Pew-space.

All:
“I relieved your shoulder of the burden
and your hands were freed from the basket.”

Pastor:
The first Exodus released those unjustly worked
to bring them to a new and safe place.

This is a new Exodus time,
a time to give attention to
domestic workers, agricultural workers,
food service folks heading to the curbside,
housekeepers keeping motels COVID-clean,
to those in mandatory overtime,
those jobless, anxious, and waiting,
those who work in dangerous conditions.

For we experience the voice of God, saying –

All:
I will give you finest wheat;
from the rock, I give you honey.

Prayer of Consecration
In the Bread we eat, we honor farmers and bakers,
we honor truck drivers, and
we honor those who stock grocery shelves.
In the Cup we drink, we honor those who pick fruit,
often endangered by pesticides,
and we honor those who work in bottling plants.
In Bread and Cup, we honor those who have written,
translated, printed, sold, given, and taught
the Good News of the new covenant.

Let us pray:
(Each person laying hands on bread and cup)
Holy One, this is the Sacrament we share, because others have passed it on – spiritually and physically – to each of us. We pray that your Spirit of life and love, of tenderness and power, will rest upon every bread and every cup, so that they may feed our inmost needs 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:
Jesus, our divine companion,
by a lowly human birth
surely came to join the workers,
burden bearers of the Earth –
known as carpenter of Nazareth,
gathered those who fish for food,
promised – “raise the stone and find me,
I am here, just cleave the wood.”

In the times of fires and flooding,
Here Christ is to claim and own;
where the virus finds a victim,
no one shall be left alone.
Christ the peace which passes knowledge
dwells within the daily strife;
in the bread of Heaven broken
in the sacrament of life.

My friends, We 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.

And on Easter afternoon in Emmaus,
Jesus reminded us that the bread of welcome
on anyone’s table, on everyone’s table,
is blessed to be a holy sacrament,
sending us out
to find the cup in the world around us.

Sharing of the Elements
Pastor: The bread on your table is blessed and broken.
As long as it is open to all, it is holy.
Unison: Sharing love, we will never be hungry.
Pastor: Take and eat: Christ died for you.

Pastor: The cup on your table is blessed and shared
like the overflowing of tears and joy.
Unison: Drinking deeply, we will never thirst.
Pastor: Take and drink: Christ lives and reigns.

Prayer of Thanksgiving
O Holy One, we give you thanks for honey from rocky times, hope from fearful thoughts and burdened shoulders, bread and anthuriums from the labor of hands and minds, and your blessing as we receive this sacrament in the holy dispersion of virtual to reach out and change your world one foot washing servanthood at a time, one Emmaus joy at a time. Amen.

Announcements:                                                                 Rev. Eric S. Anderson

Benediction:                                                                            Rev. Eric S. Anderson

Postlude: Cebell — Purcell                                                        Kayleen Yuda

Permissions:

The communion liturgy is by the Rev. Maren Tirabassi, published at giftsinopenhands.wordpress.com. Gratefully used by permission of the author.

Draw Us in the Spirit’s Tether
Text: 87 87 44 7; Percy Dearmer, 1867–1936, alt., © Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. Used with permission. Music: Harold Friedell, 1905–1958, © 1957, The H.W. Gray Co. Inc., renewed 1985 and assigned to Belwin-Mills Publishing Corp. All rights reserved. Administered by Warner Bros. Publications U.S. Inc. Used with permission. Streamed with permission. ONELICENSE #A-735890

This Is a Day of New Beginnings
Contributors: Brian Wren, Carlton R. Young
Tune: © 1987 Hope Publishing Company Text: © 1983, 1987 Hope Publishing Company
Streamed with permission. ONELICENSE #A-735890