Worship for October 2, 2022

The video will stream live beginning at 10:00 AM on Sunday, October 2, 2022. You may need to click Play to launch the stream. You can also watch the recorded video at this same place at any time afterward.

This is a Communion Sunday. Please prepare a staple food and beverage to be at hand for that portion of the service.

Welcome to Church of the Holy Cross’s live stream of its worship service for Sunday, October 2, 2022. Feel free to follow the service text by scrolling down, or you may download and print the service in PDF format below. You are welcome to attend worship in person or to participate via live stream or recorded video.

Service of Worship, October 2, 2022
Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost
World Communion Sunday

Rev. Eric S. Anderson, Pastor

WE GATHER TO WORSHIP GOD

Please note that audio and video of this service are being live streamed on the Internet and will be recorded. The right rear section of the sanctuary will not be captured by any cameras. Please be aware that in other sections you may be visible at times.

Welcome                                                                                                    Rev. Eric S. Anderson

Prelude: Sing to the Lord                                                                     Kayleen Yuda

Call to Worship: based on Psalm 37:1-9                                          Stefan Tanouye

Leader:         Do not fret because of the wicked. Do not envy those who do wrong.
People:        Evil will fade like grass. Malice will wither like green leaves.

Leader:         Trust in the LORD and do good.
People:        Righteousness brings serenity and enhances life.

Leader:         Commit your way to the LORD. Trust in God, for God will act.
People:        Let our truth shine like the light, and the justice of our cause be like the noonday.

All: In patience we come to worship God.

Invocation: based on 2 Timothy 1:1-14                                                  Stefan Tanouye

We come to you today, O God, with souls as new to faith as any. We come to you today, O God, with souls whose faith has been tried for years. We come to you today, O God, with souls influenced by the faith instruction of family and friends. We come to you today, O God, with souls shaped by the generations of believers. We come to you today, O God, for you to shape our souls again, and to embrace the grace of Christ once more. Amen.

Hymn Duet with Movement #540: We Plant a Grain of Mustard Seed (v. 1, 2, 4, 5)
                                                                                                                        Eric Anderson
                                                                                                                        Doug Albertson
                                                                                                                      Movement led by Genie Phillips

Time with the Children

Instrumental Anthem: Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence (PICARDY)
                                                                                                                        Kanako Okita

Scripture

Habakkuk 1:1-4, 2:1-4
The oracle that the prophet Habakkuk saw.
O Lord, how long shall I cry for help,
    and you will not listen?
Or cry to you ‘Violence!’
    and you will not save?
Why do you make me see wrongdoing
    and look at trouble?
Destruction and violence are before me;
    strife and contention arise.
So the law becomes slack
    and justice never prevails.
The wicked surround the righteous—
    therefore judgment comes forth perverted.
I will stand at my watch-post,
    and station myself on the rampart;
I will keep watch to see what he will say to me,
    and what he will answer concerning my complaint.
Then the Lord answered me and said:
Write the vision;
    make it plain on tablets,
    so that a runner may read it.
For there is still a vision for the appointed time;
    it speaks of the end, and does not lie.
If it seems to tarry, wait for it;
    it will surely come, it will not delay.
Look at the proud!
    Their spirit is not right in them,
    but the righteous live by their faith.

Luke 17:5-10
The apostles said to the Lord, ‘Increase our faith!’ The Lord replied, ‘If you had faith the size of amustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, “Be uprooted and planted in the sea”, and it would obey you.‘Who among you would say to your slave who has just come in from ploughing or tending sheep in the field, “Come here at once and take your place at the table”? Would you not rather say to him, “Prepare supper for me, put on your apron and serve me while I eat and drink; later you may eat and drink”? Do you thank the slave for doing what was commanded? So you also, when you have done all that you were ordered to do, say, “We are worthless slaves; we have done only what we ought to have done!”’

Sermon: Were We Hoping for This?                                                 Rev. Eric S. Anderson

Pastoral Prayer                                                                                       Rev. Eric S. Anderson

Please stand and join me in the Lord’s Prayer
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

Call to Offering                                                                                        Stefan Tanouye

The boundary between obligation and gift lies here. God has asked you to share, and you should. The Church, however, does not speak with God’s voice. When we ask as God’s church, make your choice freely, and may your giving be seen by God as commitment to a life of faith and love. Whether you share your gift here in the church today, through a gift online, or via an envelope in the mail, let the offering now be received.

Offertory: Morning                                                                                 Kayleen Yuda

Doxology
Praise God from whom all blessings flow,
Praise Him all creatures here below
Praise Him above ye heavenly host
Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost – Amen

Offertory Prayer                                                                                     Stefan Tanouye

You direct us to do many things, O God, and sometimes we understand your direction. Sometimes we even follow it. Receive these gifts as our earnest attempt to honor you generously and serve our neighbors’ needs. Receive them and bless them to your purposes. Amen.

Hymn Duet #332: As We Gather at Your Table                           Eric Anderson
                                                                                                                        Doug Albertson

Sacrament of Holy Communion

Invitation

Pastor: It was on a Sunday that Jesus Christ was raised from death by the power of God, appearing to several of his followers and friends. Mary Magdalene saw him and Simon Peter. He walked the road to Emmaus with two of his disciples, but they did not recognize him until they joined him at a table where Jesus Christ broke bread.

On this World Communion Sunday, come from the four corners of the world to gather about this table. Come brief in days and long in years. Come from your loves and successes and from your losses and sorrows. Come aware that the mountain is holy and the ocean is holy and the growing things are holy and the birds of the air are holy. Come to learn once more that Jesus of Nazareth called his disciples to name as holy the most common food and the most common drink, to remember his life, death, and resurrection.

Consecrating the Bread and Cup    

Pastor: On this World Communion Sunday, let us come to God for the breaking of the bread. Let us pray:

People: God of vast creation, God of heaven and earth, we thank you for the bread of life.

Pastor: We recall the time when you preserved the children of Israel by leading them to Egypt, where your prophet Joseph had gathered grain.

People: There on our Communion table, O God, is bread baked from wheat to keep us whole and sound.

Pastor: We recall the time when they fled slavery into a barren land, and you fedthem with your manna.

People: There on our Communion table, O God, is rice, which nourishes so many hungry people every day.

Pastor: We recall the time your people found a promised land, rejoicing in its plenty.

People: There on our Communion table, O God, is banana bread, in which we taste the sweetness of life.

Pastor: We recall the time when Israel received its law from you, a law that extended justice to the stranger and sojourner.

People: There on our Communion table, O God, is tortilla, which is the bread of so many newcomers to our nation.

Pastor: We recall the time when Israel was taken into exile, and they sought to worship you in a new land.

People: There on our Communion table, O God, is ulu, breadfruit, which has nourished Polynesian peoples wherever they have traveled.

Pastor: We recall that in your wisdom and mercy, O God, you have never left your people hungry when your Spirit might provide.

People: There on our Communion table, O God, is poi from taro root, which keeps our bodies rooted in the land.

Pastor: And we recall, O God, that when your people were starved for your Spirit, you sent us Jesus, to fill us and make us whole.

People: There on our Communion table, O God, is an empty bowl, which reminds of the hungry we still yearn to feed, and reminds us of the love of Christ which fills our souls from depth to height.

Pastor: God, bless the meeting of hunger and generosity in all places. Bless the memories of all that is Holy Land, the place of Jesus’ lineage and Passover custom, the land under our feet, all land remembered, all land honored, all land with justice. Bless all that is Communion but especially what we take into body and spirit, so that you can live and walk, sit, roll with us.

Fill our bodies and spirits with strength, guidance, inspiration, and love, through this holy meal. Amen.

Pastor: Through the broken bread we participate in the Body of Christ. In Jesus’ name, we give you this bread.

Pastor: Through the cup which we bless we participate in the new life Christ brings. In Jesus’ name, we give you this cup.

Prayer of Thanksgiving

Pastor: God, we thank you for refreshing us at your table by granting us the presence of Jesus Christ. Strengthen our faith, increase our love for one another, and send us forth into the world in courage and in peace, rejoicing in the power of the Holy Spirit, through Jesus Christ our Savior, Amen.

Announcements                                                                                     Rev. Eric S. Anderson

Benediction                                                                                               Rev. Eric S. Anderson

Postlude: March Pontificale                                                                 Kayleen Yuda

Permissions

Sing to the Lord – Lani Smith
Streamed by permission ONELICENSE A-735890

We Plant a Grain of Mustard Seed
Text by Mary Bryan Matney, 1990
© 1998, GIA Publications, Inc.
Tune NEW BEGINNINGS by Sally Ann Morris, 1990
© 1998, GIA Publications, Inc.
Streamed by permission ONELICENSE A-735890

Morning—W. Stickles
Streamed by permission ONELICENSE A-735890

Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence
Tune PICARDY French Carol, 17^th century
Public Domain

As We Gather at Your Table
Text by Carl P. Daw, Jr., 1989
© 1989 Hope Publishing Company
Tune BEACH SPRING The Sacred Harp, 1844
Harm. The New Century Hymnal, Pilgrim Press
Streamed by permission ONELICENSE A-735890

Marche Pontificale—W. Stickles
Streamed by permission ONELICENSE A-735890

Some elements of the communion service were written by Maren Tirabassi at giftsinopenhands.wordpress.com. They are used by permission of the author.

                                                       Date to Remember
Today, October 2 – World Communion Sunday
Today, October 2 – Dedication of Neighbors in Need
Today, October 2 –Trustees Meeting after worship

Pastor                                                                                  Rev. Eric S. Anderson
Moderator                                                                         Woody Kita
Lay Reader                                                                        Stefan Tanouye
Chapel Decorations                                                      Bob and Sue Smith
Choir Accompanist                                                        Kanako Okita
Choir Director                                                                 Doug Albertson
Organist                                                                             Kayleen Yuda
Hand Bell Director                                                        Anna Kennedy
Childcare Coordinator                                                Evonne Shioshita
Movement Leader                                                         Genie Phillips
Projected Imagery                                                        Sue Smith
Web Master                                                                      Ruth Niino-DuPonte  
Videographers                                                                Eric Tanouye, Bob Smith, Eli Yamaki,
                                                                                                and Ruth Niino-DuPonte