Sunday, September 2, 2018
22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time
For Meditation and Reflection
“Joy is prayer; joy is strength: joy is love; joy is a net of love by which you can catch souls.”
– Mother Teresa
“If we’re destroying our trees and destroying our environment and hurting animals and hurting one another and all that stuff, there’s got to be a very powerful energy to fight that. I think we need more love in the world. We need more kindness, more compassion, more joy, more laughter. I definitely want to contribute to that.”
– Ellen DeGeneres
“To know yourself as the Being underneath the thinker, the stillness underneath the mental noise, the love and joy underneath the pain, is freedom, salvation, enlightenment.”
– Eckhart Tolle
Welcome and Announcements
A warm welcome is extended to all. No matter who you are, or where you are on life’s journey, you are welcome here in this safe and sacred place.
Call to Worship
Pastor: Creativity God, source of our life, may we approach this day with joy.
People: We celebrate the gift of life itself and the gift of every resource that enhances life.
Pastor: Life is sometimes complicated and it can be easy to feel powerless to make a difference.
People: Our coping capacities run low. Fears and dangers can block out the awareness of the goodness and the strength that sur-rounds us.
Pastor: When time and events and people go by so fast, may we know the power in pausing, and in pausing find our life renewed.
People: We will now pause, and in this sacred place, be reminded that we are a people of God, that we are accepted and strength-ened, encouraged and blessed.
All: Welcome to worship.
Opening Hymn #8 – Praise to the Living God