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Woship Resources 2008-2009 — Year B: Be a Sanctuary of Christ's Peace
Return to Year B: 2008-2009
Resource Index
Sunday, July 5, 2009
God’s Grace Is Sufficient
Ordinary Time (Proper 9)
Scriptures: II Samuel 5:1–5, 9–10; Psalm 48; II
Corinthians 12:2–10;
Mark 6:1–13/6:1–14 IV; Moroni 10:29; Doctrine and Covenants 163:10a–b
We Come into Your Presence, Lord
Prelude
Welcome and Sharing
Gathering for Worship Hymn: “O Lord, Grace Our Communion” HS 1
OR “Sweet the Time, Exceeding Sweet” HS 4
We Give You Praise, Lord
Call to Worship
Leader: God loves you with an everlasting love.
People: Praise God, that we are drawn close to have our wounds healed,
our emptiness filled, and hopes strengthened.
Leader: Do not turn away in pride, fear, or guilt from God’s everlasting
love. Let yourself be drawn close.
People: Let us open our minds and hearts and discover anew the blessings
of the gospel.
Leader: Be vulnerable to God’s grace.—Doctrine and Covenants 163:10a–b
adapted
*Hymn of Praise: “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” HS 31
OR “Now Sing to Our God” NS 40
*Invocation
*Response
A Time of Confession and Pardon
Read in unison.
We come to the table of bread and wine with deep, hurting hungers from
the emptiness of our worship of false idols: Our way of life, our nation,
our fears, our politics, our unforgiveness, our ambitions, our
faithlessness, our greed, our status, our doctrines. And here at the table
of love, we find healing.
—Adapted from Worship Resources for the Sacraments,
Judy Judd, ed. (Herald Publishing House, 1968), 79.
Silent Moment of Reflection and Prayer
Scripture Reading: II Corinthians 12:2–10
Hymn: “Amazing Grace” HS 104
OR “May Thy Presence Be Ours” HS 102
We Share with Generous Hearts
Disciples’ Generous Response
Each Sunday, as part of the Disciples’ Generous Response, we ask you to
integrate the message of “share equally” between Local and World Ministries
Mission Tithes. Generosity stories are provided to keep the church in touch
with how contributions to Mission Tithes spread the peace of Jesus Christ.
Please use the stories, testimonies, and up-to-date contribution information
as part of your offertory ministry. Visit
www.CofChrist.org/generositystories to print a copy, or contact your
pastor, congregational financial officer, or worship coordinator for a copy.
“Grant us, Lord, the grace of giving with a spirit large and free, that
ourselves and all our living we may offer unto thee.”—HS 413
Blessing and Receiving of Oblation and Mission Tithes
Communion Message
Based on II Corinthians 12:2–10
Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper
Prayer for Peace see
page 27
Preparation of Emblems Hymn: “Let Us Break Bread Together” HS 342
OR “Soften My Heart” NS 47
Invitation to the Lord’s Table
Come, let us kneel side by side and share together this holy meal. The
Lord is present and seeks to fill our hungry souls. Let us break bread
together on our knees.
Blessing and Serving of the Bread
Blessing and Serving of the Wine
Hymn after Communion: “Jesus, Remember Me” sing twice NS 26
OR “Santo, Santo, Santo” sing twice NS 43
OR “Bread of the World” HS 329
Silent Meditation
God’s Grace Is Sufficient
Sending Forth
Lord, by your grace we came, and by your grace we depart. You have met us
again here, and for this we thank you. We thank you for the unmerited love
we enjoy. Help us accept your call and your commission and become more
involved in ministering to the needs of the world about us. Send us forth
refreshed and renewed to be about your business and to acknowledge your
blessings day by day. Amen.
—Worship Resources, Beginning Advent 2005 up to Advent 2006,
Year B
(Herald Publishing House, 2005), 146.
OR Moroni 10:29
*Sending Forth Hymn: “Sent Forth by God’s Blessing” HS 493
OR “This God Is the God We Adore" HS 481
*Response
*Postlude
Sermon Helps
Scriptures: II Samuel 5:1–5, 9–10; Psalm 48; II Corinthians
12:2–10; Mark 6:1–13/6:1–14 IV
Exploring the Scriptures
Paul’s second letter to the saints in Corinth is personal and passionate,
revealing much about both leadership of congregations in conflict and
discipleship in times of personal struggle. To understand why Paul writes
strangely in 12:2–10, it is necessary to understand the conflict that is
occurring between Paul and the congregation. Frank Matera summarizes it as
follows:
The father and founder of the Corinthian community, Paul, finds himself
alienated from his “children,” who, abetted by intruding apostles, have
called into question his integrity. To resolve this conflict, Paul must
engage in an extended defense of his ministry in order to show the
Corinthians that they, and those who have intruded upon his missionary
field, have misunderstood the essential nature of apostolic ministry and,
therefore, of the gospel.… At stake in this conflict are nothing less than
the nature of ministry and the shape of the gospel that will be preached at
Corinth.
Paul does not want to boast about himself, but the “intruding apostles” are
apparently boasting about themselves, and the congregation seems to have asked
Paul to submit matching credentials. When he does so in verses 2–4, he is
plainly describing his own experience, because he is the only one who could be
aware of this person’s experiences. He has chosen not to tell the Corinthians
about the experience earlier, both because he believed it would be
self-promoting (v. 6) while not helping them (v. 1) and because the things he
heard in the experience were “unutterable utterances”—an oxymoron, but one that
we understand (v. 4).
While Paul affirms the truth and “the exceptional character of the
revelations,” his main purpose is to set up the larger revelation of the power
that comes in weakness. At just the moment he is experiencing the elation of the
divine encounter, he is given a thorn in his flesh—some kind of personal
suffering that will be with him from then on. Not understanding why he is being
made to suffer, he prays that the pain would leave him. (As we all do, Paul
wants to specify what the answer to his prayer should be.) Instead, the Lord
makes clear that the suffering is as much a gift as the ecstatic experience: “My
grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.”
Paul is therefore happy to boast about his many weaknesses. He has come to
the radical understanding that the power of Christ dwells in his weaknesses:
“Whenever I am weak, then I am strong.” He has come to be vulnerable to divine
grace. You might say that while God’s grace is sufficient, our weakness is
necessary.
Countless hours have been spent trying to guess what Paul’s thorn was. It is
possible that the Corinthians knew (see 10:10), and Paul therefore does not need
to say. In any case, it is good for us that he does not say, because we are free
to count our own weakness as equal to his, and God’s grace as sufficient for us,
too.
In the Communion experience, we have the opportunity to confess our
weaknesses and cast our burdens on the Lord. By receiving the bread and wine,
symbols of Christ’s body and blood, we accept the sufficiency of God’s grace.
Central Ideas
- In order to receive God’s grace it is necessary to recognize and admit
our weaknesses and personal pain.
- In receiving the gift of our weaknesses, the power of Christ is also
received.
- Christ provides strength in times of weakness.
Questions for the Speaker
- How have you been able to recognize your weaknesses as ways that the
power of Christ might work?
- How does this passage help you deal with the question of why there is
suffering?
- Can you name instances of Christ’s power working through your weakness?
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