For a printable version of today’s Order of Worship, click here.
Emmanuel United Methodist Church
Nancy C. Johnson, Pastor
17th Sunday after Pentecost September 27, 2020
A Service of the Word/Online Order of Worship
CCLI #1149131
Gathering for Worship
WORDS OF WELCOME/ENTER THE LIGHT OF CHRIST (You may light a candle at home if you wish)
GATHERING WORDS (If you are worshipping with others, you may use two or more voices in a “Call to Worship” style at home).
Let all the earth rejoice. The heavens are telling the glory of God.
The Spirit of God is with us, Gathering us together as God’s people.
The Spirit of God is alive within us, Making us to be the Body of Christ.
Come, let us praise and worship the Lord,
The One who binds us together in love and service.
HYMN OF PRAISE Bind Us Together TFWS #2226
OPENING PRAYER Loving God, by your Spirit you have gathered us together in your Holy name to celebrate your presence among us and with us always. We offer unto You our praise and thanksgiving for all that you are and all that you have given to us. As we center our hearts and spirits upon You, may You strengthen us, refresh us, and fill us with your Spirit of joy and peace. Though we are separated by time and space, may your transforming Spirit of unity bind us together as your people, your body, that we might be a witness of your love and grace to the world. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
BLESSING OF TITHES and OFFERINGS O God, we know true joy when we listen and follow your commandments, when we share our abundance, when we show your love to others. May these gifts serve as a proclaimation of your glory alive among us, and may these offerings put our word into action as your faithful disciples. Amen.
Proclaiming and Responding to God’s Word
SCRIPTURE LESSON I Corinthians 12: 12-27
12 Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For we were all baptized by[a] one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. 14 Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.
15 Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. 16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? 18 But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. 19 If they were all one part, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, but one body.
21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” 22 On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23 and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, 24 while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, 25 so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. 26 If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.
27 Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.
The Word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God.
ANTHEM God’s Family
SERMON The Body of Christ
PRAYER OF DISCIPLESHIP
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 trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.
HYMN OF DISCIPLESHIP Blessed Be the Tie that Binds #557
BLESSING
Hymn Information:
Bind Us Together, #2226 in The Faith We Sing, (Nashville: Abingdon Press), 2000.
Words and Music: Bob Gillman. Copyright 1977, Kingsway Thank You Music.
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRwfTS_Ne0o from Worship God Almighty website: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvRCtRP28gynvB1NGbhqjUA.
God’s Family. Words and Music by Lanny Wolfe, Lanny Wolfe Music Co., ASCAP, Copyright 1977. Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yOC5YWBiac from Harding University Concert Choir/Eternal Hymns of Praise at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCO0z59NyF3Y9uqd06pUyVRA
Blessed Be the Tie That Binds, #557 in The United Methodist Hymnal (Nashville: The United Methodist Publishing House) 1989; Words: John Fawcett, 1782; Music: Johann G. Nageli; arr. Lowell Mason, 1845. Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBReueMEzqo from Hymnsite.com: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqltdQsqXadVEIwSZOr8VoA.
