Opening Prayer

God of the sojourners, we ask your presence with us on our journey through life. Help us to be faithful to your ways of love and grace. Keep us from helpless despair. Give us the power to make your love known. With your courage in our hearts, we will walk the Jerusalem road together. Amen.

Prayer of Confession

Holy God, called to walk with the vulnerable, we run to catch up with the powerful. Asked to pray constantly for others, we are too busy bragging about ourselves. Challenged to notice and to care for those tossed aside by the world, we rush by with our to-do list in our hands. Have mercy on us, God who loves us completely. May we be the grace that a lonely person needs this week; may we be the hope the forgotten are looking for; may we be the peace that the broken long for in every moment, even as Jesus, our Lord and Savior, has been our peace, our hope, our grace, and so much more in our lives.

Readings

• New Testament Lesson:   Colossians 1: 15-20   NRSV
• Gospel Lesson:   Luke 10: 38-43   NRSV

Hymns

• No. 132  –  Come, Great God of All the Ages
• No. 310  –  Jesus, the Very Thought of Thee
• No. 298  –  There’s a Wideness in God’s Mercy

Solos performed by  Kathy Fisk, soprano

Sermon

“Martha, Martha, Martha”  –  Elder Margo Tomlinson

Download the Worship bulletin for Sunday, July 21