October 4, 2020: Celebration of Holy Communion: World Communion Sunday
Thank you for worshipping with us at Calvary Moravian Church. To support our ministries, you can mail the office a check (948 N. 21st St. Allentown 18104). An online giving portal is at: https://mmfa.info/calvary-moravian-church-pa-donation-form/.
Worship with us on Sundays:
9:45 a.m. Zoom Sunday school/Community Check-in. (Zoom into to chat and see our church family anytime between 9:45 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.)
10:45 a.m. Inside, limited capacity seating (physically distancing, masks required)
Also at 10:45 a.m. Livestream service found at Calvary Moravian Church Allentown’s YouTube Channel. Email us for the address.
As we celebrate the sacrament of Communion, if you are worshiping with us in person please pick up a sealed cup/wafer in the back of the church. If you are joining us at home, please bring a piece of bread and something to drink to be consecrated during the worship service.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
– Blessing of the Animals. Today, October 4, 2 p.m., Outside
Come join us as we remember the feast day of St. Francis and his care for all creatures of the earth with our annual blessing of the animals. Pets of all forms are welcome (leashed for pets, masks for humans), as we ask for God’s blessings and thank God for our furry friends.
–Wednesdays – Mid-Week Sanctuary Prayer Time
Each Wednesday from 12:00 – 2:00 p.m. our sanctuary will be open for anyone. Pastor Janel will lead a prayer and mediation at 12:00 – 12:15 p.m., also on Facebook.
– Crop Walk, Sunday, October 11th at 1 p.m. It will look a little different but still raising money to benefit the Allentown Ecumenical Soup Kitchen (of the Lehigh Conference of Churches), the Allentown Ecumenical Food Bank, and international hunger relief through Church World Service.
This year, we are avoiding a large crowd by not having the traditional Crop Walk through Allentown. Instead Calvary Moravian is doing a walk around our neighborhood at 1 p.m. We’ll have chalk for our kids (and adults!) to decorate our sidewalks with messages. Then we will walk our neighborhood – choose your own distance 1 mile or longer. Let people know that you are taking part in this action and help us raise money!
Want to Donate? Sponsor Calvary Moravian and help our drive-by and walkers by donating to our Crop Walk page. Go to https://www.crophungerwalk.org/allentownpa/calvarymoravian to make a donation to our page. Or to donate – write a check to Calvary Moravian Church (memo: Crop Walk) and send it or drop it off to the office.
Prelude How Beautiful This Day Taber.
Call to Worship
Liturgy for Christian Unity pg. 123.
(Standing)
Almighty God, you are the one who called this universe into being. Out of nothing you created everything that is.
By your power you hold together all space and time and substance.
By your hand alone, Creator God, the inanimate elements became alive so that we could live and move and have our being.
We celebrate life, the precious life you have given us, and we celebrate that unity of mind and emotions, of body and soul, that you want us to enjoy and share with each other.
We rejoice in the centrality of Jesus Christ in all your works, for he was with you from the very beginning, and is supreme over all creation.
We praise you that Christ is before all things, and that in him all things hold together, especially our very fragile, vulnerable, and often broken lives.
TUNE: DUKE STREET (22 Q)
Lord of all being, throned afar, Your glory flames from sun and star;
Center and Soul of every sphere,Yet to each loving heart how near!
Lord of all life, below, above, Whose light is truth, whose warmth is love,
Before your ever-blazing throne, We ask no luster of our own.
(Sitting)
Silent Confession
We know that we will remain less than the whole persons you have called us to be in Christ Jesus until we acknowledge our sins to you, and so we bow before you and pray:
Almighty God, we confess that we have tried to run away and hide from you. We constantly deceive ourselves into thinking that we can live without you. We have made idols of our own achievements. We have treated other persons as though they did not bear your image. We have failed to enfold and include all persons within the outstretched and open arms of Jesus Christ, our Savior. And we have left undone those deeds of lovingkindness and godly justice that you want us to pursue in your name. Bring your Spirit upon us in a gracious, healing way. Make us agents of reconciliation as we live within your holy presence. Amen.
TUNE: BEECHER
Breathe, O breathe your loving Spirit, Into every troubled breast;
Let us all in you inherit, Let us find the promised rest.
Take away the love of sinning; Alpha and Omega be;
End of faith, as its beginning, Set our hearts at liberty.
Prayers of the People
Dear God, as we your people gather in every time and place around this wondrous earth, may we be strengthened by our awareness of one another and united by our mutual prayers. May the variety of traditions and customs of your whole church become a multitude of lights to reveal the good news needed by people everywhere. May the variety of our ministries and service convey your redemptive love and bind us ever closer to one another.
Grant us grace to unite in essentials, to accept diversity in non-essentials, and to love one another in all things.
Hymn 781. In Christ There is No East or West
In Christ there is no East or West, in Christ no South or North;
but only those by God possessed, throughout the whole wide earth.
For God in Christ has made us one, from every land and race,
has reconciled us through the Son, and made us whole by grace.
In Christ there is no East and West, he breaks all barriers down,
By Christ redeemed, by Christ possessed, in Christ we live as one.
Special Music “Trees” arr. Ettinger.
Holy Communion for Christian Unity
Grace, mercy, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ, be with you all.
Amen.
Hymn (Sharing Right Wave of Fellowship).
(“I Come with Joy” by Brian Wren, OneLicense #52132)
I come with joy, a child of God, forgiven, loved and free,
the life of Jesus to recall, in love laid down for me.
I come with Christians far and near to find, as all are fed,
the new community of love in Christ’s communion bread.
As Christ breaks bread, and bids us share, each proud division ends.
The love that made us, makes us one, and strangers now are friends.
Prayer of Thanksgiving
(Lord’s Prayer)
Our Lord Jesus Christ, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, gave it to his disciples, and said: Take, eat, this is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.
(All partake together.)
Silent prayer
By your divine presence,
By the holy sacraments,
By all the merits of your life, sufferings, death, and resurrection,
Bless and comfort us, gracious Lord and God. Amen.
In the same way, after supper our Lord Jesus Christ took the cup, gave thanks, and gave it to his disciples, saying: Drink from this, all of you; this is my blood of the new covenant, which is shed for you and for many for the forgiveness of sin. Do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.
(All partake together.)
Silent prayer
Christ, the Lamb of God, you take away the sin of the world;
Grant to us your peace. Amen.
Whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death,
Until he comes.
Hymn (I Come With Joy, vs. 4 and 5, by Brian Wren)
(Sharing Right Wave of Fellowship)
The Spirit of the risen Christ, unseen, but ever near,
is in such friendship better known, alive among us here.
Together met, together bound by all that God has done,
we’ll go with joy, to give the world the love that makes us one.
The Lord bless you and keep you;
The Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious unto you;
The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace;
In the name of Jesus. Amen.
Reprinted or adapted from the 1995 Moravian Book of Worship with the permission of the Interprovincial Board of Communication, Moravian Church in America. © 1995 IBOC. www.moravian.org; e-mail: pubs@mcnp.org. All rights reserved.
Permission to podcast / stream the music in this service obtained from ONE LICENSE, License M-733262, All rights reserved.
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