Cycle C Lectionary 18 Proper 13

8/4/2013 Confession (s)

Sunday Title: Stuff Sunday 

Sermon Title: “The Pursuit of….”

Previously:

Sunday Title: Wealth Sunday 

Sermon Title: “Last Words”

Sunday Title: Prosperity Sunday 

Sermon Title: "Wind Catching"

Scripture Cuttings:

Ecclesiastes 1:2, 12-14, 2:18-23 For all their days are full of pain, and their work is a vexation; even at night their minds do not rest. This also is vanity.

Psalm 49:1-12 Truly, no ransom avails for one's life, there is no price one can give to God for it. For the ransom of life is costly, and can never suffice, that one should live on forever and never see the grave.

Colossians 3:1-11 So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above....

Luke 12:13-21 Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one's life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.

P:  In the Name of the Father, and the Son, + and the Holy Spirit.

C: Amen

P:  Let us take this time to be honest with God. (pause)

  Gracious God,

C: It is in your image, according to your plan,

  that we are created.

You give us ability to be productive

  and fill us with skills and strength;

    but we turn away from your wisdom

      and use these gifts for personal accumulations.

You give us the inheritance of salvation;

  but we foolishly seek to make our lives focus

    on the abundance of possessions.

We pick and choose what will define our righteousness,

  we set our minds on things that are on earth,

    and even find vanity in our religious habits.

Forgive us Lord for the sins we know in our heart.

Save us Lord from the sins we hide.

    (pause for reflection and self-examination)

P:  For all these Lord we are deeply sorry.  

C: Amen

P:  Our Lord gives us hope. The hope of the Gospel. Christ secures our inheritance by his death on the cross. Our sins are forgiven. Through the Holy Spirit we may pass by whatever is earthly and rise with Christ and the work and worth of our lives may be revealed with Christ in glory. In the name of the Father, and the Son, + and the Holy Spirit.

C: Amen -wjw

P:  The peace of the Lord be with you always!

C: And also with you!

-or-

P:  In the Name of the Father, and the Son, + and the Holy Spirit.

C: Amen

P:  Before we come into God's presence

  let us reflect on the focus of our lives. (pause for self-examination)

P:  Almighty Lord...

C: We devote our strongest energy

 to things that will perish.

We spend the wages of our toil,

  on pleasure by the minute.

We find no joy in the labor in our back

  or the strain on our minds,

    but only celebrate narrow escapes on payday.

We think we can never catch up,

  because we are fooled by escalating prosperity.

And finally when we get ahead,

  we flaunt it:

    skillful, subtle vanity.

Your way eludes us even in years of self-reflection,

Never once in this race

  do we first seek your treasure.

The world has fooled us, save us Lord.

We are disloyal; we are sorry, forgive us Lord.

  (Pause for reflection)

P:  God knows us. We are dead in our sin. God saves us. God's son, our Lord Jesus Christ, comes and pays the price with his life. For Christ's sake our sins are forgiven. He is raised from the dead and if we, who believe, are raised with Christ, we shall seek the things that are from God. By the power of the Holy Spirit we may live in Christ and put away the things of this world. To the Glory of the Father, and the Son, + and the Holy Spirit..

C: Amen. -wjw

P:  The peace of the Lord be with you always!

C: And also with you!