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offering and dedication

dedication: in giving we are fed

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Faithful and Generous God, we share this evening that which we are able, knowing that it is just a small portion of all that we have received.  We pray that you will see these offerings used to benefit those in need, that they might be fed in body, mind, and spirit.  We know that in the very act of giving, we ourselves are fed.  We thank you for the opportunity to share our gifts, and we ask that you would inspire us to be ever more generous, as you are abundantly generous to us.  In Jesus’ name we pray.  Amen.

 

Submitted by Rev. Sarah Rentzel Jones, pastor of St. Peter’s (Lischey’s) UCC in Spring Grove, PA

dedication: looking toward the Passion

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O God, you are with us as we plunge to the depths of despair and rise yet victorious.  You understand when we stumble, and you pick us up when we fall.  May our gifts be testaments of our gratitude for all you do for us.  May our pledge to stand by you be shown in what we are willing to share with the world, and may this church help to share your love with all around us.  In Christ’s steadfast name we pray, Amen.

 

Submitted by Rev. Sarah Rentzel Jones, pastor of St. Peter’s (Lischey’s) UCC in Spring Grove, PA

dedication: no matter why we give

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Gracious God, we give for many reasons.  We give out of habit, we give because it is commanded, we give because our blessings overflow.  Help us to remain generous as we leave this place, to continue to support your church not just monetarily but in our words and deeds, and to support one another through our prayers and friendship.  In Your name we pray, Amen.

 

Submitted by Rev. Sarah Rentzel Jones, pastor of St. Peter’s (Lischey’s) UCC in Spring Grove, PA.

there’s always more

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Some weeks just feel like there’s always one more thing to do. This week it was the Ash Wednesday bulletin, then the Sunday bulletin, then the Wednesday service, now thinking about those parts of the Sunday service that aren’t in the bulletin–because there’s so much more to worship than what’s printed there, right?

This week we have a prayer of dedication from the Rev. Sarah Rentzel Jones, pastor of St. Peter’s (Lischey’s) UCC in Spring Grove, PA…may it spark our thinking and praying and creating! What else do you need for this week? A prayer for illumination? A children’s time? A call to confession? Share you ideas here!

Dedicating the Offering
We give Thee but Thine own, O Lord, and we do this intentionally each week to remind ourselves that everything we have is on loan from you. The gifts that we have presented today are not all that we have, but a portion which we set aside, so that your work can be done in this church and in the world. Help us to be ever mindful of your generosity toward us, so that we might be generous in return. Amen.

call to offering: transfigured and regenerated

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This Sunday, commonly known as Transfiguration Sunday, we remember the appearance of Jesus to his disciples on the mountain with evidence that his mission ranked him alongside the likes of Moses and Elijah. Certainly a triumphal moment if there ever was one!

Jesus is transfigured on the mountaintop. But sitting down and beholding the triumphal glory isn’t the point. Jesus is who he is regardless of whether he is dressed in glowing glory or in more humble attire. What transfigures in this encounter is us, in that we become the love that he is as we look upon him. In the folds of his garments, whiter than any earthly hand could bleach, is to be found all the love that is, or was, or shall ever be. We, like the disciples, want to build a tent around that love, bind it to the spot, make it stay, not trusting that there is more than enough of it, inexhaustible and endless; and that in giving and sharing it, there is always more of it there.

Let us give of ourselves this day, not as if we feared for our own destruction, but in confidence that God in Christ can take the things and selves we give and can–and will– transfigure and regenerate them.

Submitted by Brian Cubbage, Elder at Douglass Boulevard Christian Church (Louisville, KY)