201122.Christ the King H.E. DRAFT 2
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ST.PAUL’SEPISCOPALCHURCH Sunday, November 22, 2020 Sunday, “• Christ the King • Last Sunday after Pentecost: St. Paul Kansas City Vestments Chasuble Priest Stole The56” wideReign by 50” long of Christ 5” wide by 55” long with shaped neckline HOLY EUCHARIST: RITE TWO . 10:00 AM The Center for Mission & Ministry @ St. Paul's | el Centro de Misión y Ministerio en San Pablo a Mission Enterprise Zone of the Diocese of Kansas • a Jubilee Ministry Center of the Episcopal Church 1300 N. 18th Street • Kansas City, KS 66102• T 913.321.3535 main • T 913.321.8674 pantry • www.stpaulskck.org The Liturgy of the Word About this Service Today is “Reign of Christ” or “Christ the King” Sunday--the Last Sunday in Pentecost, and the Last Sunday of the Church’s liturgical year. Next week we will reset the Church’s clock as we mark the beginning of a new Christian year with Advent. Advent invites Christians to let go of their conventional understanding of time to enter into God’s time as we begin the sacred story of God made man in Jesus the Christ once again. The first Sunday of Advent is “New Year’s Day” according to Christian sacred time, and our cycle of lectionary readings will also begin anew. We will move from Lectionary Year “A” centered on the Gospel of Matthew to Year “B” with a focus on Mark’s gospel. Today our worship service will also be a special “Instructed Eucharist.” It is my desire that as we end this liturgical year and enter a new cycle, those of you new to the Episcopal Church will gain a greater understanding of what it is that we do each week in worship. It is also my hope that those of you who have been worshiping using the Book of Common Prayer and attending an Episcopal Church for many years might gain a new insight into some aspect of our rich liturgical tradition. In the Eucharistic Liturgy or service of Holy Communion worship is a present experience-- we believe that Christ and all the saints are here with us at this moment, we believe that what was once true is still true, that what happened long ago continues and is continuing to take place. Our service is organized into two actions in which Christ re-presents himself and we are reminded of who we are: 1) In the Liturgy of the Word (the first part of the service through the Peace) Christ is the living Word in the Gospel; and 2) in the Liturgy of the Table Christ is present in the Sacrament of bread and wine during the Great Thanksgiving at the Communion. As we enter into worship today, I invite you to notice the pattern of call and response that characterizes the Liturgy of the Word. This part of our service can be traced back to the synagogue services of Jesus’ day. Such services began with the greeting chanted or entoned, followed by readings from the scriptures and preaching by the rabbis, and included the singing of Psalms and lamentations. Today we model the shape of this liturgy. We sit to listen to God’s Word from scripture in our lessons, we stand and respond to God’s Word with songs of praise, a psalm, and with the prayers of the people. In a larger sense the entire time we gather in worship on Sunday is an opportunity to hear God’s Word in order to receive and respond to God during the week. Our entire life is intended as a response to God’s call. In the Episcopal Church our scripture readings are not selected by individuals but rather, the larger Church chooses each week based on a lectionary that has been developed over many years. Listen to today’s readings to hear how the Church helps us to understand the “Reign of Christ,” the many different ways to perceive Jesus, and to envision how he will reign forever and ever. In addition, listen to the words and styles of the hymns that we select. Each week the hymns are chosen carefully because they reflect our corporate response to the Word of God heard in Scripture, in the Sermon, and received through the experience of worship. The hymns also re-present the theological themes and images found in scripture or specific to the liturgical season. Thus, their selection is critical for a total worship experience. 1 Liturgy of the Word The Liturgy of the Word or Service of the Word Also called the ante-communion, or the synaxis (meeting)--from the Jewish synagogue service. The visual focal point during this part of the worship service is the lectern and pulpit. The action is focused on listening to God through the scriptures & responding with praise, psalms & prayers. In this part of our service we seek to meet God in the ancient text which is just as alive now as it was 2,000 years ago. Because it is alive, it can seep into our beings and dwell within us, animating us to be God’s messengers to a world sorely in need of good news. WELCOME The Rev. Dixie Roberts Junk We carry the cross into and out of church services as part of our normal processions to remind ourselves that when we are in worship, we are participating in a transformative action. Worshiping God changes us, transforms us into more active servants, more loving people. And the cross is a symbol of that transformation (just as Jesus transformed the cross--a symbol of fear, Rome’s domination and control into a symbol of freedom, love, hope, and salvation). The people stand. HYMN AT THE PROCESSION “Crown him with many crowns” pages 13-14 We begin worship with a hymn of praise-- opening our lives to God the Creator who made and loves us. ACCLAMATION The Rev. Dixie Roberts Junk An ancient greeting: Presider Blessed be God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. People And blessed be God’s Kingdom, now and forever. Amen SONG OF PRAISE “Gloria | Glory to God” Bob Hurd All sing refrain first in Spanish then in English. All sing verses. The Gloria helps us to remember that we worship because God’s very being draws praise from us and our fundamental nature as children of God includes the instinct to worship. When we come together on Sundays, that instinct plays out because God’s love causes us to desire to praise. As St. Paul instructs: “rejoice always” (1 Th 5). Gloria a Dios en el cielo, y en la tierra paz Glory to God in the highest, glory to God, a los hombres que ama el Señor. and on earth peace to people of good will. 1. We praise you, we bless you, we adore you, we glorify you, we give you thanks for your great glory, Lord God, heavenly King, O God, almighty Father. 2. Lord Jesus Christ, Only begotten Son, Lord God, Lamb of God, Son of the Father, you take away the sins of the world, have mercy on us; you take away the sins of the world, receive our prayer; you are seated at the right hand of the Father, have mercy on us. 3. For you alone are the Holy One, you alone are the Lord, you alone are the Most High, Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit, in the glory of God the Father. Amen. Amen. Estribillo (en español y inglés) | Refrain (Spanish & English) 2 SALUTATION The Rev. Dixie Roberts Junk Presider The Lord be with you. People And also with you. Presider Let us Pray. THE COLLECT FOR THE DAY A prayer that collects, or gathers together, our thoughts for this particular day in the church year. Almighty and everlasting God, whose will it is to restore all things in your well beloved Son, the King of kings and Lord of lords: Mercifully grant that the peoples of the earth, divided and enslaved by sin, may be freed and brought together under his most gracious rule; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. A COLLECT FOR VISION . MISSION + COLLABORATION A collect prayer that gathers together, our vision for mission and ministry. O Holy God, you breathe your life-giving Spirit into our vision of a Center for Ministry, Mission and Outreach at St. Paul’s. We pray for our Episcopal partners and our many community partners who join us in mission and to spread the Gospel. Show us the people to whom we should go and the path we should travel; inclusive of those from all nations, tribes and languages as we are called. Help us to understand the deep longings of their hearts. Enable us to feed them in body, mind and spirit through the living presence of Jesus Christ our Savior, in whose power we set forth and in whose name we pray. Amen. The people are seated for the reading of the lessons. THE FIRST READING Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24 Elvis Spearman, lector The first reading comes from the Old Testament (or from Acts during Eastertide). Thus says the Lord GOD: I myself will search for my sheep, and will seek them out. As shepherds seek out their flocks when they are among their scattered sheep, so I will seek out my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places to which they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness. I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land; and I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the watercourses, and in all the inhabited parts of the land.