Sunday,  September 1, 2024
Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost
Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23 | “For Tradition”

Call to Worship (Inspired by Psalm 15)
One: O Holy One, who may abide in your tent? Who may dwell on your holy hill? 
Many: Those who want to journey with you, who may have missed a turn, and who may struggle with rocky patches and rough terrain. 
One: O Holy One, who may abide in your tent? Who may dwell on your holy hill? 
Many. Those who seek and search for you and for community with doubts and hopes, joys and fears, smiles and tears.
One: O Holy One, who may abide in your tent? Who may dwell on your holy hill? 
Many: Those who try and those who sometimes give up. Those who are beautifully, wonderfully, and imperfectly human–all of us! Thanks be to God! 

Invocation
Loving God, we rejoice to be with you and with one another. You are the God who makes all things new and who redeems our past. In life, we find the fullness of life—from joy beyond measure to despair that consumes. Your presence sustains us through the depths and the plateaus. We acknowledge your sovereignty and express our bold trust that hope is our portion and assigned position in your everlasting and incomparable realm. Amen. 

Prayer for Transformation and New Life
Eternal God, may we break from the bonds of unaltered, unexamined, and unimaginative traditions. At the same time, may we be released from the compulsion to discount everything that has been a source of life and faithful formation across generations. Help us to discern what needs to be left in our past with honor, recognition, and gratitude, what needs to be eradicated with lament, repentance, and repair, and what needs to be envisioned, imagined, and created for the future. Amen.

Words of Grace
Beloved, the Holy One renews, redeems, and restores through continuing creative acts. God has not concluded the good work begun in you or in our faith communities. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, we receive courage, counsel, and conviction to do the new thing God is calling us to do while holding fast to those things that build, sustain, and encourage. 

Invitation to Generosity
James 1:17a reminds us that “Every generous act of giving, with every perfect gift, is from above.” May we receive all the gifts from God with gladness, share the gifts with hospitality and compassion, and celebrate the kindom of God’s abundance with boldness. 

Prayer of Thanksgiving and Dedication
Generous God, bless these gifts that we share for the flourishing of the kindom. Prosper the work of our hands, order the steps in our days, and align the balance of our resources. In our time, talent, and treasure, may you be glorified.  Amen.  

Benediction 
May the everlasting love of God give you peace,
The surprising grace of God give you courage,
And the creative will of God give you joy,
As you release the traditions that have served their time,
Hold the traditions that inspire new life,
And create traditions for a future promising and unknown.

For Tradition: Service Prayers for the Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost Year B was written by the Rev. Dr. Cheryl A. Lindsay who serves as Minister for Worship and Theology for the United Church of Christ.