THE PROPHETIC LESSON Job 38:1-7, 34-41
THE GOSPEL LESSON Mark 10:35-45
THEME Faithfulness as Relationship
Worship Notes
Welcome to worship at Westminster on this the 29th Sunday of Ordinary Time! The liturgical color for this season is green.
In worship today, we reflect and consider the charge Christ gave to his disciples that the greatest among them must be servant of all. This passage in Mark continues a series of scriptural texts in which Christ characterizes greatness through service.
As we gather together, we sing the hymn "Lord, You Give the Great Commission," which uses the words of Christ to define our responsibility to be in service to others. The psalm of the day is Psalm 104, which speaks of God's wonderful power revealed throughout creation. The congregational songs of the early reformed church were settings of the Psalms and were called "The Psalter." As a symbol of our unity in God, we will sing Psalm 104 responsively.
As we respond to God's word proclaimed, we will use two musical settings of a text from the early church: Ubi Caritas. The prayer response, "Live in Charity," is the first such setting and it is taken from the Taize Ecumenical Community in France. The offertory setting is the second setting and it is derived from the beautiful choral motet by the French composer Maurice Durufle (1902-1986).
Our worship ends with a call to servant hood for the whole church. The hymn, "The Church of Christ in Every Age," challenges us not only to see the historical role the church has played in serving those in need, but also to embrace Christ's continued call for us become servants of all.
