9th Sunday after Pentecost - Proper 11 (Year B)

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Call to Worship

For by grace we have been saved through faith;                                                                Eph. 2:8-10
but this is not our doing - it is a gift from God!
For we are what God has made us:
created in Christ Jesus for good works,
which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.
Come, let us worship God!

Prayer of the Day

Come, Holy Shepherd, and gather us as your people.                                                                 Ps. 23
May this worship service be a green pasture
in which your Word may lead us beside still waters.
We give you thanks for anointing us with your grace.
Surely goodness and mercy shall pursue us relentlessly
this day and forevermore.  Amen.

Call to Confession

God is the Good Shepherd,                                                                                                          Ps. 23
but too often we scatter ourselves
instead of following our Shepherd’s voice.
Let us confess our sins before God and one another.

Confession

Merciful God,                                                                                                                        Eph. 2:11-22
you are our peace and in your flesh you have brought us together.
But too often we place walls between us and you,
between “us” and “them,”
between us and the immigrant or refugee.
Forgive us, for when we shut out the stranger, we shut out you.
Help us to act like the members of the household of God that we are.
Inspire us to set larger tables instead of building bigger walls.
May we pursue goodness and mercy and relentlessly as you pursue us.
This we pray in your holy and mighty name.  Amen.

Assurance of Pardon

Friends, we are being pursued by goodness and mercy all the days of our lives.
Try as we might, we can’t outrun it.
God’s goodness and mercy prevails.
In Jesus Christ, we are forgiven.
Alleluia!  Amen.

Prayer for Illumination

Gracious God,
do not leave us as sheep without a shepherd.                                                                      Mark 6:34
Guide us to the pastures of your will
by the presence of your Holy Spirit
that we might hear the Word you are speaking to us today.  Amen.

Prayers of the People

Let us pray to God saying:
God of Reconciliation, help us to break down the dividing wall.

If there’s any hope for love at all, some walls must fall.
But we work so hard to keep them up
because they make us feel safe and protected
from those whom we truly don’t understand.
Help us to understand those who are different from us
and guide us to see your presence in their eyes.
God of Reconciliation, help us to break down the dividing wall.

We pray for the families that have been separated at the border
and pray that walls may not separate us from our humanity and compassion.
Gracious God, your son, Jesus Christ, came into this world as a refugee,
fleeing violence and persecution.
May we see Christ’s face in the faces of those wishing for a better life for their family.
God of Reconciliation, help us to break down the dividing wall.

God of Hope and Healing,
there are so many voices of fear around us,
voices that would turn neighbor against neighbor
and sister against brother,
friend against friend.
Help us to listen to your voice
as it guides us to put to death the hostility that fractures us.
God of Reconciliation, help us to break down the dividing wall.

We pray this day with thanksgiving for those who have gone before us
and challenged us to break down the walls that divide us.
For saints like Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, Malala Yousafzai, 
Fred Rogers, Maya Angelou, and many others.
We pray with thanksgiving for those wall-breaking saints
that will not go down in history.  
The everyday people whose acts of kindness and radical welcome change this world.
God of Reconciliation, help us to break down the dividing wall.

We pray this day for the people who are Beaumont Presbyterian Church,
that they may be a courageous, compassionate, and creative congregation.
Help us to recognize the walls around us, among us, and inside of us
and help us to trust that your goodness and mercy will be waiting for us on the other side.
God of Reconciliation, help us to break down the dividing wall.

Hold us in your care, precious Lord,
as we seek to ever more faithfully follow your footsteps.
Hear us as we pray as you taught us to pray, saying:  Our Father…

 

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Stephen Fearing

Stephen was born in 1988 in Cookeville, TN, where his parents met whilst attending Tennessee Tech. Shortly after, they moved to Dalton, Georgia where they put down roots and joined First Presbyterian Church, the faith family that taught Stephen that he was first and foremost a beloved child of God. It was this community that taught Stephen that it was OK to have questions and doubts and that nothing he could do could every possibly separate him from the love of God. In 1995, his sister, Sarah Kate, joined the family and Stephen began his journey as a life-long musician. Since then, he has found a love of music and has found this gift particularly fitting for his call to ministry. Among the instruments that he enjoys are piano, trumpet, guitar, and handbells. Stephen has always had a love of singing and congregation song. An avid member of the marching band, Stephen was the drum major of his high school's marching band. In 2006, Stephen began his tenure at Presbyterian College in Clinton, SC where he majored in Religion and minored in History. While attending PC, Stephen continued to explore his love of music by participating in the Wind Ensemble, Jazz Band, Jazz Combo, Jazz Trio, as well as playing in the PC Handbell ensemble and playing mandolin and banjo PC's very own bluegrass/rock group, Hosegrass, of which Stephen was a founding member (Hosegrass even released their own CD!). In 2010, Stephen moved from Clinton to Atlanta to attend Columbia Theological Seminary to pursue God's call on his life to be a pastor in the PC(USA). During this time, Stephen worked at Trinity Presbyterian Church, Silver Creek Presbyterian Church, Central Presbyterian Church, and Westminster Presbyterian Church. For three years, Stephen served as the Choir Director of Columbia Theological Seminary's choir and also served as the Interim Music Director at Westminster Presbyterian Church. In 2014, Stephen graduated from Columbia with a Masters of Divinity and a Masters of Arts in Practical Theology with an emphasis in liturgy, music, and worship. In July of 2014, Stephen was installed an ordained as Teaching Elder at Shelter Island Presbyterian Church in Shelter Island, NY. Later that year, Stephen married the love of his life, Tricia, and they share their home on Shelter Island with their Golden Doodle, Elsie, and their calico cat, Audrey. In addition to his work with the people who are Shelter Island Presbyterian Church, Stephen currently serves as a commission from Long Island Presbytery to the Synod of the Northeast and, beginning in January of 2016, will moderate the Synod's missions team.