October 8th, 2023
WORDS OF GREETING AND NomoFomo
Pastor Amanda Miller Garber
If you have children, check out the “KidZone” - a designated and supervised area within our worship space where kids can be kids - play with toys or games, draw and color, interact with caring adults, youth and one another, etc - and still be with the community for worship. Parents can choose to stay close and worship alongside their kids or sit more distantly and allow KidZone staff and volunteers to give energy and attention to their children for a time.
WE ARE HIRING A KIDZONE COORDINATOR! Thanks to a very generous donor, RISE is now able to hire someone to staff and coordinate our KidZone during Sunday morning worship! The RISE KidZone Coordinator will serve the RISE community by providing nurture, supervision, and care to the young children of the worshiping community. While providing primary staff coverage for the KidZone during RISE worship gathering is the foremost responsibility of this position, scheduling and managing additional volunteers for the KidZone (at least one per week) is also expected. Time commitment will be 3-4 hours per week - primarily 9:30 -noon on Sunday mornings - and pay is $50/week. This position is open effective immediately, and interviews will be held on a rolling basis until the position is filled. If interested in the position (or if you know of someone who might be), contact Chris Zepp, Minister of Care and Communications (cares@riseharrisonburg.com) to request a full position description.
OUR OWN DEEP WELLS: A movement dedicated to adapting communal and individual soulful practices to build mental and emotional resilience - EMU November 10-11, 2023
A 24 hour retreat for area college students, young adults, student life professionals, etc that welcomes you to slow down, explore the soulful practices that are helping you survive and thrive, and sit with others who may be called to lead, share, or experience soulful practices in community. For full details and registration info, click HERE. Contact Pastor Amanda (ajmgarber@gmail.com) with any questions.We are always looking for persons willing to volunteer to assist and support our worship gatherings. If you’d be willing to help with set up/clean up, offering rides, providing a light breakfast, participating in the service, helping with music or the arts, etc, etc please let us know by filling out this short form: Worship Support Team Response.
Have a musical talent? Wanna just shake a box of cereal or hit a tambourine? Join the music team!! Will is looking for folks to help grow our music ministry. Talk to him after service today or find any RISE leader and let them know and we will get you connected.
If you would like to connect more deeply with RISE, you can start by submitting this short form to Get Connected!
Sign up for texting services:
Text “RISE” to 833-803-0868 to join the primary list and receive weekly community updates and alerts
Text “RISEcares” to receive prayer requests, care needs, and community concerns and celebrations
Please continue to check social media (Facebook & Instagram) and our website for all updates and information!
Requests for care and/or prayer can be sent via e-mail to cares@riseharrisonburg.org, texted to 833-803-0868, or submitted online via our RISE Cares form.
Opening Music
Brent Holl
“WELCOME TABLE”
You’ve got a place at the welcome table
You’ve got a place at the welcome table,
Some of these days, Hallelujah!
You’ve got a place at the welcome table
You’ve got a place at the welcome table
Some of these days
We’re gonna feast on milk and honey…
We’ll give thanks at the welcome table…
We’ll come home to the welcome table..
I’m goin’ down to the river of Jordan..
I’m gonna sit down with my Jesus..
I’m gonna sing in the heavenly choir…
I’m gonna eat at the welcome table…
“Sweet, Sweet Spirit”
~Doris Akers
There's a sweet, sweet Spirit in this place,
And I know that it's the Spirit of the Lord;
There are sweet expressions on each face,
And I know they feel the presence of the Lord.
CHORUS:
Sweet Holy Spirit, Sweet heavenly Dove,
Stay right here with us, filling us with Your love.
And for these blessings we lift our hearts in praise;
Without a doubt we'll know that we have been revived,
When we shall leave this place.
There are blessings you cannot receive
Till you know Him in His fullness and believe;
You're the one to profit when you say,
"I am going to walk with Jesus all the way."
CHORUS
If you say He saved you from your sin,
Now you're weak, you're bound and cannot enter in,
You can make it right if you will yield,
You'll enjoy the Holy Spirit that we feel.
CHORUS
OPENING PRAYER
Daniel Green
THEOLOGICAL EXPLORATION
Pastor Amanda Miller Garber
Matthew 22:1-14 (CEB)
1 Jesus responded by speaking again in parables: 2 “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding party for his son. 3 He sent his servants to call those invited to the wedding party. But they didn’t want to come. 4 Again he sent other servants and said to them, ‘Tell those who have been invited, “Look, the meal is all prepared. I’ve butchered the oxen and the fattened cattle. Now everything’s ready. Come to the wedding party!”’ 5 But they paid no attention and went away—some to their fields, others to their businesses. 6 The rest of them grabbed his servants, abused them, and killed them.
7 “The king was angry. He sent his soldiers to destroy those murderers and set their city on fire.8 Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding party is prepared, but those who were invited weren’t worthy. 9 Therefore, go to the roads on the edge of town and invite everyone you find to the wedding party.’
10 “Then those servants went to the roads and gathered everyone they found, both evil and good. The wedding party was full of guests. 11 Now when the king came in and saw the guests, he spotted a man who wasn’t wearing wedding clothes. 12 He said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without wedding clothes?’ But he was speechless. 13 Then the king said to his servants, ‘Tie his hands and feet and throw him out into the farthest darkness. People there will be weeping and grinding their teeth.’
14 “Many people are invited, but few people are chosen.”
“The Work of the People”
Table Discussions and FACEBOOK Live Chat Discussion Questions
Who has shown up for you in your life and invited you to “the party” (or connection with God and others)? Has anyone unexpected ever invited you? How did that invitation change your life?
Describe the ways you imagine God’s party. Why do people need to be invited to the party? (Why wouldn’t people naturally want to be connected with/ in relationship with their Creator?)
Have you ever carried or embodied the invitation to the party (or been the messenger)? What was that like?
COMMUNION
Pastor Amanda Miller Garber
Servers: Alison Garcia & Seth Owens
SONG DURING COMMUNION
Brent Holl
“BREAD and Fishes”
~Alan Bell
As I went a walkin' one mornin' in spring
I met with some travelers in an old country lane
One was an old man, the second a maid
And the third was a young boy who smiled as he said
CHORUS:
We've the wind in the willows, and the birds in the sky
We've a bright sun to warm us, where ever we lie
We have bread and fishes and a jug of red wine
To share on our journey with all of man-kind
I sat down beside them, the flowers all around
And we ate on a mantle spread out on the ground
They told me of prophets and princes and kings
And they spoke of the one god who knows everything
CHORUS
I asked them to tell me their name and their race
So I might remember their kindness and grace
"My name is Joseph, this is Mary my wife
And this is our young son, our pride and delight”
We travel the whole world, by land and by sea
To tell all the people how they might be free
CHORUS
Sadly, I left them, in an old country lane
For I knew that I never would see them again
One was an old man, the second a maid
And the third was a young boy who smiled as he said:
CHORUS
Offering
Abby Dotson
Closing song
Brent Holl
“Nothing without Love”
~Michael Stern
If I have eloquence & power
It’s nothing without love, nothing without love
If I have beauty like a flower
It’s nothing without love, nothing without love
(instrumental 1⁄2 verse)
If I have faith that can move mountains
It’s nothing without love, nothing without love
If I have knowledge flowing fountains
It’s nothing without love, nothing without love
(instrumental 1⁄2 verse)
If I have courage facing fire
It’s nothing without love, nothing without love
Or sacrifice all I desire
It’s nothing without love, nothing without love
Love is patient, love is kind
Love remembers those left behind
(instrumental 1⁄2 verse)
Love is not jealous or conceited
There’s nothing without love, nothing without love
Even in death is not defeated
There’s nothing without love, nothing without love
Love is patient, love is kind
Love remembers those left behind
There’s nothing without love, nothing without love
There’s nothing without love, nothing without love
FINAL BLESSING
When the noise and haste surround you
and threaten to take you hostage,
May God’s gentle voice soothe you
and guide you to a place of quiet strength;
When the days seem cold and dark,
and the nights unbelievably long,
May God’s smile illumine
and warm you from within;
When you feel alone and dismal,
May God send someone to you with a daisy.
May you truly go forth in joy
and be led back in peace;
May all creation sing around you;
And may the weeds of mourning
turn into flowers
wherever you walk.
Amen.
~Katie Cook, 1993