First United Methodist Church Austin, Texas www.fumcaustin.org

Tenth Sunday after Pentecost

August 2, 2015 9:00 a.m. Sanctuary

First, Jesus feeds 5000 people, but the disciples don’t get it. Then, he feeds 4000 people, but they still don’t get it. Finally, out on the sea with Jesus, they have one loaf in the boat with them, but they still don’t get it. Will we get it? What’s in that loaf? And what does Jesus want us to do with it? Welcome

Because we believe that every human being is a beloved child of God, on a journey to God, with God, we welcome ALL persons, without exception, to attend, join, and participate fully in the life of this church. For a description of our worship services at 9:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. on Sundays and at 6:30 a.m. on Thursdays, visit our website at www.fumcaustin.org.

Family Room

Pardon our mess! While our Family Room located behind the balcony is being repaired, we invite families with young children, when they need a break from the worship service, to make themselves at home in the foyer, where we have a soft mat and some quiet toys and books. There is a diaper-changing station in the restroom just off the foyer, as well as a comfortable chair for nursing.

Ministries of Service

Serving those at the edges of society is central to our ministries. Today we highlight our English as a Second Language (ESL) Ministry. Each week over 60 persons from countries around the world practice English with several members of our church in this ministry of hospitality and education. You are invited to add your support to this ministry through your prayers and your giving.

Parking

In addition to the church’s lot on the north side of the Education/Chapel building, free parking on Sundays is available in the Trial Lawyer’s garage across from the church’s lot at 13th and Lavaca, on the roof top of the TSTA garage on 12th, and in the Stokes Garage on the southeast corner of 12th and Guadalupe.

Making Disciples...Making a Difference

Gathering as the Church

Opening Music Liturgy of Gathering

Asterisks (*) indicate stand as you are able.

Welcome All are invited to greet those around them and to sign in the white folders as a way of offering our presence to God. Response: I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord!” Psalm 122:1 Joys and Concerns Pray for those listed in the insert. If there are others you would like prayer for, fill out a prayer card at this time. Response: Let us cast all our cares on God, because God cares for us. I Peter 5:7

* Call to Worship

Entering the Holy

We live in a world that is hungry— hungry for bread, both physical and spiritual, hungry for meaning and purpose, hungry for love and a place to belong. Into this world came One who fed thousands. We have come to worship and to be made like this One.

* Hymn

All Who Hunger





Words: Sylvia G. Dunstan © 1991 GIA Publications, Inc. (All rights reserved. Used by permission. OneLicense.net #A705700.) Music: HOLY MANNA - William Moore

Hearing and Responding to God’s Word Introduction to the Scripture * Alleluia



Words and Music: Traditional Caribbean

Continuing prayerfully singing:



Words: Mary A. Lathbury Music: BREAD OF LIFE - William F. Sherwin

* Gospel Reading

Mark 8:1-21 In those days when there was again a great crowd without anything to eat, he called his disciples and said to them, “I have compassion for the crowd, because they have been with me now for three days and have nothing to eat. If I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way and some of them have come from a great distance.” His disciples replied, “How can one feed these people with bread here in the desert?” He asked them, “How many loaves do you have?” They said, “Seven.” Then he ordered the crowd to sit down on the ground; and he took the seven loaves, and after giving thanks, he broke them and gave them to his disciples to distribute; and they distributed them to the crowd. They had also a few small fish; and after blessing them, he ordered that these too should be distributed. They ate and were filled; and they took up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full. Now there were about four thousand people. And he sent them away. And immediately he got into the boat with his disciples and went to the district of Dalmanutha.

The Pharisees came and began to argue with him, asking him for a sign from heaven, to test him. And he sighed deeply in his spirit and said, “Why does this generation ask for a sign? Truly I tell you, no sign will be given to this generation.” And he left them, and getting into the boat again, he went across to the other side. Now the disciples had forgotten to bring any bread; and they had only one loaf with them in the boat. And he cautioned them, saying, “Watch out— beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod.” They said to one another, “It is because we have no bread.” And becoming aware of it, Jesus said to them, “Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you still not perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened? Do you have eyes, and fail to see? Do you have ears, and fail to hear? And do you not remember? When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you collect?” They said to him, “Twelve.” “And the seven loaves for the four thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you collect?” And they said to him, “Seven.” Then he said to them, “Do you not yet understand?” Response at the conclusion of the reading: The word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God.

Sermon What’s In a Loaf? Invitation to Take Steps in the Faith Journey

John A. Wright

Worship leads us to make commitments to God. If your response involves taking a first step to become a follower of Christ and/or a member of this church, fill out the First Steps card clipped to the pew back and place it in the offering plate. The next First Steps session will be Sunday, August 30th, at 12:15 p.m. in Room 104 of the Family Life Center.

Feasting at the Table of Grace Invitation to the Table

In The United Methodist Church, everyone is welcome at the Lord’s Table. It does not matter whether you are a member of this or any church. We welcome all, regardless of age or situation in life.

Prayer of Confession

Let us pray: O Christ, like your first disciples, we look and look, but we do not see the bread that’s in our very midst. We read and sing of your marvelous acts, but we don’t understand what they mean for us or what they command us to do. Even more basic, we look at you, dear Jesus, and realize that we’ve become the wrong person, living in a world that has become the wrong world, a world of racism, classism, and sexism, a world of bigotry, intolerance and exclusion. Today, when we eat your bread, may it fill us with a relentless hunger to reach out to all who are excluded and to bring them to your feast, where all their hungers, and ours, are satisfied. Amen.

Silent Personal Confession Words of Assurance Offering Our Tithes and Gifts to God Offertory Come, Share the Lord

We gather here in Jesus’ name, his love is burning in our hearts like living flame; for through the loving Son, the Father makes us one: come, take the bread; come, drink the wine; come, share the Lord. No one is a stranger here, everyone belongs; finding our forgiveness here, we in turn forgive all wrongs. He joins us here, he breaks the bread, the Lord who pours the cup is risen from the dead; the one we love the most is now our gracious host; come, take the bread; come, drink the wine; come, share the Lord. We are now a family of which the Lord is head; though unseen he meets us here in the breaking of the bread. We’ll gather soon where angels sing; we’ll see the glory of our Lord and coming King; now we anticipate the feast for which we wait; come, take the bread; come, drink the wine; come, share the Lord. © 1984, 1987 Fred Bock Music Co. (All rights reserved. Used by permission OneLicense.net #A705700.)

* Presentation of Offering



Now We Offer You, Our Father

Words Misa Popular Nicaragüense, tr. by Gerald Thorson Music: TE OFRECEMOS - Nicaraguan folk tune, arr.by Vernon Hamberg © 1989 Augsburg Fortress (All rights reserved. Used by permission OneLicense.net #A705700.)

Bryan Jeffery Leech

* The Great Thanksgiving

The Lord be with you. And also with you. Lift up your hearts. We lift them up to the Lord. Let us give thanks to the Lord our God. It is right to give our thanks and praise.

Ever-living, all-loving God, it is always right to give you thanks and praise for all that these gifts of bread and wine make present to us: your goodness to us in creation; your redemption of us when we were slaves in Egypt; your salvation of us through the words and deeds, the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. When people were hungry, he had compassion on them and fed five thousand with five loaves— the sign that he was the living bread come down, like manna, from heaven to the descendants of Moses. And he fed four thousand with seven loaves, to make clear that your grace was for all people—both Gentile and Jew alike. Now, through this bread and wine you make thin the space between heaven and earth to give us the vision of your table in the new creation at which all your children shall have their fill to eat. Here we are lifted up for a moment into eternity to join in the unending hymn of praise, which the morning stars have sung to your glory since the dawn of creation:

The congregation may be seated. The pastor continues, recalling the meal Jesus gave us and asking the Holy Spirit to bless our meal: ...that we may experience anew the mystery of faith, which we now joyfully proclaim:



The pastor prays for the church and the world, concluding: All honor and glory is yours, Almighty God, now and forever.

The Lord’s Prayer

Our Father, who art in heaven,

hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.

Breaking the Bread 620

One Bread, One Body After the bread is broken, the following hymn is sung as the communion servers are served.

Giving the Bread and Cup

We commune by intinction, i.e., by dipping the bread lightly in the cup. After you have communed, you may return directly to your seat or kneel at the rail for prayer and then return. If you would like to be served in your seat, please let an usher know that, or ask someone sitting near you to communicate that to the servers. Gluten-free wafers and cups are available at the left (north) side station. As you approach the servers, please indicate that you would like to receive a wafer.

Communion Rail Offering

It is a United Methodist custom to receive a freewill love offering, over and above our regular giving, at the communion rail. Today, all gifts left on the rail will support our English as a Second Language (ESL) Ministry.

Communion Hymn 127

Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah

Going Out to Serve * Benediction

* Hymn

God Is Waiting at the Table



Words: Adam M. L. Tice © 2015 GIA Publications, Inc. (All rights reserved. Used by permission OneLicense.net #A705700.) Music: HOLY MANNA - William Moore



Closing Music

Altar Flowers

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The flowers are placed on the altar by Garret and Valerie Bonn in celebration of their seventh wedding anniversary and to the glory of God.

Worship Leaders

Preacher The Reverend John A. Wright Liturgists The Reverend Michael Mumme Brooks Schuelke Communion Lewis and Virginia McCarroll Brooks and Heather Schuelke Singers Jan Morris Linda Murdock Tom Richardson Musicians Evelyn Gullatt, violin Susannah Willms, piano

Communion Music

Words: Traditional Music: Argentine folk song