WORSHIP RESOURCES
Ordinary Time (Proper 17)
World Hunger Emphasis Day
James 1:17-27
Abolish Poverty, End Suffering
Additional Scriptures
Song of Solomon 2:8-13; Psalm 45:1-2, 6-9;
Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23; Doctrine and Covenants 163:4a
Preparation
Today is one of two Sundays a year when we focus on world hunger and the theme is Abolish Poverty, End Suffering. For several weeks before this service, announce, advertise, and encourage participants to bring shelf-stable food this Sunday as donations for a local food bank during the Focus Moment.
Prelude
Welcoming Hymns
“Come, Ye Thankful People, Come”
CCS 128
OR “All Who Love and Serve Your City” CCS 329
Welcome, Joys, and Concerns
Call to Worship: Doctrine and Covenants 163:4a
Hymn of Invitation
"Beauty for Brokenness"
CCS 302
OR “In This New Moment"
CCS 504
Invocation
Response
Scripture Reading: James 1:17-27
Guided Meditation
Get comfortable; perhaps close your eyes. Be open to words of guidance from today’s scripture. Each phrase will be repeated twice. We will pause after every phrase for your silent meditation.
Go out and be doers of the Word. Pause.
Cleanse your hearts of all pollution. Pause.
Be quick to listen and learn. Pause.
Welcome the Word that God implants in you and
bring it to birth in acts of righteousness and compassion. Pause.
And may God pour grace upon you and bless you forever. Pause.
May Christ Jesus reveal to you the truth of God’s ways. Pause.
May the Holy Spirit fill your life with passion and love. Pause.
Let us care for the orphans and widows and pray for peace.
—Nathan Nettleton, based on James 1:17-27
Prayer for Peace
Hymn of Peace
“How Many Times We Start Again”
CCS 560
OR “When We Lift Our Pack and Go”
CCS 634
Light the Peace Candle.
Peace Prayer
God of starting again,
Today is no special day by the measures of the world. Simply another day. Not a Holy Day with capitalized letters. Not a Day of Importance, also capitalized. An ordinary day in ordinary time. The perfect day to follow your voice in pursuit of peace.
Stir in us a passion for pursuing peace, even as we are settled in our comfortable daily routines. Our hearts long to follow you. Our minds yearn for your expanded view. Disturb our peace so that we might be brave enough to follow and disturb our societies’ un-peace.
May we start again to meet strangers.
May we start again to trust and follow you.
In the name of Jesus, who is with us in the ordinary. Amen.
—Tiffany and Caleb Brian
Focus Moment
Today is World Hunger Emphasis Day and a day of sharing in the sacrament of Communion. Bring your food offerings now to our designated place.
Allow time for the movement; perhaps have quiet music playing.
One of our Mission Initiatives is Abolish Poverty, End Suffering. We have brought our food today in answer to this need. As a Communion tradition in Community of Christ, all loose offerings today will also go to the oblation fund to address suffering and poverty.
Jesus used the Passover meal to emphasize table fellowship and establish a memory of his life, death, resurrection, and continuing presence for the future. Jesus was often found sharing meals to bring people together, enabling him to share in ministry. Discuss these questions. Print or project them for all to see.
- Why do you think Jesus used sharing of a meal to talk about the kingdom?
- What would you serve if you shared a meal at a table with others?
- Who would you invite?
- How can we as a community ask others to join us at the table?
Disciples’ Generous Response
Hymn of Generosity
“Brothers and Sisters of Mine”
CCS 616
OR “Help Us Express Your Love”
CCS 621
Statement
During the Disciples’ Generous Response, we focus on aligning our heart with God’s heart. Our offerings are more than meeting budgets or funding mission. Through our offerings, we join in making God’s work visible in the world.
As we share our mission tithes either by placing money in the plates or through eTithing, use this time to thank God for the many gifts received in life. Our hearts grow aligned with God’s when we gratefully receive and faithfully respond by living Christ’s mission,
If your congregation is meeting online, remind participants they can give through CofChrist.org/give or eTithing.org (consider showing these URLs on screen).
Blessing and Receiving of Local and Worldwide Mission Tithes
Ministry of Music
OR Congregational Hymn of Compassion and Concern
“Leftover People in Leftover Places"
CCS 275
OR “The Storm Came to Honduras"
CCS 204
Exploring the Scripture
Based on James 1:17-27
Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper
Hymn of Preparation
“You Satisfy the Hungry Heart”
CCS 531
OR “We Meet as Friends at Table”
CCS 532
Communion Scripture: 1 Corinthians 11:23-26
Communion Talk
Invitation to Communion
All are welcome at Christ’s table. The Lord’s Supper, or Communion, is a sacrament in which we remember the life, death, resurrection, and continuing presence of Jesus Christ. In Community of Christ, we also experience Communion as an opportunity to renew our baptismal covenant and to be formed as disciples who live Christ’s mission. Others might have different or added understandings within their faith traditions. We invite all who participate in the Lord’s Supper to do so in the love and peace of Jesus Christ.
Blessing and Serving of the Bread and Wine
For guidelines on the Lord’s Supper, including online participation, see CofChrist.org/our-ministry-tools.
Hymn of Blessing
“I Wish God’s Love to Be with You” Sing twice.
CCS 663
Encourage participants to sing in languages other than their own.
OR “Make Us, O God, a Church That Shares"
CCS 657
Benediction
Postlude
SERMON AND CLASS HELPS
Year B—Letters
Ordinary Time (Proper 17)
James 1:17–27
Exploring the Scripture
James begins with a letter’s greeting, but the writing more closely resembles a sermon built on wisdom and pithy sayings parallel to the sayings of Jesus. Designed to help Christians live in the community, James strongly emphasizes peace and justice. James is the most socially conscious writings in the New Testament.
James holds a special place in Community of Christ because of the connection between James 1:5 and Joseph Smith Jr. seeking God’s will in Palmyra’s grove. Also, the scriptural basis for our sacrament of laying on of hands for the sick is found in James. The author may have been James, the brother of Jesus, but many scholars believe it was a later disciple of James who preserved the apostle’s teachings.
Today’s passage begins with God’s gracious act of creation and bountiful blessings. The Creator, the Father of Lights, spoke the Word that created humankind (v. 18). This theological statement could also refer to Christ as the incarnate Word, bringing about rebirth and redemption. In either case, humankind is intended as the first fruits of God’s labors, a goal that challenges us to be the best we can be.
Being at our best requires disciples to improve specific behaviors. Top on the list is being “quick to listen, slow to speak, [and] slow to anger” (v. 19). The theme of anger often occurs in Wisdom literature, and James stresses it in later verses. By grace, God “implants” the Word in our souls, where it grows and thrives if we rid ourselves of the “rank growth of wickedness” which too often takes root (v. 21).
The living Word of Christ has the power to “save your souls” if disciples move from simply mouthing Christ’s teachings to making them live through Christian acts (v. 21). “…[B]e doers of the word, and not merely hearers…” (v. 22). Those who fail to transform their beliefs into deeds are like people who only recognize themselves in a mirror while gazing steadfastly into the reflection. They forget who they are and act like someone else when they walk away. It is an image of hypocrisy and self-deception.
If the mirror is “the perfect law” of love, it frees followers from focusing on themselves (v. 25). When love shines in a person’s actions and decisions, the reflection in the mirror focuses on others. Yet, the disciple keeps the identity of a faithful follower of Christ. They don’t forget who they are, and others recognize them through their deeds. “[T]hey’ll know we are Christians by our love…” (Peter Scholtes, “We Are One in the Spirit,” Community of Christ Sings 359).
James provides examples of genuine, heartfelt religion in verses 26–27. Truly religious people guard their tongue, care for orphans and widows, and don’t allow the brokenness of the world to rule their hearts and lives.
This passage carefully balances the theology of grace and the theology of works. God’s gift of birth and rebirth is a gift of grace, unearned. The gospel is implanted in our hearts by grace alone. Our response is to put into action the love we have received. Our response is to share that love with others and care for their needs. James stresses the need for action and doing throughout the writing, but grace lurks in the background, never forgotten. In the last few decades, Community of Christ has journeyed from an emphasis on works to a theology of grace.
Central Ideas
- Designed to help Christians live in community with one another, the book of James has a strong emphasis on peace and justice
- James challenges disciples to move from simply mouthing Christ’s teachings to making them live through Christian action.
- This passage carefully balances the theology of grace and the theology of works. We respond to God’s gift of grace by putting the love we have received into action.
- In the last few decades, Community of Christ has journeyed from an emphasis on works to a theology of grace.
Questions for the Speaker
- How have you struggled with hypocrisy in your own life? When are you most tempted to avoid living the faith you declare?
- What do you see when you gaze into the mirror of God’s perfect law of love? How does that help you stay centered in your Christian identity?
- What evidence is there that Community of Christ has moved from a theology of works to one of grace?
SACRED SPACE: A RESOURCE FOR SMALL-GROUP MINISTRY
Year B Letters
Ordinary Time, Proper 17
James 1:17–27 NRSVUE
Gathering
Welcome
Ordinary Time is the period in the Christian calendar from Pentecost to Advent. This period is without major festivals or holy days. During Ordinary Time we focus on discipleship as individuals and a faith community.
Prayer for Peace
Ring a bell or chime three times slowly.
Light the peace candle.
Today’s Prayer for Peace is inspired by the hymn, “How Many Times We Start Again,” Community of Christ Sings 560, by Thomas H. Troeger.
But greater than the cost we find
is our expanded view
of what it means with heart and mind
to trust and follow you…
God of starting again, today is no special day by the measures of the world. Simply another day. Not a Holy Day with capitalized letters. Not a Day of Importance, also capitalized. An ordinary day in ordinary time. The perfect day to follow your voice in pursuit of peace.
Stir in us a passion to pursue peace, even as we are settled in our comfortable daily routines. Our hearts long to follow you. Our minds yearn for your expanded view. Disturb our peace so that we might be brave to follow and disturb the “un-peace” in our societies.
May we start again to meet strangers.
May we start again to trust and follow you.
In the name of Jesus, who is with us in the ordinary. Amen.
Spiritual Practice
Loving Kindness Blessing
Today we are focusing on the Enduring Principle of Worth of All Persons. Under the definition of this principle, it states, “We seek to uphold and restore the worth of all people individually and in community, challenging unjust systems that diminish human worth.” By practicing a Loving Kindness Blessing we remind ourselves of the Worth of All Persons.
I’ll say a phrase, and I invite you to repeat the words in your mind. Give the words of the meditation time to resonate in your heart and mind:
May I be blessed with loving kindness. May I be blessed with health. May I be blessed with true happiness. May I be blessed with peace. Pause.
Think of someone beloved to you. Visualize the person as you pray:
May my beloved be blessed with loving kindness. May my beloved be blessed with health. May my beloved be blessed with true happiness. May my beloved be blessed with peace. Pause.
Now think of a close friend. Visualize the person as you pray:
May my friend be blessed with loving kindness. May my friend be blessed with health. May my friend be blessed with true happiness. May my friend be blessed with peace. Pause.
Think of someone with whom you are in conflict or has harmed you. Visualize this person. Breathe deeply and lovingly pray this blessing:
May the one who harmed me be blessed with loving kindness. May the one who harmed me be blessed with health. May the one who harmed me be blessed with true happiness. May the one who harmed me be blessed with peace. Pause.
Think of Mother Earth and all creation. Visualize all creation. Breathe out love to all of creation as you pray.
May Earth be blessed with loving kindness. May Earth be blessed with health. May Earth be blessed with true happiness. May Earth be blessed with peace. Pause.
Invite people to share their thoughts, emotions, and images that they experienced in this time of blessing.
Sharing Around the Table
James 1:17–27 NRSVUE
Every generous act of giving, with every perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. In fulfillment of his own purpose he gave birth to us by the word of truth, so that we would become a kind of first fruits of his creatures. You must understand this, my beloved brothers and sisters: let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger, for human anger does not produce God’s righteousness. Therefore rid yourselves of all sordidness and rank growth of wickedness, and welcome with meekness the implanted word that has the power to save your souls. But be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves. For if any are hearers of the word and not doers, they are like those who look at themselves in a mirror; for they look at themselves and, on going away, immediately forget what they were like. But those who look into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and persevere, being not hearers who forget but doers who act—they will be blessed in their doing. If any think they are religious and do not bridle their tongues but deceive their hearts, their religion is worthless. Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself unstained by the world.
James is believed to be a Greek-speaking Jewish Christian, writing literature containing counsel and advice to the church at-large, especially to new converts facing various trials or injustice. James focuses on practical wisdom and offers guidance for everyday living to individuals and communities. The author recognizes that human perfection is possible only through wisdom, which is a gift of God, not a human accomplishment.
The beginning verses of today’s passage emphasize an understanding of God as a gift-giver, the source of all good gifts and blessings to the newly born Christians, who are a kind of first fruit. God is described as generous, purposeful, the Source of the Word of truth, and Creator of a new kind of humanity among those who have faith in him. James depicts believers as members of a new humanity with a new character and way of life.
The remaining verses counsel the believers to develop character through self-discipline. There is a focus on communication through speech and actions. We should control the way we communicate and be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger. Anger does not produce God’s righteousness, God’s will, or right relationship to the Divine. Readers are called to set aside vices and receive the gift of divine wisdom that comes from a loving God.
Disciples also are to be doers. This passage carefully balances the theology of grace and the theology of works. God’s gift of birth and rebirth is a gift of grace, unearned. The gospel is implanted in our hearts by grace alone. The way we listen, speak, control our anger, and act on the Word helps develop our character.
What is next? What are we to do? We are to care for orphans and widows in their distress and no longer live by worldly standards as we conduct ourselves in ordinary life.
Questions
- Can anger be a vehicle for justice? Is it always a sign that a person lacks wisdom?
- Implanting the Word can be understood as hearing and receiving the Christian message. Is this a one-time event or a repeated process? How should we receive the Word?
Sending
Statement of Generosity
Beloved Community of Christ, do not just speak and sing of Zion. Live, love, and share as Zion: those who strive to be visibly one in Christ, among whom there are no poor or oppressed.
—Doctrine and Covenants 165:6a
The offering basket is available if you would like to support ongoing, small-group ministries as part of your generous response.
The offering prayer is adapted from A Disciple’s Generous Response:
Discipling God, as we navigate our world of debt and consumerism, help us save wisely, spend responsibly, and give generously. In this way may we prepare for the future and create a better tomorrow for our families, friends, the mission of Christ, and the world. Amen.
Invitation to Next Meeting
Closing Hymn
Community of Christ Sings 632, “Christ’s Word to Us”
Closing Prayer
Optional Additions Depending on Group
- Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper
- Thoughts for Children
Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper
For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way he took the cup also, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
—1 Corinthians 11:23–26 NRSV
Communion Statement
All are welcome at Christ’s table. The Lord’s Supper, or Communion, is a sacrament in which we remember the life, death, resurrection, and continuing presence of Jesus Christ. In Community of Christ, we also experience Communion as an opportunity to renew our baptismal covenant and to be formed as disciples who live Christ’s mission. Others may have different or added understandings within their faith traditions. We invite all who participate in the Lord’s Supper to do so in the love and peace of Jesus Christ.
We share in Communion as an expression of blessing, healing, peace, and community. In preparation let’s sing from Community of Christ Sings (select one):
515 “In these Moments We Remember”
516 “Coming Together for Wine and for Bread”
521 “Let Us Break Bread Together”
525 “Small Is the Table”
528 “Eat This Bread”
Thoughts for Children
Say: Today we are going to play a quick game of Simon Says. If you haven’t played before, I will ask you to do an action, but you will do it only if I say Simon Says before I tell you what action to do. If you do an action when I haven’t said Simon Says, or if you do the wrong action, you will sit down while the others continue.
Start playing Simon Says and do the actions with the participants.
After you have gone through a few actions, start saying an action while doing something different. For example, if you say “Simon Says touch your nose,” you should do something else like touching your ear. If you say “Simon Says clap your hands” you should stomp your feet.
See if you can get any participants to follow what you are doing rather than what you are saying.
Ask: Was it easier or harder to know what action to do when my actions were matching my words? (Hopefully participants say more difficult.)
Say: You’re right, it can be really confusing when we say one thing and do another. Today’s scripture reminds us that our words should match our actions. If we say we believe in Unity in Diversity, our actions should show that. It isn’t fair for us to say we believe in Unity in Diversity and then say unkind things to someone who celebrates a different holiday than we do.
I’m going to share some of our Enduring Principles with you, and I want you to tell me some actions that you can do to live the Enduring Principles. (You might need to explain some of these to participants, but allow them to come up with actions that match these beliefs/words).
- Sacredness of Creation
- Worth of All Persons
- Pursue Peace on Earth
- Responsible Choices