Prayers 8 3 2014
*Welcome—Earnest Jones and wife from New York City; member of the BGM board; many youth from Youth Camp that ended on Saturday (Survived the water shortage problem and the contaminated water)
*Next Sunday—Summer Series is Ivy and Emerson Wu, ABC missionaries to Macau whom we are supporting for the next 3 years; come to hear about their new mission field of reaching youth to explore alternatives from casinos and gambling; 10:00
*Summer continues with All-Church Outdoor Worship and Picnic on August 24, Sunnyvale (Picnic tickets available) and Family Camp over the Labor Day weekend (Brochures available)
*Note the schedule for August 17; Joint English at 10:00 at the YMCA followed by an all-church Promotion Sunday at 11:15 at the Y; come at 10:00 or you’d miss worship!
*Thank you for your generous gifts toward Bacone College last week; raised $1067.25; if you would like to contribute today, please mark your checks for Bacone
*Vacation next Sunday in Hawaii for Joy’s niece’s wedding; please welcome Ivy Wu when she preaches at 11:20
*Day Camp report with Cindy Huang and Anthony Guan
Prayer Concerns
*George Chen to respond to his treatment and thanksgiving for every day
*Carolyn Hee as we look forward to celebrating Fred Hee’s life on August 18th, 10:00 at Lakeside Presbyterian, SF
*Thanksgiving for watching over Youth Camp with both the water shortage and the “local coliform and E coil water contamination; all are well
*Ongoing warring conflict and the loss of many lives and homes in Gaza, Israel and other places around the world
Prayer of God’s People
Dear Gracious Lord God, we come to prayer with a penitent heart seeking for your forgiveness for the wrongdoings that we have committed and to receive the reassurance that we are forgiven and saved by the love of Christ. Lord, we know that we are upright people, but we pray that we are caring for the downtrodden people who also are created in your holy image are also your sons and daughters. Lord, we know that we are church-going people but we pray that unless we go out into your world more people won’t be coming to the Body of Christ. We know that while we worship you in this holy place, you can’t wait for us to go out to worship you in the words that we speak and the deeds that we do to bring about wholeness and shalom in the world.
Merciful God, we pray with hope and the joy of miracles for George Chen as he continues to faithfully serve you as the head of his family and a disciple of Christ. Grant him healing and we thank you for the gift of life that we have every morning. We continue to pray for Carolyn and her family as they prepare to celebrate Fred Hee’s life that was filled with the blessings of abundance and the responsibility of using those resources to advance your kingdom work. We lift up in prayer…
Thank you, O God for allowing our Youth Camp to happen this year even against challenges of our statewide water drought and water contamination. We pray that no one become ill and we pray that Redwood Glen can persevere and discover long-term solutions for these recent challenges.
God of all the world, we know that we don’t live in a bubble of the Bay Area where we think everything is up and coming. But rather, we live in a global society where when one person is hungry, we are all deprived from our humanity; when one community lives in fear, we are all prevented from being a caring neighborhood; when one nation on earth is at war, we are all suffering from the potential loss of losing our compassion. We pray for peace and reconciliation between the Israelis and Palestinians, Ukrainians and Russians, Sunnis and the Shiites, Christians and Muslims, brothers against brothers and sisters against sisters.
All our prayers both spoken and stored deep in our hearts, we bring to you in the name of Christ Jesus who taught us to pray, “Our Father…”
The Lord’s Supper
Present you with both the bread and cup at the same time.
The table of the Lord is spread for all who believe in Jesus who is our Lord and Savior. Around this table, people from different walks of life are welcomed. Around this table, people with differences in opinions and viewpoints are welcomed. Around this table of our Lord, we are united because in Christ, there is truly no east or west, north and south.
But last week at Youth Camp, Nate Lee who spoke at chapel said that we all say that we believe but the difference between a believer and a disciple is that a disciple follow Jesus and will do something about it. What are you going to do with your life? Faith without works is death.
When the disciples had the last supper with Jesus, they went out and became apostles, evangelists, teachers, fisher of men and women, and even martyrs. When you receive the bread and the cup today and you go out, what is God calling you to do? Would you bring the love of God to this fractured world in which we live?
Benediction
May you live in peace as God’s family in the world.
Now may the grace of God, the love of Christ, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit abide with you always. Amen.