Today’s service has THREE choices.  You may view the Live Stream on Facebook at this link:  https://fb.me/e/2MPRu6LRc, hear it in the church parking lot at 107.1 FM, or join us in person inside (masking preferred). 

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Gathering Music                    Polly Dunford

Welcome and Announcements                          Diane Lee     

Call to Worship                     Dr. Keith Ray

One:  Like clay, we arrive at this time of worship:

Many:  Shapeless and full of potential, we arrive.

One:  Like clay, we prepare for this time of worship:

Many:  Stretched and twisted into formation, we prepare.

One:  Like clay, we enter this time of worship:

Many:  Formed and ready for warmth, we enter.

Opening Hymn           “Part of the Family”                      Handout

    Words and Music by Jim Manley

Refrain:   Come in, come in and sit down    You are a part of the fam’ly.

       We are lost and we are found, and we are a part of the fam’ly.

1)  You know the reason why you came    Yet no reason can explain,

So share in the laughter and cry in the pain    For we are a part of the fam’ly.

God is with us in this place   Like a mother’s warm embrace,

We’re all forgiven by God’s grace    For we are a part of the fam’ly.     Refrain

2)  Children and elders, middlers and teens,  Singles and doubles and in-betweens,

Strong eighty fivers and streetwise sixteens,  We are a part of the fam’ly.

Greeters and shoppers, long time and new,  Nobody here has a claim on a pew.

And whether we’re many or only a few   We are a part of the fam’ly.      Refrain

3)  There’s life to be shared in the bread and the wine, We are the branches, Christ is the vine,

This is God’s temple, it’s not yours or mine   But we are a part of the fam’ly.

There’s rest for the weary, and health for us all, There’s a yoke that is easy and a burden that’s small

So come in and worship and answer the call    For we are a part of the fam’ly.     Refrain

Scripture Lesson Luke 14:1, 7-14                    Dr. Keith Ray

Message         “The Invitation List”        Dr. Keith Ray

  Theme: Jesus invites hearers to consider a community where the stranger is honored,

              and radical hospitality is a guiding principle. How are we expanding our invitation lists,

      or our borders, to expand our circle of friends?

Prayer Concerns and Joys                               Diane Lee

Closing Hymn         “Draw the Circle Wide”                       Handout

           Words and Music by Gordon Light

Refrain:  Draw the circle wide.  Draw it wider still.  

    Let this be our song, no one stands alone, standing side by side, draw the circle wide.

1)  God the stillpoint of the circle, ‘Round whom all creation turns;

Nothing lost, but held forever, in God’s gracious arms. Refrain

2)  Let our hearts touch far horizons, So encompass great and small;

Let our loving know no borders, Faithful to God’s call. Refrain

3)  Let the dreams we dream be larger, than we’ve ever dreamed before;

Let the dream of Christ be in us, Open every door. Refrain

Benediction                                    Dr. Keith Ray

Discussion

Shalom

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Calendar of Service September 18 - Dr. Keith Ray

     September 25 - Dr. Keith Ray

Church Clean-up on Saturday, September 10, at 9:30 AM.  Those signed up to help are Lin, Sharon, Rosie, Drew, Laurie and Peggy.

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Market Theatre Dates to put in your calendar —

September 8-12 at 7:30 PM.   tickets.Markettheatre.org

“A Public Reading of an Unproduced Screenplay About the Death of Walt Disney”  Fact or fiction?  History or hearsay? You decide in this darkly comedic take on America’s best known dreamer.   Portraying Walt Disney is Rob Homer-Drummond, theatre professor at AU.

October 6 at the Bleckley Station.  Arts for All Gala.  Join in for an evening to savor, celebrate, and support the arts!

October 27- Nov. 14     “Rent”    Drew Whitley and Thor Raines are in the cast.

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Bible Study Resumes

If you think that God wrote (or dictated) the Bible, that it descended from heaven in Elizabethan English with Jesus speaking in red, and that it has some magical power, then this is probably not the study for you.  But if you recognize that the Bible contains the faith story of our ancient ancestors, including their ancient understandings of their experience of the divine (however wrong we might think their explanations are), then you might want to consider joining us at 6:00 Monday nights, starting September 12.  We have moved the time from 6:30 to 6:00.  We meet by Zoom.

If interested, contact David Johnson (ampaw2t@gamil.com) or Cynthia Warner (cynthiakwarner@mac.com) to be added to the email list. There is no charge and we won’t come knocking on your door to try to convert you.

On Monday, September 12, at 6:00 PM, see “At The River”, a feature-length documentary about a certain time and place in the deep south, at Fourth Presbyterian Church, 703 E. Washington Street, Greenville.  In the Civil Rights era of the 50s and 60s, most Presbyterian ministers stood on the banks of the cultural river of segregation and white supremacy. Some opted not to stir the waters in their congregations and communities by speaking out. However, a few young southern Presbyterian ministers braved those currents through their sermons, community organizing, and participating in marches and protests. They faced dangerous, hate-filled consequences for these actions. "At The River" chronicles their lives and their decisions, as well as director Carolyn Crowder’s firsthand experience as a young white southern girl from Montgomery, Alabama. During those mean and turbulent times these ministers, through their love and example, had a huge impact on her life in helping her overcome her southern racist brainwashing.   

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A 60+2 Year Anniversary Celebration and Commemoration of the Anderson Forum for Progressive Theology will host an Interactive Conversation with Panelists and the Audience on Sunday September 18, 2022, 4:00 PM in the Benson Room of the Bleckley Inn, 151 E.

Church Street, Anderson, SC.  Refreshments will be served.  No registration required — only an interest in progressive thought.

Featuring a Panel Presentation of Present and Past Board Members:  Betty Gable, Eugenia Hall, Tom Richie, Jim Ross, Stuart Sprague, and Steven Morgan, Moderator.

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If you have not seen Rob Gentry’s anagama in action, you need to see this video that ETV made.  Congratulations, Rob!  It is all very impressive.

ANAGAMA KILN | PALMETTO SCENE

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Plans are being made for a recognition of the 2022 Autumnal Equinox.  This year it   occurs at 9:03 pm in the Northern Hemisphere on Thursday, September 22.  Stay tuned.

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Remember in prayer:  Linda McFall; Mike Johnston; Shea Marsden; Taylor Bishop (Whitney’s niece); Family and Friends of Terry Ann Hayes; Jason Harding; Steve Hallowell; Pat Weddle; Glenn Burns; Tim and Michael Little-Bell and family; Jackie Moore; Whitney Bishop; Latha and Cheryl Semones; Immigrant families; Victims of all violence, oppression, and injustice; Victims of COVID-19; People of Ukraine;  Victims of mass shootings