Today’s service will be held indoors in the sanctuary as an in-person service and also live streamed at this link. Click on “live” for the live stream. Join us!
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Gathering Music Polly Dunford
Welcome and Announcements Manella Calhoun
Call to Worship
Leader: Come, beloved community, to the banquet of grace, where there are no tickets, no rankings, no classes.
People: We come as equals, welcomed by Love.
Leader: In this place, the last are lifted up and the first learn humility.
People: We come to share in a community where all are first-class guests.
Leader: Let us bring our whole selves—our doubts and our hopes, our wounds and our laughter—
People: For God’s community is wide enough for us all.
All: With open hearts, we gather in joy and thanksgiving!
Opening Hymn “Walls Mark Our Bound’ries” Handout
Words by Ruth Duck; Music by Jim Strathdee
Words-1996. The Pilgrim Press. Music-1997. The Pilgrim Press. All rights reserved.
1) Walls mark our bound’ries and keep us apart;
walls keep the world from our eyes and our heart.
Tables are round making room for one more,
welcoming friends we had not known before.
So build us a table and tear down the wall!
Christ is our host. There is room for us all!
2) Walls make us sure who is in and who’s out;
walls keep us safe from all question and doubt,
but at a table in open exchange
new ties are formed as our lives rearrange.
So build us a table and tear down the wall!
Christ is our host. There is room for us all!
3) Once we were strangers, divided, alone.
Hate and distrust built a wall stone by stone.
Now at a table the bread that we share
joins us to Christ in a circle of care.
So build us a table and tear down the wall!
Christ is our host. There is room for us all!
Scripture Lesson Luke 14:7-14
Sermon “Do Us Good!” Dr. Keith Ray
Thoughts to Ponder: What does it mean to live in a world where everyone is treated as “first class”? In Luke 14, Jesus disrupts the seating charts and guest lists that divide people into categories of worthiness. His vision of God’s community is a banquet where humility replaces hierarchy and radical hospitality welcomes those who cannot repay. Can we imagine—and practice—what it looks like when no one is left out of the feast of grace?
Joys and Concerns
Prayers of the People
Closing Hymn “God, You Made Your Good Creation” Handout
By Carolyn Winfrey Gillette. Attr.: B. F. White. Harmony by Christopher Gage.
2017. Carolyn Winfrey Gillette. Harmonization 2017. Christopher Gage. All rights reserved.
This hymn was written to honor the World Day of Prayer for Care of Creation.
1) God, you made your good creation and you hold it in your care —
From each starry constellation to each forest underlayer.
Tiny creatures, mountain splendor, rivers, lakes and ocean floors —
You are loving, kind and tender in your care for what is yours.
2) Yet, O God, the earth is crying, times are changing, storms are strong.
Now the coral reefs are dying, floods are raging, droughts are long.
Though the circumstances differ, when the earth is in distress,
See! The poor are first to suffer from our greed and selfishness.
3) God, you love this world we live in, so you sent your only Son.
“Here on earth as in your heaven,” God, we pray, “Your will be done.”
By your Spirit, may we listen to the earth and to the poor,
May we care for all you’ve given till creation is restored.
Benediction
Discussion
Shalom (meaning - “May you be well and whole and in communion with all creation.”)
Shalom, my friends, Shalom, my friends, Shalom, Shalom.
Till we meet again, Till we meet again, Shalom, Shalom. *************************************************************************************
Reprinted with permission under One License #A-625711. All rights reserved.
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Calendar of Service -
September 7 - Keith Ray; Congregational meeting; Session meeting; Potluck meal
September 14 - Keith Ray (Outdoor service)
September 21 - Remembrance Sunday
September 28 - Keith Ray (Outdoor service)
October 5 - Keith Ray; Potluck meal; Undie Sunday begins to benefit South Main
October 12 - TBD (Outdoor service)
October 19 - Keith Ray; Blessing of the Animals (Outdoor service)
October 26 - Worship and lunch at South Main Chapel and Mercy Center
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The Meet and Eat group will gather at Vaquero’s in Pendleton on Wednesday, Sept. 3 at 5:30 pm. This event is the first Wednesday of each month.
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Anderson Forum for Progressive Theology (AFPT) presents Thomas Jay Oord for his talk, “Open and Relational Theology,” on Thursday, September 4, 2025, at 5:30 p.m. at Grace Episcopal Church, Parrish Hall. The church is located at 711 South McDuffie St., Anderson.
The talk is also available via Zoom. Click here to register.
Watch: "What is open and relational theology?"
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The Sept. 7 Congregational meeting will be to elect our Session nominating committee. Their responsibility will be to find 4 members to serve on Session beginning in January 2026.
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A special GAMAC fundraising event is Ray McGee’s Jazz Club featuring Willmatic & Friends at The Bleckley Station on September 25, 2025, at 7:00 PM. Table seating with food and drinks is $75/person or $600/table of 8.
For tickets and information about the 2025/2026 GAMAC concert season visit www.gamac.org or call (864) 231-6147.
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Bible Study meets on Mondays at 6:30 pm through Zoom. If you’d like to be added to the Zoom invite list, contact Cynthia at cynthiakwarner@mac.com.
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Please remember to donate non-perishable food items to AIM (Anderson Interfaith Ministries). An extra item when you shop is a great help to others in our community.
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Are you interested in becoming a member of NACCP? Would you like to make this community your spiritual home? Please contact Keith at keithdray@gmail.com or at 864-508-1530.
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