• Who We Are
    • Who We Are
    • Mission
    • History
    • General Synod
    • Leadership and Ministry
    • Staff
    • United Church of Christ Board
  • What We Believe
    • What We Believe
    • Worship Ways
    • Daily Devotional
  • What We Do
    • What We Do
    • Office of the General Minister & President
    • Justice & Local Church Ministries
    • Wider Church Ministries
  • News
  • Church Finder
  • Donate Now
  • Search
UCC Logo United Church of Christ
  • Church Finder
  • Events
  • Contact
  • Store
  • Frontline Faith Portal
  • Donate Now
  • Search
  • Who We Are
    • Column
      • About
        • Mission
        • Constitution and Bylaws
        • History
          • UCC Archives
        • UCC Brand Guidelines
        • General Synod
          • Synod 33 Worship Videos
          • Past General Synods
        • Abuse Prevention
    • Column
      • Structure
        • Conferences
        • Affiliated Ministries
          • The Pension Boards
          • Cornerstone Fund
          • Insurance Board
          • The Council for Health and Human Services Ministries
          • Church Building & Loan Fund
          • Convergence
    • Column
      • Team
        • Elected Officers
        • Staff
        • United Church of Christ Board
          • Board Minutes
        • Office of General Counsel
        • UCCOSSN
    • Column
      • Career Opportunities
      • Annual Reports
  • What We Believe
    • Column
      • Worship
        • Statement of Faith of the United Church of Christ – La Declaración de Fe de la Iglesia Unida de Cristo
        • Worship Ways
        • Daily Devotional
        • Sermon Seeds
  • How We Serve
    • Column
      • Office of the General Minister & President
        • Welcome to Human Resources
          • Employee Relations Resources
        • Center for Analytics, Research & Development and Data (CARDD)
          • General CARDD FAQs
          • About The Center for Analytics, Research & Development, and Data (CARDD)
          • Authorized Minister Opt Out
          • Access UCC
          • Archived Reports
          • Assessment Resources
          • Information Policies and Requests
          • Faith Communities Today (FACT) Survey
          • MissionInsite
          • Statistics and Reports
          • Vital Signs and Statistics Blog
          • Data Hub FAQs
          • Data Hub
          • Yearbook and Directory
    • Column
      • Justice & Local Church Ministries
        • Justice
          • Faithful Action Ministries
            • Environmental Justice Ministries
            • Economic Justice
            • Racial Justice
          • Office of Public Policy & Advocacy in Washington D.C.
            • Justice and Peace Action Network
            • Our Faith Our Vote
            • Justice Training Resources
            • Action Center
          • Health and Wholeness Advocacy
            • Disabilities and Mental Health Justice
            • Encuentros Latinx
            • UCC HIV & AIDS Network-UCAN
            • LGBTQ Ministries
            • Our Whole Lives
            • Overdose and Drug Use Ministries
            • Scouting
            • Wellness Ministries
          • The Pilgrim Press & Stillspeaking Publications
    • Column
      • Justice & Local Church Ministries
        • Local Church
          • The Faith Education, Innovation and Formation (Faith INFO)Team
            • Weekly Seeds
            • Youth & Young Adults
          • Worship Resources
            • Worship Ways
            • Sermon Seeds
            • Synod 33 Worship Videos
            • Music and Liturgical Arts
          • Stewardship & Generosity Resources
          • Ministerial Excellence, Support & Authorization (MESA)
            • History, Polity, and Theology
            • Search and Call
            • Ministerial Profiles
            • Ministry Opportunities
            • Manual on Ministry
    • Column
      • Wider Church Ministries
        • Global Ministries
        • Global H.O.P.E.
          • Volunteer Ministries
          • Refugee and Migration Ministries
          • Disaster Ministries
          • Recovering Hope
        • Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations
  • Resources
  • News
    • Column
      • News
        • United Church of Christ News
    • Column
      • Columns
        • Witness for Justice
        • Into the Mystic
        • Getting to the Root of It
        • The Pollinator: UCC Environmental Justice Blog
        • UCC Roots
        • Encounters at the Well
        • Reflexiones
    • Column
      • Upcoming Events
        • Webinars
      • Subscriptions at the United Church of Christ
      • Changes & Deaths
  • Giving
    • Column
      • Donate Now
      • Ways to Give
        • Giving Tuesday
        • Disaster Ministries: How to Give
        • Our Church’s Wider Mission
          • Our Church’s Wider Mission Basic Support
          • Strengthen the Church
          • One Great Hour of Sharing
          • Neighbors in Need
          • Christmas Fund
          • 5 for 5
    • Column
      • Ways We Give
        • Scholarships & Grants

  • Home
  • Worship Ways
  • Koepf Taylor, Laurel
  • Laurel Koepf Taylor
  • Pentecost 9–July 25

Pentecost 9–July 25


Food for All

Service Prayers for the Ninth Sunday after Pentecost
July 25, 2021

Food for Fifty: Lentil-Sausage Soup*
Brown in a large kettle 5  lbs. of pork sausage, broken into chunks.
Remove meat and pour off all but 1 cup of drippings.
Add: 10 medium onions, chopped; 5 cloves garlic, minced;
and 20 medium parsnips, cut in chunks (optional).
Cook 5 minutes until onions and garlic are tender.
Then add: 4-4.5 lbs. lentils;
5 Tbsp. salt; 1 Tbsp. marjoram;
6 qt. Cooked tomatoes or juice;
7 qt. water; and browned sausage.
Simmer about 30 minutes. Makes about 4 gallons.
– Doris Janzen Longacre, Living More with Less

CALL TO WORSHIP

One: We join together as hungry eaters
to be nourished by the food that you offer us.
Many: God of sustenance, give us this day our daily bread.

As you care for the wheat fields that turn into bread
and the vineyards that labor to produce sweet wine,
tend to our bodies by feeding us what we need for healthy growth.
God of abundance, give us this day our daily bread.

The rich crops that you have prepared are now ready
to be harvested by our hands and our hearts.
Holy Spirit, come! Give us this day our daily bread.

PRAYER OF INVOCATION
Holy Chef,
may we savor the dishes that you have prepared for us this day.
With each bite of your holy feast,
enliven our senses so that we may delight
in the new and tantalizing flavors you have created.

CONFESSION
Great Provider, we recognize that widespread hunger is no longer necessary.
You have given us humans the resources to feed all people,
yet we are selfish.
While we overfill our bellies with food
and lay to waste the spaces needed for crops to flourish,
others are crying out for crumbs from our tables.
Living God, cultivate within our hearts reckless generosity,
and plant within us spirits of simplicity and balance in body and soul. (Moment of silence and reflection)

ASSURANCE OF PARDON
Though at times we fail to be generous,
your generosity toward us is never-ending!
By sending Christ and the Spirit to your people,
you have extended generosity beyond measure.
Let us now do the same by greeting each other with a sign of peace.

CALL FOR THE OFFERING
Jesus said, “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”
As we have been granted great abundance,
let us offer up those blessings in God’s name.

DEDICATION
God of wonders, who enabled Jesus and Elisha to feed the multitudes,
bless these gifts and use them to fill empty stomachs and empty hearts.
May our offerings be multiplied to abundantly nourish all the people.

BENEDICTION
God’s love is overwhelming!
As we have been fed this day,
let us go and offer food and drink to others.
Grant us holy instincts of faith
as we trust in you, O God, to place the final touches
on our culinary masterpieces. Amen.

* This recipe can be utilized as an ’epigraph’ at the beginning of the worship bulletin or as a practical sermon application printed in an insert, along with recipes that may appeal to your own particular community.
Some other ways to practically and creatively use this recipe:
– Giving careful attention to health and safety protocols, create a community supper and invite the “5000”–the whole neighborhood, or a local shelter community, or some local population in need.  Who is Jesus inviting your particular congregation to feed at this time? 
– This summer Sunday service could be presented in the context of a community lunch or supper, perhaps even outdoors.

Additional Worship/Sermon Resources:
– Living More with Less, Doris Janzen Longacre, Herald Press, 1980 (particularly pp. 245-268)
– The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals, Michael Pollan, Penguin Press, 2006 (smaller articles on food consumption at www.michaelpollan.com/write.php)
– For They Shall Be Fed: Scripture Readings and Prayers for A Just World, edited by Ronald J. Sider, Word Publishing, 1997
– Proposed Resolution of Witness for General Synod 27: “On the Roles of Church and Government in Addressing Global Food Crisis” submitted by Justice and Witness Ministries and Wider Church Ministries, http://www.ucc.org/synod/resolutions/gs27/gs27-6.pdf

“Food for All”: Service Prayers for the Ninth Sunday after Pentecost was written by the Rev. Kristina Lizardy-Hajbi, Iliff School of Theology, Denver, CO.


©Copyright 2021, Faith INFO Ministry Team, United Church of Christ, 700 Prospect Avenue, Cleveland, OH 44115-1100. Permission granted to reproduce or adapt this material for use in services of worship or church education. All publishing rights reserved.

Pentecost 9–July 25

  • Column
    • Local Church and Conference Resource Directory
    • Mission
    • Justice & Local Church Ministries
    • Wider Church Ministries
    • General Synod Resolutions
    • How can I find local churches near me? Click here!
  • Column
    • Contact
    • News
    • Store

Content on ucc.org is copyrighted by the National Setting of the United Church of Christ and may be only shared according to the guidelines outlined here.

1300 E. 9th Street, Suite 1100
Cleveland, Ohio 44114

  • Follow us on Facebook
  • Follow us on Twitter
  • Follow us on Instagram
  • Subscribe on YouTube

Donate Now


UCC Crest
© United Church of Christ 2023. Privacy Policy.
Crafted by Cornershop Creative