METROPOLITAN

INTERDENOMINATIONAL CHURCH

CELEBRATING 35 YEARS OF UNCONDITIONAL LOVE

SUNDAY, September 4, 2016

16th SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

PREPARATION

The Pastor’s entrance and the beginning of the musical prelude are

the calls to silent, personal preparation for the worship of God.

THE GATHERING

We are standing on Holy ground, And I know that there are angels all around.

Let us praise Jesus now, We are standing in God’s presence on Holy ground.

LITANY

Leader: O people, don’t you hear the blast of the trumpet? People: The lightning strikes and the thunder claps, but your trumpet blares

above the tumult – we hear and tremble. Leader: The Lord has come upon me, saying, “Mortal, be my mouthpiece! Speak my

word like a mighty horn, and declare to my people their sins!” People: Your trumpet is silver, but its sound is harsh! Leader: Hearken to its call! The Lord asks, “Why have your hands not released the

oppressed? Why have you not broken every yoke and chain? People: Tell the Lord that we have no power. Leader: Hear the trumpet! “Why have you not shared bread with the hungry? Why

have you not found shelter for the homeless?” People: Tell the Lord that we have no time. Leader: The trumpet cries! “Why do you leave the naked uncovered? Why do you

neglect a neighbor in pain?” People: Tell the Lord – we have no excuse. Leader: I’ve seen the sword coming upon the land; I’ve blown the Lord’s trumpet in

warning! Now who will rise for God against evil? Who will stand for God against sin?

People: Put a trumpet into our hands, and we will blow for the Lord! Leader: Raise the Lord’s cause with its holy sound! Split the air with its righteous peal- ALL: Let us march to the trumpet of jubilee, proclaiming liberty throughout

the land! The world will hear, and all the nations will shout, and the walls that divide us will come tumbling down!

SONG OF LIBERATION “LIFT EVERY VOICE AND SING”

Lift every voice and sing, ‘til earth and heaven ring, Ring with the harmonies of liberty;

Let our rejoicing rise, high as the list’ning skies, Let it resound loud as the rolling sea.

Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us,

Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us;

Facing the rising sun of our new day begun, Let us march on till victory is won.

Stony the road we trod, bitter the chast’ning rod, Felt in the days when hope unborn had died;

Yet with a steady beat, have not our weary feet come to the place for which our fathers sighed?

We have come over the way that with tears has been watered,

We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered,

Out of the gloomy past, ‘til now we stand at last, Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast.

God of our weary years, God of our silent tears, Thou who hast brought us thus far on the way;

Thou who hast by Thy might led us into the light, Keep us forever in the path, we pray.

Lest our feet stray from the places our God where we met Thee,

Lest our hearts, drunk with the wine of the world, we forget Thee;

Shadowed beneath Thy hand, may we forever stand, True to our God, true to our native land.

WELCOME – Visitors standing

If you are here for the first time, we are delighted that you came. If you are dropping in for a second or third visit, we are glad you found something you were looking for. We hope you will be challenged by our worship and that you will come back again. If you are looking for a faith community, we would welcome you as a part of our church family. When you are officially welcomed as a visitor, you will receive a Visitor’s Information Card. Please fill it out, and return it to the Pastor, or place it in the offering plate. WELCOME!

CONCERNS OF CHURCH AND CITY D. Billye Sanders

OFFERTORY “For all things come from You, and of Your own we have given You.” 1 Chronicles 29:14

Your tithes and gifts help us: Pay the mortgage, utilities, maintenance, and security for the Metropolitan Meeting House;

Provide free pastoral counseling services to members of our congregation;

Fund the First Response Center, serving over 700 people living with HIV/AIDS, and others at-risk;

Pay for the personnel and operating costs of our ministries;

Provide educational materials and resources to assist in the spiritual growth and development of our

community;

Maintain meeting space for ministries, Girl Scouts, recovery/support groups, and community events;

Fund our annual Anniversary and Homecoming celebrations;

Give emergency assistance to members of the congregation and community through our benevolence

fund. Every gift of your time, talent and treasure makes a vital difference in the

life and ministries of Metropolitan Interdenominational Church. Thank you!

SONGS OF PRAISE The Voices of Metropolitan

Reginald Green, Minister of Music

DOXOLOGY Praise God from whom all blessings flow, Praise God all creatures here below

Praise God above ye heavenly host: Creator, Son and Holy Ghost. Amen.

PROCLAMATION

THE WORD Luke 14:25-33

CHORAL RESPONSE Harry Emerson Fosdick

Grant us wisdom, Grant us courage,

For the living of these days, For the living of these days.

PREPARATORY PERIOD

MESSAGE THE SENIOR SERVANT

THE BOTTOM LINE 25 Now large crowds were traveling with him; and he turned and said to

them, 26 "Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife

and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my

disciple. 27 Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my

disciple. 28 For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not first sit

down and estimate the cost, to see whether he has enough to complete it? 29 Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all

who see it will begin to ridicule him, 30 saying, 'This fellow began to build

and was not able to finish.' 31 Or what king, going out to wage war against

another king, will not sit down first and consider whether he is able with

ten thousand to oppose the one who comes against him with twenty

thousand? 32 If he cannot, then, while the other is still far away, he sends

a delegation and asks for the terms of peace. 33 So therefore, none of you

can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions. Luke 14:25-33

SERMON NOTES

RESPONSE

Please do not leave the sanctuary or in any other manner create a distraction

during the invitational period. This is a moment of unparalleled importance.

MOMENTS OF REFLECTION Voices of Metropolitan

INVITATION TO LIFE IN CHRIST

This church will welcome into its membership any persons who love and accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, and who promise to live according to His Laws of

Love, recognizing all people as brothers and sisters for whom He gave His life.

THE LORD’S SUPPER Communion Prayer

We do not presume to come to this, Thy table, O merciful Lord, trusting in our own righteousness, but in Thy manifold and great mercies. We are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs from under Thy table. But Thou art the same Lord whose property is always to have mercy. Grant us, therefore, gracious Lord, so to partake of this sacrament of Thy Son, Jesus Christ, that we may walk in newness of life and grow to reflect Thy Spirit in all things forevermore. Amen.

(We will eat and drink together after all have been served.)

FELLOWSHIP CIRCLE

We’ve come too far to turn back now;

By the grace of God we’re gonna make it somehow.

Nobody knows the trouble we’ve seen; We’ve come too far to turn back now.

A moment of crisis is not always what spurs an act of commitment. The yielding of the

center of consent may be a silent, slow development in the life. The transformation may be so

gradual that it passes unnoticed until, one day, everything is seen as different. Somewhere along

the road a turn has been taken, a turn so simply a part of the landscape that it did not seem like a

change in direction at all. A person will notice that some things that used to be difficult are now

easier; some that seemed all right are no longer possible. There has been a slow invasion of the

Spirit of God that marked no place or time.

But the principle remains the same. When the conditions are met, the experience of inflow

follows. In meeting the conditions, the temperament of the individual, the particular religious

customs by which their life is nurtured, and the dominant notions of the times will all have a part.

HOWARD THURMAN

METROPOLITAN INTERDENOMINATIONAL CHURCH

2128 11th Avenue North, Nashville, TN 37208; Mailing Address: P.O. Box 280779, Nashville, TN 37228

Phone: (615) 72METRO (726-3876) Fax: (615) 259-9210 website: www.micwhosoever.org

Rev. Edwin C. Sanders, II, The Senior Servant Rev. John Cross, Senior Pastoral Assistant

Pastoral Staff: Rev. Marcella Lockhart, Rev. Clifford Smith, Rev. Christopher Davis,

Rev. Terry Terrell, Rev. Regina McCrary, Rev. Neely Williams,

Rev. Stephanie Thompson, Rev. Cherie Booker, Rev. Christopher Goodwin

UPCOMING EVENTS

MIDWEEK FELLOWSHIP: Wednesday, September 7, 2016 at 6:00 p.m.

Dinner by Circle 4; Bible Study 7:00 – 8:00, Classes for Adults and Children

Retention Task Force Meeting – Saturday, September 10th, 10:00 a.m.

Prayer Breakfast – Saturday, September 24th, 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. Sponsored by a blend of the Financial Freedom/Entrepreneurship Seminar Series team

and the Retention Task Force. Look for an additional insert with further details.

Ecclesiastical Council Meeting – Sunday, September 25th after morning worship

Financial Freedom/Entrepreneurship Seminar Series will resume Saturday, October 1st at the FRC.

Join us at the Prayer Breakfast September 24th (above) and then, beginning in October, on Saturday

mornings 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. at the First Response Center, 1219 9th Avenue North, Nashville 37208.

Making Strides Against Breast Cancer – Saturday, October 22, 2016

Sign up to Join and/or Sponsor Team WHOSOEVER – Walking by Faith at

http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR?fr_id=77439&pg=team&team_id=2073111&s_oo=I1HUa6vmVcEhcqJAWAyYUw

Friday evening Dancercise, 7 p.m. | Voices of Metropolitan Rehearsal, Saturday, 12 – 2 p.m. Saturday Worship, 6 – 7 p.m.; The Voices of Metropolitan sing the 2nd Saturday each month.

United Way Employee Giving Campaign: Please designate #3255 to support the First Response Center. For the Combined Federal Campaign, Write In Metropolitan Interdenominational Church First Response Center.

It’s that time again… Please RENEW your enrollment through Kroger Community Rewards every August.

Online: www.kroger.com/communityrewards. Not online? No problem! Call 1-800-547-4377, option 3, for assistance.

Support Metropolitan Interdenominational Church First Response Center whenever you use your Kroger Plus card.

MIDWEEK FELLOWSHIP MEAL SCHEDULE September 14 Circle 5 October 5 Circle 1

September 21 Circle 6 October 12 Circle 2

September 28 Circle 7 October 19 Circle 3

~ Giving Summary ~ Date Offering - Budgeted Offering - Actual Offering – (Un)Realized Summary (Un)Realized

January, 2016 $ 28,850.00 $ 21,668.00 ($ 7,182.00) ($ 7,182.00)

February, 2016 $ 23,080.00 $ 22,536.10 ($ 543.90) ($ 7,725.90)

March, 2016 $ 23,080.00 $ 27,527.23 $ 4,447.23 ($ 3,278.67)

April, 2016 $ 28,850.00 $ 29,929.83 $ 1,079.83 ($ 2,198.84)

May, 2016 $ 28,850.00 $ 26,483.66 ($ 2,366.34) ($ 4,565.18)

June, 2016 $ 23,080.00 $ 20,684.67 ($ 2,395.33) ($ 6,960.51)

July, 2016 $ 28,850.00 $ 29,991.85 $ 1,141.85 ($ 5,818.66)

August 7, 2016 $ 5,770.00 $ 5,148.86 ($ 621.14)

August 14, 2016 $ 5,770.00 $ 5,579.66 ($ 190.34)

August 21, 2016 $ 5,770.00 $ 3,928.00 ($ 1,842.00)

August 28, 2016 $ 5,770.00 $ 4,002.94 ($ 1,767.06)

August, 2016 $ 23,080.00 $ 18,659.46 ($ 4,420.54)

2016 Year to Date $ 207,720.00 $ 197,480.80 ($ 10,239.20) ($ 10,239.20)

BIBLE READING

Read… Pray… Sacrifice… 17th Sunday after Pentecost September 5 - 11, 2016

Jeremiah 4:11-12, 22-28 Psalm 14 1 Timothy 1:12-17 Luke 15:1-10

METROPOLITAN INTERDENOMINATIONAL CHURCH

CELEBRATING 35 YEARS OF UNCONDITIONAL LOVE

Sunday, September 4, 2016

16th SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

Metropolitan Interdenominational Church is a community of believers inclusive of all and alienating to none,

leading the way to spiritual growth by sharing God’s love with the world.

OUR ALL AND ALL OUR ALL AND ALL is what The Lord desires from those of us who choose to

be his disciples. Anything that distracts from the devotion of one’s total self to the

work of sharing God’s unconditional love with the world is thought of as being

subversive. Indeed in Luke 14: 25-33, Jesus goes so far as to suggest that we

should hate the attitudes, outlooks, dispositions and belief systems that get in the

way of our commitment to following him. To give anything less than OUR ALL

AND ALL compromises our efforts and undermines our ability to walk the path

of life with Jesus as our guide. The text points us in the direction of appreciating

the need to make a thorough assessment of our willingness to take on the

responsibility of discipleship. We need to ask ourselves the tough questions

regarding the challenges and demands related to what it means to put OUR ALL

AND ALL on the line for the gospel. What does it mean to “carry the cross” in the

twenty-first century? What does it mean to “give up all of your possessions?” What

is “the cost of discipleship” for us today? – The answers are not easy answers, but

it is clear that when all is said and done Jesus’s words are intended to make us see

the necessity of surrendering OUR ALL AND ALL.

(Reprinted from Sunday, September 8, 2013) Senior Servant

SICK, SHUT IN, and RECOVERING MEMBERS Leon McKinley Corder 1902 Elliott Avenue; Nashville, TN 37204-2004 Send prayers, not visitors, please.

Lynda Hodgers 662-579-5317

Evelyn Martin 3253 Spears Road; Nashville, TN 37207 615-227-0095

Mary Grace Williams 293 Becklea Drive; Madison, TN 37115 615-868-6810

Suzan Matias-Ballentine 198 Dry Creek Road, Goodlettsville, TN 37072 615-830-3393

Emmilye Wilson-Walton P.O. Box 78795; Nashville, TN 37207 615-262-9375