Worship Celebration
Worship Celebration
November 17 , 2019
Guiding Vision
“We are a diverse, Christ-centered people, learning together
and reaching out to serve the community in faith, hope, and love.
*Please stand as you are able
We Open Ourselves to God and Each Other
Prelude “For the Beauty of the Earth” Edith Yokley, Violin
Welcome Rev. Hill
Choral Introit “O Magnify the Lord” Rachael Jaicks, Soloist
*Call to Worship
One: This day! This day we will give thanks to God,
who cradles us in the waters of baptism.
All: This day! This day we will trust in the One who has saved us, who strengthens us.
One: This day! This day we dance to the fountain of life, drinking deeply of salvation’s goodness.
All: This day! This day we praise our God for every blessing; telling everyone of God’s amazing grace in our lives and in our world.
One: This day! This day we sing God’s praises;
testifying to all creation of our God.
All: This day! This day our songs are filled with joy, for God is with us, this day and in all the days to come!
*Hymn “God of Love and God of Power” # 578
Call to Reconciliation
God does not take our sins and stick them up on a shelf, in order to remember them – God forgets them! God does not hold them against us, but forgives us! Join me as we pray to the One who delights in us, as we say,
Prayer of Confession (unison)
We confess that our lives weaken us, Strengthening God. We do not exercise our faith as we should, and so fatigue easily. We see houses as investment property, not as homes built on love, hope, and dreams. We whimper our petty complaints about our friends and families, rather than shouting our hosannas to heaven for the gift of their lives.
You are our hope, Tender God, so forgive us. Create in us new hearts, and fill us with new energy to serve our sisters and brothers, bringing them to the deep wells of salvation, where they can fill their parched souls, even as we have been led to them by Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.
Silence is observed
Assurance of Pardon
One: Rather than remaining white hot, God’s anger melts into streams of living water, washing us clean of our sins and refreshing our spirits with hope and joy.
All: This day! This day we give thanks to the God who is our strength and our salvation. Praise God! Amen.
*Passing of the Peace
We invite the congregation to openly greet one another. Show a smile, shake a hand, give a hug. Let’s share God’s love with one another. During the singing of “Blest Be the Tie That Binds” please find your way back to your seat as we continue fellowship.
*Song of Response (sung on the way back to our seats)
“Blest Be the Tie That Binds” 1 Verse # 557
Blest be the tie that binds
our hearts in Christian love;
the fellowship of kindred minds
is like to that above.
Moment as Children
We Listen Together for the Divine Word
Anthem “Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing” Edith Yokley, Violin
Prayer of Illumination
Gracious God, as we turn to your Word for us, may the Spirit of God rest upon us. Help us to be steadfast in our hearing, in our speaking, in our believing, and in our living. Amen.
1st Scripture Reading 2 Thessalonians 3:6-13, pew Bible p. 962
One: Here ends the reading
All: Thanks be to God.
2nd Scripture Reading Isaiah 65: 17-25, pew Bible pp. 607, 608
One: Here ends the reading
All: Thanks be to God.
Sermon “Infinite Possibilities” Rev. Hill
We Respond to God’s Call
*Hymn “Hymn of Promise” #707
Invitation to the Offering
Offertory “Offertory” Catherine Jaicks, Soloist Edith Yokley, Violin
*Doxology
“Praise God, From Whom All Blessings Flow” # 95
Praise God, from whom all blessings flow;
Praise God, all creatures here below;
Praise God above, ye heavenly host;
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen
Welcome New Members: A Liturgy of Belonging (insert)
Sharing Joys and Concerns
You are invited to share requests for prayer.
After each the pastor will offer: “Come Holy Spirit!”
And the people respond: “Hear our prayer!”
Pastoral Prayer
The Lord’s Prayer (unison)
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come,
thy will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our sins,
as we forgive those who sin against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, and the power,
and the glory, forever. Amen.
*Closing Hymn “Pass It On” #572
Benediction Rev. Hill
Postlude
In Worship Today
Pastor: Rev. Charlene Hill
Director of Music – Organist: Joe Wilkinson
Liturgist: Barrett Mills
1st Scripture Reading, 2 Thessalonians 3:6-13 (pew Bible p. 962)
Warning against Idleness
6 Now we command you, beloved,[a] in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to keep away from believers who are[b] living in idleness and not according to the tradition that they[c] received from us. 7 For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us; we were not idle when we were with you, 8 and we did not eat anyone’s bread without paying for it; but with toil and labor we worked night and day, so that we might not burden any of you. 9 This was not because we do not have that right, but in order to give you an example to imitate. 10 For even when we were with you, we gave you this command: Anyone unwilling to work should not eat. 11 For we hear that some of you are living in idleness, mere busybodies, not doing any work. 12 Now such persons we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living. 13 Brothers and sisters,[d] do not be weary in doing what is right.
2nd Scripture Reading, Isaiah 65: 17-25 (pew Bible pp. 607, 608)
17 For I am about to create new heavens
and a new earth;
the former things shall not be remembered
or come to mind.
18 But be glad and rejoice forever
in what I am creating;
for I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy,
and its people as a delight.
19 I will rejoice in Jerusalem,
and delight in my people;
no more shall the sound of weeping be heard in it,
or the cry of distress.
20 No more shall there be in it
an infant that lives but a few days,
or an old person who does not live out a lifetime;
for one who dies at a hundred years will be considered a youth,
and one who falls short of a hundred will be considered accursed.
21 They shall build houses and inhabit them;
they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
22 They shall not build and another inhabit;
they shall not plant and another eat;
for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be,
and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands.
23 They shall not labor in vain,
or bear children for calamity;[a]
for they shall be offspring blessed by the LORD—
and their descendants as well.
24 Before they call I will answer,
while they are yet speaking I will hear.
25 The wolf and the lamb shall feed together,
the lion shall eat straw like the ox;
but the serpent—its food shall be dust!
They shall not hurt or destroy
on all my holy mountain,
says the LORD.