Worship Celebration
Worship Celebration
February 16, 2020
Guiding Vision
“We are a diverse, Christ-centered people, learning together
and reaching out to serve the community in faith, hope, and love.”
*Congregation is invited to stand
We Open Ourselves to God and Each Other
Prelude “Great is Thy Faithfulness” Edith Yokley, Violin
Welcome and Announcements Rev. Hill
Choral Introit “How Can We Name a Love”
Call to Worship
One: As we offer a welcome to stranger and friend,
as we are embraced in their kindness,
All: we choose to be people of life and blessing.
One: As we serve others in God’s name,
as we receive blessings from those we do not know,
All: we choose to walk in God’s way.
One: As we forgive those who have hurt us,
as we reach out to those we have harmed,
All: we choose to be reconciled to our sisters and brothers.
*Hymn “Standing on the Promises” vs: 1 & 2 #374
Call to Reconciliation
One: With every choice we make, we show how faithful we are to God’s hopes for us. Yet, despite the mistakes we make, the missteps we take, God remains forgiving and gracious. Let us come to our God, speaking honestly about our lives, as we pray, saying,
Unison Prayer of Forgiveness
How often we make the wrong choices, God of our lives! We look at others through the prism of lust, distorting who they really are. We let our ‘mad’ feed us with bitterness and hurt. We toss about harmful words like so many snowballs on a winter’s day. We would rather insult those around us, than to lift them up.
Have mercy on us, God who is everywhere. May we set aside our quarreling natures to be united in common worship, common service, and a common purpose, as we follow Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.
Pray in Silence
Assurance of Pardon
One: Christ came, so we might be healed by God’s tender touch. Christ came, so we might be reconciled to one another.
All: Thanks be to God! As risky, as hard as it may be, we will choose to be God’s people. Amen.
*Passing 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” #557 (1st verse)
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 “Mary, Don’t You Weep” Arr: McDonald
1st Scripture Reading 1 Corinthians 13, pew Bible p. 934
One: Here ends the reading
All: Thanks be to God.
2nd Scripture Reading John 11: 1-6, 17-27, pew Bible pp. 873, 874
One: Here ends the reading
All: Thanks be to God.
Sermon “Mary & Martha Rage” Rev. Hill
We Respond to God’s Call
*Hymn “Come, Holy Ghost, Our Hearts Inspire” #603
Invitation to the Offering
You can now give to UCHP electronically 2 ways!
-Text 773-366-8247 the amount you would like to give and follow next steps.
– On the website uchpchicago.com, click on Giving”
Offertory “The Gift of Love” Christopher King & Edith Yokley
*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
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 “Standing on the Promises” vs: 3 & 4 #374
Benediction Rev. Hill
Postlude
In Worship Today
Pastor: Rev. Charlene Hill
Director of Music – Organist: Joe Wilkinson
Liturgist: Deborah Major
1st Scripture Reading, 1 Corinthians 13 (pew Bible p. 934)
The Gift of Love
13 If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast,[a] but do not have love, I gain nothing.
4 Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. 7 It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
8 Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. 9 For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; 10 but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end. 11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. 12 For now we see in a mirror, dimly,[b] but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. 13 And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.
2nd Scripture Reading, John 11: 1-6, 17-27 (pew Bible pp. 873, 874)
The Death of Lazarus
11 Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 Mary was the one who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair; her brother Lazarus was ill. 3 So the sisters sent a message to Jesus,[a] “Lord, he whom you love is ill.” 4 But when Jesus heard it, he said, “This illness does not lead to death; rather it is for God’s glory, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” 5 Accordingly, though Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus, 6 after having heard that Lazarus[b] was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.
Jesus the Resurrection and the Life
17 When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus[a] had already been in the tomb four days. 18 Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, some two miles[b] away, 19 and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them about their brother. 20 When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, while Mary stayed at home. 21 Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him.” 23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” 24 Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” 25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life.[c] Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” 27 She said to him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah,[d] the Son of God, the one coming into the world.”