The Prelude
Scripture for Preparation
Fear not, Earth! Be glad and celebrate!
God has done great things.
Fear not, wild animals!
The fields and meadows are greening up.
The trees are bearing fruit again:
a bumper crop of fig trees and vines!
Children of Zion, celebrate!
Be glad in your God.
He’s giving you a teacher
to train you how to live right—
Teaching, like rain out of heaven, showers of words
to refresh and nourish your soul, just as he used to do.
And plenty of food for your body—silos full of grain,
casks of wine and barrels of olive oil. Joel 2:21-24
The Welcome, News and Announcements
The Introit
The Call to Worship Polly Gutelius
Leader: As long as we live,
People: All creatures praise the Lord.
Leader: As long as we have breath,
People: All creatures praise the Lord.
Leader: As long as the earth revolves around the sun,
People: All creatures praise the Lord.
Leader: Let us worship God.
Hymn #253 “I’ll Praise My Maker”
1 I’ll praise my Maker while I’ve breath;
and when my voice is lost in death,
praise shall employ my nobler powers.
My days of praise shall ne’er be past,
while life, and thought, and being last,
or immortality endures.
2 Happy are they whose hopes rely
on Israel’s God, who made the sky
and earth and seas, with all their train;
whose truth for ever stands secure,
who saves th’oppressed and feeds the poor,
for none shall find God’s promise vain.
3 The Lord pours eyesight on the blind;
the Lord supports the fainting mind
and sends the laboring conscience peace.
God helps the stranger in distress,
the widow and the fatherless,
and grants the prisoner sweet release.
4 I’ll praise my God who lends me breath;
and when my voice is lost in death,
praise shall employ my nobler powers.
My days of praise shall ne’er be past,
while life, and thought, and being last,
or immortality endures.
Prayer of Confession Polly Gutelius
All-seeing God, too often we close our eyes to what is going on in the world. We cannot see with the eyes of the very poor. That we live in relative luxury, even as there are others with many times what we have. We live and have our being. We have sacred music to do more than sooth our nerves. We spend more on cosmetics then some do to buy their daily bread. With sentimental drama and contrived excitement, we escape from an honest attempt at doing something to right the wrongs. Forgive our inaction so unlike the compassion and involvement of your Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ. Give us eyes to see, ears to hear, feet to passage, and hands to serve as the Spirit is leading us so to do. Amen.
The Hebrew Scripture Reading Psalm 107:1, 33-43 Polly Gutelius
1 O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
for his steadfast love endures forever.
33 All-Seeing One turns rivers into a desert,
springs of water into thirsty ground,
34 a fruitful land into a salty waste,
because of the wickedness of its inhabitants.
35 The King of the Universe turns a desert into pools of water,
a parched land into springs of water.
36 And there, YHWH lets the hungry live,
and they establish a town to live in;
37 they sow fields, and plant vineyards,
and get a fruitful yield.
38 By God’s blessing they multiply greatly,
and God does not let their cattle decrease.
39 When they are diminished and brought low
through oppression, trouble, and sorrow,
40 All-seeing One pours contempt on princes
and makes them wander in trackless wastes;
41 but God raises up the needy out of distress,
and makes their families like flocks.
42 The upright see it and are glad;
and all wickedness stops its mouth.
43 Let (us) give heed to these things,
and consider the steadfast love of the Lord.
Hymn #29, “Go Tell It On the Mountain”
Refrain: Go tell it on the mountain
Over the hills and everywhere
Go tell it on the mountain
Our Jesus Christ is born
When I was a seeker
I sought both night and day
I asked the Lord to help me
And he showed me the way
Refrain
He made me a watchman
Upon a city wall
And if I am a Christian
I am the least of all
Refrain[i]
We Proclaim God’s Word
The New Testament Lesson Matthew 5:14
14 “You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. 15 No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.
New Revised Standard Version
Prayer of Illumination ASSURANCE OF FORGIVENESS
Sermon “Growing Roots In the Soil of God’s Marvelous Love”
Organ Music for Meditation
We Respond to God’s Word
The Offertory
**Please hum along or speak The Doxology
**The Prayer of Dedication
There is hardly a place where we meet you more intimately, invisible God than at the offering. May our presence here be a submission, that you may search our hearts. Receive our humble gifts, transform our offerings, and turn our acts into those of love for the whole world in the spirit of Jesus Christ. Amen
The Joys and Concerns
The People’s Prayer and the Lord’s Prayer
…Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come, your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread;
and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors;
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen
We Go Forth in God’s Name
**The Charge and Benediction
**The Sending Hymn “Go Now In Peace”
**Postlude
Attributions
Psalms and Prayers for Congregational Participation by B. Davie Hostetter, 1982
The hymns for today are from The Presbyterian Hymnal, Westminster Press, 1990
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