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We return thanks to our Mother, the earth which sustains us
We return thanks to the river and the streams which supply us with water
We return thanks to all the herbs which furnish medicines for the cure of our diseases
We return thanks to the moon and the stars which have given to us their light when the sun was gone
We return thanks to the sun that has looked upon the Earth with a beneficent eye
Lastly, we return thanks to the Great Spirit in whom is embodied all goodness and who directs all things for the good of her children.

From a Haudenosaunee Blessing

Order of Worship

November 19, 2023 at 10:30 a.m.

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Prelude

Come Ye Thankful People, setting by James Kasen

Come, Ye Thankful People Come evokes imagery drawn from parables taught by Jesus of wheat and tares, and of a growing seed. The hymn (#367) which speaks of harvest and the gathering is both a prayer of gratitude and of praise, as well as an affirmation of God’s ultimate purpose: “Gather thou thy people in, free from sorrow, free from sin.” Composer James Kasen captures the spirit of gratitude and acclamation in this familiar and well-loved Thanksgiving hymn.

*Call to Worship

(The congregation responds aloud with the bold text)

Come to God with joy in your hearts.
We come, to praise God with thanksgiving.

Bless God’s holy name, the One who has made us.
We come into God’s presence, singing songs of wonder and hope.

God is good! God’s faithfulness never ends.
We are God’s people, seeking lives of service and praise.

*Hymn: “Come, Ye Thankful People Come”

1. Come, ye thankful people, come, raise the song of harvest home;
All is safely gathered in, ere the winter storms begin;
God, our Maker, does provide for our wants to be supplied;
Come to God’s own temple, come, raise the song of harvest home.

2. All the blessings of the field, all the stores the gardens yield,
All the fruits in full supply, ripened ‘neath the summer sky,
All the spring with bounteous hand scatters o’er the smiling land,
All the liberal autumn pours from its rich o’er-flowing stores,

3. These to thee, our God, we owe, source whence all our blessings flow;
And for these our souls shall raise grateful vows and solemn praise.
Come, then, thankful people, come, raise the song of harvest home;
Come to God’s own temple, come, raise the song of harvest home.

Prayer of Adoration

Call to Confession

Prayer of Confession

Because we live in this modern, tech-driven age, we often forget what you have done for us, God of every blessing. We isolate ourselves through social media, reinforcing our own beliefs instead of reaching out to others. We have more than we can ever use yet store up more and more. Our faith is pushed to the back of the closet, to make room for all the fears we wear so easily.

Forgive us, Restorer of Life. As you clothe us with your grace and mercy, may we share with those who have so little. As our hearts overflow with love and wonder, may we offer them as gifts to everyone we meet. As you feed us with your joy and hope, may we welcome all those whose lives are filled with tears and pain. As we gather with family and friends during this season, may we continue to reach out with justice and welcome, giving thanks for the gift of Jesus Christ, our Lord and our Savior.

Assurance of Pardon

*Response of Praise: Hymn #582, “Glory to God, Whose Goodness Shines on Me”

1. Glory to God, whose goodness shines on me,
and to the Son, whose grace has pardoned me,
and to the Spirit, whose love has set me free.
As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be. Amen.

2. World without end, without end. Amen.
World without end, without end. Amen.
World without end, without end. Amen.
As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be. Amen.

*Passing of the Peace

Life in Community

Thank you for joining us for worship! Explore the calendar of events and recent announcements to take another step into our life together this week. If you’re joining us for the first time or would like to learn more about Catonsville Presbyterian, you’re welcome to share your email with us. We’ll send some information that will help you get connected.

Moment for Stewardship: Tracy Lantz

Children’s Message

Prayer for Illumination

Scripture: Deuteronomy 8:7-18

For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land with flowing streams, with springs and underground waters welling up in valleys and hills, a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey, a land where you may eat bread without scarcity, where you will lack nothing, a land whose stones are iron and from whose hills you may mine copper. You shall eat your fill and bless the Lord your God for the good land that he has given you.

“Take care that you do not forget the Lord your God by failing to keep his commandments, his ordinances, and his statutes that I am commanding you today. When you have eaten your fill and have built fine houses and live in them and when your herds and flocks have multiplied and your silver and gold is multiplied and all that you have is multiplied, then do not exalt yourself, forgetting the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, who led you through the great and terrible wilderness, an arid wasteland with poisonous snakes and scorpions. He made water flow for you from flint rock. He fed you in the wilderness with manna that your ancestors did not know, to humble you and to test you and in the end to do you good. Do not say to yourself, ‘My power and the might of my own hand have gotten me this wealth.’ But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, so that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your ancestors, as he is doing today.

Meditation: “Deo Gratias” Dorothy Boulton

Hymn #643: “Now Thank We All Our God”

1. Now thank we all our God
with heart and hands and voices,
who wondrous things hath done,
in whom this world rejoices;
who, from our mothers’ arms,
hath blessed us on our way
with countless gifts of love,
and still is ours today.

2. O may this bounteous God
through all our life be near us,
with ever joyful hearts
and blessed peace to cheer us;
and keep us in God’s grace,
and guide us when perplexed,
and free us from all ills
in this world and the next.

3. All praise and thanks to God,
who reigns in highest heaven,
to Father and to Son
and Spirit now be given:
the one eternal God,
whom heaven and earth adore,
the God who was, and is,
and shall be evermore.

Call to Offering

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Offering of Tithes and Presentation of Pledges

Offertory: Deo Gratias, James J. Chepponis

Refrain:
Loving God, to you we sing.
Hear the grateful songs we bring.
Deo gratias (thank God)

For the beauty of earth, for the glory of the skies,
For the love which from our birth over and around us lies; [Refrain]

For the beauty of each hour, of the day and of the night,
Hill and vale, and tree and flow’r, sun and moon, and stars of night; [Refrain]

For the joy of human love, brother, sister, parent, child,
Friends on earth, and friends above; for all gentle thoughts and mild; [Refrain]

*Doxology #607, “Praise God, from Whom All Blessings Flow”

Praise God, from whom all blessings flow;
Praise Christ, all people here below;
Praise Holy Spirit evermore;
Praise Triune God, whom we adore. Amen.

*Prayer of Dedication

Holy God,
You have looked upon your people with mercy, generosity, and love.
You have granted your favor to your people,
offering them redemption, salvation, and wisdom.

And so we offer our gifts and our pledges with thanks,
with deep gratitude for your abundant grace.

May they help to bind up the wounds of your people,
and help heal the heartbreak in this broken and hurting world.

May they be multiplied to do your service.
May we be strengthened to do your work.
In the name of Jesus the Christ,
who multiplied small gifts and fed multitudes.
Amen.

Prayer of Thanksgiving and the Lord’s Prayer

For this wondrous world you created, and are creating still,
Mountains and seas, lands and peoples
Beautiful beyond all telling of it,

We thank you, O God of us all.

For the common humanity you created us to be,
One family joined into the mystery of you
Yet babbled into many branches to challenge and enrich us all,
And deliver any from arrogant over-reach,

We thank you, O God of mercy and wisdom.

For the laughter and wonder and wisdom,
The longing and caring and trusting that link us at our core,
And shape our shared future, beautiful beyond all telling of it,

We thank you, O Father/Mother of us all.

For your insistent call to hallow our lives by loving our neighbors as ourselves,
Our enemies as our neighbors, and you above all,

We would thank you with our lives as well as our lips,
For only so will be become doers of your will,
Fulfillers of your dream,
Members in truth of your human family,
And beautiful beyond all telling of it, O Judge and Lover of us all.

For your promise to be with us always, to disturb our consciences,
ignite our curiosity, gladden our hearts, compose our wills,
deepen our relationships, rouse your image in us,

We thank you for shaping our lives to become beautiful beyond
all telling of it, O God of faithfulness and ingenuity.

For your claiming our lives to serve your kingdom of justice and peace and to
share its joy in redeeming the soul of our time, as we join your human family
become beautiful beyond all telling of it,

We thank you, O God of power and glory,
Through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, we pray:

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 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.

Hymn #37 “Let All Things Now Living”

1. Let all things now living
a song of thanksgiving
to God our Creator triumphantly raise;
who fashioned and made us,
protected and stayed us,
by guiding us on to the end of our days.
God’s banners are o’er us;
pure light goes before us,
a pillar of fire shining forth in the night:
till shadows have vanished,
all fearfulness banished,
as forward we travel from light into light.

2. By law God enforces,
the stars in their courses,
the sun in its orbit obediently shine;
the hills and the mountains,
the rivers and fountains,
the depths of the ocean proclaim God divine.
We too should be voicing
our love and rejoicing;
with glad adoration, a song let us raise,
till all things now living
unite in thanksgiving:
to God in the highest, hosanna and praise!

*Benediction

*Postlude

Nun danket alle Gott, (“Now Thank We All Our God”) by Georg Friedrich Kaufmann

The tune and the text of Nun danket alle Gott were first combined and published by Johann Crüger in 1647.  This setting by Georg Friedrich Kaufmann (1679-1735) begins with two voices in imitation for twelve measures before the triumphal melody appears in the soprano above the duo in counterpoint. The hymn’s text was translated from the original German into English by Catherine Winkworth in the early 19th century.  Nun danket alle Gott, now published in 647 hymnals, is a splendid and majestic Thanksgiving hymn. “Now thank we all our God, with heart and hands and voices!”

Participants

• Dorothy Boulton
  Associate Pastor
• Rob and James Burriesci
  Liturgists
• Keith and Kathy Glennan
  A/V Production
• Wendy Johnston,
  Organist and Assistant Director of Music
• Greg Knauf,
  Director of Music
• Vickie Lord,
  Social media support
• Cynthia Schwanz
  Liturgist

Sources

• Glory to God: The Presbyterian Hymnal (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2013).
• Permission to podcast/stream the music in this service obtained from One License with license #A-734388; CCLI Copyright License B 20481088 + Streaming License B 481071