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Eighth Sunday After Pentecost
- Date: Sunday, July 23, 2023
- Time: 9:30am–10:30am
- Location: Fellowship Hall
Order of Worship
Prelude
Adagio from Violin Sonata in G Minor, J.S. Bach. Arr. Lani Smith
*Call to Worship
(The congregation responds aloud with the bold text)
This is Sabbath — we seek God’s presence and the joy of re-creation.
This is Sunday — we celebrate the bright resurrection and its good news.
This is the day that the Lord has made.
Let us rejoice and be glad in it.
*Hymn #54, “Make A Joyful noise To God”
1. Make a joyful noise to God!
All creation sings your praise!
Great your wonders here displayed,
unexcelled throughout our days.
Glorious is your sacred name,
ages old, yet still the same.
2. Come and see what God has done,
great the blessings to the just:
walked the chosen through the sea,
brought their enemies to dust.
Let us lift a thankful voice
for God’s mercies, and rejoice!
3. Bless the Lord, our refuge sure;
let our songs of praise be heard!
By whose justice, we are tried;
by whose grace, our guilt deferred.
When our life’s sure end shall come,
bring us to your heavenly home.
Prayer of Adoration
Call to Confession
Prayer of Confession
Merciful God, whose care never ceases, we come to you as we are. We are tired from trying to do more than we can manage. We are anxious about problems which go unresolved. We are worried about events beyond our control. We do not easily let go.
For mistakes we cannot redeem, for tasks left undone, for uncertain goals, we need your forgiveness and ask for your understanding. For recovery of strength and enthusiasm, we pray for your Spirit. For fullness of life, generous hearts, and contented souls, we pray to be followers of Christ Jesus. In your mercy, restore us and lead us.
Silent prayer of confession.
Assurance of pardon
There is great joy in the heart of God when we open to the gift of forgiveness. God’s Spirit reaches out to assure us of welcome in Christ.
In the name of Jesus Christ we are forgiven God’s by grace. With great joy we are made truly alive. Thanks be to God!
*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
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Children’s Message
Prayer for Illumination
Scripture: Psalm 66
Make a joyful noise to God, all the earth;
sing the glory of his name;
give to him glorious praise.
Say to God, “How awesome are your deeds!
Because of your great power, your enemies cringe before you.
All the earth worships you;
they sing praises to you,
sing praises to your name.” Selah
Come and see what God has done:
he is awesome in his deeds among mortals.
He turned the sea into dry land;
they passed through the river on foot.
There we rejoiced in him,
who rules by his might forever,
whose eyes keep watch on the nations—
let the rebellious not exalt themselves. Selah
Bless our God, O peoples;
let the sound of his praise be heard,
who has kept us among the living
and has not let our feet slip.
For you, O God, have tested us;
you have tried us as silver is tried.
You brought us into the net;
you laid burdens on our backs;
you let people ride over our heads;
we went through fire and through water;
yet you have brought us out to a spacious place.
I will come into your house with burnt offerings;
I will pay you my vows,
those that my lips uttered
and my mouth promised when I was in trouble.
I will offer to you burnt offerings of fatted calves,
with the smoke of the sacrifice of rams;
I will make an offering of bulls and goats. Selah
Come and hear, all you who fear God,
and I will tell what he has done for me.
I cried aloud to him,
and he was extolled with my tongue.
If I had cherished iniquity in my heart,
the Lord would not have listened.
But truly God has listened;
he has heard the words of my prayer.
Blessed be God,
who has not rejected my prayer
or removed his steadfast love from me.
Scripture: John 15:7-11
If you abide in me and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.
Sermon
“There’s a Party Going On Here,” Rev. Dorothy L. Boulton
Response: “This Is the Day”
This is the day, this is the day
that the Lord has made, that the Lord has made;
We will rejoice, we will rejoice
and be glad in it, and be glad in it.
This is the day that the Lord has made;
We will rejoice and be glad in it.
This is the day, this is the day that the Lord has made.
Call to Offering
Offertory
“To a Wild Rose,” Edward MacDowell
*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 One, whose heart abounds with gifts, receive this offering as a sign of our intention to live lives surrounded by your mercy, inspired by your Spirit, open to the joy of your presence, hospitable to one another, and generous toward your world. In the name of Christ. Amen.
Prayers of the People and the Lord’s Prayer
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 #134: “Joy To the World”
1. Joy to the world, the Lord is come!
Let earth receive her king;
let every heart prepare him room,
and heaven and nature sing,
and heaven and nature sing,
and heaven, and heaven and nature sing.
2. Joy to the earth, the Savior reigns!
Let all their songs employ,
while fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains
repeat the sounding joy,
repeat the sounding joy,
repeat, repeat the sounding joy.
3. No more let sins and sorrows grow,
nor thorns infest the ground;
he comes to make his blessings flow
far as the curse is found,
far as the curse is found,
far as, far as the curse is found.
4. He rules the world with truth and grace,
and makes the nations prove
the glories of his righteousness
and wonders of his love,
and wonders of his love,
and wonders, wonders of his love.
*Benediction
Postlude
“Praise to the Lord, the Almighty,” LOBEN DEN HERREN, Arr. Franklin Ritter
Participants
- Dorothy L. Boulton, Associate Pastor
- Keith and Kathy Glennan, Ruling Elders, video production
- Wendy Johnston, Organist and Assistant Director of Music
- Vickie Lord, Social media support
- Dottie Marshall, Sanctuary set up
- Cynthia Schwanz, Ruling Elder, liturgist
Sources
- Kimberly Bracken Long, ed., Feasting on the Word: Liturgies for Year A, Vol. 2 (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2014).
- 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
- Image: “Scenes in Greater Manchester on VE Day, 1945,” Manchester Evening News