Worship of the People
First Presbyterian Church
November 12, 2017
Stewardship Sunday
We Gather in God’s Presence
PRELUDE The Gift to Be Simple Dale Wood
Lighting of the candles – June Winters, acolyte
As the worship leaders and acolyte process,
let us pause as we begin our worship.
OUR LIFE TOGETHER…
During the announcements, please fill out the
“Welcome Sheets” and any prayers you would like to
share this morning. Pass them to the outside of your pew
to be collected by the ushers during the Gathering Song.
GATHERING The Earth Belongs to God Alone Hymn No. 715 (Stz. 1)
Congregation and choir singing together
The earth belongs to God alone;
hard clay, rich soil, fine sand.
Give thanks wherever food is grown
on borrowed holy land.
CALL TO WORSHIP
Why have we gathered here?
We come because we have been called
to live out a story.
What story shall we live?
The story of saving love.
Where did this story begin?
It was whispered before time began,
it was sung in the melody of Creation.
+ signifies, those who are able, please stand
+HYMN No. 749 Come! Live in the Light WE ARE CALLED
+OPENING PRAYER AND CONFESSION
Let us pray. God and author of life; as we gather
to tell your story – our story – together, we listen
for your calling in our midst.
Open our hearts to one another and to you,
that we might hear the call spoken through
your servant Amos to focus on what is goodand just.
Almighty and ever-living God, as broken members
of a broken world, we confess our sin…
God, in your justice;
Heal us and our world.
Too often we hate good and love evil…
God, in your justice;
Heal us and our world.
In our daily choices and our purchases, we neglect
the poor and downtrodden…
God, in your justice;
Heal us and our world.
Rather than consider the consequences of our
actions, we think only of our own comfort…
God, in your justice;
Heal us and our world.
We value our church services as acts of worship
but are silent in the face of injustice…
God, in your justice;
Heal us and our world.
+ASSURANCE OF GOD’S GRACE
+RESPONSE Change My Heart, O God Hymn No. 695
Change my heart, O God; make it ever true.
Change my heart, O God; may I be like you.
You are the Potter; I am the clay.
Mold me and make me; this is what I pray.
Change my heart, O God; make it ever true.
Change my heart, O God; may I be like you.
+PASSING THE PEACE
We Grow as We Listen to God’s Word
MESSAGE FOR OUR CHILDREN
This, this is where children belong, welcomed as part of the worshiping throng.Water, God’s word, bread and cup,prayer and song:
This is where children belong.
– James Ritchie
Following the message, children should return to sit with their parents. Nursery care is available for our youngest children.
ANTHEM A Touching Place John L. Bell and Graham Maule
Christ’s is the world in which we move,
Christ’s are the folk we’re summoned to love,
Christ’s is the voice which calls us to care,
And Christ is the one who meets us here.
To the lost Christ shows his face,
To the unloved he gives his embrace;
To those who cry in pain or disgrace, Christ makes, with his friends, a touching place.
Feel for the people we most avoid,
Strange or bereaved or never employed;
Feel for the women, and feel for the men
Who fear that their living is all in vain.Refrain
Feel for the parents who’ve lost their child,
Feel for the women whom men have defiled,
Feel for the baby for whom there’s no breast,
And feel for the wear who find no rest. Refrain
Feel for the lives by life confused,
Riddled with doubt, in loving abused;
Feel for the lonely heart, conscious of sin,
Which longs to be pure but fears to begin. Refrain
PRAYER BEFORE THE READING
Let us pray:
When we ask our questions,
You hear us.
When we speak to you,
You listen to us.
When we seek you out,
You show yourself to us.
When we do not understand,
You tell us again.
READING: Amos 1:1-2; 5:14-15, 21-24 (O.T. pg. 849, 854)
SERMON “What is Worship?”
+HYMN No. 757 Today We All Are Calledto Be DisciplesKINGSFOLD
We Give in Response to God’s Love
PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE
PRESENTATION OF OUR OFFERINGS
Let us pray:
Bless, O God, all the financial resources that will pass through our hands in the year to come. May our planning be wise, our spending be faithful, our giving be joyful and our saving offer peace of mind. Keep us from waste, worry and regret, remind us always to be sensitive to the needs of those who have less that we do, and let justice and compassion guide our earning and our investing. Amen.
As the offertory is sung you are invited to bring
forward your offering and pledge card.
Offertory Anthem Simple Gifts arr. Mark Schweizer
‘Tis a gift to be simple, ‘tis a gift to be free,
‘Tis a gift to come down where you ought to be,
And when we find ourselves in a place just right,
‘Twill be in the valley of love and delight.
‘Tis a gift to be loving, ‘tis a gift to be kind,
‘Tis a gift to leave our bitterness behind;
And when we find ourselves in a place just right,
‘Twill be in the valley of love and delight.
When true simplicity is gained,
To bow and to bend we shan’t be ashamed,
To turn, turn, will be our delight,
Till by turning, turning we come round right.
‘Tis a gift to be thankful, ‘tis a gift to forgive,
‘Tis a gift to find out how we ought to live;
And when we find ourselves in a place just right,
‘Twill be in the valley of love and delight.
+Doxology No. 606Old Hundredth
Praise God, from whom all blessings flow;
Praise him, all creatures here below;
Praise him above, ye heavenly host;
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.
+PRAYER OF DEDICATION
Let us pray.
For the stories of grace which is this community of faith – sanctuary and sermon, music and mission, practices of hospitality, of education, of discernment,
We give you thanks.
For stories we each bring to add to others’ stories, our personal hopes and skills, the time we can share, the experiences from which we offer tenderness, our willingness to take responsibility or expose vulnerability,
We give you thanks.
For unexpected stories in trouble’s face that sustains us in hard times – diagnosis, discouragement, downturn or despair – and the stories of this community’s strength in any situation,
We give you thanks.
For thestories yet to be told – all those possibilities of next year – the new people who will sit in these pews, the new programs through which we will reach out, the transitions completed and the transitions begun,
We give you thanks.
For the stories of prayer, the stories of scripture, the stories of forgiveness, the stories of the resurrection promise, the stories of a single cup of cold water for a child, a stranger or a friend,
We give you thanks.
All the stories of God’s love we have and do and will receive through Jesus Christ who opens our hearts and hands so that grace may flow through us to all the world;
For so many blessings we give you thanks and praise. Amen
+THE LORD’S PRAYER
As God’s children let us pray as Christ taught us.
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 debtsas 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 to Serve God’s World
+HYMN81 Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken AUSTRIAN HYMN
CHARGE & BLESSING
Our loving God, continues to bless and equip us.
God sends us prophets who call out our injustices and point us toward light and abundant life.
Let us seek God, hate evil, and serve others.
Go in peace to love and serve God.
Amen.
turn to the people on either side of you,
to make the sign of the cross on their hand
and repeat this blessing:
May you seek God, hate evil, and serve others.
CHORAL BENEDICTION
We Give Thee But Thine Own SCHUMANN
*POSTLUDE If You But Trust in God to Guide You Anna Laura Page