Worship
Service for November 12, 2023
Prelude
Announcements:
Call to Worship
L: On this new morning and in every moment of
our lives, gracious God,
P: From generation to generation, we praise
Your holy name.
L: Like our ancestors before us, we proclaim
Your greatness to our children,
P: For we have seen Your deeds of power and
witnessed Your goodness in our lives.
L: As You have opened Your hand to all,
satisfying the desire of every living thing,
P: Open our heart so that we might share the
gifts we have received from You.
L: Let us worship God in gratitude and joy!
Opening Hymn – His Eye is on the Sparrow Hymn
#624 Brown
Prayer of Confession
Faithful God, we come before
You with many concerns on our hearts. We
get frustrated and angry at the way things are going in the world. We want Your immediate intervention; and when
we don’t see things happening the way we think they should be, we are quick to
dismiss You and any thought of Your presence.
Help us stop our selfishness and our quick anger. Remind us that You will work with us and
through us for peace and hope. Release
us from the traps of quick tests of Your faithfulness and help us see the “big
picture” of Your awesome love that spans all of time. Forgive us for our pettiness and our
stubbornness. Bring us back to You, O
Lord. Help us shout Your praises and
live lives of joyful service. For we ask
these things in Jesus’ name. (Silent
prayers are offered) AMEN.
Assurance of Pardon
L: Even though we get frustrated and angry,
God still loves us and seeks to heal us.
Open your hearts to receive God’s blessings and to feel God’s healing
power in your lives.
P: Thanks be to God. AMEN.
Gloria Patri
Affirmation of Faith/Apostles’
Creed
I believe in God the Father
Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth; And in Jesus Christ His only Son our Lord;
who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under
Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; He descended into hell; the
third day He rose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven, and sitteth on
the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence He shall come to judge
the quick and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Ghost,
the holy catholic Church; the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins; the
resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting. AMEN
Pastoral Prayer and Lord’s
Prayer
As we gather in prayer
this day as a community of your people, O God, we pray for thankful hearts for
the goodness of your creation, for the signs of your loving care of all things
we see around us daily, and for the calling into a community of the followers
of your son, Jesus Christ. We give you
thanks for his teachings, his compassionate words of care, his challenges to
all the ways we focus on self-centeredness and self-sufficiency, for his
healing presence and for his courageous witness against the powers of this
world that focus on destruction, hatred, and death.
Creator God, you draw
all people into one body so that we may learn the precious connectedness of
your universe. You invite us to nurture
each other, to trust each other, to empower each other, to unbind each other,
to encourage one another, so that together we will be a strong and healthy
body.
Holy Lord, empower us to be more faithful and diligent in
spreading your good news of peace, love, hope, and grace in our world. Give us boldness and courage to speak and act
against the principalities and powers of this age that fill the world with
injustice and acts of violence.
You also taught us, Lord, to pray for those who persecute
us. Though it is difficult to voice kind
words about those who perpetuate evil, we pray for those who find anger in
their hearts, for those who want to do violence against another human
being. We pray also for those who lost
their lives in events around the globe.
Cover your creation, Lord, with compassion and care. We especially pray this day for Israel and
Palestine, for those living in Gaza. We
pray for Ukraine and Russia. We pray
for a change of heart, for people to find better ways to communicate their
frustration, for increased understanding, for Your holy sense of mercy to
pervade minds and spirits.
We also pray for our own loved ones….
O Lord, hear the words of our mouths and now in silence
hear also the words of our hearts.
We pray all these things together saying…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. 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 – A
Mighty Fortress Hymn #260/151
Scripture Reading(s):
First Scripture Reading – Joel
2:12-28
Second Scripture Reading – Matthew
16:13-19
Sermon – “I Dream a Church”
About halfway
through his ministry Jesus questioned the disciples about who people thought he
was. And then after a variety of answers
he asked them directly, “But who do you say I am?”
Simon, son of Jonah,
answered immediately, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God” and with
that answer, Jesus renames him Cephas or Peter which means “Rock” and declares
that upon that Rock he would build a church.
But what really was that church supposed to look like, feel like, be
like? How was this church going to be
any different from the religious institutions that had gone before it? How was this new church supposed to respond
to the ways of the world, the teachings of Christ, and the new vision of hope,
grace, mercy, and love?
When Jesus was
arrested, crucified, and resurrected from the dead, only to leave again, the
disciples probably wondered about this new future church even more. They waited, they prayed, and they dreamed of
what the new Church Jesus envisioned would be like.
Plans didn’t quite go the way they had
envisioned them. Jesus was not seated on
the throne of Jerusalem; hailed as king of the Jews. They were not part of a new government,
formed to bring about peace and prosperity for the Jewish nation. But in spite of the chaos that followed
Christ’s death and resurrection, a new dream emerged. They dreamed of the promised gift of the
Spirit, they dreamed of the future and their place in it, and they dreamed
about what the continuing presence of Christ might mean for them and their
world.
As it shaped the
longing of the disciples, God’s Holy Spirit shapes our human longing into a
holy longing and our human dreaming into holy dreaming. As God’s love is poured out upon us our
longing and dreaming is brought to perfection by that same Spirit. To dream is to invite God’s Holy Spirit to
enter into our broken lives, wherever we are, in whatever state we find
ourselves, and ask for the wings of the Spirit to unfurl in our dreaming. To dream the Church, to dream the Kingdom, is
to invite God’s Holy Spirit into our humanity and shape our dreaming and
longing into a Christ-like longing for the reconciliation of the world to God.
I, also, have a
dream for the church.
I
dream a church with doors flung wide open, where all who enter meet the living
God. A church with vibrant worship,
powerful preaching, and marvelous music. I dream of a church that
transforms broken people into whole people of God. I dream of a place that is less like a club
with a membership, than an ever-widening circle that welcomes everyone.
I dream a church that honors the past, lives into
the present, and embraces the future.
Honoring the great cloud of witnesses that have gone before us, their
contributions that have made possible our present reality, we give them
thanks. I dream a church that works side
by side one another in mission and outreach, in programs and the work of the
church. I dream a church that isn’t
afraid of the future, but instead listens to the voices that are emerging as
you dream together to shape and mold what your future shall be.
I dream of a
Church that has no fear or reservation in making the Gospel of Christ, the
story God’s reconciling love, known to a hurting world. You can start by taking that message with
you. There are hurting people just down
the street or around the corner. Start
right here; at home. And how do you make
the gospel known? You live it; every
day. Work for justice, show compassion,
serve others, pour out God’s love and grace on others as it has been poured out
on you. Above all, be forgiving.
I dream of a
Church that turns to God again and again in prayer and listens to what the
Spirit is saying to the Church. Do not
just pray for yourselves and your family.
Do not just pray for those whom you know, but pray for the
stranger. Pray for our communities. Pray for your neighbor. Pray for the people you don’t know well. Pray for those who have nothing but a glimmer
of hope. Pray for those who have lost
even that. Pray for those who have
everything, but God. Pray for the world
around you. Pray for the things that are
happening in society. In all things,
turn to God in prayer. The more you
pray, the more you’ll hear God speak. So,
I pray that you learn how to listen, as well.
I dream a church that challenges the mind,
opens the heart, and feeds the soul. A place of learning and inquiry for
everyone, from the very smallest to the very eldest. I dream of dialogue and struggle, of laughter
and tears, of growth and maturity. A
church that says “yes” more often than “no.”
I dream of a
Church in which all the children of God are welcome, and not turned away
because of human prejudice or human fear of those who are different. Embrace the outcast. Forgive those who have hurt you. Do not put yourselves in the position of
judge, but rather that of a fellow traveler.
We all have more in common than we have differences. Welcome the orphan and the widow, the single
mother, and the struggling dad. Encourage
those who have doubts and are full of questions and fear. Do not have all the answers, but walk beside
them as they discover the answers for themselves.
I dream of a
Church that has the courage to stand up to the injustices and prejudices of the
world around us, and champion the voice and cause of the dispossessed, the
marginalized, and the forgotten. Taking
that one step further: Don’t just
welcome them into your midst, but champion their causes as your own. Make their life struggles your mission to
help end injustice and prejudices.
I dream that God
will journey with those who have left the Church, and yes, even abandoned their
faith in light of the ways that the Church has hurt so many in our history. So always be ready to be the voice of
reconciliation to those who have been hurt by destructive voices in the
past. Be the one voice that stands out
and says, “That wasn’t right. And I’m
here to prove to you that it can be different.”
I dream of a Church of
courageous people gathered under the banner of Christ who stand together and
say no to the dark forces of this world that would have us believe that our
human value is rooted only in what we can buy or what we can sell. Life isn’t about things. It’s about people and our relationship with
one another. God created us all in God’s
own image. Be courageous and stand firm
in acknowledging the dignity that every human being should be offered.
I dream of a
Church that proclaims a resounding “no” to the selfishness within us and around
us that leads us to destroy, rather than nurture and care for God’s good
creation. Be more careful of the
resources you use and consume. Be good
stewards of the earth’s rich bounty. We
have been given the task of being caretakers of God’s creation, so herald the
causes of those who work to protect it.
I dream a church like the 1st Century
Church, a church filled with hospitality
and healing, generosity and giving. A
place where needs are met and good things are shared. Where the lonely find support and wise advice.
Where those struggling with chronic
illness find comfort. Where the able-bodied work and play and sit at table
alongside those who need more tending. In my dream of a church, I see a grateful church,
a church serving the bread of life and the cup of joy.
And I dream of a Church in which every one of
God’s children know and feel the healing and reconciling love of God in Christ,
no matter how broken they are, no matter how defeated they are, no matter how
sick, depressed or demoralized, I dream that God’s love will be known to any
and all in need. And I dream that we,
each and every one of us, can be the people to carry that love to the world.
This is what I dream for the church. It is what I long for. What is your dream for the church? What is your holy longing? It’s time for men and women, young and old to
dream dreams and share their visions that God might shape our collective dreams
and our collective visions into the vision of his kingdom.
Thanks be to
God, AMEN.
Offertory –
Doxology –
Prayer of Dedication –
Heavenly
Lord, we are indeed thankful for the blessings you have bestowed upon us. Grant that these offerings serve you in the
building up of your church and your witness to the world; that your heavenly
kingdom is near at hand within us now and always. AMEN.
Closing
Hymn – O, Master Let Me Walk With Thee Hymn #357/665
Benediction –
God has called and chosen you to be witnesses to hope and
peace in God’s world. Go in peace and
this same healing, reconciling love and peace will be with you. Go and serve the Lord your God in all that you
do. AMEN.
Postlude
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