Note: As most of you know by now our streaming service on Facebook has been suspended for 60 days due to a new account set-up. Until nearly Christmas this will be the only way to receive our weekly worship services aside from in-person. You are always free to come to worship at Olivet Presbyterian Church in West Elizabeth at 9:45 am or to Bethesda United Presbyterian Church in Elizabeth at 11:15am on Sunday mornings.
Worship
Service for October 27, 2024
Prelude
Announcements:
Call to Worship
L: Come, People of God, take refuge in the
Lord, for God is good.
P: From the storms and struggles of life we
come.
L: Come, rejoice in the Lord, for God will
provide peace for you.
P: From fear and anxiety, we come to find
peace.
L: Come, open your hearts to the Lord and you
will be given a blessing.
P: Thanks be to God for the many ways in
which we are blessed.
Opening Hymn – Praise to the Lord, the Almighty #482
Blue
Prayer of Confession
God
of mystery and blessing, we speak without knowledge, we grasp without looking
at the consequences, we boast without cause, we speak comfort without true
compassion. Forgive our ignorance, when
we look at what others have without seeing what they have lost. Forgive our self-absorption when we focus on
our desires and ignore the needs of others. We pray this in the blessed name of Jesus. (Silent prayers are offered) AMEN.
Assurance of Pardon
L: Turn and see the light of God’s love. It is lavished upon you.
P: We
have been healed and made whole in God’s love.
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
God of grace and mercy, you created us to worship you and to love one
another. You have never ceased to call
us as individuals and as nations to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly
before you. We also pray this day, O
Lord, for those who speak out against injustice. Allow our voices to blend with theirs to love
one another, to speak up for one another and to point out the injustices of the
world.
Put Your word into our hearts, O God, move in us, and change us so
that we might become tools of your peace in all the places of need. Teach us to be people of kindness, so that
this congregation, our community, and even our nation will be seen by those who
do not know or hear you, as a people of refuge, a shelter from the storms of
life, a sacred place of honor and respect for all people of the earth.
This morning, we also pray for those who are sick and encompassed with
pain or suffering and those who care for them.
Their burden is heavy Lord, as they make difficult decisions, or
struggle for each day’s breath. Comfort
them Lord and renew their strength in you.
We especially remember in prayer today….
Hear these our prayers and the desires of our own hearts, O God, in
these moments of silence.
You alone, O Lord, can turn our mourning into dancing and our tears
into laughter…may we always rejoice in your sovereign love as we pray 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. 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 – My
Faith Looks Up to Thee #383/539
Scripture Reading(s):
First Scripture Reading – Psalm 84
Second Scripture Reading – Colossians
4:7-17
Sermon –
Recognition
(based
on Colossians 4:7-17)
First, I want to thank you all for
allowing me over the last two months to share with you the passages and stories
in scripture that have had a transformative impact on my faith journey,
beginning from my early interest in the Bible during Confirmation Class all the
way up through this past year. Unfortunately,
I have to admit that although I’ve been a student of the Bible for a long time,
many years were simply not that exciting.
I read scripture, studied it, preached it, prayed on it, but often the
lessons were simply repetition of previous things I’d learned, a slightly
deeper meaning into where God’s purpose lie in the text, or a sermon topic and
reference point for a sermon message.
Very few times have they really upset the apple cart, so to speak; stirred
up deep faith-filled stuff for me, turned me in a different direction, or
literally shaking the very foundation of all I’d believed. But, there have been those passages; a
passage that just didn’t make sense, a new interpretation that takes a while to
grasp, or a new understanding that has grabbed by attention. After preaching in this pulpit for the number
of years that I’ve been here, you all know by now my deepest joys, pains, and
character; I figured you could handle the kinds of transformative passages that
have shaped me and how they shaped me. I
hope this series has been, at least if nothing else, enlightening to you.
Having said that I come to today’s message
and it wasn’t a specific Bible passage that challenged me, but rather my star
word for this year. If you remember, at
the beginning of each year, we pass out star words for you to reflect upon for the
year. My word for the beginning of
January 2024 was – recognition. I had
absolutely no idea what this word would mean for the coming year when I
received it. Certainly, I knew what
recognition means, but I looked it up just in case. It means the identification of someone or
something or person from previous encounters or knowledge. The acknowledgement of something’s existence,
validity, or legality.
In today’s scripture passage from
Colossians, we see Paul’s pattern of recognizing the people within the
congregation that will have received his letters – acknowledging their gifts
and their work, remembering the faces and the names, the character of the
people he came to love and respect in each place. He also brought to mind the people that the
receivers should recognize and acknowledge in the gifts that they had received
from them as well. Paul was great at
recognition. I realized about a month or
so into the new year, dwelling upon this word, that it held a special
significance for me, too.
I first thought that this word meant
for me to recognize the people in my life that have served to strengthen my
faith, who brought new meanings, new understandings of the Bible to me. I thought of Dal Matthews, my Sunday School
teacher, whom you all came to know from this series of sermons. I thought of Rev. Allen, the first minister
who took my faith questions seriously and helped shape my faith by treating me
like an adult rather than a child. I
thought of Chris Glaser, who was the first man of faith that I had a kinship
with who became my adult mentor and spiritual advisor. I thought of Jane Spahr, the founder of That
All May Freely Serve and the first person that I could say exuded the Holy
Spirit. There was just something about
her that when you were in her presence, you felt like you were in the presence
of the God’s Holy Spirit. It simply
shined through her.
Having gone through that exercise, I
then thought the word meant for me to recognize the people in my family that
have taught me so much of faith – my German grandfather who came to the United
States as an indentured servant in order to get out of Germany just before the
war came. How he and my Grandmother persevered
through those early years of prejudice here in the US and how my Grandmother befriended
her Italian neighbors to learn how to cook Italian foods and become one of the
head cooks for the school district. How my
aunt taught me the gift of generosity in her everyday life, how she was
gracious to absolutely everyone she came into contact with. How my dad taught me the gift of observation –
how much you can learn by simply sitting back and watching people and
situations. How my English grandmother
taught me so much about caring for the earth and gardening, about forgiveness
when people constantly betray you or disappoint you. How my mom taught me steadfastness and
loyalty, critical thinking and action.
How my sister taught me how to laugh, enjoy life, to not take things so
seriously.
Having
gone through that exercise, I thought about my own faith journey, what I’ve
gone through to get to where I am today.
The ups and the downs, the deep spiritual difficulties of acknowledging
who I was and how God has shaped me. I
did that with my pastor group who spent time together at Crestfield in a two-day
retreat a number of years ago. It was
difficult, but cathartic. And I’ll be
forever grateful for their friendships and their peer support.
Having done that exercise, I returned
to the word wondering if there was something else God wanted me to learn from
it. And that’s when I came, once again,
to today’s passage in Colossians. I’d
recognized people in my past who shaped me, I’d recognized my own faith journey
with God and how that had shaped me, but I realized I’d left out, in that
process, a significant group of people – you.
One of the things that I learned in my
Leadership Training was that you should always praise others in public. So, allow me to indulge in the same act of
recognition that Paul was so good at.
Some of you may not like this, but it
is for the building up of the church and for the edification of God’s work in
you. It is exactly what Paul did. I won’t embarrass you by saying and pointing
out names out loud. We’re a small enough
congregation that everyone will know who I’m talking about anyway.
So,
I want to recognize people that do all kinds of work behind the scenes for the
church. From taking out the trash to
setting up morning worship, from doing our financial work, to finding
contractors to do repairs or maintenance on the building.
I
want to recognize those that help with our food bank at Olivet from calling on
volunteers to remind them about upcoming dates to unloading the truck and putting
the food out, from packers to those that carry the food to people’s cars, from
getting bakery items and maintaining a food list of items we need, to doing all
the necessary paperwork necessary. For
those that help with our afterschool program at Olivet from being a leader and
teacher to just being another adult presence.
For
those that coordinate and communicate with all the outside groups that use the
church at Bethesda.
For
those that run our preschools, have interaction with the parents and children.
I
want to recognize our elders who faithfully do all the necessary decision-making
processes for the church partnership.
For
the board of deacons at Bethesda that help with taking care of our members, the
fundraisers they organize, the decorating of the church for various seasons and
preparing their worship space each Sunday.
For
those that participate in our music ministry through playing and singing on
Sunday mornings.
And
for all of you who call on one another to check in, to follow-up, to pray, to
send cards and letters of encouragement when another member is going through a
rough time.
I recognize the time commitment, the
faithfulness, and the outpouring of love and care that you have for one another
and for the work of this church. None of
it goes unseen. You are doing the work
of the Lord. So, it is with much thanks
that we recognize that work and acknowledge it.
Thanks
be to God. AMEN.
Offertory –
Doxology –
Prayer of Dedication –
Mighty God, You restore sight to the blind and
bounty to the afflicted; You provide refuge for the lost and freedom for the
condemned. Open our eyes, our minds, our
ears, and our hearts as we give out of our abundance to You. AMEN.
Closing
Hymn – Song of Hope #432
Blue
Benediction –
Go now in peace to serve with great joy. Bring the love of God with you so that the
light which has brightened your life may shine for others. Go now, beloved, to serve. AMEN.
Postlude
