GREETINGS, WORDS OF WELCOME, RITUAL OF FRIENDSHIP AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
LET US WORSHIP GOD.
PRELUDE
CALL TO WORSHIP
Hallelujah! Give praise, you servants of the Lord.
Let God’s name be blessed, from this time forth forevermore.
The Lord raises the poor from the dust, and lifts the needy from the ash heap.
The Lord sets them with the nobles, with the nobles of the chosen people.
PRAYER OF THE DAY
*HYMN # 485 To God Be the Glory To God Be the Glory
*CALL TO CONFESSION
*UNISON CONFESSION OF SIN
Holy God, We confess our willingness to worship almost anything but you.
Our devotion is given to our work and to our play. We spend lots of time
pursuing idols, only to find them unsatisfying.
We have many masters, and we trade them back and forth, hoping that
one eventually will have what we need. Have mercy on us.
Curb our boundless appetites and feed us with bread that will last.
Focus our hearts on Jesus, who alone is worthy of our worship,
who alone is able to save. Amen.
Lord, have mercy upon us.
Christ, have mercy upon us.
Lord, have mercy upon us.
*CONGREGATIONAL RESPONSE
Friends in the risen Christ, we are blessed with grace and mercy.
Let us go forwards as forgiven and forgiving people of God,
led in the way everlasting by Jesus Christ our Lord.
Thanks be to God! Amen.
MINUTE FOR MISSION
FIRST LESSON Jeremiah 8:18 thru 9:1
MOMENT WITH THE CHILDREN Rev. Patricia Harvey
ANTHEM I Love to Tell the Story Choir
SECOND LESSON I Timothy 2:1-7
SERMON All God’s Children Rev. Bill Shenk
*HYMN # 439 In Christ There Is No East or West St. Peter
*AFFIRMATION OF FAITH
God’s mercy and judgment await us all. In the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus God has already demonstrated his judging and saving work. We are warned that rejecting God’s love and not caring for others whom God loves results n eternal separation from him and them. Yet we are also told that God loves the whole world and wills the salvation of all humankind in Christ.
We live in tension between God’s warnings and promises. Knowing the righteous judgment of God in Christ, we urge all people to be reconciled to God, not exempting ourselves from the warnings. Constrained by God’s love in Christ, we have good hope for all people, not exempting the most unlikely from the promises. Judgment belongs to God and not to us. We are sure that God’s future for every person will be both merciful and just.
SHARING OF CONCERNS AND PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE
OFFERING
*DOXOLOGY Hymn # 592
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
*HYMN # 423 Jesus Shall Reign Where’er the Sun Duke Street
*CHARGE AND BLESSING
*CONGREGATIONAL RESPONSE Hymn # 345 vs.1
Dear Lord and Father of mankind,
Forgive our foolish ways;
Reclothe us in our rightful mind,
In purer lives Thy service find,
In deeper reverence, praise.
*POSTLUDE
*All who are able may stand.
