Worship Guide
June 16, 2024
Fourth Sunday after Pentecost
Creating Disciples of Jesus who Transform the World
ENTRANCE WITH PRAISE
Greetings:
Minister: The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you!
People: And also with you!
Father’s Day Celebration
Special Music: Stefanie
Centering Words:
When God sowed the seed of covenant love in Abram and Sarai, God’s love extended to their whole family tree– descendants who would be more numerous than the stars in the sky. How many, like us, have found a home within its branches?
*Call to Worship:
Leader: God of covenant love,
People: we praise you for planting seeds of your love within Abraham, Sarah, and their descendants.
Leader: God of incarnate love,
People: we marvel at the magnificent family tree that your divine love has created among us.
Leader: God of welcoming love,
People: we thank you that you have made a home for us within the branches of your family tree.
Leader: God of everlasting love,
People: we worship you, we love you, and we honor you with all that we are.
Leader: Let us pray.
ALL: Holy God, we humble our hearts before you in thanksgiving and awe. For by your mercy, we find ourselves at home in the branches of your family tree. We discover ourselves to be a people with a love that never fails. We find ourselves within your grand love story for all time and all creation. Whom can we thank, but you, for such great mercy? Bring your kingdom into our midst as we worship you this day. Amen.
Hymn: “We Gather Together”
We gather together to ask the Lord’s blessing;
he chastens and hastens his will to make known.
The wicked oppressing now cease from distressing.
Sing praises to his name; he forgets not his own.
Beside us to guide us, our God with us joining,
ordaining, maintaining his kingdom divine;
so from the beginning the fight we were winning;
thou, Lord, were at our side, all glory be thine!
We all do extol thee, thou leader triumphant,
and pray that thou still our defender will be.
Let thy congregation escape tribulation;
thy name be ever praised! O Lord, make us free!
PROCLAMATION OF THE WORD
Words of Assurance
May those who desire to please Christ, find the desires of their hearts.
In Christ, we are a new creation.
Everything old has passed away.
Everything has become new!
Glory to God! Amen.
*Gospel Reading: Mark 4:26-34
26 He also said, “The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground, 27 and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how. 28 The earth produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head. 29 But when the grain is ripe, at once he goes in with his sickle, because the harvest has come.”
30 He also said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for it? 31 It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; 32 yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.”
33 With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it; 34 he did not speak to them except in parables, but he explained everything in private to his disciples.
WORD AND RESPONSE
Time with Young Friends: “Jesus Loves Me”
Children’s Message: “Don’t Worry, Trust God”
Hymn: “He Leadeth Me”
He leadeth me, O blessed thought!
O words with heav’nly comfort fraught!
Whate’er I do, where’er I be
still ’tis God’s hand that leadeth me.
He leadeth me, he leadeth me,
by his own hand he leadeth me;
his faithful foll’wer I would be,
for by his hand he leadeth me.
Sometimes ’mid scenes of deepest gloom,
sometimes where Eden’s bowers bloom,
by waters still, o’er troubled sea,
still ’tis his hand that leadeth me.
He leadeth me, he leadeth me,
by his own hand he leadeth me;
his faithful foll’wer I would be,
for by his hand he leadeth me.
Lord, I would place my hand in thine,
nor ever murmur nor repine;
content, whatever lot I see,
since ’tis my God that leadeth me.
He leadeth me, he leadeth me,
by his own hand he leadeth me;
his faithful foll’wer I would be,
for by his hand he leadeth me.
And when my task on earth is done,
when by thy grace the vict’ry’s won,
e’en death’s cold wave I will not flee,
since God through Jordan leadeth me.
He leadeth me, he leadeth me,
by his own hand he leadeth me;
his faithful foll’wer I would be,
for by his hand he leadeth me.
Sermon: “All-Powerful to Save” Psalm 20
1 The Lord answer you in the day of trouble! The name of the God of Jacob protect you!
2 May he send you help from the sanctuary, and give you support from Zion.
3 May he remember all your offerings,
and regard with favor your burnt sacrifices. Selah
4 May he grant you your heart’s desire, and fulfill all your plans.
5 May we shout for joy over your victory, and in the name of our God set up our banners. May the Lord fulfill all your petitions.
6 Now I know that the Lord will help his anointed; he will answer him from his holy heaven with mighty victories by his right hand.
7 Some take pride in chariots, and some in horses, but our pride is in the name of the Lord our God.
8 They will collapse and fall, but we shall rise and stand upright.
9 Give victory to the king, O Lord; answer us when we call.
RESPONSE TO THE WORD
Prayers of the People Joys and concerns
Silent Prayer, Pastoral Prayer
THE SACRAMENTS OF HOLY COMMUNION
Invitation, Prayer of Confession and Pardon:
Christ our Lord invites to his table
all who love him, who earnestly repent of their sin and seek to live in peace with one another.
Therefore, let us confess our sin before God
and one another.
Merciful God,
we confess that we have not loved you
with our whole hearts.
We have failed to be an obedient church.
We have not done your will,
we have broken your law,
we have rebelled against your love,
we have not loved our neighbors,
and we have not heard the
cry of the needy.
Forgive us, we pray.
Free us for joyful obedience,
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
Hear the good news:
Christ died for us while we were yet sinners;
that proves God's love toward us.
In the name of Jesus Christ, you are forgiven!
In the name of Jesus Christ, you are forgiven.
Glory to God. Amen
The Great Thanksgiving
The Lord be with you
And also with you.
Lift up your hearts
We lift them up to the Lord.
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God
It is right to give our thanks and praise.
It is right, and a good and joyful thing, always and everywhere to give thanks to you, Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth.
You formed us in your image and breathed into us the breath of life.
When we turned away, and our love failed, your love remained steadfast. You delivered us from captivity, made covenant to be our sovereign God, and spoke to us through your prophets.
And so, with your people on earth and all the company of heaven we praise your name and join their unending hymn:
Holy, Holy, Holy Lord,
God of power and might,
heaven and earth are full of your glory.
Hosanna in the highest.
Blessed is he who comes
in the name of the Lord.
Hosanna in the highest.
Holy are you, and blessed is your Son Jesus Christ.
Your Spirit anointed him to preach good news to the poor, to proclaim release to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, and to announce that the time had come when you would save your people.
He healed the sick, fed the hungry, and ate with sinners.
By the baptism of his suffering, death, and resurrection, you gave birth to your church, delivered us from slavery to sin and death, and made with us a new covenant by water and the Spirit.
When the Lord Jesus ascended, he promised to be with us always, in the power of your Word and Holy Spirit.
On the night in which he gave himself up for us, he took bread, gave thanks to you, broke the bread, gave it to his disciples, and said:
"Take, eat; this my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me."
When the supper was over, he took the cup,
gave thanks to you, gave it to his disciples, and said:
"Drink from this all of you;
this is my blood of the new covenant,
poured out for you and for many
for the forgiveness of sins.
Do this, as often as you drink it
in remembrance of me."
And so, in remembrance of these your mighty acts in Jesus Christ, we offer ourselves in praise and thanksgiving as a holy and living sacrifice, in union with Christ's offering for us, as we proclaim the mystery of faith
Christ has died;
Christ is risen;
Christ will come again.
Pour out your Holy Spirit on us gathered here, and on these gifts of bread and wine. Make them be for us the body and blood of Christ, that we may be for the world the body of Christ, redeemed by his blood.
By your Spirit make us one with Christ, one with each other, and one in ministry to all the world, until Christ comes in final victory, and we feast at his heavenly banquet.
Through your Son Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit in your holy Church, all honor and glory is yours, almighty Father, now and forever. Amen
And now with the confidence of children of God, let us pray:
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed by 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 trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, and the power and the glory forever.
Amen
Sharing of the Cup and Loaf
Moment of Prayer and Meditation
Prayer of Thanks
Eternal God, we give you thanks for this holy mystery in which you have given yourself to us.
Grant that we may go into the world in the strength of your Spirit, to give ourselves to others, in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen
SENDING FORTH
Hymn: “I Am Thine, O Lord”
I am thine, O Lord, I have heard thy voice,
and it told thy love to me;
but I long to rise in the arms of faith
and be closer drawn to thee.
Draw me nearer, nearer blessed Lord,
to the cross where thou hast died.
Draw me nearer, nearer, nearer blessed Lord,
to thy precious, bleeding side.
Consecrate me now to thy service, Lord,
by the power of grace divine;
let my soul look up with a steadfast hope,
and my will be lost in thine.
Draw me nearer, nearer blessed Lord,
to the cross where thou hast died.
Draw me nearer, nearer, nearer blessed Lord,
to thy precious, bleeding side.
O the pure delight of a single hour
that before thy throne I spend,
when I kneel in prayer, and with thee, my God
I commune as friend with friend!
Draw me nearer, nearer blessed Lord,
to the cross where thou hast died.
Draw me nearer, nearer, nearer blessed Lord,
to thy precious, bleeding side.
There are depths of love that I cannot know
till I cross the narrow sea;
there are heights of joy that I may not reach
till I rest in peace with Thee.
Draw me nearer, nearer blessed Lord,
to the cross where thou hast died.
Draw me nearer, nearer, nearer blessed Lord,
to thy precious, bleeding side.
Benediction
