Worship Guide
September 29, 2024
Nineteenth 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!
Special Music: “Jesus Does” Stefanie & Charles
Centering Words:
Salt the world with peace and flavor the world with love.
*Call to Worship:
Leader: We gather to pray.
People: We gather to praise.
Leader: May our prayers extend beyond ourselves.
People: May our praise rise to the heavens.
Leader: May our lives be salty with love.
People: May our prayers be reflections of peace.
Leader: Let us pray.
ALL: Faithful God, inspire us to be faithful to one another. Open our hearts to meet the needs in our midst and in the wider world. Open our minds to notice the beauty and gift of your creation. Open our mouths to sing your blessings, joyfully and gratefully. Open our lives to welcome the stranger, seek the lost, and create peace in a troubled world. Amen.
Hymn: “There’s Within My Heart a Melody”
There’s within my heart a melody
Jesus whispers sweet and low:
Fear not, I am with thee, peace, be still,
in all of life’s ebb and flow.
Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, sweetest name I know,
fills my every longing, keeps me singing as I go.
All my life was wrecked by sin and strife,
discord filled my heart with pain;
Jesus swept across the broken strings,
stirred the slumbering chords again.
Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, sweetest name I know,
fills my every longing, keeps me singing as I go.
Though sometimes he leads through waters deep,
trials fall across the way, though sometimes the path
seems rough and steep, see his footprints all the way.
Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, sweetest name I know,
fills my every longing, keeps me singing as I go.
Feasting on the riches of his grace,
resting neath his sheltering wing,
always looking on his smiling face,
that is why I shout and sing.
Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, sweetest name I know,
fills my every longing, keeps me singing as I go.
Soon he’s coming back to welcome me
far beyond the starry sky;
I shall wing my flight to worlds unknown;
I shall reign with him on high.
Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, sweetest name I know,
fills my every longing, keeps me singing as I go.
PROCLAMATION OF THE WORD
Words of Assurance
The Lord is for us, our help and our hope. In God’s mercy and grace, we are welcomed with love and forgiven with compassion.
Thanks be to God for helping us along the way.
Amen.
Special Music: “Footsteps” Stefanie
*Gospel Reading: Mark 9:38-50
38 John said to him, “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us.” 39 But Jesus said, “Do not stop him; for no one who does a deed of power in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me. 40 Whoever is not against us is for us. 41 For truly I tell you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you bear the name of Christ will by no means lose the reward.
42 “If any of you put a stumbling block before one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better for you if a great millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea. 43 If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life maimed than to have two hands and to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire. 45 And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame than to have two feet and to be thrown into hell., 47 And if your eye causes you to stumble, tear it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and to be thrown into hell, 48 where their worm never dies, and the fire is never quenched.
49 “For everyone will be salted with fire. 50 Salt is good; but if salt has lost its saltiness, how can you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.”
WORD AND RESPONSE
Time with Young Friends: “Jesus Loves Me”
Children’s Message: “Courage”
Hymn: “His Eye Is on the Sparrow”
Why should I feel discouraged?
Why should the shadows come?
Why should my heart be lonely,
and long for heaven and home,
When Jesus is my portion? My constant friend is he:
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know he watches me;
his eye is on the sparrow, and I know he watches me.
I sing because I’m happy, I sing because I’m free,
for his eye is on the sparrow, and I know he watches me.
“Let not your heart be troubled," his tender word I hear,
and resting on his goodness, I lose my doubts and fears;
though by the path he leadeth, but one step I may see;
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know he watches me;
his eye is on the sparrow, and I know he watches me.
I sing because I’m happy, I sing because I’m free,
for his eye is on the sparrow,and I know he watches me.
Whenever I am tempted, whenever clouds arise,
when songs give place to sighing, when hope within me dies,
I draw the closer to him, from care he sets me free;
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know he watches me;
his eye is on the sparrow, and I know he watches me.
I sing because I’m happy, I sing because I’m free,
for his eye is on the sparrow, and I know he watches me.
Special Music: “Love Me Like I Am” Stefanie & Charles
Sermon: “For Such a Time” Ester 7:1-6, 9-10, 9:20-22
7 1 So the king and Haman went in to feast with Queen Esther. 2 On the second day, as they were drinking wine, the king again said to Esther, “What is your petition, Queen Esther? It shall be granted you. And what is your request? Even to the half of my kingdom, it shall be fulfilled.” 3 Then Queen Esther answered, “If I have won your favor, O king, and if it pleases the king, let my life be given me—that is my petition—and the lives of my people—that is my request. 4 For we have been sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be killed, and to be annihilated. If we had been sold merely as slaves, men and women, I would have held my peace; but no enemy can compensate for this damage to the king.” 5 Then King Ahasuerus said to Queen Esther, “Who is he, and where is he, who has presumed to do this?” 6 Esther said, “A foe and enemy, this wicked Haman!” Then Haman was terrified before the king and the queen.
9 Then Harbona, one of the eunuchs in attendance on the king, said, “Look, the very gallows that Haman has prepared for Mordecai, whose word saved the king, stands at Haman’s house, fifty cubits high.” And the king said, “Hang him on that.” 10 So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the anger of the king abated.
9 20 Mordecai recorded these things, and sent letters to all the Jews who were in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, both near and far, 21 enjoining them that they should keep the fourteenth day of the month Adar and also the fifteenth day of the same month, year by year, 22 as the days on which the Jews gained relief from their enemies, and as the month that had been turned for them from sorrow into gladness and from mourning into a holiday; that they should make them days of feasting and gladness, days for sending gifts of food to one another and presents to the poor.
RESPONSE TO THE WORD
Hymn: “How Majestic is Your Name”
O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth.
O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth.
O Lord, we praise your name. O Lord, we magnify your name:
Prince of Peace, mighty God; O Lord God Almighty.
O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth.
O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth.
O Lord, we praise your name. O Lord, we magnify your name:
Prince of Peace, mighty God; O Lord God Almighty.
Prayers of the People: Joys and concerns
Silent Prayer, Pastoral Prayer
Special Music: Charles
SENDING FORTH
Hymn: “Love Lifted Me”
I was sinking deep in sin, far from the peaceful shore,
very deeply stained within, sinking to rise no more,
but the Master of the sea, heard my despairing cry,
from the waters lifted me, now safe am I.
Love lifted me! Love lifted me! When nothing else could help
Love lifted me! Love lifted me! When nothing else could help
Love lifted me!
Souls in danger look above, Jesus completely saves;
he will lift you by his love, out of the angry waves.
He’s the Master of the sea, billows his will obey,
he your Savior wants to be, be saved today.
Love lifted me! Love lifted me! When nothing else could help
Love lifted me! Love lifted me! When nothing else could help
Love lifted me!
Benediction
Hymn: “God Be with You till We Meet Again”
God be with you till we meet again;
by his counsels guide, uphold you,
with his sheep securely fold you;
God be with you till we meet again.
