Worship Guide
June 11, 2023
Second 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: “How Great Thou Art” Charles
Centering Words:
God’s grace makes human faith possible. In this circle of grace and faith, miracles enter and bless our world.
*Call to Worship:
Leader: Come into God’s presence.
People: All are welcome here.
Leader: Come, saints and sinners alike.
People: We are all God’s children.
Leader: Faith has brought us here.
People: Grace will make us whole.
Leader: Come! Let us worship as we pray
ALL: Faithful and loving God, your grace makes our faith possible. May we live and go about our lives as people who place our trust in you. May we love and care for others as people who turn to you for help. Where there is doubt or distrust, renew our faith. Where there is fear or insecurity, grant us courage. Where there is fatigue and weariness, give us amazing strength. Where there is confusion of purpose, give us wisdom. Where there is sorrow and loss, bring us peace. In Christ’s name, we pray. Amen.
Hymn: “God of Grace and God of Glory”
God of grace and God of glory,
on thy people pour thy power;
crown thine ancient church’s story;
bring her bud to glorious flower.
Grant us wisdom, grant us courage,
for the facing of this hour,
for the facing of this hour.
Lo! the hosts of evil ’round us
scorn thy Christ, assail his ways!
Fears and doubts too long have bound us;
free our hearts to work and praise.
Grant us wisdom, grant us courage,
for the living of these days,
for the living of these days.
Cure thy children’s warring madness,
Bend our pride to thy control;
shame our wanton selfish gladness,
rich in things and poor in soul.
Grant us wisdom, grant us courage,
lest we miss Thy kingdom’s goal,
lest we miss Thy kingdom’s goal.
Save us from weak resignation
to the evils we deplore;
let the search for thy salvation
be our glory evermore.
Grant us wisdom, grant us courage,
serving thee whom we adore,
serving thee whom we adore.
PROCLAMATION OF THE WORD
Words of Assurance
By the grace of God, our faith has made us well.
In the grace of Christ, our faith has led us home.
Through the grace of the Holy Spirit, our faith has made us whole.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
*Old Testament Reading: Genesis 12:1-9
1 Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 2 I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
4 So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. 5 Abram took his wife Sarai and his brother’s son Lot, and all the possessions that they had gathered, and the persons whom they had acquired in Haran; and they set forth to go to the land of Canaan. When they had come to the land of Canaan, 6 Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. 7 Then the Lord appeared to Abram, and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him. 8 From there he moved on to the hill country on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; and there he built an altar to the Lord and invoked the name of the Lord. 9 And Abram journeyed on by stages toward the Negeb.
Leader: This is the Word of God, for the People of God
People: Thanks be to God!
WORD AND RESPONSE
Time with Young Friends: “Jesus Loves Me”
Children’s Message:
Hymn: “Be Thou My Vision”
Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart;
naught be all else to me, save that thou art.
Thou my best thought, by day or by night,
waking or sleeping, thy presence my light.
Be thou my wisdom, and thou my true word;
I ever with thee and thou with me, Lord;
thou and thou only, first in my heart,
great God of heaven, my treasure thou art.
Great God of heaven, my victory won,
may I reach heaven’s joys,
O bright heaven’s Sun!
Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,
still be my vision, O Ruler of all.
Sermon: “Trusting the Unknown” Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26
9 As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth; and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he got up and followed him.
10 And as he sat at dinner in the house, many tax collectors and sinners came and were sitting with him and his disciples. 11 When the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” 12 But when he heard this, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 13 Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.”
18 While he was saying these things to them, suddenly a leader of the synagogue came in and knelt before him, saying, “My daughter has just died; but come and lay your hand on her, and she will live.” 19 And Jesus got up and followed him, with his disciples. 20 Then suddenly a woman who had been suffering from hemorrhages for twelve years came up behind him and touched the fringe of his cloak, 21 for she said to herself, “If I only touch his cloak, I will be made well.” 22 Jesus turned, and seeing her he said, “Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well.” And instantly the woman was made well. 23 When Jesus came to the leader’s house and saw the flute players and the crowd making a commotion, 24 he said, “Go away; for the girl is not dead but sleeping.” And they laughed at him. 25 But when the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took her by the hand, and the girl got up. 26 And the report of this spread throughout that district.
RESPONSE TO THE WORD
Hymn: “Trust and Obey”
When we walk with the Lord
in the light of his word,
what a glory he sheds on our way!
While we do his good will,
he abides with us still,
and with all who will trust and obey.
Trust and obey, for there’s no other way
to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.
Not a burden we bear, not a sorrow we share,
but our toil he doth richly repay;
not a grief or a loss, not a frown or a cross,
but is blessed if we trust and obey.
Trust and obey, for there’s no other way
to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.
But we never can prove the delights of his love
until all on the altar we lay;
for the favor he shows, for the joy he bestows,
are for them who will trust and obey.
Trust and obey, for there’s no other way
to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.
Then in fellowship sweet we will sit at his feet,
or we’ll walk by His side in the way;
what he says we will do,
where he sends we will go;
never fear, only trust and obey.
Trust and obey, for there’s no other way
to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.
Psalter: A Modern Affirmation
Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is the one true church, apostolic and universal, whose holy faith let us now declare:
We believe in God the Father, infinite in wisdom, power, and love, whose mercy is over all his works, and whose will is ever directed to his children's good.
We believe in Jesus Christ, Son of God and Son of man, the gift of the Father's unfailing grace, the ground of our hope, and the promise of our deliverance from sin and death.
We believe in the Holy Spirit as the divine presence in our lives, whereby we are kept in perpetual remembrance of the truth of Christ, and find strength and help in time of need.
We believe that this faith should manifest itself in the service of love as set forth in the example of our blessed Lord, to the end that the kingdom of God may come upon the earth. Amen
Gloria Patri
Glory be to the Father and to the son
and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end.
Amen. Amen.
Prayers of the People: Joys and concerns:
Silent Prayer, Pastoral Prayer
SENDING FORTH
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.
Benediction
