Announcements 5-7

Announcements:

DEVOTIONAL SPOTLIGHT: Contemplations from the Heart: Spiritual Reflections on Family, Community, and the Divine How do we find God in a world where God often seems to be hidden? How do we love one another and seek social justice? This series of theological and spiritual reflections on family and community helps readers see spirituality in daily life, exploring current issues such as global warming, environment, racism, child rearing, and sexism in relation to the church to offer readers new insights and directions for living as faithful Christians.

This book’s brief, daily reflections on universal concerns give voice to what many people feel but struggle to articulate, bringing emotions to the surface to help readers apply theology in their everyday lives. The book’s thirty entries make it ideal for a month of daily personal devotions or group study and discussion.

TABLE CLOTH DINNER: Join us Wednesday 5/17 at 6:30PM at outback steakhouse for our next tablecloth dinner. We will be able to order from the menu and get separate checks. They also offer a senior discount.

CLOTHING DRIVE: Are you taking advantage of this season to do some spring closet cleaning but don’t know where to donate your clean gently used clothes? Fear not, we are collecting clothing for the Program of Hope. We will distribute items to our POH guests in the hot  month of June along with lunches. The Drive will end on May 24 with our sorting and boxing party. Needed are Men’s and Women’s: Summer casual slacks, jeans, tops, white shirts, blouses, black pants for work, plain sturdy shoes (no formal shoes or high heels please), tote bags, new socks and underwear in (ORIGINAL UNOPENED PACKAGE), rain ponchos and sunglasses.

YOUTH SUNDAY: Sunday May 21st will be our next youth service. If your youth wants to be part of the service please let Louise know. 

ALL CHURCH AND COMMUNITY PICNIC: Please plan to Join us on May 21st for our next youth service followed by an all church and community Picnic to kick off the Summer. This is an all hands on deck activity so please see the insert in your Bulletin to sign up to help. We welcome all volunteers and have lots of options for before, during, and after the event. The Church will provide the main dish, hamburgers and hotdogs. Please bring a dessert or picnic side to share, such as salad, fruit, a variety pack of chips, or whatever you like to eat at a picnic. Most importantly don’t forget to invite your friends and neighbors. This event is for everyone, and we can’t wait to fellowship together. 

PW BIRTHDAY OFFERING: This week we will be taking up the PW Birthday offering. Each year, the Birthday Offering awards grants to up to five programs. Primarily making possible capital improvement projects, the Birthday Offering supports domestic and international ministries, focusing on areas such as agricultural development, child care, community organization, criminal justice, drug counseling, economic justice, elderly care, employment training, homelessness, literacy, violence or women’s concerns.

EVENTS AND MEETINGS THIS WEEK:

5/7 – 11:45 AM – Choir Rehearsal 

5/8 – 12:15 PM – Playschool Meeting 

5/10 – 6:00 PM – Worship Committee Meeting 

5/11 – 10:00 AM – Game Day 

5/14 – Mother’s Day 

  • 9:30 AM – Sunday School 
  • 10:15 AM – Choir Practice 
  • 10:30 AM – Worship Service 
  • 11:45 AM – Choir Rehearsal 


Order of Worship 4-30-23

SERVICE FOR THE LORD’S DAY

Fourth Sunday of Easter

April 30, 2023 Ten Thirty in the morning

Ministers: Rev. Aaron Ochart     

Please silence all cell phones. 

Please fill out the attendance sheet. 

Bold face indicates congregational participation.

* Please stand, in body or spirit

GATHERING

OPENING WORSHIP 

✝HYMN [GTG#301]   “Let Us Build a House” 

  1. Let us build a house Where love can dwell and all can safely live,

a place where saints and children tell how hearts learn to forgive.

Built of hopes and dreams and visions, rock of faith and vault of grace;

here the love of Christ shall end divisions: 

All are welcome, all are welcome; all are welcome in this place. 

  1. Let us build a house where prophets speak,

 and words are strong and true,

where all God’s children dare to seek to dream God’s reign anew.

Here the cross shall stand as witness and a symbol of God’s grace;

here as one we claim the faith of Jesus:

All are welcome, all are welcome; all are welcome in this place. 

  1. Let us build a house where love is found in water, wine and wheat;

a banquet hall on holy ground where peace and justice meet.

Here the love of God, through Jesus, is revealed in time and space;

as we share in Christ the feast that frees us:

All are welcome, all are welcome; all are welcome in this place. 

  1. Let us build a house where hands will reach

 beyond the wood and stone

to heal and strengthen, serve and teach, 

and live the Word they’ve known.

Here the outcast and the stranger bear the image of God’s face;

let us bring an end to fear and danger:

All are welcome, all are welcome; all are welcome in this place. 

  1. Let us build a house where all are named, 

their songs and visions heard

and loved and treasured, taught and claimed as words within the Word.

Built of tears and cries and laughter, prayers of faith and songs of grace,

let this house proclaim from floor to rafter:

All are welcome, all are welcome; all are welcome in this place.

WORDS OF WELCOME

ADORATION

CALL TO WORSHIP                                                            Acts 13:1-3

Now in the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen a member of the court of Herod the ruler, and Saul. While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, ‘Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.’ Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off.

 CONFESSION 

CALL TO CONFESSION                                                                                

SILENT CONFESSION

PRAYER OF CONFESSION     

    God of mercy, you sent Jesus Christ to seek and save the lost. We confess that we have strayed from you and turned aside from your way. We are misled by pride, for we see ourselves pure when we are stained, and great when we are small. We have failed in love, neglected justice, and ignored your truth. 

Have mercy, O God, and forgive our sin. Return us to paths of righteousness through Jesus Christ, our savior. Amen.           

ASSURANCE OF PARDON

*GLORIA PATRI #579 

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.

PROCLAMATION

MESSAGE FOR THE CHILDREN            

FIRST LESSON  [Pew Bible NT pg.125 or 133] Acts 14:21-15:5        

After they had proclaimed the good news to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra, then on to Iconium and Antioch. There they strengthened the souls of the disciples and encouraged them to continue in the faith, saying, ‘It is through many persecutions that we must enter the kingdom of God.’ And after they had appointed elders for them in each church, with prayer and fasting they entrusted them to the Lord in whom they had come to believe.

Then they passed through Pisidia and came to Pamphylia. When they had spoken the word in Perga, they went down to Attalia. From there they sailed back to Antioch, where they had been commended to the grace of God for the work that they had completed. When they arrived, they called the church together and related all that God had done with them, and how he had opened a door of faith for the Gentiles. And they stayed there with the disciples for some time.

Then certain individuals came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, ‘Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.’ And after Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and debate with them, Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem to discuss this question with the apostles and the elders. So they were sent on their way by the church, and as they passed through both Phoenicia and Samaria, they reported the conversion of the Gentiles, and brought great joy to all the believers. When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and the elders, and they reported all that God had done with them. But some believers who belonged to the sect of the Pharisees stood up and said, ‘It is necessary for them to be circumcised and ordered to keep the law of Moses.’                                

REFLECTION                                                       the Rev. Aaron Ochart

*SONG [Blue #358]  [GTG 754] Help Us Accept Each Other

Help us accept each other as Christ accepted us;

teach us as sister, brother, each person to embrace.

Be present, Lord, among us and bring us to believe

we are ourselves accepted, and meant to love and live.

  1. Teach us, O Lord, your lessons, as in our daily life

we struggle to be human and search for hope and faith. 

Teach us to care for people, for all, not just for some,

to love them as we find them, or as they may become. 

  1. Let your acceptance change us, so that we may be moved

in living situations to do the truth in love;

to practice your acceptance until we know by heart

the table of forgiveness, and laughter’s healing art. 

  1. Lord, for today’s encounters with all who are in need, 

who hunger for acceptance, for justice and for bread,

we need new eyes for seeing, new hands for holding on:

renew us with your Spirit; Lord, free us; make us one!

SECOND LESSON [Pew Bible NT pg.126 or 134]              Acts 15:6-21

The apostles and the elders met together to consider this matter. After there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, ‘My brothers, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that I should be the one through whom the Gentiles would hear the message of the good news and become believers. And God, who knows the human heart, testified to them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as he did to us; and in cleansing their hearts by faith he has made no distinction between them and us. Now therefore why are you putting God to the test by placing on the neck of the disciples a yoke that neither our ancestors nor we have been able to bear? On the contrary, we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will.’

The whole assembly kept silence, and listened to Barnabas and Paul as they told of all the signs and wonders that God had done through them among the Gentiles. After they finished speaking, James replied, ‘My brothers, listen to me. Simeon has related how God first looked favorably on the Gentiles, to take from among them a people for his name. This agrees with the words of the prophets, as it is written,

“After this I will return,

and I will rebuild the dwelling of David, which has fallen;

   from its ruins I will rebuild it,

     and I will set it up,

so that all other peoples may seek the Lord—

   even all the Gentiles over whom my name has been called.

     Thus says the Lord, who has been making these things known from long ago.”

Therefore I have reached the decision that we should not trouble those Gentiles who are turning to God, but we should write to them to abstain only from things polluted by idols and from fornication and from whatever has been strangled and from blood. For in every city, for generations past, Moses has had those who proclaim him, for he has been read aloud every sabbath in the synagogues.’

 RESPONSE     

ANNOUNCEMENTS

RECEIVING OF TITHES AND OFFERINGS 

OFFERTORY [GTG 767]              “Together We Serve”

✝ DOXOLOGY [GTG#609]

Praise God from whom all blessings flow.

Praise God, all creatures high and low. Allelujah, alleluia!

Praise God, in Jesus Fully known

Creator, Word, and Spirit one. 

Alleluia, alleluia! Alleluia, alleluia, Alleluia!

PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE AND THE LORD’S PRAYER

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. 

CLOSING LESSON  Acts 15:22-35

    Then the apostles and the elders, with the consent of the whole church, decided to choose men from among their members and to send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. They sent Judas called Barsabbas, and Silas, leaders among the brothers, with the following letter: ‘The brothers, both the apostles and the elders, to the believers of Gentile origin in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia, greetings. Since we have heard that certain persons who have gone out from us, though with no instructions from us, have said things to disturb you and have unsettled your minds, we have decided unanimously to choose representatives and send them to you, along with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, who have risked their lives for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ. We have therefore sent Judas and Silas, who themselves will tell you the same things by word of mouth. For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to impose on you no further burden than these essentials: that you abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols and from blood and from what is strangled and from fornication. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. Farewell.’

So they were sent off and went down to Antioch. When they gathered the congregation together, they delivered the letter. When its members read it, they rejoiced at the exhortation. Judas and Silas, who were themselves prophets, said much to encourage and strengthen the believers. After they had been there for some time, they were sent off in peace by the believers to those who had sent them. But Paul and Barnabas remained in Antioch, and there, with many others, they taught and proclaimed the word of the Lord.                       

CLOSING SONG [GTG 319] Men of Faith Rise Up And Sing (Shout to the North)

  1. Men of faith rise up and sing of the great and glorious King.

You are strong when you feel weak; in your brokenness complete.     

Refrain: Shout to the north and the south, 

sing to the east and the west.

Jesus is savior to all, Lord of heaven and earth. 

  1. Rise up women of the truth. Stand and sing to broken hearts

who can know the healing power of our awesome King of love. (Refrain)

Bridge: We’ve been through fire; we’ve been through rain;

we’ve been refined by the power of your name.

We’ve fallen deeper in love with you. 

You’ve burned the truth on our lips. (Refrain)

CHARGE AND BENEDICTION

✝RESPONSE [GTG 319] Men of Faith Rise Up And Sing (Shout to the North)

  1. Rise up, church, with broken wings; fill this place with songs again

of our God who reigns on high; by God’s grace again we’ll fly 

Shout to the north and the south, 

sing to the east and the west.

Jesus is savior to all, Lord of heaven and earth.




ANNOUNCEMENTS

Announcement 4-30-23

Announcements:

SMALL CHURCH EVENT: We had a great turn out for the small church event. If you missed this one and want to know more about this topic talk with Rev. Ochart or Sharon Fortin. 

DEVOTIONAL SPOTLIGHT: God Is Still Speaking: 365 Daily Devotionals “God is Still Speaking: 365 Daily Devotionals” is a collection of light-hearted, God-filled, and provocative devotionals for the person who thinks devotionals are “too religious.” Do you wonder if God has anything to say about what you face each day when you get up in the morning? Not sure that the Bible has much to tell you, but you are curious and willing to find out? The book includes relevant, brief, insightful devotionals designed to give you a powerful jolt each day. Each easy-to-read devotional provides a scripture verse, reflection, and prayer for every day of the year. Whether as a thoughtful gift or a personal resource, this book will encourage, inspire, and strengthen anyone’s Christian journey.

OUR NEXT CLOTHING DRIVE: Are you taking advantage of this season to do some spring closet cleaning but don’t know where to donate your clean gently used clothes? Fear not we are collecting clothing for the Program of Hope. We will distribute items to our POH guests in the hot  month of June along with lunches.

The Drive will end on May 24 with our sorting  and boxing party.

Needed are Men’s  and Women’s: Summer Casual Slacks, Jeans, Tops, White Shirts, Blouses, Black Pants for Work, Plain Sturdy shoes. (No formal shoes or high heels, please), Tote Bags, new socks and underwear In ORIGINAL UNOPENED PACKAGE, Rain Ponchos and Sunglasses.

ALL CHURCH AND COMMUNITY PICNIC: Please plan to Join us on May 21st for our next youth service followed by an all church and community Picnic to kick off the Summer. This is an all hands on deck activity so please see the insert in your Bulletin to sign up to help. We welcome all volunteers and have lots of options for before, during, and after the event. The Church will provide the main dish, hamburgers and hotdogs. Please bring a dessert or picnic side to share, such as salad, fruit, a variety pack of chips, or whatever you like to eat at a picnic. Most importantly don’t forget to invite your friends and neighbors. This event is for everyone, and we can’t wait to fellowship together. 

WORK DAY!!!: Thank you to all those that helped at Work Day on Saturday. Rev. Ochart, Amy Cardinale, Emily Garland, Andrew Nolan, Gwen Nolan, Ian Nolan, Mathew Fredenthal, Sharon Fortin, and Beverly Kenedy all worked hard to beautify our campus. They trimmed trees, cleaned gutters, trimmed hedges, weeded the garden beds and repainted our wooden sign. We don’t have another Work Day scheduled as of yet but remember if you have a project you want to do, we are always happy to help you plan and support your efforts. Many hands make light work! 

PW Birthday Offering: Next week we will be taking up the PW Birthday offering. Each year, the Birthday Offering awards grants to up to five programs. Primarily making possible capital improvement projects, the Birthday Offering supports domestic and international ministries, focusing on areas such as agricultural development, child care, community organization, criminal justice, drug counseling, economic justice, elderly care, employment training, homelessness, literacy, violence or women’s concerns.

GIVENOLA: Givenola day is May 2nd!  Our New Orleans Area New Worshiping Communities: Okra Abbey, Be Well, Come Together, and Labyrinth Café are all on the list of recipients.  Check it out on May 2nd at https://www.givenola.org/

EVENTS AND MEETINGS THIS WEEK:

4/30 – 11:45 AM Choir 

5/1 – 6:30 PM – Called Session Meeting

5/3 – 11:00 AM – Staff Meeting

5/4 – 10:00 AM – PW Council Meeting 

5/7 – 9:30 AM – Adult Sunday School 

                    10:15 AM – Choir rehearsal

                       10:30 AM – Worship Service – PW Birthday Offering

                       11:45 AM – Choir Rehearsal