1. Together we serve, united by love,

inviting God’s World to the glorious feast.

We work and we pray through sorrow and joy,

extending God’s love to the last and the least.  

2. We seek to become a beacon of hope,

a lamp for the heart and a light for the feet.

We learn, year by year, to let love shine through

until we see Christ in each person we meet. 

3. We welcome the scarred, the wealthy, the poor,

the busy, the lonely, and all who need care.

We offer a home to those who will come,

our hands quick to help, our hearts ready to dare.

4. We gather, by grace, we witness and work,

remembering Jesus, in whom we grow strong.

Together we serve in Spirit and truth,

Remembering love is the strength of our song. 

PROCLAMATION

FIRST LESSON                                                               John 12:27-36

 “Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say—‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” The crowd standing there heard it and said that it was thunder. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.” Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not for mine. Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” He said this to indicate the kind of death he was to die. The crowd answered him, “We have heard from the law that the Messiah remains forever. How can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man?” Jesus said to them, “The light is with you for a little longer. Walk while you have the light, so that the darkness may not overtake you. If you walk in the darkness, you do not know where you are going. While you have the light, believe in the light, so that you may become children of light.” 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

MESSAGE FOR THE CHILDREN    

ANTHEM                  “Softly and Tenderly”               Charles McCartha

Softly and tenderly Jesus is calling, calling for you and for me.

With open arms He is waiting and watching, watching for you and for me.

Come home, come home, you who are weary, come home.

Earnestly, tenderly Jesus is calling, calling, “O sinner, come home!”

Why should we linger when Jesus is pleading, 

pleading for you and for me?

Why turn away when He offers His mercy, mercy for you and for me?

Come home, come home, you who are weary, come home.

Earnestly, tenderly Jesus is calling, calling, “O sinner, come home!”

O for the wonderful love He has promised, promised for you and for me!

Though we have sinned He brings mercy and pardon, 

pardon for you and for me.

Come home, come home, you who are weary, come home.

Earnestly, tenderly Jesus is calling, calling, “O sinner, come home!”

SECOND LESSON                                                       1 Kings 19:1-18

ONE: The Words of God for the People of God

MANY: Thanks be to God

SERMON       “What Are You Doing Here?”          Rev. Aaron Ochart 

 RESPONSE   

PRAYER OF BLESSING                                                                        

ONE: O Lord, bless the signs of our heritage we have presented today and bless the people of the clans and families which they signify. May we strive to live up to the very highest ideals they represent.

MANY: Bless us that we may be a blessing, O Lord.

ONE: We thank you, God, for your Word which has ordained a rich heritage of faith and sacrifice from our ancestors: from Adam to Noah, from Noah to Abraham, from Abraham to David, so onward to the incarnation of Jesus, to the establishment of his church: our brothers and sisters in Christ everywhere. Never let us forget that a heritage of faith is a joy to be shared.

MANY: Bless us that we may be a blessing, O Lord.

ONE: Thank you, O God, for the blessings of family; the warmth, comfort, and security of family love. Never let us forget that our family love is a gift to be shared with kin and stranger.

MANY: Bless us that we may be a blessing, O Lord.

ONE: We praise you, O God, for those who have lived and died in Christ. We especially those who have died in the last year: Randall Patrick Antill, Dorothy Egan, Alba Hill, James Kennedy III, Julie Laporte, Eloyease Lybrand, The Rev. Michael Benjamin Mann, Bill Memmott, Mildred Miley, Joann Chastain Nunguesser, and Charlotte Diane Parry.

MANY: Bless us that we may be a blessing, O Lord.

ONE: On behalf of all clans, families, and nations, we stand before God in gratitude for our heritage, and we pray God’s blessings on all beloved children in all lands.

MANY: We proclaim that we are united in the covenant of Jesus, the Christ, for there is but one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of us all. Amen.

*AFFIRMATION OF FAITH                               Confession of Belhar

We believe that God has entrusted the church with the message of reconciliation in and through Jesus Christ; 

that the church is called to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world, that the church is called blessed because it is a peacemaker, that the church is witness both by word and by deed to the new heaven and the new earth in which righteousness dwells…

that the credibility of this message is seriously affected and its beneficial work obstructed when it is proclaimed in a land which professes to be Christian, but in which the enforced separation of people on a racial basis promotes and perpetuates alienation, hatred and enmity…

Therefore, we reject any doctrine which, in such a situation sanctions in the name of the gospel or of the will of God the forced separation of people on the grounds of race and color and thereby in advance obstructs and weakens the ministry and experience of reconciliation in Christ. 

RECEIVING OF TITHES AND OFFERINGS

OFFERTORY          

*DOXOLOGY

Praise God from whom all blessings flow;

Praise God, all creatures here below;

Praise God above, ye heavenly hosts;

Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. 

THE SACRAMENT OF HOLY COMMUNION

The Great Prayer of Thanksgiving

   The Lord be with you.

       And also with you.

   Lift up your hearts.

        We lift them to the Lord.

   Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.

It is right to give our thanks and praise…

…Therefore with all creation we sing your praise:

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…

According to Christ’s commandment:

We remember his death, we proclaim his resurrection, we await his coming glory…

The gifts of God for the people of God.

Thanks be to God.

PRAYER AFTER COMMUNION  

HYMN 563            “Lift Every Voice and Sing” 

1. Lift every voice and sing till earth and heaven ring,

ring with the harmonies of liberty.

Let our rejoicing rise high as the listening skies;

let it resound loud as the rolling sea.

Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us;

sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us.

Facing the rising sun of our new day begun,

let us march on, till victory is won.

2. Stony the road we trod, bitter the chastening rod,

felt in the days when hope unborn had died.

Yet, with a steady beat, have not our weary feet

come to the place for which our parents sighed?

We have come over a way that with tears has been watered;

we have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered,

out from the gloomy past, till now we stand at last

where the white gleam of our bright star is cast.

PARTING PRAYER    

Almighty God, you have knit together your elect in one communion and fellowship in the mystical body of Christ our Lord. Give us grace to follow your blessed saints in all virtuous and godly living that we may come to those ineffable joys that you have prepared for those who truly love you; through Jesus Christ our Savior, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.

*CHARGE AND BENEDICTION

*BENEDICTION RESPONSE (#596)  “May the Lord, Mighty God”

May the Lord, mighty God, bless and keep you forever;

grant you peace, perfect peace, courage in every endeavor.

Lift up your eyes and see God’s face, full of grace forever.

May the Lord, mighty God, bless and keep you forever. 

POSTLUDE    “Improvisation on SINE NOMINE”   

CALL TO WORSHIP                                                              2 Thess. 1:3 

ONE: Thanks be to God for your abundant faith.

MANY: May the love of God continue to grow in us.                                                         

PRAYER OF THE DAY

The splendor of Solomon’s temple cannot compare to the majesty of your heart.

Show your heart in this place, that we might worship you with joy and gratitude. Amen.

HYMN                     “O God, Show Mercy to Us”

1 O God, show mercy to us, and bless us with your grace;

and cause to shine upon us the brightness of your face,

so that your way most holy on earth may soon be known,

and unto every people your saving grace be shown.

Let all the peoples praise you; let all the nations sing;

in every land let praises and songs of gladness ring.

2 For you will judge the peoples in truth and righteousness,

and on the earth all nations will your just rule confess.

Let all the peoples praise you; let all the nations sing.

Then earth in rich abundance to us its fruit will bring.

The Lord our God will bless us; our God will blessing send,

and all the earth will worship to its remotest end.

CONFESSION 

CALL TO CONFESSION                                                                  

SILENT CONFESSION

PRAYER OF CONFESSION

Merciful God, we confess that we have not loved you with our whole heart. 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 refused to hear the cry of the needy.

Forgive us, we pray. Free us for joyful obedience; through Jesus Christ our Lord. 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

FIRST LESSON                                                                     John 2:13-22

The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables.  He told those who were selling the doves, “Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!” His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.” The Jews then said to him, “What sign can you show us for doing this?” Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews then said, “This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and will you raise it in three days?” But he was speaking of the temple of his body. After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this; and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.

                                                                                                                                                                                                         

MESSAGE FOR THE CHILDREN    “Showing God That We Love Him”

ANTHEM                               Holy Manna

Lord! Shower us with holy manna, Lord, shower us from above.

We gather here to sing hosanna, we gather to share your love. 

We have gathered here to worship and adore the Lord, our God.

Will you pray with all your power while we try to preach the Word?

All is vain unless the spirit of the Holy One comes down.

Christians pray, and holy manna will be showered all around.

Lord! Shower us with holy manna, Lord shower us from above. 

We gather here to sing hosanna, we gather to share your love.

Let us love our God supremely, Let us love each other too,

Let us love and pray for sinners, till our God makes all things new. 

Christ will call us home to heaven, at his table we’ll sit down;

Christ will gird himself and serve us with sweet manna all around. 

        

SECOND LESSON                                                   1 Kings 5:1-5; 8:1-13

Now King Hiram of Tyre sent his servants to Solomon, when he heard that they had anointed him king in place of his father; for Hiram had always been a friend to David. Solomon sent word to Hiram, saying, “You know that my father David could not build a house for the name of the Lord his God because of the warfare with which his enemies surrounded him, until the Lord put them under the soles of his feet. But now the Lord my God has given me rest on every side; there is neither adversary nor misfortune. So I intend to build a house for the name of the Lord my God, as the Lord said to my father David, ‘Your son, whom I will set on your throne in your place, shall build the house for my name.’    

Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes, the leaders of the ancestral houses of the Israelites, before King Solomon in Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the covenant of the Lord out of the city of David, which is Zion. All the people of Israel assembled to King Solomon at the festival in the month Ethanim, which is the seventh month. And all the elders of Israel came, and the priests carried the ark. So they brought up the ark of the Lord, the tent of meeting, and all the holy vessels that were in the tent; the priests and the Levites brought them up. King Solomon and all the congregation of Israel, who had assembled before him, were with him before the ark, sacrificing so many sheep and oxen that they could not be counted or numbered. Then the priests brought the ark of the covenant of the Lord to its place, in the inner sanctuary of the house, in the most holy place, underneath the wings of the cherubim. For the cherubim spread out their wings over the place of the ark, so that the cherubim made a covering above the ark and its poles. The poles were so long that the ends of the poles were seen from the holy place in front of the inner sanctuary; but they could not be seen from outside; they are there to this day. There was nothing in the ark except the two tablets of stone that Moses had placed there at Horeb, where the Lord made a covenant with the Israelites, when they came out of the land of Egypt. And when the priests came out of the holy place, a cloud filled the house of the Lord, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud; for the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord. Then Solomon said, “The Lord has said that he would dwell in thick darkness. I have built you an exalted house, a place for you to dwell in forever.”

SERMON                 “A House for God”                      Rev. Aaron Ochart 

 RESPONSE     

*AFFIRMATION OF FAITH             Confession of 1967 9.53-9.56

God’s redeeming work in Jesus Christ embraces the whole of man’s life: social and cultural, economic and political, scientific and technological, individual and corporate. It includes man’s natural environment as exploited and despoiled by sin. It is the will of God that his purpose for human life shall be fulfilled under the rule of Christ and all evil be banished from his creation. 

Biblical visions and images of the rule of Christ, such as a heavenly city, a father’s house, a new heaven and earth, a marriage feast, and an unending day culminate in the image of the kingdom. The kingdom represents the triumph of God over all that resists his will and disrupts his creation. Already God’s reign is present as a ferment in the world, stirring hope in men and preparing the world to receive its ultimate judgment and redemption. 

With an urgency born of this hope, the church applies itself to present tasks and strives for a better world. It does not identify limited progress with the kingdom of God on earth, nor does it despair in the face of disappointment and defeat. In steadfast hope, the church looks beyond all partial achievement to the final triumph of God.

“Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to do far more abundantly than all we ask or think, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”

STEWARDSHIP CAMPAIGN PRESENTATION 

RECEIVING OF TITHES AND OFFERINGS

OFFERTORY                   “Ode to Joy”                   Kate and David Russo

*DOXOLOGY

Praise God from whom all blessings flow;

Praise God, all creatures here below;

Praise God above, ye heavenly hosts;

Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. 

HYMN 415                        “Come, Labor On” 

1.Come, Labor on. Who dares stand idle on the harvest plain

while all around us waves the golden grain?

And to each servant does the Master say, “Go work today.”

2. Come, labor on. Claim the high calling angels cannot share;

to young and old the gospel gladness bear.

Redeem the time; it’s hours too swiftly fly. The night draws nigh.

3. Come, labor on. Cast off all gloomy doubt and faithless fear!

No arm so weak but may do service here. 

Though feeble agents, may we all fulfill God’s righteous will. 

4. Come, labor on. No time for rest, till glows the western sky, 

till the long shadows o’er our pathway lie,

and a glad sound comes with the setting sun, “Well done, well done!”

PARTING PRAYER               Thomas Merton

Almighty God, we thank you for all the gifts You have given us: our lives, our loved ones, all that we have and all that we are. Most of all, we thank You for Jesus, your Son and our Redeemer, who came among us to show us the way to eternal life. Jesus was the perfect steward of your gifts, showing that complete trust in You is necessary, and that giving of self is a most important part of following Him. May the offerings of our time, our talents, and our material resources be made in the same spirit of sacrifice that Jesus taught us by His life and death for us.

CHARGE AND BENEDICTION

POSTLUDE   Fugue in G minor BWV 578 – J.S. Bach