Order of Worship 08_22_21
SERVICE FOR THE LORD’S DAY
13th Sunday after Pentecost
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH (USA)
August 22, 2021 Ten Thirty in the morning
Minister: The Rev. Aaron Ochart
Liturgist: Beverly Ross
Please silence all cell phones.
Face masks must be worn while entering and exiting
Bold face indicates congregational participation
*Please Stand in body or spirit
GATHERING
WORDS OF WELCOME
PRELUDE Prelude in G Major BWV 541 by J.S. Bach
ADORATION
CALL TO WORSHIP
Present your bodies as a living sacrifice
This is our spiritual worship
PRAYER OF THE DAY
God of wisdom and reason. You call us to follow your lead, even when we are so easily swayed by popular opinion. Help us to listen for your still and small voice, as we serve you in the days in which you call us. Amen.
HYMN 363 “I Want Jesus to Walk with Me”
1 I want Jesus to walk with me; I want Jesus to walk with me;
all along my pilgrim journey, Lord, I want Jesus to walk with me.
2 In my trials, Lord, walk with me; in my trials, Lord, walk with me;
when my heart is almost breaking, Lord, I want Jesus to walk with me.
CALL TO CONFESSION
SILENT CONFESSION
PRAYER OF CONFESSION (unison)
Merciful God, in your presence we confess our sin and the sin of this world. Although Christ is among us as our peace, we are a people divided against ourselves, as we cling to the values of a broken world. The profit and pleasures we pursue lay waste the land and pollute the seas. The fears and jealousies that we harbor set neighbor against neighbor and nation against nation. We abuse your good gifts of imagination and freedom, of intellect and reason, and have turned them into bonds of oppression. Lord, have mercy upon us; heal and forgive us. Set us free to serve you in the world as agents of your reconciling love in Jesus Christ. 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 Genesis 37:17b-36
So Joseph went after his brothers, and found them at Dothan. They saw him from a distance, and before he came near to them, they conspired to kill him. They said to one another, ‘Here comes this dreamer. Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits; then we shall say that a wild animal has devoured him, and we shall see what will become of his dreams.’ But when Reuben heard it, he delivered him out of their hands, saying, ‘Let us not take his life.’ Reuben said to them, ‘Shed no blood; throw him into this pit here in the wilderness, but lay no hand on him’—that he might rescue him out of their hand and restore him to his father. So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe, the long robe with sleeves that he wore; and they took him and threw him into a pit. The pit was empty; there was no water in it.
Then they sat down to eat; and looking up they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead, with their camels carrying gum, balm, and resin, on their way to carry it down to Egypt. Then Judah said to his brothers, ‘What profit is there if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and not lay our hands on him, for he is our brother, our own flesh.’ And his brothers agreed. When some Midianite traders passed by, they drew Joseph up, lifting him out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver. And they took Joseph to Egypt.
When Reuben returned to the pit and saw that Joseph was not in the pit, he tore his clothes. He returned to his brothers, and said, ‘The boy is gone; and I, where can I turn?’ Then they took Joseph’s robe, slaughtered a goat, and dipped the robe in the blood. They had the long robe with sleeves taken to their father, and they said, ‘This we have found; see now whether it is your son’s robe or not.’ He recognized it, and said, ‘It is my son’s robe! A wild animal has devoured him; Joseph is without doubt torn to pieces.’ Then Jacob tore his garments, and put sackcloth on his loins, and mourned for his son for many days. All his sons and all his daughters sought to comfort him; but he refused to be comforted, and said, ‘No, I shall go down to Sheol to my son, mourning.’ Thus his father bewailed him. Meanwhile the Midianites had sold him in Egypt to Potiphar, one of Pharaoh’s officials, the captain of the guard.
MESSAGE FOR THE CHILDREN “It is Not Always Easy”
ANTHEM “Thy Word” Arranged by Stan Pethel
SECOND LESSON Acts 21:17-36
When we arrived at Jerusalem, the brothers and sisters received us warmly. The next day Paul and the rest of us went to see James, and all the elders were present. Paul greeted them and reported in detail what God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry. When they heard this, they praised God. Then they said to Paul: “You see, brother, how many thousands of Jews have believed, and all of them are zealous for the law. They have been informed that you teach all the Jews who live among the Gentiles to turn away from Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children or live according to our customs. What shall we do? They will certainly hear that you have come, so do what we tell you. There are four men with us who have made a vow. Take these men, join in their purification rites and pay their expenses, so that they can have their heads shaved. Then everyone will know there is no truth in these reports about you, but that you yourself are living in obedience to the law. As for the Gentile believers, we have written to them our decision that they should abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality.” The next day Paul took the men and purified himself along with them. Then he went to the temple to give notice of the date when the days of purification would end and the offering would be made for each of them. When the seven days were nearly over, some Jews from the province of Asia saw Paul at the temple. They stirred up the whole crowd and seized him, shouting, “Fellow Israelites, help us! This is the man who teaches everyone everywhere against our people and our law and this place. And besides, he has brought Greeks into the temple and defiled this holy place.” (They had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian in the city with Paul and assumed that Paul had brought him into the temple.) The whole city was aroused, and the people came running from all directions. Seizing Paul, they dragged him from the temple, and immediately the gates were shut. While they were trying to kill him, news reached the commander of the Roman troops that the whole city of Jerusalem was in an uproar. He at once took some officers and soldiers and ran down to the crowd. When the rioters saw the commander and his soldiers, they stopped beating Paul.
The commander came up and arrested him and ordered him to be bound with two chains. Then he asked who he was and what he had done. Some in the crowd shouted one thing and some another, and since the commander could not get at the truth because of the uproar, he ordered that Paul be taken into the barracks. When Paul reached the steps, the violence of the mob was so great he had to be carried by the soldiers. The crowd that followed kept shouting, “Get rid of him!”
The Word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
SERMON “Mob Rule” Rev. Aaron Ochart
RESPONSE
*AFFIRMATION OF FAITH Scots Confession
We confess and acknowledge one God alone, to whom alone we must cleave, whom alone we must serve, whom only we must worship, and in whom alone we put our trust. Who is eternal, infinite, immeasurable, incomprehensible, omnipotent, invisible; one in substance and yet distinct in three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. By whom we confess and believe all things in heaven and earth, visible and invisible, to have been created, to be retained in their being, and to be ruled and guided by his inscrutable providence for such end as his eternal wisdom, goodness, and justice have appointed, and to the manifestation of his own glory.
COLLECTION OF 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.
SENDING
*HYMN 393 “ Take Up Your Cross, the Savior Said”
1 “Take up your cross,” the Savior said, “if you would my disciple be;
take up your cross with willing heart, and humbly follow after me.”
2 Take up your cross; let not its weight fill your weak spirit with alarm;
Christ’s strength shall bear your spirit up
and brace your heart and nerve your arm.
3 Take up your cross, heed not the shame,
and let your foolish heart be still;
the Lord for you accepted death upon a cross, on Calvary’s hill.
4 Take up your cross, then, in Christ’s strength,
and calmly every danger brave:
it guides you to abundant life and leads to victory o’er the grave.
*PARTING PRAYER Attributed to Benedict of Nursia (c. 480-c. 547)
O gracious and holy God, give us diligence to seek you, wisdom to perceive you, and patience to wait for you. Grant us, O God, a mind to meditate on you; eyes to behold you; ears to listen for your word; a heart to love you; and a life to proclaim you; through the power of the Spirit of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
*CHARGE AND BENEDICTION
POSTLUDE “Promenade” by Gordon Young
Order of Worship; August 15, 2021
SERVICE FOR THE LORD’S DAY
12th Sunday after Pentecost
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH (USA)
August 15, 2021 Ten Thirty in the morning
Minister: The Rev. Aaron Ochart
Liturgist: Jeremy Moore
Please silence all cell phones.
Face masks must be worn while entering and exiting
Bold face indicates congregational participation
*Please Stand in body or spirit
GATHERING
WORDS OF WELCOME
PRELUDE “Aria – Brian Solomons”
ADORATION
CALL TO WORSHIP Isaiah 56.1
Maintain justice, and do what is right.
God our Savior is coming soon.
PRAYER OF THE DAY
God for those who know you and those who do not. In you we live and move and have our being. You have laid the foundation of faith in all those who trust you, and all those who do not yet trust you. Give us the courage to serve all your children. Amen.
HYMN 415 “Come, Labor On”
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.”
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!”
CALL TO CONFESSION
SILENT CONFESSION
PRAYER OF CONFESSION (unison)
Merciful God, in your presence we confess our sin and the sin of this world. Although Christ is among us as our peace, we are a people divided against ourselves, as we cling to the values of a broken world. The profit and pleasures we pursue lay waste the land and pollute the seas. The fears and jealousies that we harbor set neighbor against neighbor and nation against nation. We abuse your good gifts of imagination and freedom, of intellect and reason, and have turned them into bonds of oppression. Lord, have mercy upon us; heal and forgive us. Set us free to serve you in the world as agents of your reconciling love in Jesus Christ. 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 Romans 1:16-25 NRSV
For I am not ashamed of the gospel; it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed through faith for faith; as it is written, ‘The one who is righteous will live by faith.’
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and wickedness of those who by their wickedness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. Ever since the creation of the world his eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has made. So they are without excuse; for though they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their senseless minds were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools; and they exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling a mortal human being or birds or four-footed animals or reptiles.
Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the degrading of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed for ever! Amen.
MESSAGE FOR THE CHILDREN “Right Where It Is Supposed to Be”
ANTHEM “Blessings”
SECOND LESSON Acts 17:16-34
While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols. So he reasoned in the synagogue with both Jews and God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there. A group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to debate with him. Some of them asked, “What is this babbler trying to say?” Others remarked, “He seems to be advocating foreign gods.” They said this because Paul was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection. Then they took him and brought him to a meeting of the Areopagus, where they said to him, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? You are bringing some strange ideas to our ears, and we would like to know what they mean.” (All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas.) Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “People of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: to an unknown god. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship—and this is what I am going to proclaim to you. “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’ “Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by human design and skill. In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.” When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered, but others said, “We want to hear you again on this subject.” At that, Paul left the Council. Some of the people became followers of Paul and believed. Among them was Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus, also a woman named Damaris, and a number of others.
The Word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
SERMON “Clever Pop-Culture Reference” Rev. Aaron Ochart
RESPONSE
*AFFIRMATION OF FAITH Nicene Creed
We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is, seen and unseen.
We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one Being with the Father; through him all things were made. For us and for our salvation he came down from heaven, was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary and became truly human.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered death and was buried. On the third day he rose again in accordance with the Scriptures; he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end.
We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified, who has spoken through the prophets. We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church. We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. We look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.
COLLECTION OF OFFERINGS
OFFERTORY “Lord, You Have Come to the Lakeshore”
*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.
REAFFIRMATION OF BAPTISM
Just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.
For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body-
Jews and Greek, slaves and free– and we were all made to drink of the one Spirit. …
Trusting in the gracious mercy of God, do you turn from the ways of sin and renounce evil and its power in the world? I do.
Who is your Lord and Savior? Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior.
Will you be Christ’s faithful disciple, obeying his word and showing his love? I will, with God’s help.
THANKSGIVING FOR BAPTISM
SENDING
*HYMN 263 “Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise”
Immortal, invisible, God only wise,
in light inaccessible hid from our eyes
most blessed, most glorious, the Ancient of Days,
Unresting, unhasteneing, and silent as light,
nor wanting, nor wasting, thou rulest in might:
Thy justice, like mountains high soaring above;
thy clouds which are fountains of goodness and love.
To all, life thou givest, to both great and small.
In all life thou livest, the true life of all.
We blossom and flourish like leaves on the tree,
then wither and perish; but naught changeth thee.
Thou reignest in glory; thou dwellest in light.
Thine angels adore thee, all veiling their sight.
All praise we would render; o help us to see
‘tis only the splendor of light hideth thee!
*PARTING PRAYER Attributed to Benedict of Nursia (c. 480-c. 547)
O gracious and holy God, give us diligence to seek you, wisdom to perceive you, and patience to wait for you. Grant us, O God, a mind to meditate on you; eyes to behold you; ears to listen for your word; a heart to love you; and a life to proclaim you; through the power of the Spirit of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
*CHARGE AND BENEDICTION
POSTLUDE “Sortie in F Major – Franck”
Participating in today’s service are Aaron Ochart, Pastor, Julie Hebert, CE Leader, Sandy Cranfill, Music Director, and Sam Garnett, Organist.