Worship Guide
September 10, 2023
Fifteenth 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: “Lord, I Need You” Charles
Centering Words:
Place your hope and trust in the Lord, whose faithful love watches over your homes in times of greatest need.
*Call to Worship:
Leader: Sing a new song to God.
People: Sing of light and hope.
Leader: Dance with laughter and joy.
People: Dance with hearts full of love.
Leader: Rejoice with strings and drums.
People: Rejoice with justice and peace.
Leader: Sing a new song to God
Leader: Let us pray.
ALL: Ancient of Days, we enter your presence to remember and rejoice. We come looking for your steadfast faithfulness and your loving care. May we be a people who seek reconciliation and genuine forgiveness with one another. In remembrance and gratitude for your mercy and your grace, we pray. Amen.
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.
PROCLAMATION OF THE WORD
Words of Assurance
Wherever two or three are gathered in Christ’s name, God is with us.
Where God is, grace and compassion abide.
In the grace of God and the love of Christ, we are made one in ministry to the world.
Amen and Amen.
*Old Testament Reading: Exodus 12:1-14
1 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt: 2 This month shall mark for you the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year for you. 3 Tell the whole congregation of Israel that on the tenth of this month they are to take a lamb for each family, a lamb for each household. 4 If a household is too small for a whole lamb, it shall join its closest neighbor in obtaining one; the lamb shall be divided in proportion to the number of people who eat of it. 5 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a year-old male; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats. 6 You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month; then the whole assembled congregation of Israel shall slaughter it at twilight. 7 They shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. 8 They shall eat the lamb that same night; they shall eat it roasted over the fire with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. 9 Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted over the fire, with its head, legs, and inner organs. 10 You shall let none of it remain until the morning; anything that remains until the morning you shall burn. 11 This is how you shall eat it: your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it hurriedly. It is the passover of the Lord. 12 For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike down every firstborn in the land of Egypt, both human beings and animals; on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord. 13 The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live: when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague shall destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.
14 This day shall be a day of remembrance for you. You shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord; throughout your generations you shall observe it as a perpetual ordinance.
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: “Where”
Hymn: “Spirit, Spirit of Gentleness”
Spirit, spirit of gentleness,
blow through the wilderness, calling and free,
Spirit, spirit of restlessness,
stir me from placidness, wind, wind on the sea.
You moved on the waters, you called to the deep,
then you coaxed up the mountains from the valleys of sleep;
and over the eons you called to each thing;
wake from your slumbers and rise on your wings.
Spirit, spirit of gentleness,
blow through the wilderness, calling and free,
Spirit, spirit of restlessness,
stir me from placidness, wind, wind on the sea.
You swept through the desert, you stung with the sand
and you goaded your people with a law and a land;
and when they were blinded with idols and lies,
then you spoke through your prophets to open their eyes.
Spirit, spirit of gentleness,
blow through the wilderness, calling and free,
Spirit, spirit of restlessness,
stir me from placidness, wind, wind on the sea.
You sang in a stable, you cried from a hill,
then you whispered in silence when the whole world was still;
and down in the city you called once again,
when you blew through your people on the rush of the wind.
Spirit, spirit of gentleness,
blow through the wilderness, calling and free,
Spirit, spirit of restlessness,
stir me from placidness, wind, wind on the sea.
You call from tomorrow, you break ancient schemes.
From the bondage of sorrow the captives dream dreams;
our women see visions, our men clear their eyes.
With bold new decisions your people arise.
Spirit, spirit of gentleness,
blow through the wilderness, calling and free,
Spirit, spirit of restlessness,
stir me from placidness, wind, wind on the sea.
Sermon: “What is the Sign?” Matthew 18:15-20
15 “If another member of the church sins against you, go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone. If the member listens to you, you have regained that one. 16 But if you are not listened to, take one or two others along with you, so that every word may be confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses. 17 If the member refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if the offender refuses to listen even to the church, let such a one be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. 18 Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. 19 Again, truly I tell you, if two of you agree on earth about anything you ask, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. 20 For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.”
RESPONSE TO THE WORD
Hymn: “I Want to Walk as a Child of the Light”
I want to walk as a child of the light.
I want to follow Jesus.
God set the stars to give light to the world.
The star of my life is Jesus.
In him there is no darkness at all.
The night and the day are both alike.
The Lamb is the light of the city of God.
Shine in my heart, Lord Jesus.
I want to see the brightness of God.
I want to look at Jesus.
Clear Sun of Righteousness, shine on my path,
and show me the way to the Father.
In him there is no darkness at all.
The night and the day are both alike.
The Lamb is the light of the city of God.
Shine in my heart, Lord Jesus.
I'm looking for the coming of Christ.
I want to be with Jesus.
When we have run with patience the race,
we shall know the joy of Jesus.
In him there is no darkness at all.
The night and the day are both alike.
The Lamb is the light of the city of God.
Shine in my heart, Lord Jesus.
Psalter: Affirmation From 1 Corinthians and Colossians
This is the good news
which we have received,
in which we stand,
and by which we are saved:
Christ died for our sins,
was buried,
was raised on the third day,
and appeared first to the women,
then to Peter and the Twelve,
and then to many faithful witnesses.
We believe Jesus is the Christ,
the Anointed One of God,
the firstborn of all creation,
the firstborn from the dead,
in whom all things hold together,
in whom the fullness of God
was pleased to dwell
by the power of the Spirit.
Christ is the head of the body,
the church,
and by the blood of the cross
reconciles all things to God. 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 Has Made Me Glad”
I will enter his gates with thanksgiving in my heart,
I will enter his courts with praise.
I will say, "This is the day that the Lord has made."
I will rejoice, for he has made me glad.
He has made me glad, he has made me glad.
I will rejoice, for he has made me glad.
He has made me glad, he has made me glad.
I will rejoice, for he has made me glad.
I will enter his gates with thanksgiving in my heart,
I will enter his courts with praise.
I will say, "This is the day that the Lord has made."
I will rejoice, for he has made me glad.
He has made me glad, he has made me glad.
I will rejoice, for he has made me glad.
He has made me glad, he has made me glad.
I will rejoice, for he has made me glad.
Benediction
