Worship Guide
July 9, 2023
Sixth 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: Charles
Centering Words:
Embrace the yoke of Christ’s love. For Christ’s yoke is easy and his burden is light.
*Call to Worship:
Leader: Christ calls those who are weary and heavy laden.
People: In Christ, we find rest.
Leader: Christ calls us to bear his yoke and learn from him.
People: In Christ, we see God’s ways.
Leader: Christ is gentle and humble in heart.
People: In Christ, we know God’s love.
Leader: Come, for Christ calls us here. Let us pray.
ALL: You have walked many miles with us, O God. You have comforted and strengthened us along the way. Keep us on your path, for we easily lose our way. As we learn to live in your ways, help us choose the cause of justice and righteousness. In your Son’s precious Name we pray. Amen.
Hymn: “Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing”
Come thou Fount of every blessing,
tune my heart to sing thy grace;
streams of mercy, never ceasing,
call for songs of loudest praise.
Teach me some melodious sonnet,
sung by flaming tongues above.
Praise the mount! I'm fixed upon it,
mount of thy redeeming love.
Here I raise mine Ebenezer;
hither by thy help I'm come;
And I hope, by thy good pleasure,
safely to arrive at home.
Jesus sought me when a stranger,
wandering from the fold of God;
he, to rescue me from danger,
interposed his precious blood.
O to grace how great a debtor
daily I'm constrained to be!
Let thy goodness like a fetter,
bind my wandering heart to thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
prone to leave the God I love;
here's my heart, O take and seal it,
seal it for thy courts above.
PROCLAMATION OF THE WORD
Words of Assurance
Christ rescues us from our foolish ways and from our misguided deeds.
In Christ, we are made perfect, even in our imperfection.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
*Old Testament Reading: Genesis 24:34-38, 42-49, 58-67
34 So he said, “I am Abraham’s servant. 35 The Lord has greatly blessed my master, and he has become wealthy; he has given him flocks and herds, silver and gold, male and female slaves, camels and donkeys. 36 And Sarah my master’s wife bore a son to my master when she was old; and he has given him all that he has. 37 My master made me swear, saying, ‘You shall not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, in whose land I live; 38 but you shall go to my father’s house, to my kindred, and get a wife for my son.’
42 “I came today to the spring, and said, ‘O Lord, the God of my master Abraham, if now you will only make successful the way I am going! 43 I am standing here by the spring of water; let the young woman who comes out to draw, to whom I shall say, “Please give me a little water from your jar to drink,” 44 and who will say to me, “Drink, and I will draw for your camels also”—let her be the woman whom the Lord has appointed for my master’s son.’
45 “Before I had finished speaking in my heart, there was Rebekah coming out with her water jar on her shoulder; and she went down to the spring, and drew. I said to her, ‘Please let me drink.’ 46 She quickly let down her jar from her shoulder, and said, ‘Drink, and I will also water your camels.’ So I drank, and she also watered the camels. 47 Then I asked her, ‘Whose daughter are you?’ She said, ‘The daughter of Bethuel, Nahor’s son, whom Milcah bore to him.’ So I put the ring on her nose, and the bracelets on her arms. 48 Then I bowed my head and worshiped the Lord, and blessed the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who had led me by the right way to obtain the daughter of my master’s kinsman for his son. 49 Now then, if you will deal loyally and truly with my master, tell me; and if not, tell me, so that I may turn either to the right hand or to the left.”
58 And they called Rebekah, and said to her, “Will you go with this man?” She said, “I will.” 59 So they sent away their sister Rebekah and her nurse along with Abraham’s servant and his men. 60 And they blessed Rebekah and said to her,
“May you, our sister, become
thousands of myriads;
may your offspring gain possession
of the gates of their foes.”
61 Then Rebekah and her maids rose up, mounted the camels, and followed the man; thus the servant took Rebekah, and went his way.
62 Now Isaac had come from Beer-lahai-roi, and was settled in the Negeb. 63 Isaac went out in the evening to walk in the field; and looking up, he saw camels coming. 64 And Rebekah looked up, and when she saw Isaac, she slipped quickly from the camel, 65 and said to the servant, “Who is the man over there, walking in the field to meet us?” The servant said, “It is my master.” So she took her veil and covered herself. 66 And the servant told Isaac all the things that he had done. 67 Then Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah’s tent. He took Rebekah, and she became his wife; and he loved her. So Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.
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: “Try it, You’ll Like It”
Hymn: “Thy Word is a Lamp”
Thy word is a lamp unto my feet
and a light unto my path.
When I feel afraid, think I've lost my way,
still you're there right beside me,
and nothing will I fear
as long as your are near.
Please be near me to the end.
Thy word is a lamp unto my feet
and a light unto my path.
Now I will not forget
your love for me and yet
my heart forever is wandering.
Jesus, be my guide
and hold me to your side,
and I will love you to the end.
Thy word is a lamp unto my feet
and a light unto my path.
Sermon: “Taking the Yoke” Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30
16 “But to what will I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to one another,
17 ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance;
we wailed, and you did not mourn.’
18 For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon’; 19 the Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.”
25 At that time Jesus said, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants; 26 yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. 27 All things have been handed over to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.
28 “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
RESPONSE TO THE WORD
Hymn: “Love Divine, All Loves Excelling”
Jesus is all the world to me,
my life, my joy, my all;
he is my strength from day to day,
without him I would fall.
When I am sad, to him I go,
no other one can cheer me so;
when I am sad, he makes me glad,
he’s my Friend.
Jesus is all the world to me,
my friend in trials sore;
I go to him for blessings, and
he gives them over and o’er.
He sends the sunshine and the rain,
he sends the harvest’s golden grain;
sunshine and rain, harvest of grain,
he’s my Friend.
Jesus is all the world to me,
and true to him I’ll be;
O how could I this friend deny,
when he’s so true to me?
Following him I know I’m right,
he watches o’er me day and night;
following him by day and night,
he’s my Friend.
Jesus is all the world to me,
I want no better friend;
I trust him now, I’ll trust him when
life’s fleeting days shall end.
Beautiful life with such a friend,
beautiful life that has no end;
eternal life, eternal joy, he’s my Friend.
Psalter: Affirmation from Romans
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?
Shall tribulation or distress, or persecution or famine, or nakedness or peril or sword?
No!
In all things we are more than conquerors through the One who loved us.
We are sure that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation,
will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Thanks be 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: “Jesus is All the World to Me”
Jesus is all the world to me,
my life, my joy, my all;
he is my strength from day to day,
without him I would fall.
When I am sad, to him I go,
no other one can cheer me so;
when I am sad, he makes me glad,
he’s my Friend.
Jesus is all the world to me,
my friend in trials sore;
I go to him for blessings, and
he gives them over and o’er.
He sends the sunshine and the rain,
he sends the harvest’s golden grain;
sunshine and rain, harvest of grain,
he’s my Friend.
Jesus is all the world to me,
and true to him I’ll be;
O how could I this friend deny,
when he’s so true to me?
Following him I know I’m right,
he watches o’er me day and night;
following him by day and night,
he’s my Friend.
Jesus is all the world to me,
I want no better friend;
I trust him now, I’ll trust him when
life’s fleeting days shall end.
Beautiful life with such a friend,
beautiful life that has no end;
eternal life, eternal joy, he’s my Friend.
Benediction
