GATHERING AS THE BODY OF CHRIST
Prelude
America
UMH #697
(In-Person Only)
Welcome and Sharing of Announcements
A Time to Make Connections
(In-Person Only)
*Call to Worship
Liturgist: Friends, let us worship God today, for God is great,
People: God has blessed us with life, with faith and with community.
Liturgist: Let us worship God today, for God is good.
People: God forgives us, and encourages us, and loves us.
Liturgist: Let us worship God today- Because we are God’s people.
People: Let us worship God with the fullness of our being.
(Hold Fast to What Is Good by Beth Merrill Neel)
*Opening Prayer
Come and dwell in us, Christ Jesus. Plant a seed of love in our hearts and in our lives, that the strong root of love may grow within us. Transform each one of us, transform this church, and transform America and the world in faith and love, we pray. Amen.
(Abingdon Worship Annual, 2015)
Opening Hymn
"America the Beautiful"
UMH #696
Message in Music
“Steal Away to Jesus”
Afro-American spiritual
Ken Muzykewicz, saxophone, and Matt Cron, piano
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 our God.
It is right to give our thanks and praise.
It is right, and a privilege, and joy to praise you, O God, because you made Life: the universe, and this earth, and the flowers we love to water in the summer, and the berries we eat like candy. You made the dogs we walk in the morning, and the cats who sit on our laps even when it’s hot. You made us, men and women, tall and short, fat and thin, loveable and flawed. We praise you for all creation this day.
And so in praise and with great thanks we join our voices to those of the heavenly host who sing to your glory, saying:
Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might, Heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is the One who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.
You are blessed, O God, as is Jesus our Christ, who invited all of us carrying heavy burdens to come to him. He bore our burdens; he healed us; and he saved us. He invited us to his table where we practice for the heavenly banquet that awaits us all. Great is the mystery.
Christ has died; Christ is risen; Christ will come again.
And now, O God, we pray for your Spirit. We pray that your Spirit will descend upon our hearts and on these gifts of bread and cup, to transform them from their daily use into a sacred meal. By your Spirit may our hunger and thirst be sated, and may we be nourished to go out into the world to bear the burdens of others. For so much, we offer grateful hearts, and following the words of Jesus, we offer together the prayer that he taught….
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 trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen.
(Hold Fast to What Is Good by Beth Merrill Neel)
Eat This Bread
UMH 628 (twice)
(Share the Bread and Juice)
PRAYER AFTER COMMUNION
Eternal God, heavenly Father, you have graciously accepted us as living members of your Son our Savior Jesus Christ, and you have fed us with spiritual food in the Sacrament of his Body and Blood. Send us now into the world in peace, and grant us strength and courage to love and serve you with gladness and singleness of heart; through Christ our Lord. Amen.
ATTENTION TO THE WORD OF GOD
Liturgist:
Scripture Reading: Ephesians: 3:14-21
14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father,[g] 15 from whom every family[h] in heaven and on earth takes its name. 16 I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, he may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit, 17 and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love. 18 I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. 20 Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
Liturgist: The word of God for the people of God.
People: Thanks be to God.
Message
“Jesus Before Christianity:
What Would Jesus Say to America?”
Pastor Seok-Hwan
*Offertory Prayer
Bless these gifts with your love and grace. Transform even our meager offerings and leftovers into abundant possibilities. Transform us that rooted and grounded in love, we may give all that we have, and all that we are to serve you and your world with a love that knows no bounds. Amen.
(Abingdon Worship Annual, 2015)
*Closing Hymn
“Let there be Peace on Earth"
UMH #431
The Blessing and Sending Forth
Response
“May the Grace of God Go With You”
Adult Choir (singing from our homes)
Anna Laura Page
Postlude
In Peace and Joy I now depart
J.S.Bach
(In-Person Only)
Online Service
Video: Sharon Lipp
Liturgist: Jodie Kruger
In-Person Service
Liturgist: Nancy Keelan
Usher: Roy Higgins
Technology: Sharon Lipp
Organist: Matt Cron
Adult Choir Singers:
Marge Barnett
Jane Beatty
Mark Beatty
Morgan Bott
Nancy Burns
Beth Fowler
Bella Guilmartin
Larry Guilmartin
Claire Hall
Scott Hall
Mark Johnson
Ken Muzykewicz
