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UPCOMING WORSHIP:
View a PDF of the Worship bulletin here.
August 18, 2024
Thirteenth Sunday After Pentecost
We Come Together as God’s People
Prelude An Wasserflüssen Babylon, BWV 653 J.S. Bach
Dr. John Allegar, organ (1685-1750)
Welcome Rev. Christopher A. Henry
Choral Call to Worship You Are Before Me, Lord SURSUM CORDA
Summer Choir; Dr. Michelle Louer, conductor
You are before me, Lord, You are behind,
And over me You have spread out Your hand;
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
Too high to grasp, to great to understand.
Search me, O God, search me and know my heart;
Try me, O God, my mind and spirit try;
Keep me from any path that gives You pain,
And lead me in the everlasting way.
Text: from Psalm 139/adapted Ian Pitt-Watson
* Call to Worship Audrey F. Thorne
One: Blessed are those who mourn,
All: for they will be comforted.
One: Blessed are those who from their darkest hour
All: see the presence of Christ.
One: For he has borne our grief and carried our sorrows,
and redeems us from all sin and brokenness.
* Prayer of Adoration
* Opening Hymn #261 God of Compassion, in Mercy Befriend Us O QUANTA QUALIA
Invitation to Confession
Prayer of Confession
Eternal God,
You laid the foundation of the earth,
placed the morning stars in the sky,
and shut the doors to the sea.
But sometimes our foundations shake,
sometimes the sea rumbles,
and sometimes the stars fall from the sky.
Do not leave us when the world turns upside down,
and our lives return to chaos.
Renew your work of redemption in us. (Silent Prayer)
Assurance of God’s Grace
* Response of Praise How Blest Are Those ES FLOG EIN KLEINS WALDVÖGELEIN
* Passing the Peace of Christ
* Hymn #252 O Lord, You Are My God and King JERUSALEM
We Experience God’s Word
The Word with Children
Sacrament of Baptism
Hymn of Response Child of Blessing, Child of Promise KINGDOM
Prayer for Illumination Sarah Parks
First Scripture Lesson Psalm 139:1-12 (p. 566)
Anthem Even When God Is Silent Michael Horvit
(b. 1932)
I believe in the sun even when it is not shining.
I believe in love even when feeling it not.
I believe in God even when God is silent.
Text: Allied troops found this poem written on the walls of a basement in Cologne, Germany.
Second Scripture Lesson Psalm 13 (p. 484)
Sermon Rev. Christopher A. Henry
When God is Absent
“How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?”
(Psalm 13:1)
Moment of Silent Meditation
We Give Thanks to God
* Affirmation of Faith The Apostle’s Creed Rev. David T. Kim
I believe in God the Father Almighty,
Maker of heaven and earth,
And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord;
who was conceived by the Holy Ghost,
born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, dead, and buried; he descended into hell;
the third day he rose again from the dead;
he ascended into heaven,
and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty;
from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Ghost; the holy catholic Church;
the communion of saints; the forgiveness of sins;
the resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting. Amen.
Prayers of the People and the Lord’s Prayer
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 debts, as we forgive our debtors;
and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever. Amen.
Invitation to Discipleship and Generosity
Offertory If With All Your Hearts (from Elijah) Felix Mendelssohn
Will Upham, tenor (1809-1847)
“If with all your hearts ye truly seek Me,
ye shall ever surely find Me,”
thus saith our God.
Oh! that I knew where I might find Him,
that I might even come before His presence!
Deuteronomy 4:29; Job 23:3
* Doxology OLD HUNDREDTH
* Prayer of Dedication
We Go Forth to Serve
* Closing Hymn Leaning on the Everlasting Arms SHOWALTER
* Charge and Benediction
* Choral Benediction Amen McNeil Robinson, II
(1943-2015)
Postlude Tuba Tune in D Major C.S. Lang
(1891-1971)