January 12, 2025
Prelude: Baptized in Water
Gaelic melody/arr. Smith
Welcome & Call to Worship
[Isaiah 43:1-2]
Thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel:
Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;
when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.
Let us worship the LORD!
Lord, When You Came to Jordan
Wren/Teschner
Lord, when You came to Jordan and asked to be baptized,
What was Your vow and vision of love and sacrifice?
Was there a sudden splendor of prophets, priests, and kings,
A wind that stirred the waters, a blur of mighty wings?
Was this God’s crowning moment of all You had become,
The Spirit’s power and blessing: “Go now, You are My Son”?
Did scripture join with scripture in words of sharp surprise:
“The Lord’s Messiah shall conquer, rejected and despised”?
Faith rests content with questions of when and why and how,
But craves the gift of seeing what God is doing now.
Lord, bring us to our Jordan of newly opened eyes,
Through love, immersed in living, as You were once baptized.
Confession
Holy God, by water and word, you invite us into the life-giving mission of Jesus. In baptism you claim us as yours, yet sometimes we find ourselves in places we cannot imagine as part of your plan. Forgive us when we notice everything wrong around us and not how you are at work within these places, or within us. Lead us into this new year with a renewed sense of your presence and joy. Help us seek the good of our city, and work in us to realize your vision of a world made new in Christ. Amen.
Silence
On Jordan’s Bank the Baptist’s Cry
Coffin/Trier ms., 15th century
Then cleansed be every life from sin;
Make straight the way for God within,
And let us all our hearts prepare
For Christ to come and enter there.
Forgiveness in Jesus Christ
Peace
The peace of Christ be with you.
And also with you.
Gloria Patri (Hymn 579)
Greatorex
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,
Word without end. Amen, Amen.
All Who Love and Serve Your City (Hymn 413)
Routley/The United States Sacred Harmony
All who love and serve your city, all who bear its daily stress,
All who cry for peace and justice, all who curse and all who bless:
In your day of wealth and plenty, wasted work and wasted play,
Call to mind the word of Jesus, “You must work while it is day.”
For all days are days of judgment, and the Lord is waiting still,
Drawing near a world that spurns Him, offering peace from Calvary’s hill.
Risen Lord, shall yet the city be the city of despair?
Come today, our judge, our glory. Be its name “The Lord is there!”
Prayer for Illumination
Scripture Readings
John Lemm
Old Testament: Jeremiah 29:4-11
New Testament: Luke 3:15-17, 21-22
Sermon: Seeking the Welfare of the City
Scott Starbuck & Woody Garvin
Focus: “If you want to go quickly, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”
– African Proverb
Response: Lord, Whose Love Through Humble Service
Bayly/The Sacred Harp
Lord, whose love through humble service bore the weight of human need,
Who upon the cross, forsaken, offered mercy’s perfect deed,
We, Your servants, bring the worship not of voice alone, but heart,
Consecrating to Your purpose every gift that You impart.
Still Your children wander homeless; still the hungry cry for bread;
Still the captives long for freedom; still in grief we mourn our dead.
As, O Lord, Your deep compassion healed the sick and freed the soul,
Use the love Your Spirit kindles still to save and make us whole.
As we worship, grant us vision, till Your love’s revealing light,
In its height and depth and greatness dawn upon our quickened sight,
Making known the needs and burdens Your compassion bids us bear,
Stirring us to tireless striving, Your abundant life to share.
Called from worship to Your service, forth in Your dear name we go,
To the child, the youth, the aged, love in living deeds to show;
Hope and health, goodwill and comfort, counsel, aid, and peace we give,
That Your servants, Lord, in freedom may Your mercy know and live.
Pastoral Prayer & 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, and deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.
Call to Stewardship
Ann Hall
Those who despise their neighbors are sinners, but happy are those who are kind to the poor.
-Proverbs 14:21
Offering: When Jesus Came to Jordan
Mehrtens
Doxology
Praise God from whom all blessings flow;
Praise God, all creatures here below;
Praise God above, ye heavenly host
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.
Charge & Benediction
Postlude: Lord Jesus Christ, Turn Thou to Us
Walther
OneLicense# A-727502
CCLI# 283345
