January 19, 2025
Prelude: If You Will Trust in God to Guide You
Neumark, arr. Cherwien
Welcome & Call to Worship
[Isaiah 55:10-12]
The rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there until they have watered the earth,
They make it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater.
So shall God’s word be that goes out from his mouth; it shall not return empty, but it shall accomplish that which he purposes.
We shall go out in joy, and be led back in peace; the mountains and the hills shall burst into song.
Let us worship the LORD!
Here, O Lord, Your Servants Gather (Hymn 465)
Yamaguchi/Japanese gagaku mode
Here, O Lord, your servants gather, hand we link with hand;
Looking toward our Savior’s cross, joined in love we stand.
As we seek the realm of God, we unite to pray:
Jesus, Savior, guide our steps, for you are the Way.
Many are the tongues we speak, scattered are the lands,
Yet our hearts are one in God, one in love’s demands.
E’en in darkness hope appears, calling age and youth:
Jesus, teacher, dwell with us, for you are the Truth.
Nature’s secrets open wide, changes never cease;
Where, O where, can weary souls find the source of peace?
Unto all those sore distressed, torn by endless strife:
Jesus, healer, bring your balm, for you are the Life.
Grant, O God, an age renewed, filled with deathless love;
Help us as we work and pray, send us from above
Truth and courage, faith and power needed in our strife:
Jesus, Savior, be our way, be our truth, our life.
Confession
God of words and weather, your rain waters the earth and your words accomplish your purposes. Forgive us when we only listen to your word without taking steps to participate. Have mercy on us when our foundations are easily shaken by the various storms we encounter. Give us courage to act on your teachings as you send us out into the world, and lead us back in peace. Amen.
Silence
Where Justice Rolls Down
Donley
Chorus:
Where justice rolls down like a mighty water
and righteousness grows like an ever flowing stream
and mercy resounds like the waves on the ocean
Let praises rise high on the songs of the redeemed
(Repeat Chorus)
There is a river that streams from the temple
Begins as a trickle but ends in the sea
As it grows healing it will give
Where it flows everything will live
(Repeat Chorus)
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.
Quartet: Joy to the World
Watts/Haweis
Carollen Ryan, Betsy Hammond, Steve Goodner, Jim Price
Prayer for Illumination
Scripture Readings
Nadia Grieves
Old Testament: Isaiah 55:10-13
New Testament: Luke 6:47-49
Sermon: A Storm is Coming
Scott Starbuck
Focus: “Storms of every sort, torrents, earthquakes, cataclysms, 'convulsions of nature,' etc., however mysterious and lawless at first sight they may seem, are only harmonious notes in the song of creation, varied expressions of God's love.” -John Muir
Response: My Hope Is Built on Nothing Less (Hymn 379)
Bradbury/Mote
My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness;
I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus’ name.
Refrain:
On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand;
all other ground is sinking sand,
all other ground is sinking sand.
When darkness veils His lovely face, I rest on His unchanging grace;
In every high and stormy gale, my anchor holds within the veil.
(refrain)
His oath, his covenant, his blood support me in the whelming flood;
When all around my soul gives way, he then is all my hope and stay.
(refrain)
When he shall come with trumpet sound, O may I then in him be found,
Dressed in his righteousness alone, faultless to stand before the throne.
(refrain)
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
Zak Cannard
The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it.
-Genesis 2:15
Offering: We Shall Overcome
African American Spiritual
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: The Trees of the Field (Isaiah 55:12)
Rubin/Dauermann
You shall go out with joy and be led forth in peace;
the mountains and the hills will break forth before you;
there’ll be shouts of joy, and all the trees of the field
will clap, will clap their hands.
All the trees of the field will clap their hands;
the trees of the field will clap their hands;
the trees of the field will clap their hands
while you go out with joy.
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