June 2, 2024
Prelude: There’s a Wideness in God’s Mercy
IN BABILONE/Dutch folk tune
settings by Burkhardt and Langlois
Welcome & Call to Worship
[Psalm 103]
Bless the Lord, O people, and do not forget all his benefits—
who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases,
who redeems your life from the Pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy.
As parents have compassion for their children,
so the Lord has compassion for those who fear him.
For he knows how we were made; he remembers that we are dust.
Let us worship the LORD!
Live Into Hope! (Hymn 332)
Williams/Huber
Live into hope of captives freed, of sight regained, the end of greed.
The oppressed shall be the first to see the year of God’s own jubilee!
Live into hope the blind shall see with insight and with clarity,
Removing shades of pride and fear -- a vision of our God brought near.
Live into hope of liberty, the right to speak, the right to be,
The right to have one’s daily bread, to hear God’s word and thus be fed.
Live into hope of captives freed from chains of fear or want or greed.
God now proclaims our full release to faith and hope and joy and peace.
Confession
God of compassion, you are always ready to welcome the contrite. Have mercy on us when we have not listened to your messengers or responded to you. Forgive us when we are concerned about small losses that affect our comfort more than we are concerned about people who are lost or searching for you. Open our minds and hearts to be and become the loving children you have created us to be. Thank you for the depth of your love, more than we can understand, for us and for others. Amen.
Silence
Be Not Afraid
Taizé Community/Berthier
Be not afraid; sing out for joy! Christ is risen, alleluia!
Be not afraid; sing out for joy! Christ is risen, alleluia!
(repeat)
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.
Children’s Message
There Is a Wideness in God’s Mercy (Hymn 298)
Faber/Dutch melody
There’s a wideness in God’s mercy, like the wideness of the sea;
There’s a kindness in God’s justice, which is more than liberty,
There is no place where earth’s sorrows are more felt than up in heaven;
There is no place where earth’s failings have such kindly judgment given.
For the love of God is broader than the measures of the mind;
And the heart of the Eternal is most wonderfully kind.
If our love were but more faithful, we would gladly trust God’s Word;
And our lives reflect thanksgiving for the goodness of our Lord.
Prayer for Illumination
Scripture Readings
Kelly Grieves
Old Testament: Jonah 4:5–11
New Testament: Matthew 23:37-39
Homily: The Whole World in God’s Hands
Focus: Our caring cannot be compared to the Depth and Breadth of God’s Love
Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper
Communion Music: Help Us Accept Each Other (Hymn 358)
Kaan
Help us accept each other as Christ accepted us;
Teach us as sister, brother, each person to embrace.
Be present, Lord, among us and bring us to believe
We are ourselves accepted and meant to love and live.
Teach us, O Lord, your lessons, as in our daily life
We struggle to be human and search for hope and faith.
Teach us to care for people, for all, not just for some,
To love them as we find them or as they may become.
Let your acceptance change us, so that we may be moved
In living situations to do the truth in love;
To practice your acceptance until we know by heart
The table of forgiveness and laughter’s healing art.
Lord, for today’s encounters with all who are in need,
Who hunger for acceptance, for righteousness and bread,
We need new eyes for seeing, new hands for holding on:
Renew us with your Spirit; Lord, free us, make us one!
Communion Prayer
Call to Stewardship
Betsy Hammond
And Abram gave him one tenth of everything. -Genesis 14:20b
Offering: Come, let us eat, for now the feast is spread…
A VA DE/Kwillia, arr. Busarow
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: All People That on Earth Do Dwell
OLD HUNDREDTH/setting by Pachelbel
OneLicense# A-727502
CCLI# 283345
