October 6, 2024 - World Communion Sunday
Prelude: Glory Be to the Lord & Gather Us In
Nigerian Hymn/Sadoh & Haugen/Behnke
Welcome & Call to Worship
[Isaiah 61]
We will greatly rejoice in the LORD, our beings shall exult in our God;
For he has clothed us with the garments of salvation, he has covered us with the robe of righteousness.
As the earth brings forth its shoots, and as a garden causes what is sown to spring up,
So the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to spring up before all the nations.
Let us worship the LORD!
Gather Us In
Haugen
Here in this place the new light is streaming; now is the darkness vanished away;
See in this space our fears and our dreamings brought here to you in the light of this day.
Gather us in, the lost and forsaken; gather us in, the blind and the lame;
Call to us now, and we shall awaken; we shall arise at the sound of our name.
We are the young, our lives are a mystery. We are the old who yearn for your face.
We have been sung throughout all of history, called to be light to the whole human race.
Gather us in, the rich and the haughty; gather us in, the proud and the strong;
Give us a heart, so meek and so lowly; give us the courage to enter the song.
Here we will take the wine and the water; here we will take the bread of new birth.
Here you shall call your sons and your daughters, call us anew to be salt for the earth.
Give us to drink the wine of compassion; give us to eat the bread that is you;
Nourish us well, and teach us to fashion lives that are holy and hearts that are true.
Not in the dark of buildings confining, not in some heaven, light years away;
Here in this place the new light is shining; now is the kingdom, and now is the day.
Gather us in and hold us forever; gather us in and make us your own;
Gather us in, all peoples together, fire of love in our flesh and our bone.
Confession
God of good news, you call us to bring hope and comfort in the midst of oppression and mourning. You anoint us to bring others closer to you, but we confess that we feel inadequate for this work. We sometimes struggle to feel close to you ourselves and doubt that we have much to offer others. Forgive us, we pray. Inspire us again with your love of justice and your compassion for the weak and grieving. Till and tend us as your garden until righteousness and praise spring up, for the sake of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Silence
O Little Town of Bethlehem (Hymn 43)
English folk melody/Brooks
How silently, how silently, the wondrous gift is given!
So God imparts to human hearts the blessings of His heaven.
No ear may hear His coming, but in this world of sin,
Where our souls will receive Him, still the dear Christ enters in.
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
Jesus Shall Reign (Hymn 423)
Hatton/Watts
Jesus shall reign where’er the sun does its successive journeys run,
His kingdom stretch from shore to shore, till moons shall wax and wane no more.
People and realms of every tongue dwell on His love with sweetest song,
And infant voices shall proclaim their early blessings on His name.
Blessings abound where’er he reigns; The prisoners leap to lose their chains,
The weary find eternal rest, and all who suffer want are blest.
Prayer for Illumination
Scripture Readings
Nadia Grieves
Old Testament: Isaiah 61:1, 8-11
New Testament: John 1:9-14
Homily: Glorious Truth
Scott Starbuck with Dick Silk
Focus: Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.
Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper
Communion Music: Bread of Life from Heaven
Briehl/Argentine melody
Lisa Phillips, Betsy Hammond, Steve Goodner, Jim Price
Communion Prayer
Call to Stewardship
Betsy Hammond
On the first day of every week, each of you is to put aside and save whatever extra you earn, so that collections need not be taken when I come. -1 Corinthians 16:2
Offering: Let Us Sing and Praise the Lord
Taiwanese melody/Masegseg
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: He’s Got the Whole World In His Hands
African American Spiritual, arr. Barr
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