October 23, 2022
Introit: A Mighty Fortress Is Our God
Kee
Welcome & Call to Worship
[Psalm 51]
Have mercy on us, O God, according to your steadfast love;
according to your abundant mercy blot out our transgressions.
You desire truth in the inward being; therefore teach us wisdom in our secret heart.
Restore to us the joy of your salvation, and sustain in us a willing spirit.
Let us worship the LORD!
Love Divine, All Loves Excelling (Hymn 376)
Prichard/Wesley
Love divine, all loves excelling, joy of heaven to earth come down,
Fix in us Thy humble dwelling, all Thy faithful mercies crown!
Jesus, Thou art all compassion, pure, unbounded love Thou art;
Visit us with Thy salvation, enter every trembling heart.
Breathe, O breathe Thy loving Spirit into every troubled breast!
Let us all in Thee inherit, let us find the promised rest;
Take away the love of sinning; Alpha and Omega be;
End of faith, as its beginning, set our hearts at liberty.
Come, Almighty to deliver, let us all Thy life receive;
Suddenly return, and never, nevermore Thy temples leave.
Thee we would be always blessing, serve Thee as Thy hosts above;
Pray, and praise Thee without ceasing, glory in Thy perfect love.
Confession
God of mercy and wisdom, you have brought us together as a community in this place and time. Forgive us when our practices are aligned more with the values of this world than with your truth. Forgive us when we allow your message and the concerns of your heart to be co-opted by other agendas. Sustain in us the willingness to accept correction when we err. Teach us discernment to speak truth in love, both to one another and into the surrounding culture. Knit us together in love as we grow in faith and live as your body. Amen.
Silence
Create in Me a Clean Heart
Unknown
Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.
Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.
Cast me not away from Thy presence, O Lord, and take not Thy Holy Spirit from me.
Restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation, and renew a right spirit within me.
[Psalm 51:10 –12]
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
Solo: Have Mercy, God, Upon My Life (Psalm 51)
Gambrell/Irish tune
Lisa Phillips
Prayer for Illumination
Scripture Readings
Ruth Seignemartin
Old Testament: Psalm 51:1-12
Link Here
New Testament: Ephesians 4:15-16
Link Here
Response: In Christ Alone
Getty & Townend
In Christ alone my hope is found.
He is my light, my strength, my song.
This Cornerstone, this solid ground,
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm.
What heights of love, what depths of peace,
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease!
My Comforter, my All in All,
Here in the love of Christ I stand.
From the Barmen Declaration
Ruth Seignemartin
Sermon: Christ against Culture
Together we confess:
The Christian Church is the community of brethren in which, in Word and sacrament, through the Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ acts in the present as Lord. With both its faith and its obedience, with both its message and its order, it has to testify in the midst of the sinful world, as the Church of pardoned sinners, that it belongs to him alone and lives and may live by his comfort and under his direction alone, in expectation of his appearing.
We reject the false doctrine that the Church could have permission to hand over the form of its message and of its order to whatever it itself might wish or to the vicissitudes of the prevailing ideological and political convictions of the day.
Response: God of Compassion, in Mercy Befriend Us (Hymn 261)
Moment/Paris Antiphoner
God of compassion, in mercy befriend us;
Giver of grace for our needs all availing,
Wisdom and strength for each day do thou send us,
Patience untiring and courage unfailing.
Wandering and lost, thou hast sought us and found us,
Stilled our rude hearts with thy word of consoling;
Wrap now thy peace, like a mantle, around us,
Guarding our thoughts and our passions controlling.
How shall we stray, with thy hand to direct us,
Thou who the stars in their courses art guiding?
What shall we fear, with thy power to protect us,
We who walk forth in thy greatness confiding?
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, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.
Call to Stewardship - Time & Talents
Shelly Owen and Judy Stafstrom
Offering Our Gifts: Mercies Numberless, from “Saul”
Handel
Leonard Byrne, tuba
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: Toccata
Seeger
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