The Order of Worship – September 22, 2024

This is the 265th Day of 2024.
There are 101 days remaining in 2024.

Filled with the Holy Spirit,
we are a people of prayer
committed to love one another
and equipped to share Christ’s love throughout the world.

Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Prelude:

Welcome & Announcements:
This month’s mission focus is The Leland Food Pantry
Bible Study Tuesdays & Thursdays at afaithtalk.com
Five Loaves tonight at 4:30 – fellowship hall
Mr. Men All Star Gala Comedy Show tonight at 6:00 – the gym

Call to Worship: Marching to Zion…No.733 (1-4) (F)

Responsive Reading: Psalm 1
The Way of the Righteous 

¹ Happy are those who do not 
follow the advice of the wicked 
or take the path that sinners tread 
or sit in the seat of scoffers, 

² but their delight is in the law of the LORD, 
and on his law they meditate day and night. 
³ They are like trees planted by streams of water, 
which yield their fruit in its season, 
and their leaves do not wither. 

In all that they do, they prosper. 
⁴ The wicked are not so but are like chaff 
that the wind drives away. 

⁵ Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment 
nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous, 

⁶ for the LORD watches over the way of the righteous, 
but the way of the wicked will perish.
Praise the Lord!

Opening Hymn: Gather Us In…TFWS #2236 (D)
Verse 1

Here in this place 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

Verse 2

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

Verse 3

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

Verse 4

Not in the dark of buildings confining
Not in some heaven light years away
But here in this place the new light is shining
Now is the kingdom, 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 bones

Affirmation of Faith:
The Apostle’s Creed..No. 881

I believe in God the Father Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth;
and in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord:
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified,
dead,
and buried;
the third day he rose from the dead;
he ascended into heaven,
and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty;
from thence he shall come to judge
the quick and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. Amen.

Gloria Patri…Page 70

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,
world without end. Amen. Amen.

Praise Song: Jesus Loves Me Alleluia

Jesus loves me this I know.
For the Bible tells me so.
Little ones to him belong.
They are weak but he is strong.

Chorus:

Men: Alleluia. Women: Alleluia, allelu.
Men: Alleluia. Women: Alleluia, alleluia.
Men: Alleluia. Women: Alleluia, allelu.
Men: Alleluia. Women: Alleluia, allelu.
All: Alleluia.

Amazing grace how sweet the sound,
saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost but now I’m found,
was blind but now I see.

Chorus:

Men: Alleluia. Women: Alleluia, allelu.
Men: Alleluia. Women: Alleluia, alleluia.
Men: Alleluia. Women: Alleluia, allelu.
Men: Alleluia. Women: Alleluia, allelu.
All: Alleluia.

Jesus loves me, him who died,
heaven’s gates to open wide.
He will wash away my sin.
let this little child come in. 

Chorus:

Men: Alleluia. Women: Alleluia, allelu.
Men: Alleluia. Women: Alleluia, alleluia.
Men: Alleluia. Women: Alleluia, allelu.
Men: Alleluia. Women: Alleluia, allelu.

Chorus:

Men: Alleluia. Women: Alleluia, allelu.
Men: Alleluia. Women: Alleluia, alleluia.
Men: Alleluia. Women: Alleluia, allelu.
Men: Alleluia. Women: Alleluia, allelu.
All: Alleluia.

Pastoral Prayer
Contact us here to add your concern to our prayer list.

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 trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory,
forever. Amen.

Anthem: There Is A Balm in Gilead…No. 375 

Offertory

Doxology:

Praise God from whom all blessings flow;
Praise Him, all creatures here below;
Praise Him above, ye heavenly hosts;
Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Amen

Children’s Moment & Song
(Lord, I Lift Your Name on High)

Lord I lift your name on high
Lord I love to sing your praises
I’m so glad you’re in my life
I’m so glad you came to save us
You came from heaven to earth to show the way
From the earth to the cross my debt to pay
From the cross to the grave,
from the grave to the sky
Lord I lift your name on high
Lord I lift your name on high
Lord I love to sing your praises
I’m so glad you’re in my life
I’m so glad you came to save us
You came from heaven to earth to show the way
From the earth to the cross my debt to pay
From the cross to the grave,
from the grave to the sky
Lord I lift your name on high
You came from heaven to earth to show the way
From the earth to the cross my debt to pay
From the cross to the grave,
from the grave to the sky
Lord I lift your name on high
Lord I lift your name on high
Lord I lift your name on high

Prayer for Illumination
Lord, open our hearts and minds by the power of your Holy Spirit, that as the Scriptures are read and your Word is proclaimed, we may hear with joy what you say to us today. Amen.

Gospel Reading: Mark 9:30-37
Prediction of the Passion

³⁰ They went on from there and passed through Galilee. He did not want anyone to know it, ³¹ for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, “The Son of Man is to be betrayed into human hands, and they will kill him, and three days after being killed, he will rise again.” ³² But they did not understand what he was saying and were afraid to ask him. 

³³ Then they came to Capernaum, and when he was in the house he asked them, “What were you arguing about on the way?” ³⁴ But they were silent, for on the way they had argued with one another who was the greatest. ³⁵ He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, “Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.” 

³⁶ Then he took a little child and put it among them, and taking it in his arms he said to them, ³⁷ “Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.”

Leader: The Word of God for the people of God
All: Thanks be to God

Epistle Reading: James 3:13 – 4:3, 7-8a
^3:13 Who is wise and understandable among you? Show by your good life that your works are done with gentleness born of wisdom. ¹⁴ But if you have bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not be arrogant and lie about the truth. ¹⁵ This is not wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, devilish. ¹⁶ For where there is envy and selfish ambition, there will also be disorder and wickedness of every kind. 

¹⁷ But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. 

^4:1 Those conflicts and disputes among you, where do they come from? Do they not come from your cravings that are at war within you? ² You want something and do not have it; so you commit murder. And you covet something and cannot obtain it; so you engage in disputes and conflicts. You do not have, because you do not ask. ³ You ask and do not receive because you ask wrongly, in order to spend what you get on your pleasures. 

⁷ Submit yourselves therefore to God. 
Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 
⁸ Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. 

Leader: The Word of God for the people of God
All: Thanks be to God

Sermon Text:  Wisdom of Solomon 1:16-2:1, 12-22
The Righteous Shall Live 

^1:16 But the ungodly by their words and deeds summoned death; considering him a friend, they pined away and made a covenant with him, because they are fit to belong to his company.

^2:1 For they reasoned unsoundly, saying to themselves, “Short and sorrowful is our life, and there is no remedy when a life comes to its end, and no one has been known to return from Hades.”

^2:12 “Let us lie in wait for the righteous man, because he is inconvenient to us and opposes our actions; he reproaches us for sins against the law and accuses us of sins against our training. ¹³ He professes to have knowledge of God and calls himself a child of the Lord.
¹⁴ He became to us a reproof of our thoughts; the very sight of him is a burden to us, ¹⁵ because his manner of life is unlike that of others, and his ways are strange.
¹⁶ We are considered by him as something base, and he avoids our ways as unclean; he calls the last end of the righteous happy and boasts that God is his father. ¹⁷ Let us see if his words are true, and let us test what will happen at the end of his life, ¹⁸ for if the righteous man is God’s child, he will help him and will deliver him from the hand of his adversaries.
¹⁹ Let us test him with insult and torture, so that we may find out how reasonable he is and make trial of his forbearance. ²⁰ Let us condemn him to a shameful death, for, according to what he says, he will be protected.”

²¹ Thus they reasoned, but they were led astray, for their wickedness blinded them, ²² and they did not know the secret purposes of God, nor hoped for the wages of holiness, nor discerned the prize for blameless souls.

Leader: This is the Word of God for the People of God
All: Thanks be to God!

Sermon:“The Prize for Blameless Souls”

Closing Hymn: O Master Let Me Walk With Thee…430 (Eb)

Verse 1

O Master, let me walk with thee
in lowly paths of service free;
tell me thy secret; help me bear
the strain of toil, the fret of care.

Verse 4

In hope that sends a shining ray
far down the future’s broadening way,
in peace that only thou canst give,
with thee, O Master, let me live.

Filled Up and Poured Out

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