The Order of Worship – September 15, 2024

Sunday, September 15, 2024
This is the 258th Day of 2024.
There are 108 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.

Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost

Prelude:

Welcome & Announcements:
This month’s mission focus is The Leland Food Pantry
Bible Study Tuesdays & Thursdays at afaithtalk.com

Call to Worship: Morning Has Broken…No.145 (C) Responsive Reading:  Psalm 19
The commandments give light to the eyes

¹ The heavens are telling the glory of God,
and the firmament proclaims his handiwork.

² Day to day pours forth speech,
and night to night declares knowledge.

³ There is no speech, nor are there words;
their voice is not heard;

⁴ yet their voice goes out through all the earth and their words to the end of the world.
In the heavens he has set a tent for the sun,

⁵ which comes out like a bridegroom from his wedding canopy,
and like a strong man runs its course with joy.

⁶ Its rising is from the end of the heavens
and its circuit to the end of them,

and nothing is hid from its heat.

⁷ The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul;
the decrees of the LORD are sure,
making wise the simple;

⁸ the precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart;
the commandment of the LORD is clear,
enlightening the eyes;

⁹ the fear of the LORD is pure, enduring forever;
the ordinances of the LORD are true and righteous altogether.

¹⁰ More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold;
sweeter also than honey and
drippings of the honeycomb.

¹¹ Moreover, by them is your servant warned;
in keeping them there is great reward.

¹² But who can detect one’s own errors?
Clear me from hidden faults.

¹³ Keep back your servant also from the insolent; do not let them have dominion over me.
Then I shall be blameless and innocent of great transgression.

¹⁴ Let the words of my mouth
and the meditation of my heart
be acceptable to you, O LORD,
my rock and my redeemer.
Praise the Lord!

Opening Hymn: Lift High the Cross…No. 159 (C)
Refrain

Lift high the cross, the love of Christ proclaim
till all the world adore his sacred name.

Verse 1

Come, Christians, follow this triumphant sign.
The hosts of God in unity combine.

Refrain

Lift high the cross, the love of Christ proclaim
till all the world adore his sacred name.

Verse 2

Each newborn servant of the Crucified bears on the brow
the seal of him who died.

Refrain

Lift high the cross, the love of Christ proclaim
till all the world adore his sacred name.

Verse 3

O Lord, once lifted on the glorious tree, as thou has promised,
draw the world to thee. 

Refrain

Lift high the cross, the love of Christ proclaim
till all the world adore his sacred name.

Verse 4

So shall our song of triumph ever be:      
praise to the Crucified for victory!

Refrain

Lift high the cross, the love of Christ proclaim
till all the world adore his sacred name

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: The Summons…No. 2130 (F)

Verse 1

Will you come and follow me if I but call your name?
Will you go where you don’t know and never be the same?
Will you let my love be shown,
will you let my name be known,
will you let my life be grown in you and you in me?

Verse 2

Will you leave yourself behind if I but call your name?
Will you care for cruel and kind and never be the same?
Will you risk the hostile stare should your life attract or scare?
Will you let me answer prayer in you and you in me? 

Verse 3

Will you let the blinded see if I but call your name?
Will you set the prisoners free and never be the same?
Will you kiss the leper clean, and do such as this unseen,
and admit to what I mean in you and you in me? 

Verse 4

Will you love the “you” you hide if I but call your name?
Will you quell the fear inside and never be the same?
Will you use the faith you’ve found to reshape the world around,
through my sight and touch and sound in you and you in me? 

Verse 5

Lord your summons echoes true when you but call my name.
Let me turn and follow you and never be the same.
In your company I’ll go
where your love and footsteps show.
Thus I’ll move and live and grow in you and you in me. 

Pastoral Prayer
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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: Blessed Quietness (A)

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 8:27-38
Peter’s confession of faith

²⁷ Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi, and on the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” ²⁸ And they answered him, “John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.”

²⁹ He asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Messiah.” ³⁰ And he sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about him.

³¹ Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes and be killed and after three days rise again. ³² He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.

³³ But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”

³⁴ He called the crowd with his disciples and said to them, “If any wish to come after me, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. ³⁵ For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. ³⁶ For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? ³⁷ Indeed, what can they give in return for their life?

³⁸ Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”

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

Epistle Reading James 3:1-12
Dangers of the unbridled tongue

¹ Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers and sisters, for you know that we who teach will face stricter judgment. ² For all of us make many mistakes. Anyone who makes no mistakes in speaking is mature, able to keep the whole body in check with a bridle. ³ If we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we guide their whole bodies.

⁴ Or look at ships: though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, yet they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs.

⁵ So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great exploits. How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! ⁶ And the tongue is a fire. The tongue is placed among our members as a world of iniquity; it stains the whole body, sets on fire the cycle of life, and is itself set on fire by hell.

⁷ For every species of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by the human species, ⁸ but no one can tame the tongue–a restless evil, full of deadly poison. ⁹ With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse people made in the likeness of God. ¹⁰ From the same mouth comes a blessing and a cursing. My brothers and sisters, this ought not to be so. ¹¹ Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and brackish water? ¹² Can a fig tree, my brothers and sisters, yield olives or a grapevine figs? No more can salt water yield fresh.

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

Sermon Text: Proverbs 1:20-33 & 1 Corinthians 1:18-25
Wisdom’s rebuke to the foolish

²⁰ Wisdom cries out in the street; in the squares she raises her voice. ²¹ At the busiest corner she cries out; at the entrance of the city gates she speaks: ²² “How long, O simple ones, will you love being simple? How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing and fools hate knowledge? ²³ Give heed to my reproof; I will pour out my thoughts to you; I will make my words known to you. ²⁴ Because I have called and you refused, have stretched out my hand and no one heeded, ²⁵ and because you have ignored all my counsel and would have none of my reproof,

²⁶ I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when panic strikes you, ²⁷ when panic strikes you like a storm and your calamity comes like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you.

²⁸ Then they will call upon me, but I will not answer; they will seek me diligently but will not find me. ²⁹ Because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the LORD, ³⁰ would have none of my counsel and despised all my reproof, ³¹ therefore they shall eat the fruit of their way and be sated with their own devices. ³² For waywardness kills the simple, and the complacency of fools destroys them; ³³ but those who listen to me will be secure and will live at ease without dread of disaster.”

1 Corinthians 1:18-25
Christ the Power and Wisdom of God

¹⁸ For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. ¹⁹ For it is written,

“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
    and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”

²⁰ Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scholar? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? ²¹ For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, God decided, through the foolishness of the proclamation, to save those who believe. ²² For Jews ask for signs and Greeks desire wisdom, ²³ but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to gentiles, ²⁴ but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. ²⁵ For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.

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

Sermon:“How Long?”

Closing Hymn: Nearer My God to Thee…No. 528 (F)

Verse 1

Nearer, my god, to thee, nearer to thee!
E’en though it be a cross that raiseth me,
still all my song shall be, nearer, my God to thee;
nearer, my God, to thee, nearer to thee!

Verse 5

Or if, on joyful wing cleaving the sky,
sun, moon, and stars forgot, upward I  fly,
still all my song shall be, nearer, my God to thee;
nearer, my God, to thee, nearer to thee!

Filled Up and Poured Out

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