The Order of Worship – September 8, 2024

This is the 251st Day of 2024.
There are 115 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.

Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Prelude:

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

Call to Worship: Children of the Heavenly Father…#141 (D) Responsive Reading:  Psalm 45

Psalm 146
Help and hope come from God 

¹ Praise the LORD!
Praise the LORD, O my soul!

² I will praise the LORD as long as I live;
I will sing praises to my God all my life long.

³ Do not put your trust in princes,
in mortals, in whom there is no help.

⁴ When their breath departs, they return to the earth;
on that very day their plans perish.

⁵ Happy are those whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the LORD their God,

⁶ who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them;
who keeps faith forever;

⁷ who executes justice for the oppressed;
who gives food to the hungry.

The LORD sets the prisoners free;

⁸ the LORD opens the eyes of the blind. 

The LORD lifts up those who are bowed down;
the LORD loves the righteous.

⁹ The LORD watches over the strangers;
he upholds the orphan and the widow,
but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.

¹⁰ The LORD will reign forever, your God,
O Zion, for all generations.
Praise the LORD!

Opening Hymn: O For a Thousand Tongues…#57 (G)

Verse 1

O for a thousand tongues to sing my
great Redeemer’s praise,
the glories of my God and king,
the triumphs of his grace!

Verse 2

My gracious Master and my God,
assist me to proclaim,
to spread through all the earth abroad
the honors of thy name.

Verse 3

Jesus! the name that charms our fears,
that bids our sorrows cease;
’tis music in the sinner’s ears,
’tis life and health, and peace.

Verse 4

He breaks the power of canceled sin,
he sets the prisoner free;
his blood can make the foulest clean;
his blood availed for me.

Verse 5

He speaks, and listening to his voice,
new life the dead receive;
the mournful broken hearts rejoice,
the humble poor believe.

Verse 6

Hear him, ye deaf; his praise, ye dumb,
your loosened tongues employ;
ye blind, behold your Savior come,
and leap, ye lame, for joy.

Verse 7

In Christ, your head,
you then shall know,
shall feel your sins forgiven;
anticipate your heaven below,
and own that love is heaven.

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: Grace Like Rain (Dm)

Verse 1

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

Chorus

Hallelujah grace like rain falls down on me
Hallelujah all my stains are washed away
Hallelujah grace like rain falls down on me
Hallelujah all my stains are washed away
(They’re washed away)

Verse 2

’Twas grace that taught my heart to fear
And grace my fears relieved
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed

Chorus

Hallelujah grace like rain falls down on me
Hallelujah all my stains are washed away
Hallelujah grace like rain falls down on me
Hallelujah all my stains are washed away
(They’re washed away)

Verse 3

When we’ve been there ten thousand years
Bright shining as the sun
We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise
Than when we’d first begun

Chorus

Hallelujah grace like rain falls down on me
Hallelujah all my stains are washed away
Hallelujah grace like rain falls down on me
Hallelujah all my stains are washed away
(They’re washed away)

Chorus

Hallelujah grace like rain falls down on me
Hallelujah all my stains are washed away
Hallelujah grace like rain falls down on me
Hallelujah all my stains are washed away
(They’re washed away)

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: Lord Whose Love Through Humble Service (F)…No. 581

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 7:24-37
²⁴ From there he set out and went away to the region of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know he was there. Yet he could not escape notice, ²⁵ but a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately heard about him, and she came and bowed down at his feet. ²⁶ Now the woman was a gentile, of Syrophoenician origin. She begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter.

²⁷ He said to her, “Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.”

²⁸ But she answered him, “Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.”

²⁹ Then he said to her, “For saying that, you may go–the demon has left your daughter.” ³⁰ And when she went home, she found the child lying on the bed and the demon gone.

³¹ Then he returned from the region of Tyre and went by way of Sidon toward the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the Decapolis.

³² They brought to him a deaf man who had an impediment in his speech, and they begged him to lay his hand on him.

³³ He took him aside in private, away from the crowd, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spat and touched his tongue.

³⁴ Then looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.” ³⁵ And his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. ³⁶ Then Jesus ordered them to tell no one, but the more he ordered them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. ³⁷ They were astounded beyond measure, saying, “He has done everything well; he even makes the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.” 

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

Epistle Reading James 2:1-17
Faith without works is dead

¹ My brothers and sisters, do not claim the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ of glory while showing partiality. ² For if a person with gold rings and in fine clothes comes into your assembly, and if a poor person in dirty clothes also comes in, ³ and if you take notice of the one wearing the fine clothes and say, “Have a seat here in a good place, please,” while to the one who is poor you say, “Stand there,” or, “Sit by my footstool,” ⁴ have you not made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?

⁵ Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters. Has not God chosen the poor in the world to be rich in faith and to be heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him? ⁶ But you have dishonored the poor person. Is it not the rich who oppress you? Is it not they who drag you into court? ⁷ Is it not they who blaspheme the excellent name that was invoked over you?

⁸ If you really fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you do well. ⁹ But if you show partiality, you commit sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. ¹⁰ For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it. ¹¹ For the one who said, “You shall not commit adultery,” also said, “You shall not murder.” Now if you do not commit adultery but if you murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. 

¹² So speak and so act as those who are to be judged by the law of liberty. ¹³ For judgment will be without mercy to anyone who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment.

¹⁴ What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but does not have works? Surely that faith cannot save, can it? ¹⁵ If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food

¹⁶ and one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill,” and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? ¹⁷ So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.

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

Sermon Text: Proverbs 22:1-2, 8-9, 22-23
A Good Name

^22:1 A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, and favor is better than silver or gold. ² The rich and the poor have this in common: the LORD is the maker of them all.

^22:8 Whoever sows injustice will reap calamity, and the rod of anger will fail. ⁹ Those who are generous are blessed, for they share their bread with the poor.

^22:22 Do not rob the poor because they are poor or crush the afflicted at the gate, ²³ for the LORD pleads their cause and despoils of life those who despoil them.

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

Sermon:“A Good Name” 

Closing Hymn: Christ For the World We Sing…No. 568 (G)

Verse 1

Christ for the world we sing,
the world to Christ we bring,
with loving zeal;
the poor, and them that mourn,
the faint and overborne, sin sick and sorrow-worn,
whom Christ doth heal.

Verse 4

Christ for the world we sing,
the world to Christ we bring,
with joyful song;
the newborn souls, whose days, reclaimed from error’s ways,
inspired with hope and praise,
to Christ belong.

Filled Up and Poured Out

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