Approaching God
Welcome & announcements
Gathering Song & Prelude
Hymn:
Confessional Prayer
Guide: Perfect and Sacred God, Powerful and Almighty Creator, we gather in Your House of peace to praise Your Greatness and honor Your Holiness. Your works and mighty acts have blessed our people for generations. Your ways and special words have inspired our spirits across the centuries.
People: Heavenly Father, we are unworthy of such blessings. You are righteous and we are sinful. You are upright and truthful; we are weak and deceitful. Our lives are imperfect because we allow pride, greed and anger to contaminate our souls.
Guide: Forgive us for being shallow and selfish, faithless and false, hurtful and unholy. Hear us now as we confess our sins to You alone.
- SILENCE -
Guide: Loving Lord, You smooth our rough ways and level out our unbalanced lives. You give us Jesus to make our paths straight and cleanse us of our sinful past. Without His mercy, we are lost forever. Without His grace, we are completely hopeless. We therefore thank You for Jesus, Your Holy Son, and our Eternal Savior, in whose Name, we make our confessions and continue to pray saying, Our Father…THE LORD’S PRAYER (debts/debtors)
Promise of the Gospel
Guide: Long ago, many disciples rejected Jesus because of what He said. The Christian life is never easy and we are expected to have higher and holier standards than the rest of the world. When we fail to live up to Christ’s teaching, we need to seek His forgiveness. When we confess our faults and sincerely ask for pardon, Jesus immediately forgives us. So let us rejoice and be glad for we have been shown great mercy and are restored to God’s favor and love. In Christ’s Name, we rejoice. Amen.
Gloria Patri(sung in unison): 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.
Family Sermon (parents and all children, including Elementary school students come forward)
Encountering God
Anthem
Prayers for Health and Healing
Pastor: Hear, O LORD, and answer us, for we are poor in spirit and in need of Your care. Guard our lives and protect us from illness, for we are devoted to You.
People: Have mercy upon us, O Lord, for we call to You this day for health and healing. Bring joy to Your servants, for to You alone, O Lord, we lift up our prayers and bear our souls.
Pastor: You are compassionate and good, O Lord, abounding in love to all who call to You. Hear our prayers, and please listen to our cries for help. Heal us and each of our loved from all that harms us in body, mind, heart and spirit.
Silent Prayers for ourselves and others. A candle is lit
Pastor: In the day of ours trouble we will call to You, for You will answer us. In Jesus’ Name, we pray. Amen. (Healing Prayer based on words & phrases from Psalm 86)
The Message: Part #1
Singing of ‘Jesus, Draw me Close’
Prayer for Illumination:
Reader: Holy Spirit, encourage us through these sacred scriptures and open our hearts to receive God’s word. Astonish us with this teaching and enable us to take note of all that God fulfills in the life of Christ. In Jesus’ Name, we read and pray. Amen.
Scripture Readings
The Message Part #2 & The Apostles’ Creed
Serving God
Offering & Offertory:
Dedication (unison): Lord Jesus, You have given us faith, hope, and love and we can never repay You for the debts we owe. Through faith, we gather our offerings and tithes. With hope, we ask for Your blessing on these tokens. In love, we seek Your favor and ask for guidance to use these gifts for the preaching of the gospel, the sharing of the scriptures, and the praising of our God. In Your Name, we give and pray. Amen.
Hymn:
Benediction (unison): May Christ help us to live honorable lives which are worthy of His Name; may the Father keep us free from greed and unholy ways; and may the Holy Spirit fill us with compassion and love, both now and evermore. Amen.
Doxology Praise God, from whom all blessings flow; & Postlude
No comments:
Post a Comment