Homecrest Presbyterian Church Worship of the Lord’s Day August 21st, 2016 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time

Gathering Around the WORD Call To Worship (Based on Psalm 71:1-5) In you, O LORD, we take refuge; let us never be put to shame. In your righteousness deliver us and rescue us; incline your ear to us and save us. Be to us a rock of refuge, a strong fortress, to save us, for you are our rock and our fortress. For you, O Lord, are our hope and our trust! Let us come and worship you!

Gathering Hymn # 403 “Open Now Thy Gates of Beauty” Open now thy gates of beauty, Zion, let me enter there, where my soul in joyful duty waits for God who answers prayer; O how blessed is this place, filled with solace, light, and grace.

Gathering Hymn # 403 “Open Now Thy Gates of Beauty” Gracious God, I come before thee; come thou also unto me; where we find thee and adore thee, there a heaven on earth must be; to my heart O enter thou; let it be thy temple now.

Gathering Hymn # 403 “Open Now Thy Gates of Beauty” Speak, O Lord, and I will hear thee; let thy will be done indeed; may I undisturbed draw near thee, while thou dost thy people feed. Here of life the fountain flows; here is balm for all our woes.

Gathering Around the WORD Call to Confession (Based on Jeremiah 1:4-10) Our God is compassionate and merciful, knowing us with an intimacy we cannot comprehend. There is nothing we have done, or left undone, that is not already known by God. This gives us confidence, to be fully ourselves, that we can be fully forgiven. Let us confess our sins and any wrong doings on our parts before God and our neighbors.

Gathering Around the WORD Prayer of Confession (in unison) God of life, you come to us as a consuming fire, and the one who has consecrated us before time. You promise us a kingdom that cannot be shaken and call us to serve you with praise and thanksgiving. But we forget, and yield to fear. We trust in the tangible rewards of this world, and neglect your promises. We confess that we are a divided people; we foster separations and widen rifts in our families, our communities, and in the world.  

Gathering Around the WORD Prayer of Confession (in unison) Open us to your healing. Free us from all that distances us from your presence. Give us your grace and inspire us to serve you with courage; through Jesus Christ who comes to save. Amen.    

Gathering Around the WORD Declaraion of Forgivness God’s grace is sufficient for us and his power is made perfect in us. When we fall, God lifts us up. Even though we’ve fallen short of God’s glory, God is willing to embrace us in spite of our flaws. In Jesus Christ’s name, we are a forgiven people. Thanks be to God, Amen.

Gathering Around the WORD Gloria Patri 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.

Gathering Around the WORD Passing of the Peace of Christ Jesus said, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.” (John 14:27)

Proclaiming the WORD Message to the Youth/ Prayer of Illumination

Proclaiming the WORD Scripture Reading (Jeremiah 1:4-10) 4Now the word of the LORD came to me saying, 5"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations." 6Then I said, "Ah, Lord GOD! Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy." 7But the LORD said to me, "Do not say, 'I am only a boy'; for you shall go to all to whom I send you, and you shall speak whatever I command you, 8Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, says the LORD."

Proclaiming the WORD Scripture Reading (Jeremiah 1:4-10) 9Then the LORD put out his hand and touched my mouth; and the LORD said to me, "Now I have put my words in your mouth. 10See, today I appoint you over nations and over kingdoms, to pluck up and to pull down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant."

Proclaiming the WORD Scripture Reading (Luke 13:10-17) 10Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath. 11And just then there appeared a woman with a spirit that had crippled her for eighteen years. She was bent over and was quite unable to stand up straight. 12When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, "Woman, you are set free from your ailment." 13When he laid his hands on her, immediately she stood up straight and began praising God.

Proclaiming the WORD Scripture Reading (Luke 13:10-17) 14But the leader of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had cured on the sabbath, kept saying to the crowd, "There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be cured, and not on the sabbath day."

Proclaiming the WORD Scripture Reading (Luke 13:10-17) 15But the Lord answered him and said, "You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger, and lead it away to give it water? 16And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen long years, be set free from this bondage on the sabbath day?" 17When he said this, all his opponents were put to shame; and the entire crowd was rejoicing at all the wonderful things that he was doing.

Proclaiming the WORD Extraordinary Rescue and Healing (Jeremiah 1:4-10 and Luke 13:10-17)

Responding Hymn # 435 “There’s a wideness in God’s Mercy” There's a wideness in God's mercy, like the wideness of the sea. There's a kindness in God's justice, which is more than liberty. There is no place where earth's sorrows are more felt than up in heaven. There is no place where earth's failings have such kindly judgment given.

Responding Hymn # 435 “There’s a wideness in God’s Mercy” For the love of God is broader than the measures of the mind. And the heart of the Eternal is most wonderfully kind. If our love were but more faithful, we would gladly trust God's Word, and our lives reflect thanksgiving for the goodness of our Lord.

We trust in God, whom Jesus called Abba, Father. Responding to the WORD Affirmation of Faith – A Brief Statement of Faith (Presbyterian Church USA, 1983) – Section 3 We trust in God, whom Jesus called Abba, Father. In sovereign love God created the world good and makes everyone equally in God’s image male and female, of every race and people, to live as one community.

We deserve God’s condemnation. Responding to the WORD Affirmation of Faith – A Brief Statement of Faith (Presbyterian Church USA, 1983) – Section 3 But we rebel against God; we hide from our Creator. Ignoring God’s commandments, we violate the image of God in others and ourselves, accept lies as truth, exploit neighbor and nature, and threaten death to the planet entrusted to our care. We deserve God’s condemnation. Yet God acts with justice and mercy to redeem creation.

Responding to the WORD Affirmation of Faith – A Brief Statement of Faith (Presbyterian Church USA, 1983) – Section 3 In everlasting love, the God of Abraham and Sarah chose a covenant people to bless all families of the earth. Hearing their cry, God delivered the children of Israel from the house of bondage.

Responding to the WORD Affirmation of Faith – A Brief Statement of Faith (Presbyterian Church USA, 1983) – Section 3 Loving us still, God makes us heirs with Christ of the covenant. Like a mother who will not forsake her nursing child, like a father who runs to welcome the prodigal home, God is faithful still.

Bearing and Following the WORD into the World Announcements & Sharing of Joys and Concerns The Women's Group and the Afternoon Bible Study will not be meeting during the summer. They will resume in September.

Bearing and Following the WORD into the World Prayer of the People & The Lord’s Prayer Our Father, who art in heaven. Halloweth be thy name. Thy Kingdom come; Thy will be done On earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. Forgive us our debts; as we forgive our debtors. Lead us not into temptations, but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory forever. Amen.

Bearing and Following the WORD into the World Offering of our Gifts and our Lives

Bearing and Following the WORD into the World Doxology and Offertory Prayer

Sending Hymn # 853 “We Are Marching In the Light of God” We are marching (dancing, praying, singing) in the light of God; in the light of God.

Sending Hymn # 545 “Bid Your Servant Go in Peace” This is the Savior of the world, the Gentiles’ promised light, God’s glory dwelling in our midst, the joy of Israel.

Bearing and Following the WORD into the World The Charge and Benediction

Bearing and Following the WORD into the World Benediction Response #540 “Farewell, Good Friends” Farewell good friends! Farewell, good friends! Shalom, Shalom! Till we meet again, till we meet again, shalom, shalom.

Homecrest Presbyterian Church Worship of the Lord’s Day August 21st, 2016 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time