Giving Up Superiority – 0930

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Service of Worship

Prelude

In the Cross of Christ, I Glory
Ithamar Conkey
© Public Domain

Call to Worship
Pastor: I lift my eyes up to the mountains, from where does my help come?

People: My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.

Pastor: We look not to the mountains or valleys, even heaven or earth,

People: For God is found among us.

Pastor: Wherever two or three are gathered in Christ’s name,

People: God is here among us.

Pastor: Come, let us worship the God of Creation, the God of People, the God of Community.

People: Let us follow Jesus, for Jesus is The Way. Let us worship together in faith.

Hymn Of Promise
Natalie Sleeth
© 1986 Hope Publishing Company
CCLI License # 656051

Psalm Reading
Psalm 119:41-48

Pastoral Prayer
O Lord our God, as we sit in quietness our thoughts are far from quiet.
We are wrestling with doubts and fears,
We are looking for answers,
We are hoping against hope
We are seeking strength
We are hungry.
For warm sunshine
For healed bodies
For rest from tears.

Your word says the hungry will be filled.
And we ask today for you to fill us.
Fill us with the breath of life,
Fill us with thankful hearts
Fill us with calmness, courage and most of all, with the knowledge of your presence.

There are others we know and love who are ill
and we ask O God that you would surround them
with your strong healing presence.
Grant wisdom to those who need answers to difficult questions.
Grant hope to those who despair
and friendship to those who feel lonely.
Most of all O Lord God, may we know your love,
your great love with you have for each one.
You know the hairs on our head, you count each beat of our heart.
You knit us together when we were being formed,
you know our getting up and our lying down.
You are familiar with all our ways.
There is no place we can hide from you.
You were there at our beginning
and you will be with us through to the end.
May we not lose sight of your constant care.

We look to you O God to be present in our communities and in our world.
Continue to show us how we at First UMC of Torrance
can be part of your work in the world.
Teach us how we can grow into faith,
and become more and more like Jesus.

We also ask O Lord that you would bless the work of our hands.
Bless all that we offer today –
not only what we give of our money,
but the offerings of our time and our talents.

And now we gather all our prayers together,
the spoken and the unspoken
and pray the prayer that you taught us…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, the power, and glory forever. Amen.

Be Still My Soul (Finlandia)
Jane Laurie Borthwick | Jean Sibelius | Kathrina Amalia von Schlegel
© Public Domain

Offering Our Gifts to the Lord
For those who are called and able, gifts and tithes can still be made through online giving, by mailing them in, and by dropping them off to the office through the secure mail slot to the left of the double door entry to the church hallway.

Offertory Prayer
O God, our gifts are so minute in comparison to your bounty. Transform our simple offering into ministries that quench parched lives with the water of eternal life. Nurture our need to share your water and your spirit through the gifts that you have given us so freely. In the name of the One who is the Messiah, we pray. Amen.

Scripture Reading
John 4:5-42

Sermon
See player at the top of the page.

Prayer of Confession
Almighty God,
you love us, but we have not loved you;
you call, but we have not listened.
We walk away from neighbors in need,
wrapped up in our own concerns.
We have gone along with evil,
with pride, quarrelling, and divisiveness.

Holy God, help us to face up to ourselves,
so that, as you move toward us in mercy,
we may repent, turn to you, and receive mercy;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Words of Assurance
Because of God’s great love for us,
we have peace with God and access to God’s grace
all through Jesus Christ
who, while we were still sinners,
died to free us from the bondage of sin.
Therefore, we may ask of Christ
to give us the living water that quenches the dryness of our souls.
In this we know we are forgiven.
Thanks be to God!

Benediction
Go now from this service of worship
to the service of God’s people near and far,
refreshed by the living water that Jesus offers to you. Listen for the parched voices of the least of these;
search out the dry places and the arid souls,
and become for them a spring of living water. And as you go,
may the blessings of the God of life,
the Christ of love,
and the Spirit of grace
be upon you this day and forevermore. Amen