True Colors

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Service of Worship

Pastorale
Melanie Bonis
Public Domain

Opening Prayer
(credit: A. Osdieck)

Here in this place, there are no foreigners,
for all are welcome in God’s house.
Here in this worship, there is only acceptance,
for love is the language of faith.
Here in our lives, there are no divisions,
for God dwells in each of us.
Come, let us worship in unity and love.

Opening Hymn — #696 America the Beautiful

1. O beautiful for spacious skies,
for amber waves of grain;
for purple mountain majesties
above the fruited plain!
America! America! God shed his grace on thee,
and crown thy good with brotherhood
from sea to shining sea.

2. O beautiful for heroes proved in liberating strife,
who more than self their country loved,
and mercy more than life!
America! America! May God thy gold refine,
till all success be nobleness,
and every gain divine.

3. O beautiful for patriot dream
that sees beyond the years,
thine alabaster cities gleam,
undimmed by human tears!
America! America! God mend thine every flaw,
confirm thy soul in self control,
thy liberty in law.

America The Beautiful (Materna)
Katharine Lee Bates | Samuel Augustus Ward
Public Domain

Scripture Reading — Ruth 1:16-17 (NRSV)

16 But Ruth said,
“Do not press me to leave you
or to turn back from following you!
Where you go, I will go;
Where you lodge, I will lodge;
your people shall be my people,
and your God my God.
17 Where you die, I will die—
there will I be buried.
May the LORD do thus and so to me,
and more as well,
if even death parts me from you!”

Children’s Time with Ms Becky

Joys and Concerns, and Pastoral Prayer

Pastoral Prayer
(credit: Richard Einerson)

O holy One, we thank you that we stand in a long line of believers who have been faithful through the ages. You have been leading your people through trial and difficulty and have always set before them hope for today and hope for a better tomorrow. We pray that you would bless us in our time as we seek to be as faithful as our forebears. May we too know the faith which is filled with hope in things not seen.

Give to us a faith like the grain of mustard seed which had small beginnings but which yielded large results.
Give to us the faith to move the mountains of difficulty which come to each of us.
Give to us the faith that sees a distant goal and is willing to work to achieve it.
Give to us a faith which has a vision of a new world where peace and love characterize the transactions of people and of nations and where war is no more.
Give to us a faith such as Abraham’s to move forward not knowing our destination but trusting in your guiding providence.
Give to us a faith which is able to endure those moments of personal disquiet and to trust that you are with us.
Give to us a faith which sees the welfare of humankind as our business because it is the focus of your enduring love for your people.
Give to us a faith which sees beyond the years to an eternal city.

God, give us faith to walk with you through the ebb and flow and the victories and the defeats of life and to achieve victory and mastery of life. Amen

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 — Hani

Take My Life and Let It Be
Arr. Greg Howlett

Doxology

Praise God, from whom all blessings flow;
praise him, all creatures here below;
praise him above, ye heavenly host;
praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.

Praise God From Whom All Blessings Flow (Old 100th)
Louis Bourgeois | Thomas Ken
Public Domain

Offertory Prayer

Holy God who both calls us and confronts us: the gifts we bring to you are only a small part of multitude we have received from your goodness. In the depth of our being, we know that in calling us, what you really seek is our faith, our belief, our conviction – our very hearts. What you long for from us is not a trip to church but a lifelong journey into the world to follow Jesus with our whole being. Forgive our unbelief, our holding back, and lead us in the way that frees us from the grip of the world – the way of life! In Christ, we pray. Amen.

Sermon – Pastor Stacy
True Colors

Closing Song — #98 To God Be the Glory

1. To God be the glory, great things he has done!
So loved he the world that he gave us his Son,
who yielded his life an atonement for sin,
and opened the life gate that all may go in.

Refrain
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
let the earth hear his voice!
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
let the people rejoice!
O come to the Father through Jesus the Son,
and give him the glory, great things he has done!

2. O perfect redemption, the purchase of blood,
to every believer the promise of God;
the vilest offender who truly believes,
that moment from Jesus a pardon receives.

Refrain

3. Great things he hath taught us,
great things he hath done,
and great our rejoicing through Jesus the Son;
but purer, and higher, and greater will be
our wonder, our transport, when Jesus we see.

Refrain

To God Be The Glory
Fanny Jane Crosby | William Howard Doane
Public Domain

Benediction

You are a baptized people,
a community of hope,
the new race dedicated to doing the unlikely deeds of grace,
and sometimes even taking on the impossible.

Thanks be to Christ,
whose power is made perfect in human weakness.

The blessing of the Creator, Redeemer and Inspirer
will always be with you.
Amen!

Postlude – Hani

Chaconne
Louis Couperin
Public Domain