A Promise Heard in Suffering

October 8, 2023
Pastor Jacob Lee
Worship

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Service of Worship

This Is My Father’s World
Arr. Dale Wood
© 1993 Sacred Music Press/Lorenz Corporation
Used with Permission. ONE LICENSE # A-401420

Welcome and Call to Worship

Leader: Come! Now is the time to worship!
People: We come to worship God who guides us.
Leader: After delivering the Israelites out of bondage, God continued to guide them, giving them commandments to shape and form their life with God and one another.
People: God guides us as we learn to pattern our lives after the rhythms of God’s grace.
Leader: Jesus tells a story of a vineyard owner and his tenants who choose violence instead of giving the owner the fruits of the harvest, challenging us to choose—will we reject the Cornerstone or find in Jesus our sure foundation?
People: God guides us as we learn to pattern our lives after the rhythms of God’s grace.
Leader: Too often we fall back into the pattern of rejecting what is good for us, forgetting that the life of faith is always about following God who provides for us and loves us. 
People: When we follow God’s guidance, we learn to live God’s new pattern of life described in the commandments and demonstrated by Christ.
Leader: Come! Now is the time to worship!
People: We come to worship God who guides us for the long haul.

(Written by Dr. Lisa Hancock, Discipleship Ministries)

Opening Hymn — #158 “Come, Christians, Join to Sing”

1. Come, Christians, join to sing:
Alleluia! Amen!
loud praise to Christ our King:
Alleluia! Amen!
Let all, with heart and voice,
before his throne rejoice;
praise is his gracious choice.
Alleluia! Amen!

2. Come, lift your hearts on high:
Alleluia! Amen!
Let praises fill the sky:
Alleluia! Amen!
He is our guide and friend;
to us he’ll condescend;
his love shall never end:
Alleluia! Amen!

3. Praise yet the Lord again:
Alleluia! Amen!
Life shall not end the strain:
Alleluia! Amen!
On heaven’s blissful shore
his goodness we’ll adore,
singing forevermore:
Alleluia! Amen!

Come, Christians, Join to Sing
Christian Henry Bateman | Stan Pethel
Public Domain

Pastor’s Time With the Children – Rev. Jacob Lee

Joys and Concerns, Pastoral Prayer, 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, the power, and glory forever. Amen.

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 – Josh

Für Elise
Ludwig van Beethoven
Public Domain

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

Generous and giving God, you have offered us a deep and soul-satisfying relationship with you, one that extends far beyond our earthly journey; and too many of us have opted for a “faith-lite” experience. One day a week or a couple of times a month has been a better fit. We have rejected what you so generously offer us, even as we dwell in and are sustained by your vineyard. As we offer our gifts this day, may we better receive the relationship you offer us and may we walk more closely. In Christ’s holy name, we pray. Amen.

(Matthew 21:33-46)

Scripture Readings — Genesis 21:15-21 (NRSV)

15 When the water in the skin was gone, she cast the child under one of the bushes. 16 Then she went and sat down opposite him a good way off, about the distance of a bowshot; for she said, “Do not let me look on the death of the child.” And as she sat opposite him, she lifted up her voice and wept. 17 And God heard the voice of the boy; and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven, and said to her, “What troubles you, Hagar? Do not be afraid; for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is. 18 Come, lift up the boy and hold him fast with your hand, for I will make a great nation of him.” 19 Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water. She went, and filled the skin with water, and gave the boy a drink.

20 God was with the boy, and he grew up; he lived in the wilderness, and became an expert with the bow. 21 He lived in the wilderness of Paran; and his mother got a wife for him from the land of Egypt.

The Word of the Lord:
Thanks be to God.

Choral Anthem — Chancel Choir

On Eagle’s Wings
Michael Joncas, Arr. Douglas Wagner
© 1979, 1993 New Dawn Music
Used by Permission. ONE LICENSE # A-401420

Sermon — Rev. Jacob S. Lee
“A Promise Heard in Suffering”

Closing Hymn — #156 “I Love to Tell the Story” (v. 1, 3, 4)

1. I love to tell the story
of unseen things above,
of Jesus and his glory, of
Jesus and his love.
I love to tell the story,
because I know ’tis true;
it satisfies my longings
as nothing else can do.

Refrain
I love to tell the story,
’twill be my theme in glory,
to tell the old, old story
of Jesus and his love.

3. I love to tell the story;
’tis pleasant to repeat
what seems, each time I tell it,
more wonderfully sweet.
I love to tell the story,
for some have never heard
the message of salvation
from God’s own holy Word.

Refrain

4. I love to tell the story,
for those who know it best
seem hungering and thirsting
to hear it like the rest.
And when, in scenes of glory,
I sing the new, new song,
’twill be the old, old story
that I have loved so long.

Refrain

I Love to Tell the Story
Arabella Catherine Hankey | William Gustavus Fischer
Public Domain

Benediction

Postlude – Hani

Trumpet Final (Allegro Moderato)
Francesco Onofrio Manfredini
Public Domain