Held in the Hull

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Service of Worship

Prelude and Fugue in B flat major
Johann Kuhnau
Public Domain

Opening Prayer
Glorious, liberating God,
Thank you bringing us together on this Sabbath day to worship you.
Nourish us with your word.
Guide us into holy living with your love.
Fill this space with your grace that is sweeter than honey and revive our souls with your laws that are more desired than gold.
As we celebrate World Communion Sunday,
we rejoice in the ways that your church is connected
through your son, Jesus Christ.
As we praise you today, let the words of our mouth and the meditation of our heart be acceptable to you.
Amen.

Opening Hymn — #617 I Come with Joy (vs. 1-3)

1. I come with joy a child of God
Forgiven loved and free
The life of Jesus to recall
In love laid down for me

2. I come with Christians far and near
To find as all are fed
The new community of love
In Christ’s communion bread

3. As Christ breaks bread and bids us share
Each proud division ends
The love that made us makes us one
And strangers now are friends

I Come With Joy (Dove Of Peace)
Brian Arthur Wren | Charles H. Webb
© Words: 1968, 1971, 1995 Hope Publishing Company
© Music: The United Methodist Publishing House (Admin. by Music Services, Inc.)
Used with Permission. CCLI License # 656051

Scripture Reading – Mark 2:1-5 (NRSV)

1 When he returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home. 2 So many gathered around that there was no longer room for them, not even in front of the door; and he was speaking the word to them. 3 Then some people came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them. 4 And when they could not bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him; and after having dug through it, they let down the mat on which the paralytic lay. 5 When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”

Children’s Time with Ms Becky

Joys and Concerns — Pastoral Prayer

Pastoral Prayer

Gracious God,
we thank you for the light that shone in Jesus,
revealing unto us your holiness and our righteousness.
We deplore this gap, yet we rejoice
that you chased the darkness that kept it hidden from our eyes.
By your light we are both encouraged and condemned.
We are reassured to see your face turned in our direction,
bidding us to come unto you.
But we shudder at the sight of us turning our backs on you,
resisting the light that could mirror your glory.

We thank you, O God, for leaving your light in the world
even though we have not always heeded your summons
to become the light of the world.

Instead of illuminating your character, we have blurred it.

You have commanded us to love you with all our being,
but we have consigned our love to the pigeonhole of religion.

You have commanded us to love our neighbors as ourselves,
but we have been too preoccupied with ourselves to find them.

You have called us to be peacemakers,
yet we have encouraged the arms makers
with our fears and our fortunes.

You have summoned us to be wall breakers,
yet we have supported the wall makers
with our silence and our sympathy.

We have seen the light, but we have refused to walk in it.

Yet we long, O Lord, to keep your law and do your will.
We ask forgiveness for our rebellion,
not merely for the sake of the joy we have denied ourselves,
but also for the joy we have denied others.

Keep ever before us the needs of the world into which you sent Jesus
and for whose sake he gave himself to the uttermost.
Let us feel its pain as our own,
seek its good as our own,
and work for its transformation
in the name and spirit of him who came into the world
not to condemn but to redeem it.

We listen now, O God, for your word.
Let its message illumine our minds
that we may will as Jesus willed.
Let its spirit quicken our hearts that we may love as Jesus loved.
Let its power speed our steps that we may do as Jesus did. 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 – Mason

Give Me Jesus
Spiritual | Arr. Mark Hayes
© 1998 Alfred Publishing Co.
Used with Permission. CCLI License # 656051

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

We offer ourselves with a commitment to follow your laws. We offer our gifts, knowing that all that we have comes from you. Bless this World Communion Sunday offering as it is multiplied with the gifts of other United Methodist congregations. Transform these gifts into the manifestation of hopes and dreams for your children. Amen.

Sermon – Pastor Stacy Dickson
Held in the Hull

Closing Hymn — #618 Let Us Break Bread Together

1. Let us break bread together on our knees
Let us break bread together on our knees
When I fall on my knees
With my face to the rising sun
O Lord have mercy on me

2. Let us drink wine together on our knees
Let us drink wine together on our knees
When I fall on my knees
With my face to the rising sun
O Lord have mercy on me

3. Let us praise God together on our knees
Let us praise God together on our knees
When I fall on my knees
With my face to the rising sun
O Lord have mercy on me

4. Let us praise God together on our knees
Let us praise God together on our knees
When I fall on my knees
With my face to the rising sun
O Lord have mercy if You please

Let Us Break Bread Together
William Farley Smith
© 1989 The United Methodist Publishing House
Used with Permission. CCLI License # 656051

Communion Blessings and Benediction

As you go from here, remember the Lord your God has liberated you. Allow the Holy Spirit to guide you in holy living. Strengthened and nourished in your identity as a follower of Christ, allow his love to extend to everyone you meet. Amen.

Postlude – Hani