June 14th, 2020 - 2nd Sunday after Pentecost : God uses ordinary persons to achieve the Kingdom of God; because with God all things are possible.
Prelude: Lift High the Cross played by Jeff Brummel
Miraculous and loving God, You oftentimes catch us by surprise. In this time of worship show us Your grace, and let us hear Your call to us to be Your people. Open our hearts to praise You with our whole being. Help us understand that Your love for us holds all the prayers of our hearts in faithfulness and grace. Teach us in this time that You are always faithful to us. During this time of worship, center our hearts, our souls, and our minds on Your Presence with us as we lift to you the prayers of our hearts:
We come to pray for: Our world and our country our loved ones - keep them: keep them in health, in safety, in comfort, in Your care Keep us, also and send forth Your Holy Spirit of truth, of comfort, and of power for any among us who feel constrained, or emotionally distressed by our time and era for any who need to know Your love for them in this hurting world.
We also lift to You those who need comfort as they mourn their loved ones. Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit, The comforter, who would remind us of Your promises that Nothing in life, or in Death, things present, nor things to come, nor angel or demons within our lives, nor anything in all of creation will ever be able to separate us from Your love in Jesus the Christ, our Lord.
The Lord's Prayer
Opening Hymn: FWS 2236 Gather Us In
Call to Worship: Psalm 100 [adapted]
- Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth.
- Worship the Lord with gladness; come into God's presence with singing.
- Know that the Lord is God.
- It is God who made us, and we are God's we are God's people, and the sheep of God's pasture.
- Enter God's gates with thanksgiving,
- and God's courts with praise. Give thanks to God, bless God's name.
- For the Lord is good;
- God's steadfast love endures forever, and God's faithfulness to all generations.
Choral Anthem: Hawley Ades, arr: Let There Be Peace on Earth
God of Love, you are with us as we journey this life. Teach our hearts that with You, and with Your Holy Spirit all things are possible. Often we believe that you call special people to proclaim Your love to others in this world, forgetting that You, and Jesus called ordinary persons, like us, to show others Your powerful love for them in this hurting world. Help us understand that with Your presence in our lives we can be Your people who make a difference in our time and age. Help us notice Your strength that empowers us to be Your people who proclaim Your message of hope and love. Enliven our hearts to have compassion for our fellow humans that bear hurt and pain within their bodies, hearts and souls just as Jesus had compassion for the crowds of his time. Create within us a passion for kindness and care for the burdens that we and others carry throughout our lives, knowing that God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit cry out to all of us to "Come, know the Grace and Peace of God that knows no limits.
Hymn: FWS 2130 The Summons
Gospel Reading and message Matthew 9:35 - 10: 23 God uses ordinary persons to achieve the Kingdom of God; because with God all things are possible
Closing Hymn: No. 200 Tell Out, My Soul
- Pastor: Know that with God all things are possible.
- People: We journey knowing that God is present with us.
- Pastor: God is faithful.
- People: Let us sing praise to God's faithful love for us!
- Pastor: Serve God!
- People: We will learn to serve God with gladness!
- Pastor: Sing to God!
- People: We will sing before the presence of God all our days.
- Pastor: Know that the Lord is God!
- People: We are God's people, in whom God rejoices.
- Pastor: Bless God's name.
- People: For the Lord is good;
- God's steadfast love endures forever,
- and God's faithfulness to all generations.