Sunday, September 26, 2021
And you shall love your fellow man as yourself. I am the LORD. My statutes you shall keep. ~ Leviticus 19:18
PRELUDE
Andrea Shakespeare (8:30am), Erin Wolf (11:00am)
WELCOME FROM THE PULPIT
CALL TO WORSHIP
Nedy Tovera (Liturgist, 11:00am)
Leader: We come to hear the story of God’s faithfulness to past generations.
People: But we also look to the future as well as the past.
Leader: The God who was with our ancestors is with us as well.
People: Then we can go forward in hope. Whatever else fails, God remains faithful.
All: Nothing can separate us from the love of God! Praise be to God! Amen
HYMN
They’ll Know We Are Christians by Our Love TFWS 2223
We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord; we are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord; and we pray that all unity will one day be restored.
Refrain:
And they’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love, yes, they’ll know we are Christians by our love.
We will walk with each other, we will walk hand in hand; we will walk with each other, we will walk hand in hand; and together we’ll spread the news that God is in our land. Refrain
We will work with each other, we will work side by side; we will work with each other, we will work side by side; and we’ll guard each man’s dignity and save each man’s pride. Refrain
All praise to the Father, from whom all things come; and all praise to Christ Jesus, His only Son. and all praise to the Spirit who makes us one. Refrain
CHILDREN’S TIME (11:00am)
Martha Shuemake
PRAYER OF CONFESSION (unison)
O holy and merciful God, we confess that we have not always taken upon ourselves the yoke of obedience, nor been willing to seek and to do your perfect will. We have not loved you with all our heart and mind and soul and strength, neither have we loved our neighbors as ourselves. You have called to us in the need of our sisters and brothers, and we have passed unheeding on our way. In the pride of our hearts, and our unwillingness to repent, we have turned away from the cross of Christ, and have grieved your Holy Spirit. Amen.
LORD’S PRAYER
Our God 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 trepasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom and the power, and the glory forever…Amen.
PRAYER RESPONSE
Jesu, Jesu (refrain only) UMH #432
Jesu, Jesu, fill us with you love, show us how to serve the neighbors we have from you. (2x)
HEBREW TEXT
Deuteronomy* 6:1-2, 4-7
Nedy Tovera (Liturgist, 11:00am)
And this is the command, the statutes and the laws that the LORD your God has charged you to teach you to do in the land into which you are about to cross to take hold of it.
Hear, Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one. And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your being and with all your might. And these words that I charge you today shall be upon your heart. And you shall rehearse them to your sons and speak of them when you sit in your house and when you go on the way and when you lie down and when you rise.
HYMN
O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing W&S #3001
GOSPEL READING*
Markos 12:28-34
Nedy Tovera (Liturgist, 11:00am)
One of the scholars came near, heard them debating, and seeing that he had answered them well, asked him, “What is the first commandment of all?”
Yeshua answered,
The first is:
“Hear O Yisrael, the lord our God, the lord is one. And you shall love the lord your God with all your heart And all your soul and all your mind and all your strength.”
The second is:
“You shall love your neighbor like yourself.” There is no commandment greater than these.
The scholar said to him, “Well said, rabbi, you are right in saying that he is one and there is no other but he. To love him with all your heart and with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor like yourself is greater than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”
Yeshua seeing that he answered wisely said to him, You are not far from the kingdom of God.
Nobody dared question him further.
SERMON
“All Of You And All Of Us”
Pastor Mark Cordes
WORSHIP WITH TITHES AND OFFERINGS
OFFERTORY
Andrea Shakespeare (8:30am), Erin Wolf (11:00am)
DOXOLOGY
Praise God, from Whom All Blessings Flow UMH #94
Praise God, from whom all blessings flow;
praise God, all creatures here below:
Alleluia! Alleluia!
Praise God, the source of all our gifts!
Praise Jesus Christ, whose power uplifts!
Praise the Spirit, Holy Spirit!
Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia!
PRAYER OF DEDICATION
CLOSING HYMN
When God Restored Our Common Life TFWS #2182
When God restored our common life, our hope, our liberty, at first it seemed a passing dream, a waking fantasy. A shock of joy swept over us, for we had wept so long; the seeds we watered once with tears sprang up into a song.
We went forth weeping, sowing seeds in hard, unyielding soil; With laughing hearts we carry home the fruit of all our toil. We praise the One who gave the growth, with voices full and strong. The seeds we watered once with tears sprang up into a song.
Great liberation God, we pray for all who are oppressed. May those who long for what is right with justice now be blest. We pray for those who mourn this day, and all who suffer wrong; may seeds they water now with tears spring up into a song.
BENEDICTION
POSTLUDE
Andrea Shakespeare (8:30am), Erin Wolf (11:00am)
FLOWERS
The altar flowers are given by Suzi Teganza in honor of her daughter, Elizabeth, who is having her bonus birthday #3, as she continues her battle with cancer.
A few notes about Translations used today in worship
- Robert Alter‘s translation of the Hebrew Bible, the magnificent capstone to a lifetime of distinguished scholarly work, has won the PEN Center Literary Award for Translation. His immense achievements in scholarship ranging from the eighteenth-century European novel to contemporary Hebrew and American literature earned Alter the Robert Kirsch Award for Lifetime Achievement from the Los Angeles Times. A member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Philosophical Society, Alter is the Class of 1937 Professor of Hebrew and Comparative Literature at the University of California, Berkeley.
- “Barnstone’s new English version of the core texts of Christian scripture is almost startling in its freshness. Scraping away many centuries of stylistic fussiness and supersessionist distortion, he gives us a set of Gospel narratives that are bold and direct in their simplicity and that show how steeped the first Christians were in the Jewish world from which they derived.”―Robert Alter