Sunday, October 17th, 2021
Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” ~ Acts 2:6-8
PRELUDE
Erin Wolf, Piano
WELCOME FROM THE PULPIT
CALL TO WORSHIP
Leader: Lift praises to the name of our God; bless God’s name forever!
People: How great is our God!
Leader: From generation to generation we will sing your praises and speak of your goodness!
People: Great is our God and worthy of praise!
Leader: God, you are just and kind in all your doings?
People: Great is our God and worthy of praise!
Leader: God, you watch over us in love and hear the desperate cries of those who call to you!
All: How great is our God! How great is our God! Bless God’s name forever! Amen
HYMN
The Summons TFWS 2130
Will you come and follow me if I but call your name? Will you go where you don’t know and never be the same? Will you let my love be shown, will you let my name be known, Will you let my life be grown in you and you in me?
Will you leave yourself behind if I but call your name? Will you care for cruel and kind and never be the same? Will you risk the hostile stare should your life attract or scare? Will you let me answer prayer in you and you in me?
Will you let the blinded see if I but call your name? Will you set the prisoners free and never be the same? Will you kiss the leper clean, and do such as this unseen, And admit to what I mean in you and you in me?
Will you love the ‘you’ you hide if I but call your name? Will you quell the fear inside and never be the same? Will you use the faith you’ve found to reshape the world around, Through my sight and touch and sound in you and you in me?
Lord, your summons echoes true when you but call my name. Let me turn and follow you and never be the same. In your company I’ll go where your love and footsteps show. Thus I’ll move and live and grow in you and you in me.
CHILDREN’S TIME (11:00am)
ANTHEM
Like A Mighty Stream
[arr. Moses Hogan 1957-2003]
Chancel Choir
WISDOM READING
Ecclesiastes 3:1-14a
Laura Dinges (Liturgist 11:00am)
For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:
a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
a time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to throw away;
a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace.
What gain have the workers from their toil?I have seen the business that God has given to everyone to be busy with.He has made everything suitable for its time; moreover he has put a sense of past and future into their minds, yet they cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.I know that there is nothing better for them than to be happy and enjoy themselves as long as they live;moreover, it is God’s gift that all should eat and drink and take pleasure in all their toil.I know that whatever God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it; God has done this, so that all should stand in awe before him.
STEWARDSHIP VIDEO
PASTORAL PRAYER
An Examination of My Use of Time
Killing Time
How do I kill Time?
Let me count the ways.
By worrying about things
over which I have no control.
Like the past.
Like the future.
By harboring resentment
and anger
over hurts
real or imagined.
By disdaining the ordinary
or, rather, what I
so mindlessly
call ordinary.
By concern over what’s in it for me,
rather than what’s in me
for it.
By failing to appreciate what is
because of might-have-beens,
should-have-beens,
could-have-beens.
These are some of the ways
I kill time.
Jesus didn’t kill time.
He gave life to it.
His own.
~ Leo Rick, SJ
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
Spirit of God (Refrain only) TFWS 2117
EPISTLE READING
Romans 12:1-6
Laura Dinges (Liturgist 11:00am)
I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect.
For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function,so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another.We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us: prophecy, in proportion to faith;
HYMN
Here I Am, Lord UMH 593
I, the Lord of sea and sky, I have heard my people cry. All who dwell in dark and sin, My hand will save.
I, who made the stars of night, I will make their darkness bright. Who will bear My light to them? Whom shall I send?
REFRAIN
Here I am, Lord. Is it I, Lord? I have heard You calling in the night. I will go, Lord, If You lead me. I will hold Your people in my heart.
I, the Lord of snow and rain, I have borne My people’s pain. I have wept for love of them. They turn away.
I will break their hearts of stone, Give them hearts for love alone. I will speak My word to them. Whom shall I send? REFRAIN
I, the Lord of wind and flame, I will tend the poor and lame, I will set a feast for them. My hand will save.
Finest bread I will provide Till their hearts be satisfied. I will give My life to them. Whom shall I send? REFRAIN
PRAYER
SERMON
Pastor Mark Cordes
STEWARDSHIP VIDEO
WORSHIP WITH TITHES AND OFFERINGS
OFFERTORY
Erin Wolf, Piano
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
HYMN
Amazing Abundance W&S #3120
Amazing abundance poured out on this land, The mark of your gracious and generous hand. Your blessing is richest on those who will give with joy and thanksgiving so clothes may live.
A holy compassion is born through the cries when tragedy threatens and heroes arise. God’s spirit is present and felt everywhere that hands reach through darkness and battle despair.
We pray for communion, all nations so strong that difference is honored and all might belong. A tapestry woven by myriad hands, a banner of freedom the bright braided strands.
REFRAIN
Praise God for the nations, O help us to see the whole world is yours, Lord, and yearns to be free!
BENEDICTION
POSTLUDE
Erin Wolf, Piano
FLOWERS
The flowers on the altar are given by Isa Smith in in memory of her daughter Amelia Savage.
The rose on the altar is in celebration of the birth of Charlotte Marie Belisario Cook daughter of David and Jenny Cook and grand daughter of Alan and Jane Cook