Order of Worship

Opening Voluntary – “Pastel” by Gordon Young

Choral Introit

Welcome/Greetings

*Call to Worship

L:  All are welcome here.  Whether you are heavy-hearted, wondering if there is power to make you well, or feel weighed down by many demands,

P:  The kingdom of God has come near.

L:  Whether you are burdened by rules others have imposed or you are a keeper and maker of rules,

P:  The kingdom of God has come near.

L:  Whether you feel at home in this place or you long to be accepted,

P:  The kingdom of God has come near.

L:  Come and worship God, the One who writes our names in the book of life and dares us to be become new creations in Jesus.

P:  The kingdom of God has come near.

*Opening Hymn #496 – “Sweet Hour of Prayer”  

*Opening Prayer

Challenging God, you send us out like lambs among wolves, then ask us to be peaceful and gentle.  Help us hear and obey your call to follow Jesus, even if we must surrender our reputations and rules we hold dear.  May we learn and live the path of the cross, restoring one another and bearing one another’s burdens, as we discover your gift of becoming new creations in Christ.  Amen.

Scriptures

Old Testament – 2 Kings 5:1-14

Now Naaman was commander of the army of the king of Aram.  He was a great man in the sight of his master and highly regarded, because through him the Lord had given victory to Aram.  He was a valiant soldier, but he had leprosy. ² Now bands of raiders from Aram had gone out and had taken captive a young girl from Israel, and she served Naaman’s wife.  ³ She said to her mistress, “If only my master would see the prophet who is in Samaria!  He would cure him of his leprosy.”  ⁴ Naaman went to his master and told him what the girl from Israel had said.  ⁵ “By all means, go,” the king of Aram replied.  “I will send a letter to the king of Israel.”  So Naaman left, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold and ten sets of clothing.  ⁶ The letter that he took to the king of Israel read:  “With this letter I am sending my servant Naaman to you so that you may cure him of his leprosy.”  ⁷ As soon as the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his robes and said, “Am I God?  Can I kill and bring back to life?  Why does this fellow send someone to me to be cured of his leprosy?  See how he is trying to pick a quarrel with me!”  ⁸ When Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his robes, he sent him this message:  “Why have you torn your robes?  Have the man come to me and he will know that there is a prophet in Israel.”  ⁹ So Naaman went with his horses and chariots and stopped at the door of Elisha’s house.  ¹⁰ Elisha sent a messenger to say to him, “Go, wash yourself seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored and you will be cleansed.”  ¹¹ But Naaman went away angry and said, “I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy.  ¹² Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel?  Couldn’t I wash in them and be cleansed?”  So he turned and went off in a rage.  ¹³ Naaman’s servants went to him and said, “My father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it?  How much more, then, when he tells you, ‘Wash and be cleansed’!”  ¹⁴ So he went down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times, as the man of God had told him, and his flesh was restored and became clean like that of a young boy.

L:  The Word of God, For the People of God.  P:  Thanks be to God.

*Gospel – Luke 4:22-30

²² All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips.  “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?” they asked.  ²³ Jesus said to them, “Surely you will quote this proverb to me:  ‘Physician, heal yourself!’ And you will tell me, ‘Do here in your hometown what we have heard that you did in Capernaum.’”  ²⁴ “Truly I tell you,” he continued, “no prophet is accepted in his hometown.  ²⁵ I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land.  ²⁶ Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon.  ²⁷ And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed—only Naaman the Syrian.”  ²⁸ All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this.  ²⁹ They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him off the cliff.  ³⁰ But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way.

L:  The Word of God, For the People of God.  P:  Thanks be to God.

*Hymn before Message #2088 – “Lord I Lift Your Name on High” (sing 2x)

(Faith We Sing Hymnal)

Message – “God Working through Unsuspecting People in Unexpected Places”    Rev. Eumin Kim

Pastoral Prayer

Invitation

We know too well our foolishness, our brokenness, our human ways of doing things.  But God knows our hearts, our hopes, our desire to be made new.  As we offer our prayers of confession, let us open ourselves to God, who will forgive us and give us new life.

Prayer of Confession

L:  Peaceful and merciful God, you promise that your Kingdom is within our reach.  Yet we are often distracted by disagreements, demands, requirements, and rejections.

P:  Have mercy O Lord; be our helper.

L:  As we seek to follow Jesus, our rules and offences can separate us.  Help us to refrain from deepening our divisions, and empower us to restore one another, fulfilling Christ’s command to love.

P:  Have mercy O Lord; be our helper.

L:  You promise us victory over all that threatens to separate us from your presence.  Help us forsake earthly power and victory, as we strive for the love your kingdom brings.

P:  Have mercy O Lord; be our helper.

L:  We ask for your grace to become more like Jesus, letting go of fleeting rewards of earthly status and recognition.  Help us seek instead the eternal reward of resting in your loving arms.

P:  Have mercy O Lord; be our helper. Amen.

Words of Assurance

L:  People of God, God hears us and has mercy.  God turns our wailing into dancing and our deepest regrets in our greatest joys.

P:  O Lord, our hearts sing to you.  We give our thanks forever.

Passing of the Peace of Christ

Jesus entreats us to enter the spaces of our lives, offering peace to those we meet.  Let us greet one another with signs of this welcoming peace.

Invitation to Tithes and Offering

Beloved people of God, let us give to the work of God’s kingdom today.  May we take this opportunity to work for the common good, and especially for the family of faith.

Choral Selection – “We’ve a Story to Tell to the Nations”

~Performed by Enid Simpson and Bob DiSalvo~

*Hymn No. 95 – Presentation of the Offering

*Prayer of Dedication

Generous God, you share your kingdom with all humanity, drawing closer to us than our very breath.  May our offering this day support your holy work, and may all come to know that your kingdom has truly come near. Amen.

Thanksgiving and Communion

The Lord be with you.

And also with you.

Lift up your hearts.

We lift them up to the Lord.

Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.

It is right to give our thanks and praise.

It is right, and a good and joyful thing, always and everywhere to give thanks to you, Almighty God, creator of heaven and earth.  You formed us in your image and breathed into us the breath of life.  When we turned away, and our love failed, your love remained steadfast.  You delivered us from captivity, made covenant to be our sovereign God, and spoke to us through your prophets, who looked for that day when justice shall roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream, when nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. 

And so, with your people on earth and all the company of heaven we praise your name and join their unending hymn:

Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might, heaven and earth are full of your glory.  Hosanna in the highest.  Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.  Hosanna in the highest.

Holy are you, and blessed is your Son Jesus Christ.  Your Spirit anointed him to preach good news to the poor, to proclaim release to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, and to announce that the time had come when you would save your people.  He healed the sick, fed the hungry, and ate with sinners.  By the baptism of his suffering, death, and resurrection you gave birth to your Church, delivered us from slavery to sin and death, and made with us a new covenant by water and the Spirit.  At his ascension you exalted him to sit and reign with you at your right hand. 

On the night in which he gave himself up for us, he took bread, gave thanks to you, broke the bread, gave it to the disciples, and said:  “Take, eat; this is my body which is given for you.  Do this in remembrance of me.”

When the supper was over he took the cup, gave thanks to you, gave it to his disciples, and said:  “Drink from this, all of you; this is my blood of the new covenant, poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins.  Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”

And so, in remembrance of these your mighty acts in Jesus Christ, we offer ourselves in praise and thanksgiving as a holy and living sacrifice, in union with Christ’s offering for us, as we proclaim the

mystery of faith.

Christ has died; Christ is risen; Christ will come again.

Pour out your Holy Spirit on us gathered here, and on these gifts of bread and wine.  Make them be for us the body and blood of Christ, that we may be for the world the body of Christ, redeemed by his blood.

By your Spirit make us one with Christ, one with each other, and one in ministry to all the world, until Christ comes in final victory, and we feast at his heavenly banquet.

Through your Son Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit in your holy Church, all honor and glory is yours, almighty Father, now and forever.  Amen.

THE LORD’S PRAYER

BREAKING THE BREAD

GIVING THE BREAD AND CUP

PRAYER AFTER RECEIVING COMMUNION

We give thanks, almighty God, that you have refreshed us at your table by granting us the presence of Jesus Christ.  Strengthen our faith, increase our love for one another, and send us forth into the world in courage and peace, rejoicing in the power of the Holy Spirit, through Jesus Christ our Savior.  Amen. 

*Closing Hymn #431 – “Let There Be Peace on Earth”     

*Dismissal with Blessing

Closing Voluntary – “Rhapsodie Grégorienne” by Jean Langlais