Order of Worship

Opening Voluntary – “Chant de Paix” by Jean Langlais

Welcome/Greetings

Choral Introit

*Opening Hymn #133 – “Leaning on the Everlasting Arms”            

*Call to Worship

L:  Beloved people of God, welcome to worship.

P:  We come to worship and to praise.

L:  With love for one another, we gather as neighbors.

P:  With love for God, we gather as God’s community of love.

*Opening Prayer

Loving God, thank you for being present in our lives and in this time of worship.  Speak love to our hearts and wisdom to our minds, that we might grow in your knowledge of love and that our lives might bear the fruit of your knowledge and grace.  Amen.

Prayer of Confession

Merciful God, help us remember to love and care for our neighbors.  When we would rather walk around people in need and avoid situations that trouble us, soften our hearts.  Give us the courage to care for our neighbors and to love others as graciously as you love us.  In your grace and love, we pray.  Amen.

Words of Assurance

In grace, we are strengthened.  In love, our hearts are freed.  In God, grace and love are ours.

Passing of the Peace of Christ

As neighbors and friends, let’s share our love in the Spirit with signs of peace.

Children’s Message       Rev. Eumin Kim

Old Testament Reading – Deuteronomy 30:9-14   (New International Version)

⁹ Then the Lord your God will make you most prosperous in all the work of your hands and in the fruit of your womb, the young of your livestock and the crops of your land.  The Lord will again delight in you and make you prosperous, just as he delighted in your ancestors, ¹⁰ if you obey the Lord your God and keep his commands and decrees that are written in this Book of the Law and turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.  ¹¹ Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach.  ¹² It is not up in heaven, so that you have to ask, “Who will ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?”  ¹³ Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you have to ask, “Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?”  ¹⁴ No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it.

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

New Testament Reading –  Colossians 1:1-14      (New International Version)

¹ Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, ² To God’s holy people in Colossae, the faithful brothers and sisters in Christ:  Grace and peace to you from God our Father.  ³ We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, ⁴ because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all God’s people— ⁵ the faith and love that spring from the hope stored up for you in heaven and about which you have already heard in the true message of the gospel ⁶ that has come to you.  In the same way, the gospel is bearing fruit and growing throughout the whole world—just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and truly understood God’s grace.  ⁷ You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf, ⁸ and who also told us of your love in the Spirit.  ⁹ For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you.  We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, ¹⁰ so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, ¹¹ being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, ¹² and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. ¹³ For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, ¹⁴ in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

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

*Hymn before Message #2158 – “Just a Closer Walk with Thee”           

The Faith We Sing Hymnal                                                          

Message – “God’s Delight in our Bearing Fruit”      Rev. Eumin Kim

Pastoral Prayer

Lord’s Prayer

Invitation to Tithes and Offering

May the gifts we bring bear the fruit of God’s love to our neighbors around the world.

Offertory – “De Profundis” by Jean Langlais        Drew Banzhoff

*Hymn No. 95 – Presentation of the Offering

*Prayer of Dedication

Gracious God, bless these gifts.  May they bring your love, justice, and compassion to where they are most needed in our world.  Help us be good neighbors to everyone we meet.  With gratitude and love, we pray.  Amen.

*Closing Hymn #404 – “Every Time I Feel the Spirit                     

*Dismissal with Blessing

Closing Voluntary – “Postludium” by Gordon Young