Order of Worship

Opening Voluntary                                                                      

Welcome/Greetings

*Opening Hymn #577 – “God of Grace and God of Glory”      

*Call to Worship

L:  When hatred and division separate us,

P:  God’s love binds us together.

L:  When quarrels estrange us,

P:  Christ’s grace brings reconciliation.

L:  When we feel excluded and left out,

P:  The Spirit’s peace eases our pain.

All:  Come!  Let us worship the One who makes us one.

*Opening Prayer

Eternal God, heal the wounds that block our unity as your beloved children.  Ease the hurts and betrays the block us from embracing the balm of your forgiveness.  Cast out the fears that prevent us from seeking your peace and reconciliation.  Even when our hearts are pierced with anguish, send us friends who will bring us solace, through your loving Spirit.  Amen.

Prayer of Confession (Please be seated)

Merciful God, free us from the desire for retribution towards those who have wronged us.  And fill us with mercy and compassion for those who trigger deep-seated prejudices against those who offend us.  Open our hearts, O God, to those who seem different and strange.  For we long to know the joy of living in peace, and the hope of living in harmony, with those we would rather live without.  Amen.

Words of Assurance

The gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.  Rejoice in the knowledge of God’s saving love.

Passing of the Peace of Christ

Let us be known as children of the Most High by sharing our love with all as we pass the peace of Christ.

Children’s Message        Rev. Eumin Kim

Scriptures

Old Testament – Genesis 45:1-15 (NIV)

Then Joseph could no longer control himself before all his attendants, and he cried out, “Have everyone leave my presence!”  So there was no one with Joseph when he made himself known to his brothers.  ² And he wept so loudly that the Egyptians heard him, and Pharaoh’s household heard about it.  ³ Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph!  Is my father still living?”  But his brothers were not able to answer him, because they were terrified at his presence.  ⁴ Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Come close to me.”  When they had done so, he said, “I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt!  ⁵ And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you.  ⁶ For two years now there has been famine in the land, and for the next five years there will be no plowing and reaping.  ⁷ But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance.  ⁸ “So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God.  He made me father to Pharaoh, lord of his entire household and ruler of all Egypt.  ⁹ Now hurry back to my father and say to him, ‘This is what your son Joseph says:  God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down to me; don’t delay.  ¹⁰ You shall live in the region of Goshen and be near me—you, your children and grandchildren, your flocks and herds, and all you have.  ¹¹ I will provide for you there, because five years of famine are still to come.  Otherwise you and your household and all who belong to you will become destitute.’  ¹² “You can see for yourselves, and so can my brother Benjamin, that it is really I who am speaking to you.  ¹³ Tell my father about all the honor accorded me in Egypt and about everything you have seen. And bring my father down here quickly.”  ¹⁴ Then he threw his arms around his brother Benjamin and wept, and Benjamin embraced him, weeping.  ¹⁵ And he kissed all his brothers and wept over them.  Afterward his brothers talked with him.

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

New Testament – 2 Corinthians 5:16-21(NIV)

¹⁶ So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view.  Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer.  ¹⁷ Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come:  The old has gone, the new is here!  ¹⁸ All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation:  ¹⁹ that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them.  And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.  ²⁰ We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.  We implore you on Christ’s behalf:  Be reconciled to God.  ²¹ God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

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

*Hymn before Sermon #572 – “Pass It On”                                 

Sermon – “The Ministry of Reconciliation”         Rev. Eumin Kim

Pastoral Prayer

Lord’s Prayer

Invitation to Tithes and Offering

God is here, welcoming us just as we are.  In thanksgiving for all God has blessed us with, and in gratitude for all the ways God loves us, may we bring our offerings before God.

Offertory                                                                                      

*Hymn No. 95 – Presentation of the Offering

*Prayer of Dedication

Faithful One, when hunger threatens our world, you bless us with dreams that we can save the children of our day.  Bless this offering, that your dreams for a world without want may bless the lives of your children.  Transform these gifts into vessels of grace that have the power to make all people one.  In your holy name, we pray.  Amen.

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

*Dismissal with Blessing

Closing Voluntary