Sligo Presbyterian Church: Our Congregation and Community: The Sligo Presbyterian Church Celebration Service ...

Sligo Presbyterian Church: Our Congregation and Community: The Sligo Presbyterian Church Celebration Service ...: During the months of September, October and November, we'll discuss the following parables found in the Gospel of Mark: September 22 - N...

The Presbyterian Church of Hopedale Celebration Service - Sunday, November 29, 2020

Here's a copy of the order and the podcast of the worship service I led in the Presbyterian Church of Hopedale, Ohio on Sunday, November 29, 2020. Below was our order of worship.

Announcements 

Our Call to Worship: Psalm 80:1-7, 17-19

Leader: Give ear, O shepherd of Israel, you who lead Joseph like a flock!

People: You who are enthroned upon the cherubim, shine forth before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh.

Leader: Stir up your might, and come to save us!

People: Restore us, O God; let your face shine, that we may be saved.

Leader: O Lord God of hosts, how long will you be angry with your people's prayers?

People: You have fed them with the bread of tears, and given them tears to drink in full measure.

Leader: You make us the scorn of our neighbors; our enemies laugh among themselves.

People: Restore us, O God of hosts; let your face shine, that we may be saved.

Leader: But let your hand be upon the one at your right hand, the one whom you made strong for yourself.

People: Then we will never turn back from you; give us life, and we will call on your name.

Leader: Restore us, O Lord God of hosts;

People: Let your face shine, that we may be saved.

Congregational Song: “According to Thy Gracious Word”

Prayer of Confession

Gracious God, we confess that we've sinned against you. We spend a lot of time worrying about our world. Sadly, often we do little else. As a result, we lack the confidence to step forward and to make a difference. Merciful Lord, forgive us and help us recognize that we’re all in God’s hands.

Words of Forgiveness

Gloria Patri

Affirmation of Faith: The Apostle's Creed

I BELIEVE in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord; who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; he descended into hell; the third day he rose again from the dead; he ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.  I believe in the Holy Ghost; the holy catholic Church; the communion of saints; the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting.  Amen. 

The Prayers of the People: (followed by The Lord's Prayer)

Our Father, who art 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 debts, as we forgive our debtors.  And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil;  For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever.  Amen.

Our Gifts to God

Doxology

Scripture Lesson: Mark 13:24-37

Sermon: Reasons for Thanks

Gathering Around the Lord’s Table

Congregational Song: “Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus”

Charge and Blessing 

Postlude

Cove’s Celebration Service - Sunday, December 1, 2019

The members and friends of Cove gathered to worship on Sunday, December 1. Our worship is intended to be a free expression of our love for God and the joy we feel when we accept that love. Of course, there are many ways for us to express that love and joy.

This morning we started a series of messages entitled "We Light the Advent Candles". During the Sundays before Christmas, we'll consider meaning found in the four verses of the song we sing as we light the Advent candles. The specific topics are below:

• December 1 – The first one remind us that Christ will soon return...
• December 8 – We light the second candle, and hear God's holy Word...
• December 15 – Three candles now are gleaming and show us the true way...
• December 22 – Four candles burning brightly announce that Christ has come...

We started the service with the announcements and lighting the first candle in the Advent wreath. 

Instrumental and vocal music are important to our worship. Songs give us the chance to praise God and to help focus our attention on the theme of the service. During the service, we’ll have the opportunity to sing songs that reflect different musical styles. Since God has called into his church as individuals with a variety of tastes, this offers us the chance to display our sensitivity for our fellow worshipers and to grow in our knowledge of how we might praise God. Our first song was "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel."

Our prayers represent our communication with God. Of course, as Paul wrote, the Holy Spirit “...intercedes for us with groans too deep for words”; therefore, God already knows our needs. Still it’s important that we put them into words, as well as the regret we feel for our sins and our thanks for all God has done for us.

During this service, there were two times when we prayed together.  During the Our Congregational Prayer, we confessed our sins and hear the assurance that we're forgiven.  We also have the opportunity to lift our concerns and needs to God.  We closed this prayer with The Lord’s Prayer. After we collected the offering, we praised and thanked God for his presence in our church and within our lives. Janice Torrance played the organ as we collected the offering.

After our prayer of thanks, Pastor Rudiger shared a message. For the last ten years, we've sung all or part of "We Light the Advent Candles" during our Advent worship services. You see, as we go through the four weeks, we sing the verses sung during the prior weeks, and we add a new verse recognizing the candles that have been and are being lit on that particular Sunday. During this Advent season, we're going to focus on the meaning of each verse, as expressed in the song. The first message will deal with "The first one remind us that Christ will soon return..."

We shared a special communion service in which the responses are sung to Christmas carols.

A podcast of the entire service is below.

Next week, we'll continue the series entitled We Light the Advent Candles. During the second message, we'll consider how we can get ready to celebrate the birth of Christ.

Cove's Celebration Service - Sunday, January 22, 2017

Below is the service I led at Cove Presbyterian Church on January 22, 2017. During the winter of 2017, I preached a series of sermons entitled "Spiritual Growth for Short People." As it relates to spiritual growth, have you ever felt “height challenged”? If you’ve ever felt somewhat short in the spirituality department, this sermon series is for you. For six Sundays, we discussed how we might grow in our faith and in our relationship with God. Specifically, we cover the following growth-related topics:
✙ Recognizing Our Limits ✙ Trusting the Lord ✙ Loving One Another ✙ Making an Impact ✙ Sharing the Message ✙ Bringing in the Harvest

As with all our services, worship is intended to be a free expression of our love for God and the joy we feel when we accept that love. Of course, there are many ways for us to express that love and joy. So that we can experience a greater sense of freedom and flexibility in our praise, the session decided to move away from a rigid order of worship, with the different elements printed in a very formal way, and to utilize the screen and the worship leader to guide us through the service. Below you’ll find some material that you may need to participate fully in our praise and reverence for God.

We started the service with the announcements. As the Bible entered, we sang "This is the Day that the Lord Has Made.”

Instrumental and vocal music are important to our worship. Songs give us the chance to praise God and to help focus our attention on the theme of the service. During the service, we have the opportunity to sing songs that reflect different musical styles. Since God has called into his church as individuals with a variety of tastes, this offers us the chance to display our sensitivity for our fellow worshipers and to grow in our knowledge of how we might praise God. Our first two songs were “My Wondrous Lord” and “Have Thine Own Way, Lord!.”

Our prayers represent our communication with God. Of course, as Paul wrote, the Holy Spirit “...intercedes for us with groans too deep for words”; therefore, God already knows our needs. Still it’s important that we put them into words, as well as the regret we feel for our sins and our thanks for all God has done for us.

During the Our Congregational Prayer, we confessed our sins and hear the assurance that we're forgiven.  We also lifted our concerns and needs to God.  We closed this prayer with The Lord’s Prayer. As we collected the offering, the choir sang “In Remembrance.” 

God’s word is at the core of the worship service. It’s often reflected in the songs we sing and the prayers we pray. But it’s most clearly present when we read a passage from the Bible, and it’s applied to our daily living in the sermon.

This morning, we looked at Hebrews 11:1-3: 

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Indeed, by faith our ancestors received approval. By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are not visible.

And the title of the sermon is “Spiritual Growth for Short People: Trusting the Lord,” and we’ll consider the second step if we want to grow in our relationship and our understanding of God.

During the service, we celebrated communion. When we gather around the Lord’s table, we believe that even though Christ's body and blood are not physically present in the bread and the juice, he’s with us in a special spiritual way. Jesus is the host of this meal and when we share the communion, we can experience his presence in a special way. For that reason, the elements are spiritual nourishment in Christ by faith. In fact, when the community as the Body of Christ gathers around table and celebrates the Lord's Supper, it’s “transformed” into the Body of Christ, or “reformed” into the Body of Christ each time it participates in this sacrament. 

We began this celebration by receiving the invitation to gather around the table. And then we prayed together, thanking God for giving us this opportunity to share in his presence. After hearing the meaning of the sacrament, ruling elders brought to the congregation the bread and the cup, that we held until everyone is served. And then, as the Body of Christ, we ate and then drank together. 

At the end of the celebration, we again prayed, asking the Lord to help us take the meaning of communion out into the world.

Our service ended with the  postlude, “A Trumpet Tune.”

Below is the podcast of the service.

Cove's Celebration Service - Sunday, July 30, 2017

Below is the service I led at Cove Presbyterian Church on July 30, 2017. During the summer of 2017, I preached a series of sermons entitled "Living by the Spirit." Although God has called us and filled us with the Spirit, often our lives don’t actually reflect his presence. Of course, that doesn’t stop us from talking about it and claiming to understand how to get it and even judging whether or not others have got it. This we do often and well. What we’re not so good at doing is living it, in other words, living by the Holy Spirit. And that’s what we’re going to talk about this summer, how we might demonstrate the presence of God through our lives. Using Galatians 5:22-26, we’ll consider the following topics:
✙ Those who live by the Spirit...
✙ Those who live by the Spirit demonstrate love.
✙ Those who live by the Spirit feel joy.
✙ Those who live by the Spirit work for peace.
✙ Those who live by the Spirit have patience.
✙ Those who live by the Spirit show kindness.
✙ Those who live by the Spirit practice generosity.
✙ Those who live by the Spirit understand faithfulness.
✙ Those who live by the Spirit exhibit gentleness.
✙ Those who live by the Spirit have self-control.

As with all our services, worship is intended to be a free expression of our love for God and the joy we feel when we accept that love. Of course, there are many ways for us to express that love and joy.

We started the service with the announcements. As the Bible entered, we sang "This is the Day that the Lord Has Made.”

Instrumental and vocal music are important to our worship. Songs give us the chance to praise God and to help focus our attention on the theme of the service. During the service, we have the opportunity to sing songs that reflect different musical styles. Since God has called into his church as individuals with a variety of tastes, this offers us the chance to display our sensitivity for our fellow worshipers and to grow in our knowledge of how we might praise God. Our first song was “O Jesus, I Have Promised.”

Our prayers represent our communication with God. Of course, as Paul wrote, the Holy Spirit “...intercedes for us with groans too deep for words”; therefore, God already knows our needs. Still it’s important that we put them into words, as well as the regret we feel for our sins and our thanks for all God has done for us.

During the Our Congregational Prayer, we confessed our sins and hear the assurance that we're forgiven.  We also lifted our concerns and needs to God.  We closed this prayer with The Lord’s Prayer. After we collected the offering, Cady Freeland sings “Break Every Chain.”

God’s word is at the core of the worship service. It’s often reflected in the songs we sing and the prayers we pray. But it’s most clearly present when we read a passage from the Bible, and it’s applied to our daily living in the sermon.

This morning, the messages in this series, Living by the Spirit, are based on Galatians 5:16-26:

Live by the Spirit, I say, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh. For what the flesh desires is opposed to the Spirit, and what the Spirit desires is opposed to the flesh; for these are opposed to each other, to prevent you from doing what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not subject to the law. Now the works of the flesh are obvious: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these. I am warning you, as I warned you before: those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, competing against one another, envying one another.

The title of the sermon is “More than a Gut Feeling.”

During the service, we shared communion. When we gather around the Lord’s table, we believe that even though Christ's body and blood are not physically present in the bread and the juice, he’s with us in a special spiritual way. Jesus is the host of this meal and when we share the communion, we can experience his presence in a special way. For that reason, the elements are spiritual nourishment in Christ by faith. In fact, when the community as the Body of Christ gathers around table and celebrates the Lord's Supper, it’s  “transformed” into the Body of Christ, or “reformed” into the Body of Christ each time it participates in this sacrament.

We begin this celebration by receiving the invitation to gather around the table. And then we prayed together, thanking God for giving us this opportunity to share in his presence. After hearing the meaning of the sacrament, ruling elders brought to the congregation the bread and the cup, that we held until everyone was served. And then, as the Body of Christ, we ate and then drank together.

At the end of the celebration, we again prayed, asking the Lord to help us take the meaning of communion out into the world.

Our service ended with the congregation singing "Let It Start with Me."

Below is the podcast of the service.

I want to thank the following persons who were involved in the service:

Choir Director: Ray Seifert
Organist: Janice Torrance
Bell Choir Director: Sue Willson
Video Technician: Peggy Baldt

The Presbyterian Church of Hopedale Celebration Service - Sunday, May 31, 2020

Here's a copy of the bulletin and the podcast of the worship service I led in the Presbyterian Church of Hopedale, Ohio on Sunday, May 31, 2020. We celebrated Pentecost and used John 20:19-23 to focus on the coming of the Holy Spirit. We also gathered around the Lord's Table and shared the sacrament of Holy Communion. 

On June 7, we'll discuss Matthew 28:16-20 and consider how the Trinity can be important to us.

Cove's Celebration Service - Sunday, May 28, 2017

As we deal with the new normal presented by the coronavirus, I've decided to post worship services I led in the past. Although this is in no way a substitute for gathering with our brothers and sisters to praise the Lord, I hope it helps those of us who feel Sunday is incomplete without some kind of worship. I'm also posting separately the sermons preached during these services. Below is the service I led at Cove Presbyterian Church on May 28, 2020.

As with all our services, worship is intended to be a free expression of our love for God and the joy we feel when we accept that love. Of course, there are many ways for us to express that love and joy.

We started the service with the announcements. As the Bible entered (marking the beginning of our worship), we sang "This is the Day that the Lord Has Made."

Instrumental and vocal music are important to our worship. Songs give us the chance to praise God and to help focus our attention on the theme of the service. During the service, we have the opportunity to sing songs that reflect different musical styles. Since God has called into his church as individuals with a variety of tastes, this offers us the chance to display our sensitivity for our fellow worshipers and to grow in our knowledge of how we might praise God. Our first song was “How Firm a Foundation.”

Our prayers represent our communication with God. Of course, as Paul wrote, the Holy Spirit “...intercedes for us with groans too deep for words”; therefore, God already knows our needs. Still it’s important that we put them into words, as well as the regret we feel for our sins and our thanks for all God has done for us.

During the Our Congregational Prayer, we confessed our sins and hear the assurance that we're forgiven.  We also lifted our concerns and needs to God.  We closed this prayer with The Lord’s Prayer. After we collected the offering, we praised and thanked God for his presence in our church and within our lives. During the offering, the choir sang “Communion Song.”

God’s word is at the core of the worship service. It’s often reflected in the songs we sing and the prayers we pray. But it’s most clearly present when we read a passage from the Bible, and it’s applied to our daily living in the sermon. This morning, the message was based on John 17:1-11:

After Jesus had spoken these words, he looked up to heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son so that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all people, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I glorified you on earth by finishing the work that you gave me to do. So now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had in your presence before the world existed.

“I have made your name known to those whom you gave me from the world. They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything you have given me is from you; for the words that you gave to me I have given to them, and they have received them and know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. I am asking on their behalf; I am not asking on behalf of the world, but on behalf of those whom you gave me, because they are yours. All mine are yours, and yours are mine; and I have been glorified in them. And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one.

The title of the sermon was “Foam Fingers and a Wooden Cross.” 

During this service, we shared the sacrament of holy communion. When we gather around the Lord’s table, we believe that even though Christ's body and blood are not physically present in the bread and the juice, he’s with us in a special spiritual way. Jesus is the host of this meal and when we share the communion, we can experience his presence in a special way. For that reason, the elements are spiritual nourishment in Christ by faith. In fact, when the community as the Body of Christ gathers around table and celebrates the Lord's Supper, it’s  “transformed” into the Body of Christ, or “reformed” into the Body of Christ each time it participates in this sacrament.

We began this celebration by singing “The Communion Song” together.

 After the song, we prayed together, thanking God for giving us this opportunity to share in his presence, by praying the following prayer:

Leader: It is right, and a good and joyful thing, always and everywhere to give thanks to you, Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth. From the dust of the earth you formed us into 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.  And so, with your people on earth and all the company of heaven, we praise your name and join their unending hymn:

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

Leader: Holy are you, and blessed is your Son Jesus Christ, in whom you have revealed yourself, our light and our salvation.  When you gave him to save us from our sin, your Spirit led him into the wilderness, where he fasted forty days and forty nights in preparation for his ministry.  When he suffered and died on a cross for our sin, you raised him to life, presented him alive to the apostles during forty days and exalted him at your right hand.  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.  Now, when we your people prepare for the yearly Paschal feast of your Son's death and resurrection, you lead us to repentance for our sin and the cleansing of our hearts, that during these forty days of Lent we may be gifted and forced to renew the covenant you made with us through Christ.  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.

People: Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again.

Leader: Remind us of your Holy Spirit.  Help us to celebrate your presence as we share the bread and the cup.  And by this same Spirit make us one with Christ, one with each other, and one in ministry to all the world, until 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 for ever.

After hearing the meaning of the sacrament, ruling elders brought to the congregation the bread and the cup, that we held until everyone was served. And then, as the Body of Christ, we ate and then we drank together.

At the end of the celebration, we again prayed, asking the Lord to help us take the meaning of communion out into the world.

Below is the podcast of the service.

I want to thank the following persons who were involved in the service:

• Choir Director: Ray Seifert
• Organist: Janice Torrance
• Bell Choir Director: Sue Willson
• Video Technician: Peggy Baldt

Cove's Celebration Service - Sunday, March 26, 2017

As we deal with the new normal presented by the coronavirus, I've decided to post worship services I led in the past. Although this is in no way a substitute for gathering with our brothers and sisters to praise the Lord, I hope it helps those of us who feel Sunday is incomplete without some kind of worship. I'm also posting separately the sermons preached during these services. Below is the service I led at Cove Presbyterian Church on March 19, 2017. It was the third service in a series entitled, "Why: Answering Some of Life's Hard Questions." We used the Book of Job to grapple with the following questions:

Why do bad things happen to good people?
Why don't people understand me?
Why don't I understand what's going on?
Why is God allowing this to happen?
Why doesn’t he make things clear?

In this fourth service, we addressed the question: Why is God allowing this to happen?

As with all our services, worship is intended to be a free expression of our love for God and the joy we feel when we accept that love. Of course, there are many ways for us to express that love and joy.

We started the service with the announcements. As the Bible entered (marking the beginning of our worship), we sang "This is the Day that the Lord Has Made."

Instrumental and vocal music are important to our worship. Songs give us the chance to praise God and to help focus our attention on the theme of the service. During the service, we have the opportunity to sing songs that reflect different musical styles. Since God has called into his church as individuals with a variety of tastes, this offers us the chance to display our sensitivity for our fellow worshipers and to grow in our knowledge of how we might praise God. Our first song was “Good Good Father.”

Our prayers represent our communication with God. Of course, as Paul wrote, the Holy Spirit “...intercedes for us with groans too deep for words”; therefore, God already knows our needs. Still it’s important that we put them into words, as well as the regret we feel for our sins and our thanks for all God has done for us.

During the Our Congregational Prayer, we confessed our sins and hear the assurance that we're forgiven.  We also lifted our concerns and needs to God.  We closed this prayer with The Lord’s Prayer. After we collected the offering, we praised and thanked God for his presence in our church and within our lives. During the offering, the choir sang “Thy Will Be Done.”

God’s word is at the core of the worship service. It’s often reflected in the songs we sing and the prayers we pray. But it’s most clearly present when we focus a passage from the Bible and apply it to our daily living in the sermon. This morning, the message was based on passages like Job 30:16-31:

Then Job answered: “Listen carefully to my words, and let this be your consolation. Bear with me, and I will speak; then after I have spoken, mock on. As for me, is my complaint addressed to mortals? Why should I not be impatient? Look at me, and be appalled, and lay your hand upon your mouth. When I think of it I am dismayed, and shuddering seizes my flesh.

“Why do the wicked live on, reach old age, and grow mighty in power? Their children are established in their presence, and their offspring before their eyes. Their houses are safe from fear, and no rod of God is upon them. Their bull breeds without fail; their cow calves and never miscarries. They send out their little ones like a flock, and their children dance around. They sing to the tambourine and the lyre, and rejoice to the sound of the pipe. They spend their days in prosperity, and in peace they go down to Sheol. They say to God, ‘Leave us alone! We do not desire to know your ways. What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? And what profit do we get if we pray to him?’ Is not their prosperity indeed their own achievement? The plans of the wicked are repugnant to me.

“How often is the lamp of the wicked put out? How often does calamity come upon them? How often does God distribute pains in his anger? How often are they like straw before the wind, and like chaff that the storm carries away? You say, ‘God stores up their iniquity for their children.’ Let it be paid back to them, so that they may know it. Let their own eyes see their destruction, and let them drink of the wrath of the Almighty. For what do they care for their household after them, when the number of their months is cut off? Will any teach God knowledge, seeing that he judges those that are on high? One dies in full prosperity, being wholly at ease and secure, his loins full of milk and the marrow of his bones moist. Another dies in bitterness of soul, never having tasted of good. They lie down alike in the dust, and the worms cover them.

“Oh, I know your thoughts, and your schemes to wrong me. For you say, ‘Where is the house of the prince? Where is the tent in which the wicked lived?’ Have you not asked those who travel the roads, and do you not accept their testimony, that the wicked are spared in the day of calamity, and are rescued in the day of wrath? Who declares their way to their face, and who repays them for what they have done? When they are carried to the grave, a watch is kept over their tomb. The clods of the valley are sweet to them; everyone will follow after, and those who went before are innumerable. How then will you comfort me with empty nothings? There is nothing left of your answers but falsehood.”

The title of the sermon and the question we’ll consider is this: “Why is God allowing this to happen?” 

During the service, we celebrated Holy Communion. When we gather around the Lord’s table, we believe that even though Christ's body and blood are not physically present in the bread and the juice, he’s with us in a special spiritual way. Jesus is the host of this meal and when we share the communion, we can experience his presence in a special way. For that reason, the elements are spiritual nourishment in Christ by faith. In fact, when the community as the Body of Christ gathers around table and celebrates the Lord's Supper, it’s  “transformed” into the Body of Christ, or “reformed” into the Body of Christ each time it participates in this sacrament.

We began this celebration by receiving the invitation to gather around the table. And then we prayed together, thanking God for giving us this opportunity to share in his presence. After hearing the meaning of the sacrament, ruling elders brought to the congregation the bread and the cup, that we held until everyone is served. And then, as the Body of Christ, we ate and then drank together. At the end of the celebration, we prayed, asking the Lord to help us take the meaning of communion out into the world.

The service ended with the song, “On Eagles Wings.”

Below is the podcast of the service.

I want to thank the following persons who were involved in the service:

Choir Director: Ray Seifert
Organist: Janice Torrance
Bell Choir Director: Sue Willson
Video Technician: Peggy Baldt

The Richmond United Presbyterian Church Celebration Service - Sunday, March 15, 2020

Here's a copy of the order and the podcast of the worship service I led in the Richmond United Presbyterian Church, Richmond, Ohio on Sunday, March 15, 2020. We focused on how we might apply the story of the woman at the well to our own lives. We also celebrated communion during the service.

RICHMOND UNITED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

Welcoming Believers to the Family of Christ Since 1805

March 15, 2020

3^rd Sunday in Lent

Prelude

Welcome and Greeting

Opening Sentences

One: Through the gift of the Holy Spirit

All:  God’s love is poured into our hearts.

One: The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ

         be with you all.

All:  And also with you.

One: Let us worship God.

Gathering Prayer

Hymn: "Glorious Things of Thee are Spoken”  

Call to Confession

Prayer of Confession

God of mercy, you sent Jesus Christ to seek and save the lost. We confess that we have strayed from you and turned aside from your way. We are misled by pride, for we see ourselves pure when we are stained, and great when we are small. We have failed in love, neglected justice, and ignored your truth. Have mercy, O God, and forgive our sin. Return us to paths of righteousness (silent prayer) And let all the people say, Amen.

Declaration of Forgiveness 

Gloria Patri 

Joys and Concerns 

Prayers of Intercession

One: Your kingdom come,

All:  your will be done.

“Hear Our Prayer, O Lord” 

Hymn: "What Wondrous Love is This” 

Prayer for Illumination

First Reading: Exodus 17:1-7 

Psalm: Psalm 95  

Second Reading: Romans 5:1-11   

Gospel Reading: John 4:5-42 

Sermon: “A Woman at a Well”

The Nicene Creed  

Offering

Doxology  

Invitation to the Lord’s Table

Great Prayer of Thanksgiving  

The Lord’s Prayer  

Breaking of the Bread

Communion of the People

Prayer after Communion 

Hymn: “Rock of Ages”

Charge and Blessing

Response: “Sent Forth by God’s Blessing”     

Postlude