Service
for the 4th Sunday of Easter
April
25, 2010 at 10:30 a.m.
GATHER
IN GOD’S NAME
IN SILENCE Garrison Keillor, “The Old Scout: A Pagan’s Thoughts at Eastertide,”
Prairie Home Companion, Public Radio, March 18, 2008
There
was a small epiphany in church last week when we sang the recessional “O
Sacred
Head, Now Wounded,” a German chorale in which we basses must jump
around
more limberly than we may be used to; a tough part compared to “When the
Roll
Is Called up Yonder.” And I stood in
the rear and struggled with it. And
then as
the
choir recessed down the main aisle, and came up and stood in the side aisles,
three
basses
wound up standing near me, like border collies alongside the lost sheep; and I
got
myself in their draft and we sang our way to the barn. (Moral:
get with the
group—just
make sure it’s the right one.)
THE WORD
INVITES The first Question
& Answer in The Heidelberg Catechism
“What
is your only comfort in life and in death?”
That I
belong—
PRELUDE Adagio from Sonata I F. Mendelssohn
Andante
Religioso F. Mendelssohn
WELCOME, ANNOUNCEMENTS, REGISTRATION
CHIMES & CHORAL CALL TO WORSHIP
LIGHTING THE CHRIST CANDLE
*CALL TO
WORSHIP AND PRAYER FOR GOD’S LEADING on Acts 9:36-43/wrl
The Apostle says to Tabitha and to us—“Get up!”
We did!
We do. We’re here!
This is the Lord’s day, God’s gift to our waking.
Each dawn invites us to one more
adventure
in a place
we don’t fully understand,
with
companions we cannot fully know.
Lord, now that we’re up, help us know we’re
alive to your love.
*PROCESSIONAL
HYMN # 417 Christ Is Made the Sure Foundation
*AFFIRMATION OF FAITH & THE PEACE Romans 14: 7-9 &
The
Heidelberg Catechism, 1563-1963 … in The Book of Confessions
We do
not live to ourselves, and we do not die to ourselves.
If we
live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord;
so
then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s.
For
to this end Christ died and lived again,
so that he might be Lord of both the dead
and the living.
In the Heidelberg Catechism, the first question:
“What is your
only comfort in life and in death?”
That
I belong—body and soul, in life and in death—
not
to myself but to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ….
The peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.
The peace of the Lord be with you.
(worshipers exchange words and gestures of the peace of Christ)
PROCLAIM
GOD’S WORD
ANTHEM Walk Tall A. Lovelace
WORD WITH THE YOUNG
LESSON FROM
HISTORY Acts 9: 36-43 (NRSV)
Pew Bible p.1001
OFFERING OURSELVES TO GOD’S
PURPOSES
WELCOME TO MEMBERS
OFFERTORY Every Valley J. N. Beck
*RESPONSE # 592 Praise God, from Whom All Blessings Flow
*PRAYER OF
DEDICATION Ruth
Duck, Touch Holiness
Loving
God, our hunger is never better satisfied than at your table.
Our gifts can have no higher value than
when they are offered to you.
Because
you fill our spirits, we hunger to serve.
And we
pray that these gifts may be as food to nourish the living body of Christ.
Amen.
PRAYERS THANKING AND ASKING GOD, THE LORD’S PRAYER
GO
IN GOD’S NAME
*HYMN # 306 Fairest Lord Jesus
*CHARGE & BLESSING
*CHORAL RESPONSE
POSTLUDE Postlude on “Lasst Uns Erfreuen” D. Paxton
(Note
that some will be seated and others depart in joy and silence.)
|
Liturgists |
Rev. Michael Ludwig, Joyce Beauvais |
|
Sermon |
Rev. William R. Leety |
|
Word with
Children |
Rev. Michael Ludwig |
|
Musical
Leadership |
Carol Choir Chancel Choir Sarah Shaffer, Choirmaster Nancy Deeth, Organist/Pianist |
|
Greeters |
Mark & Lori Dravillas, Dick &
Myra Dull |
|
Concerned
Deacon |
Joy Bissett |