Call to Worship from Psalm 91
Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations.
Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
You turn us back to dust, and say, "Turn back, you mortals."
For a thousand years in your sight are like yesterday when it is past, or like a watch in the night.
Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, so that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and prosper for us the work of our hands!
* Amazing Grace 236/649
Confession
God of love, in the wrong we have done
and in the good we have not done,
we have sinned in ignorance;
we have sinned in weakness;
we have sinned through our own deliberate fault.
We are truly sorry.
We repent and turn to you.
Forgive us and renew our lives
through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. **
Declaration of Forgiveness
Hear the good news. In the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, we are assured that there is no sin so terrible that God cannot forgive, no hurt so terrible that God cannot heal.
God accepts, God forgives, and God sets free.
Receive the forgiving love of God. Amen **
Gloria Patri
Children’s Time
Prayer for Illumination
Reading of the Word: Deuteronomy 34:1-12
34 Then Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, which is opposite Jericho, and the Lord showed him the whole land: Gilead as far as Dan, 2 all Naphtali, the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, all the land of Judah as far as the Western Sea, 3 the Negeb, and the Plain—that is, the valley of Jericho, the city of palm trees—as far as Zoar. 4 The Lord said to him, “This is the land of which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, ‘I will give it to your descendants’; I have let you see it with your eyes, but you shall not cross over there.” 5 Then Moses, the servant of the Lord, died there in the land of Moab, at the Lord’s command. 6 He was buried in a valley in the land of Moab, opposite Beth-peor, but no one knows his burial place to this day. 7 Moses was one hundred twenty years old when he died; his sight was unimpaired and his vigor had not abated. 8 The Israelites wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days; then the period of mourning for Moses was ended.
9 Joshua son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom, because Moses had laid his hands on him; and the Israelites obeyed him, doing as the Lord had commanded Moses.
10 Never since has there arisen a prophet in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face. 11 He was unequaled for all the signs and wonders that the Lord sent him to perform in the land of Egypt, against Pharaoh and all his servants and his entire land, 12 and for all the mighty deeds and all the terrifying displays of power that Moses performed in the sight of all Israel.
This is the word of the Lord
Thanks be to God
How Great Thou Art 37/625
Sermon: A Glimpse of God’s Goodness …
It is said that people are brought into our life for a reason, a season, or a lifetime. Each has their own purpose.
A quick example of reason involves an orthopedic surgeon who came into my sister Vicki’s life. Vicki broke her leg the first week of January a number of years ago. Her HMO was in the midst of contracts with doctors, and did not have an orthopedist on staff. As a result, she spent more time than she should have in pain, and ended up seeing a different doctor.
Later that year, she experienced pain in her upper arm, and ended up seeing the same orthopedist. While every test showed it was not bone cancer, this orthopedist had a suspicion that it might be.
For those not in the medical profession, a cancer surgery is handled differently, in order to minimize risk of spreading. This orthopedist chose to use this protocol. When my sister’s cancer was diagnosed, there were only 12 others who had been diagnosed with this surgery. Her orthopedist had treated 8. His actions saved her life.
When it comes to for a season, I can’t help but think about the pastors who have come through this church, of which I am only one. We often have pastors who substitute when I am gone, also a season, but even those of us who remain for a longer time are “seasonal.” We come, we hopefully influence you, and we leave.
Lifetime relationships are, of course, family and spouse. When I perform a wedding, weather we use the words “till death do us part” or “As long as we both shall live,” we are saying the same thing, this is a lifetime commitment. We are parents to our children, and that doesn’t stop when they grow up. Sometimes we are privileged to have lifetime friends who live near us, more so here in our area than in big cities.
But the same is true of us. We are all put into positions for a reason, a season, or a lifetime. Moses had a part in the history of Israel, but his part was ending. His years of herding sheep made him the perfect choice to herd the people for 40 years in the desert.
But Someone Else was needed to lead the people into the future they had as they entered the promised land. The job Moses had was over. Our passage today tells us a bit about Moses at the end, “Moses was one hundred twenty years old when he died; his sight was unimpaired and his vigor had not abated.” At 120 years old, it was time for someone else to take over for him. That person would be Joshua.
But the faithfulness of Moses had a reward, he got to look over to the promised land and see it before he died.
Here in this church, we also regularly have the opportunity to both see and be a glimpse of God and the Promised Land.
I have spoken with you before of my hospice volunteering that happened before I became a pastor. My patient was Lucille, a woman turning 85 with terminal lung cancer. She was, indeed, a person brought into my life for a reason and a season. She thought she was old. She encouraged me, at a “young” 48, to go back to college and become a pastor. God brought us together.
Lucille loved music, and we not only went to the music events at the nursing home together, but we would also listen to her favorite passages of music on the cassette player by her bed. She introduced me to Pachelbels “Canon in D,” which is still one of my favorites. Lucille told me that she was sure that heaven sounded a lot like Pachelbel.
But there came a time when it became difficult for her to breathe, they thought she was dying and she was rushed to the hospital. After her return to the nursing home, she was very sad. She felt like she had been close to death, but as she explained to me, there was no music.
We continued along, and there came the time when she began to slip ever closer to the end. I sat with her and dialed the phone as she called her family to come, and stayed with her in the days before they arrived as she was in and out of consciousness.
I believe I have mentioned to you about the time when she awakened and told me about the banquet feast that was waiting. But there was one moment that sticks in my mind, and I hold onto. She had been dozing, and I was about to slip away when she sat up. “Did you hear it?” she asked. I shook my head “no.” With a huge grin, she looked at me and said, “I heard it, I heard the music!”
In Acts 7, the apostle Stephen was being stoned, when he looks into the air and says, “Look, I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”
While we often get such glimpses at the end of our earthly life, we also receive glimpses of the future in other ways. These are called prophetic visions.
So, what is a prophet. A prophet is someone who is chosen by God to speak for God. Like a sermon, these visions are given by imperfect vessels, so the definition of a prophet in the days of old were that in order to claim God’s voice, you could never be wrong.
In fact, Deuteronomy 18:20-22 says this:
20 But a prophet who presumes to speak in my name anything I have not commanded, or a prophet who speaks in the name of other gods,l is to be put to death.”
21 You may say to yourselves, “How can we know when a message has not been spoken by the Lord?” 22 If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the Lord does not take place or come true, that is a message the Lord has not spoken. That prophet has spoken presumptuously, so do not be alarmed.
The New Testament is a bit kinder, in 1 Corinthians 13:8-10, Paul reminds us, “But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. 9 For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; 10 but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end.”
Here in this church, as imperfect vessels, we serve God faithfully.
We gather as people of God serving him, and we are in a way a glimpse of God, much as the music for Lucille was a glimpse of heaven, and the same way that Moses was able to look over the promised land. The church, here on this corner is OUR glimpse of God’s future for us.
Our potlucks and refreshments are not only neighborly, but are representative of the feast that we will have at the wedding feast of the Lamb, when the marriage of Christ to the church here on earth is complete.
Of course, the symbolic act of The Lord’s Supper is also a glimpse of the heavenly feast. First, it points us back to when Jesus instituted the act with the disciples. Second, it points us towards that time when we all sit around the table in person with Jesus. But, finally, it also unifies us, both those around the table and those who cannot be there. It unifies us with the past, the present, and the future.
As we sing and worship God in praise, we act out what we will do when we are in the presence of God. I know, we are Presbyterian, keeping our hands carefully below our shoulders, avoiding unnecessary feedback like Amen, and dutifully sit in our pews, spaced 6 feet apart, but we are still in worship together.
And while we don’t act out very much here in worship, we do act out our faith in our lives and in our living. We give time and talent to people and organizations, we feed and clothe and visit when it is safe.
Sometimes we wish for the same clarity of vision that God gave to Moses there at the end. We want to see in full, instead of in part as God has given to us today. We want to know what the future holds, perhaps now more than ever.
Like Moses, we don’t get to go walking there. We are stuck here on the mountain top with only a glimpse to guide us. But it is our job, here in this church, not only to get a glimpse of what God has planned, but to also BE the glimpse the world has of what God has planned.
In a way, we are the reflection of God. Let us be the glimpse faithfully, showing the world what united Christians in Christ can be.
I started my sermon with the comment, that people are brought into the world for a reason, a season, or a lifetime. We are brought into the lives of others for a reason, a season, or a lifetime. If WE are the glimpse of God, how can we be that reason or season for others?
“My Neighbors Bible”
I am my neighbor’s Bible
He reads me when we meet;
Today he reads me in my home
Tomorrow, in the street.
He may be a relative or a friend,
Or slight acquaintance be;
He may not even know my name,
Yet he is reading me,
And pray, who is this neighbor,
Who reads me day by day,
To learn if I am living right,
And walking as I pray?
Oh, he is with me always,
To criticize or blame;
So worldly wise in his own eyes,
And “Sinner” is his name.
Dear Christian friends and brothers,
If we could only know
How faithful the world records
Just what we say and do;
Oh, we would write our record plain,
And come in time to see
Our worldly neighbor won to Christ
While reading you and me.
Apostles Creed
Dedication of Offerings/Doxology
* Be With You Till We Meet Again 82/542
Refrain – Till we meet, till we meet,
Till we meet at Jesus’ feet;
Till we meet, till we meet,
God be with you till we meet again.
* Benediction/Passing the Peace
Go forth, as God has called you, into the land which He has promised. And as you go, may the peace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you.
And also with you
**From Worship Sourcebook 2nd Edition
Pastor: Rev. Bobbie Karchner
Ministers: The Congregation
Web Site: http://tricountyministries.weebly.com
Weekly Worship Services uploaded on Sunday
Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations.
Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
You turn us back to dust, and say, "Turn back, you mortals."
For a thousand years in your sight are like yesterday when it is past, or like a watch in the night.
Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, so that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and prosper for us the work of our hands!
* Amazing Grace 236/649
Confession
God of love, in the wrong we have done
and in the good we have not done,
we have sinned in ignorance;
we have sinned in weakness;
we have sinned through our own deliberate fault.
We are truly sorry.
We repent and turn to you.
Forgive us and renew our lives
through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. **
Declaration of Forgiveness
Hear the good news. In the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, we are assured that there is no sin so terrible that God cannot forgive, no hurt so terrible that God cannot heal.
God accepts, God forgives, and God sets free.
Receive the forgiving love of God. Amen **
Gloria Patri
Children’s Time
Prayer for Illumination
Reading of the Word: Deuteronomy 34:1-12
34 Then Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, which is opposite Jericho, and the Lord showed him the whole land: Gilead as far as Dan, 2 all Naphtali, the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, all the land of Judah as far as the Western Sea, 3 the Negeb, and the Plain—that is, the valley of Jericho, the city of palm trees—as far as Zoar. 4 The Lord said to him, “This is the land of which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, ‘I will give it to your descendants’; I have let you see it with your eyes, but you shall not cross over there.” 5 Then Moses, the servant of the Lord, died there in the land of Moab, at the Lord’s command. 6 He was buried in a valley in the land of Moab, opposite Beth-peor, but no one knows his burial place to this day. 7 Moses was one hundred twenty years old when he died; his sight was unimpaired and his vigor had not abated. 8 The Israelites wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days; then the period of mourning for Moses was ended.
9 Joshua son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom, because Moses had laid his hands on him; and the Israelites obeyed him, doing as the Lord had commanded Moses.
10 Never since has there arisen a prophet in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face. 11 He was unequaled for all the signs and wonders that the Lord sent him to perform in the land of Egypt, against Pharaoh and all his servants and his entire land, 12 and for all the mighty deeds and all the terrifying displays of power that Moses performed in the sight of all Israel.
This is the word of the Lord
Thanks be to God
How Great Thou Art 37/625
Sermon: A Glimpse of God’s Goodness …
It is said that people are brought into our life for a reason, a season, or a lifetime. Each has their own purpose.
A quick example of reason involves an orthopedic surgeon who came into my sister Vicki’s life. Vicki broke her leg the first week of January a number of years ago. Her HMO was in the midst of contracts with doctors, and did not have an orthopedist on staff. As a result, she spent more time than she should have in pain, and ended up seeing a different doctor.
Later that year, she experienced pain in her upper arm, and ended up seeing the same orthopedist. While every test showed it was not bone cancer, this orthopedist had a suspicion that it might be.
For those not in the medical profession, a cancer surgery is handled differently, in order to minimize risk of spreading. This orthopedist chose to use this protocol. When my sister’s cancer was diagnosed, there were only 12 others who had been diagnosed with this surgery. Her orthopedist had treated 8. His actions saved her life.
When it comes to for a season, I can’t help but think about the pastors who have come through this church, of which I am only one. We often have pastors who substitute when I am gone, also a season, but even those of us who remain for a longer time are “seasonal.” We come, we hopefully influence you, and we leave.
Lifetime relationships are, of course, family and spouse. When I perform a wedding, weather we use the words “till death do us part” or “As long as we both shall live,” we are saying the same thing, this is a lifetime commitment. We are parents to our children, and that doesn’t stop when they grow up. Sometimes we are privileged to have lifetime friends who live near us, more so here in our area than in big cities.
But the same is true of us. We are all put into positions for a reason, a season, or a lifetime. Moses had a part in the history of Israel, but his part was ending. His years of herding sheep made him the perfect choice to herd the people for 40 years in the desert.
But Someone Else was needed to lead the people into the future they had as they entered the promised land. The job Moses had was over. Our passage today tells us a bit about Moses at the end, “Moses was one hundred twenty years old when he died; his sight was unimpaired and his vigor had not abated.” At 120 years old, it was time for someone else to take over for him. That person would be Joshua.
But the faithfulness of Moses had a reward, he got to look over to the promised land and see it before he died.
Here in this church, we also regularly have the opportunity to both see and be a glimpse of God and the Promised Land.
I have spoken with you before of my hospice volunteering that happened before I became a pastor. My patient was Lucille, a woman turning 85 with terminal lung cancer. She was, indeed, a person brought into my life for a reason and a season. She thought she was old. She encouraged me, at a “young” 48, to go back to college and become a pastor. God brought us together.
Lucille loved music, and we not only went to the music events at the nursing home together, but we would also listen to her favorite passages of music on the cassette player by her bed. She introduced me to Pachelbels “Canon in D,” which is still one of my favorites. Lucille told me that she was sure that heaven sounded a lot like Pachelbel.
But there came a time when it became difficult for her to breathe, they thought she was dying and she was rushed to the hospital. After her return to the nursing home, she was very sad. She felt like she had been close to death, but as she explained to me, there was no music.
We continued along, and there came the time when she began to slip ever closer to the end. I sat with her and dialed the phone as she called her family to come, and stayed with her in the days before they arrived as she was in and out of consciousness.
I believe I have mentioned to you about the time when she awakened and told me about the banquet feast that was waiting. But there was one moment that sticks in my mind, and I hold onto. She had been dozing, and I was about to slip away when she sat up. “Did you hear it?” she asked. I shook my head “no.” With a huge grin, she looked at me and said, “I heard it, I heard the music!”
In Acts 7, the apostle Stephen was being stoned, when he looks into the air and says, “Look, I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”
While we often get such glimpses at the end of our earthly life, we also receive glimpses of the future in other ways. These are called prophetic visions.
So, what is a prophet. A prophet is someone who is chosen by God to speak for God. Like a sermon, these visions are given by imperfect vessels, so the definition of a prophet in the days of old were that in order to claim God’s voice, you could never be wrong.
In fact, Deuteronomy 18:20-22 says this:
20 But a prophet who presumes to speak in my name anything I have not commanded, or a prophet who speaks in the name of other gods,l is to be put to death.”
21 You may say to yourselves, “How can we know when a message has not been spoken by the Lord?” 22 If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the Lord does not take place or come true, that is a message the Lord has not spoken. That prophet has spoken presumptuously, so do not be alarmed.
The New Testament is a bit kinder, in 1 Corinthians 13:8-10, Paul reminds us, “But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. 9 For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; 10 but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end.”
Here in this church, as imperfect vessels, we serve God faithfully.
We gather as people of God serving him, and we are in a way a glimpse of God, much as the music for Lucille was a glimpse of heaven, and the same way that Moses was able to look over the promised land. The church, here on this corner is OUR glimpse of God’s future for us.
Our potlucks and refreshments are not only neighborly, but are representative of the feast that we will have at the wedding feast of the Lamb, when the marriage of Christ to the church here on earth is complete.
Of course, the symbolic act of The Lord’s Supper is also a glimpse of the heavenly feast. First, it points us back to when Jesus instituted the act with the disciples. Second, it points us towards that time when we all sit around the table in person with Jesus. But, finally, it also unifies us, both those around the table and those who cannot be there. It unifies us with the past, the present, and the future.
As we sing and worship God in praise, we act out what we will do when we are in the presence of God. I know, we are Presbyterian, keeping our hands carefully below our shoulders, avoiding unnecessary feedback like Amen, and dutifully sit in our pews, spaced 6 feet apart, but we are still in worship together.
And while we don’t act out very much here in worship, we do act out our faith in our lives and in our living. We give time and talent to people and organizations, we feed and clothe and visit when it is safe.
Sometimes we wish for the same clarity of vision that God gave to Moses there at the end. We want to see in full, instead of in part as God has given to us today. We want to know what the future holds, perhaps now more than ever.
Like Moses, we don’t get to go walking there. We are stuck here on the mountain top with only a glimpse to guide us. But it is our job, here in this church, not only to get a glimpse of what God has planned, but to also BE the glimpse the world has of what God has planned.
In a way, we are the reflection of God. Let us be the glimpse faithfully, showing the world what united Christians in Christ can be.
I started my sermon with the comment, that people are brought into the world for a reason, a season, or a lifetime. We are brought into the lives of others for a reason, a season, or a lifetime. If WE are the glimpse of God, how can we be that reason or season for others?
“My Neighbors Bible”
I am my neighbor’s Bible
He reads me when we meet;
Today he reads me in my home
Tomorrow, in the street.
He may be a relative or a friend,
Or slight acquaintance be;
He may not even know my name,
Yet he is reading me,
And pray, who is this neighbor,
Who reads me day by day,
To learn if I am living right,
And walking as I pray?
Oh, he is with me always,
To criticize or blame;
So worldly wise in his own eyes,
And “Sinner” is his name.
Dear Christian friends and brothers,
If we could only know
How faithful the world records
Just what we say and do;
Oh, we would write our record plain,
And come in time to see
Our worldly neighbor won to Christ
While reading you and me.
Apostles Creed
Dedication of Offerings/Doxology
* Be With You Till We Meet Again 82/542
Refrain – Till we meet, till we meet,
Till we meet at Jesus’ feet;
Till we meet, till we meet,
God be with you till we meet again.
* Benediction/Passing the Peace
Go forth, as God has called you, into the land which He has promised. And as you go, may the peace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you.
And also with you
**From Worship Sourcebook 2nd Edition
Pastor: Rev. Bobbie Karchner
Ministers: The Congregation
Web Site: http://tricountyministries.weebly.com
Weekly Worship Services uploaded on Sunday