Announcements
Congregational Meeting Dates to set Retirement for Pastor Bobbie, December 31, 2020
(Range Line October 18) (Longwood October 11) both following worship
Opening Prayer
Beloved Creator, as we gather today on World Communion Sunday, we recognize that in a special way we are uniting hands with those who are joining us, not here in this building but around the world. We ask that you help us feel unity with one another.
Here on this Sunday, we remember the devastation that the pandemic has brought, not just to our community but to the world, and we feel grief with the million families who have lost loved ones because of this. We pray for all who are currently impacted and ill, including our own governor and president, and ask your mercy upon each and every one who needs it. We ask wisdom in seeking ways to help those who are infected, and solutions for protecting those who are ill.
Be with us today in all of the needs expressed in person aloud in our congregation as well as those hidden in our heart that we did not share.
We ask these things in the name of Jesus Christ who taught us to pray saying …
Lord’s Prayer
Call to Worship from Philippians 2:1-5
If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy,
make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.
Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves.
Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others.
Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus. Here on this World Communion Sunday, let us share unity in Christ.
* In Christ There is No East Nor West 417/317
Confession
Gracious Lord, creator of this universe, in your generosity you have given us a world of abundance and diversity, In Christ, you made us brothers and sisters and intended for us to be united,
Yet we have built walls to separate us from those who are different from us.
You gave us wisdom and creativity to make the world better
But we have failed to use your gifts to care for those around us.
We ignore the poor and the weak and honored the rich and powerful.
Lord, in your mercy, forgive us our sins against you and against one another. Amen.
Declaration of Forgiveness
From the very beginning, in the Garden of Eden, God found a way around sin. He sent his only Son so that whosoever believes in Him would be saved. Know that in Jesus you have been forgiven and be at peace.
Gloria Patri
Children’s Time (Communion)
Prayer for Illumination
Reading of the Word: Exodus 17:1-7 (NRSV)
17 From the wilderness of Sin the whole congregation of the Israelites journeyed by stages, as the Lord commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. 2 The people quarreled with Moses, and said, “Give us water to drink.” Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord?” 3 But the people thirsted there for water; and the people complained against Moses and said, “Why did you bring us out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and livestock with thirst?”
4 So Moses cried out to the Lord, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me.” 5 The Lord said to Moses, “Go on ahead of the people, and take some of the elders of Israel with you; take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. 6 I will be standing there in front of you on the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it, so that the people may drink.” Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel. 7 He called the place Massah[a] and Meribah,[b] because the Israelites quarreled and tested the Lord, saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”
John 4:7-15
7 A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” 8 (His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.) 9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?” (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.)[b] 10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” 11 The woman said to him, “Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? 12 Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?” 13 Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.” 15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.”
This is the word of the Lord
Thanks be to God
Meditation: Reaching out to a Thirsty World
I confess, I love movie theater popcorn. Sometimes I think I love going to the movies just to have some. Forget the sweets, I want the popcorn. But as you know, popcorn makes you thirsty, so I always have to have a large beverage with it.
Many years ago, I remember reading something in Christianity today. It was something like this:
Lord, make be popcorn for the world, making them thirsty for you.
Hunger and thirst are natural expressions of the basic human desire and need for food and water.
One of the clear indicators that something is wrong physically is when we lose our appetite. It is the same spiritually. To hunger and thirst for God is at the very root of our being. It’s the way God made us. When there is no hunger for the presence of God, it is an indicator that something is wrong spiritually.
Using my movie theater analogy, when we are hungry, we don’t always eat what we should. At the movies we eat things like popcorn and candy. Instead of life-giving water, we pick up sodas and other sweetened beverages.
Christians who are hungry and thirsty for God can end up doing the same thing. Instead of finding solace where it matters, in a relationship with God, we fill up the empty space with spiritual junk food instead of seeking the presence of God where our thirst will be filled.
In the Chronicles of Narnia, one of the last books is called the Silver Chair. Jill and her companion Eustice are pulled into Aslan’s land in Narnia, where Eustice falls over a steep cliff. She is left alone with a lion on the prowl, and with a deep thirst. Hearing water trickling, she follows the sound. But when she arrives at the stream, the huge lion is there. She has to go past the lion to get to the water.
The lion invites her to come and drink, but she expresses her fear.
“I daren’t come and drink,” said Jill.
“Then you will die of thirst,” said the Lion.
“Oh dear!” said Jill, coming another step nearer. “I suppose I must go and look for another stream then.”
“There is no other stream,” said the Lion.
It never occurred to Jill to disbelieve the Lion—no one who had seen his stern face could do that—and her mind suddenly made itself up. It was the worst thing she had ever had to do, but she went forward to the stream, knelt down, and began scooping up water in her hand. It was the coldest, most refreshing water she had ever tasted. You didn’t need to drink much of it, for it quenched your thirst at once.
Lewis, C.S.. The Silver Chair (Chronicles of Narnia Book 6) (p. 8). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.
Scripture tells us that is what it is like with God. The passage from Exodus reminds us that when we are thirsty, God provides. God actually stood on the rock at Horeb, the rock that Moses struck. The water that was given to the Israelites came directly from the hand of God, filling not just their thirst, but there need to know, “Is God with us or not?” Because the assumption is that if God is with us, then God will fill our needs.
Jesus, at the well says these words, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.”
When we are thirsty for God, and we drink of what God has provided, we not only have our thirst filled, but we become living streams that pour out to others.
But when we satisfy our thirst in other ways, the results are not the same. There are three ways that we are filled in our thirst for God and become an outpouring of water to others.
The first is prayer. But prayer is something that is easy to ignore. We speak more with one another here at church than we do with the God of the universe.
C.S. Lewis wrote in The Weight of Glory, “We are far too easily pleased. That, in the end, is the reason we do not pray more than we do. Nothing less than infinite joy is offered us in God’s kingdom of light. He has promised that we will one day shine like the sun in that kingdom (Matthew 13:43).”
“But we have become satisfied with mere church, mere religious exertion, mere numbers and buildings—the things we can do. There is nothing wrong with these things, but they are no more than foam left by the surf on the ocean of God’s glory and goodness.”
How then, can we begin to develop that thirst for conversation with God? If we find ourselves lacking in desire, can it be rekindled within us?
Perhaps the best way to look at this is to again make a comparison to physical thirst and the way we handle it. When we get thirsty, many of us begin to look for something to quench our thirst.. The feeling prompts us to seek something to fill us up, even if it is something that is not really good for us.
Spiritually speaking, there is a thirst for God that is often not recognized for what it is. Our thirst for God may be an empty feeling, a sense of longing, even loneliness in the midst of people. We start looking for ways to make the feeling go away…to fill up the emptiness. In a sense, we begin to look for the junk food that will mask the pangs of thirst within.
If we recognize our thirst for what it is, a deep need to be in relationship with God, we will turn to God instead of those things around us that dull the feeling of thirst. We will begin to talk to God in Prayer.
The second way to quench our spiritual thirst is in reading God’s Word to us.
If we have a deep desire to speak to God, we have an even deeper need to listen to God. While God does speak directly to our hearts, God also speaks out of Scripture to us. And the best way to hear God’s voice is to regularly read out of the Bible.
You have all heard the story of the businessman who was in deep trouble. A friend who was a Christian advised him that the Bible would tell him what to do. So he purchased a Bible and took it home. Not understanding, he simply opened it randomly and decided whatever passage he turned to and his eye caught on that page, he would follow.
The first time he opened the Bible he read, “And Judas threw the silver into the temple and went out and hung himself.” “Well, that can’t be good advice the man thought, let me try again.” So once again he randomly sought a passage and found these words, “Go and do likewise.”
That is NOT how you read the Bible. There are many ways you can read and study scripture, some more complex than others.
When I was a teen, I asked my youth director how, and he said this. Start at the beginning of the New Testament and keep reading. Just read each day and hear what Jesus said. You can also do this with the entire Bible, but it takes awhile to get to the New Testament, so you should probably start there.
Because when you know what the Bible says as a whole, you can hear God’s voice to you. The passages you read each day will be called to mind when situations arise, and you will find yourself focusing on certain passages that you read as the day goes on. The Bible becomes not just a religious book, but part of your conversation with God.
The third way we find our thirst fulfilled for God is by what is also known as the “enacting of the word.” We don’t call it that here in church, we call it The Lord’s Supper. But as we gather around this table today, as we speak the traditional words of institution, we join hands with other Christians around the world, in the very presence of God.
At the beginning of my ministry, I was struck by these words written by Paul, to the Corinthians:
23 For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took a loaf of bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body that is for[g] you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way he took the cup also, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
Paul was NOT at the Last Supper. The words “For I received from the Lord which I also handed on to you” are the words of the Apostle who gave communion to Paul, or of the words of a Christian who received communion from an Apostle who gave it to Paul.
In other words, as we gather around this table today with Christians around the world, we ALSO gather around this table with Christians of every generation. Our mothers, our fathers, our grandparents, our great grandparents, this is a table at crosses generations and time as well as space. This is a table which began at the time Jesus gave it to his disciples, and is a table which remains alive because we participate in it today.
And as we enact, or act out, this table, we are filled in the deep thirst that exists in our lives. We are filled with ways to meet our deepest needs our thirst for God. And here at the table, our thirst is filled.
But these is another critical element to coming to the table. At the end of each communion service there is an acknowledgement that the coming is only the first act of the table. Act 2 happens after we leave the table when we are sent out to the thirsty world.
I opened my sermon with these words, “Lord, make me popcorn for the world, making them thirsty for you.”
We come to worship to be in the presence of the living God and fill our thirst. But in being filled, we are also sent back into the world to direct them to the source of the living water.
The coming and the going are one. Like breathing – in and out, a pattern and a life, let us pray
Dedication of Offerings/Doxology
Communion Service [VIDEO] Text follows
Congregational Meeting Dates to set Retirement for Pastor Bobbie, December 31, 2020
(Range Line October 18) (Longwood October 11) both following worship
Opening Prayer
Beloved Creator, as we gather today on World Communion Sunday, we recognize that in a special way we are uniting hands with those who are joining us, not here in this building but around the world. We ask that you help us feel unity with one another.
Here on this Sunday, we remember the devastation that the pandemic has brought, not just to our community but to the world, and we feel grief with the million families who have lost loved ones because of this. We pray for all who are currently impacted and ill, including our own governor and president, and ask your mercy upon each and every one who needs it. We ask wisdom in seeking ways to help those who are infected, and solutions for protecting those who are ill.
Be with us today in all of the needs expressed in person aloud in our congregation as well as those hidden in our heart that we did not share.
We ask these things in the name of Jesus Christ who taught us to pray saying …
Lord’s Prayer
Call to Worship from Philippians 2:1-5
If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy,
make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.
Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves.
Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others.
Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus. Here on this World Communion Sunday, let us share unity in Christ.
* In Christ There is No East Nor West 417/317
Confession
Gracious Lord, creator of this universe, in your generosity you have given us a world of abundance and diversity, In Christ, you made us brothers and sisters and intended for us to be united,
Yet we have built walls to separate us from those who are different from us.
You gave us wisdom and creativity to make the world better
But we have failed to use your gifts to care for those around us.
We ignore the poor and the weak and honored the rich and powerful.
Lord, in your mercy, forgive us our sins against you and against one another. Amen.
Declaration of Forgiveness
From the very beginning, in the Garden of Eden, God found a way around sin. He sent his only Son so that whosoever believes in Him would be saved. Know that in Jesus you have been forgiven and be at peace.
Gloria Patri
Children’s Time (Communion)
Prayer for Illumination
Reading of the Word: Exodus 17:1-7 (NRSV)
17 From the wilderness of Sin the whole congregation of the Israelites journeyed by stages, as the Lord commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. 2 The people quarreled with Moses, and said, “Give us water to drink.” Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord?” 3 But the people thirsted there for water; and the people complained against Moses and said, “Why did you bring us out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and livestock with thirst?”
4 So Moses cried out to the Lord, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me.” 5 The Lord said to Moses, “Go on ahead of the people, and take some of the elders of Israel with you; take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. 6 I will be standing there in front of you on the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it, so that the people may drink.” Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel. 7 He called the place Massah[a] and Meribah,[b] because the Israelites quarreled and tested the Lord, saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”
John 4:7-15
7 A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” 8 (His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.) 9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?” (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.)[b] 10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” 11 The woman said to him, “Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? 12 Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?” 13 Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.” 15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.”
This is the word of the Lord
Thanks be to God
Meditation: Reaching out to a Thirsty World
I confess, I love movie theater popcorn. Sometimes I think I love going to the movies just to have some. Forget the sweets, I want the popcorn. But as you know, popcorn makes you thirsty, so I always have to have a large beverage with it.
Many years ago, I remember reading something in Christianity today. It was something like this:
Lord, make be popcorn for the world, making them thirsty for you.
Hunger and thirst are natural expressions of the basic human desire and need for food and water.
One of the clear indicators that something is wrong physically is when we lose our appetite. It is the same spiritually. To hunger and thirst for God is at the very root of our being. It’s the way God made us. When there is no hunger for the presence of God, it is an indicator that something is wrong spiritually.
Using my movie theater analogy, when we are hungry, we don’t always eat what we should. At the movies we eat things like popcorn and candy. Instead of life-giving water, we pick up sodas and other sweetened beverages.
Christians who are hungry and thirsty for God can end up doing the same thing. Instead of finding solace where it matters, in a relationship with God, we fill up the empty space with spiritual junk food instead of seeking the presence of God where our thirst will be filled.
In the Chronicles of Narnia, one of the last books is called the Silver Chair. Jill and her companion Eustice are pulled into Aslan’s land in Narnia, where Eustice falls over a steep cliff. She is left alone with a lion on the prowl, and with a deep thirst. Hearing water trickling, she follows the sound. But when she arrives at the stream, the huge lion is there. She has to go past the lion to get to the water.
The lion invites her to come and drink, but she expresses her fear.
“I daren’t come and drink,” said Jill.
“Then you will die of thirst,” said the Lion.
“Oh dear!” said Jill, coming another step nearer. “I suppose I must go and look for another stream then.”
“There is no other stream,” said the Lion.
It never occurred to Jill to disbelieve the Lion—no one who had seen his stern face could do that—and her mind suddenly made itself up. It was the worst thing she had ever had to do, but she went forward to the stream, knelt down, and began scooping up water in her hand. It was the coldest, most refreshing water she had ever tasted. You didn’t need to drink much of it, for it quenched your thirst at once.
Lewis, C.S.. The Silver Chair (Chronicles of Narnia Book 6) (p. 8). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.
Scripture tells us that is what it is like with God. The passage from Exodus reminds us that when we are thirsty, God provides. God actually stood on the rock at Horeb, the rock that Moses struck. The water that was given to the Israelites came directly from the hand of God, filling not just their thirst, but there need to know, “Is God with us or not?” Because the assumption is that if God is with us, then God will fill our needs.
Jesus, at the well says these words, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.”
When we are thirsty for God, and we drink of what God has provided, we not only have our thirst filled, but we become living streams that pour out to others.
But when we satisfy our thirst in other ways, the results are not the same. There are three ways that we are filled in our thirst for God and become an outpouring of water to others.
The first is prayer. But prayer is something that is easy to ignore. We speak more with one another here at church than we do with the God of the universe.
C.S. Lewis wrote in The Weight of Glory, “We are far too easily pleased. That, in the end, is the reason we do not pray more than we do. Nothing less than infinite joy is offered us in God’s kingdom of light. He has promised that we will one day shine like the sun in that kingdom (Matthew 13:43).”
“But we have become satisfied with mere church, mere religious exertion, mere numbers and buildings—the things we can do. There is nothing wrong with these things, but they are no more than foam left by the surf on the ocean of God’s glory and goodness.”
How then, can we begin to develop that thirst for conversation with God? If we find ourselves lacking in desire, can it be rekindled within us?
Perhaps the best way to look at this is to again make a comparison to physical thirst and the way we handle it. When we get thirsty, many of us begin to look for something to quench our thirst.. The feeling prompts us to seek something to fill us up, even if it is something that is not really good for us.
Spiritually speaking, there is a thirst for God that is often not recognized for what it is. Our thirst for God may be an empty feeling, a sense of longing, even loneliness in the midst of people. We start looking for ways to make the feeling go away…to fill up the emptiness. In a sense, we begin to look for the junk food that will mask the pangs of thirst within.
If we recognize our thirst for what it is, a deep need to be in relationship with God, we will turn to God instead of those things around us that dull the feeling of thirst. We will begin to talk to God in Prayer.
The second way to quench our spiritual thirst is in reading God’s Word to us.
If we have a deep desire to speak to God, we have an even deeper need to listen to God. While God does speak directly to our hearts, God also speaks out of Scripture to us. And the best way to hear God’s voice is to regularly read out of the Bible.
You have all heard the story of the businessman who was in deep trouble. A friend who was a Christian advised him that the Bible would tell him what to do. So he purchased a Bible and took it home. Not understanding, he simply opened it randomly and decided whatever passage he turned to and his eye caught on that page, he would follow.
The first time he opened the Bible he read, “And Judas threw the silver into the temple and went out and hung himself.” “Well, that can’t be good advice the man thought, let me try again.” So once again he randomly sought a passage and found these words, “Go and do likewise.”
That is NOT how you read the Bible. There are many ways you can read and study scripture, some more complex than others.
When I was a teen, I asked my youth director how, and he said this. Start at the beginning of the New Testament and keep reading. Just read each day and hear what Jesus said. You can also do this with the entire Bible, but it takes awhile to get to the New Testament, so you should probably start there.
Because when you know what the Bible says as a whole, you can hear God’s voice to you. The passages you read each day will be called to mind when situations arise, and you will find yourself focusing on certain passages that you read as the day goes on. The Bible becomes not just a religious book, but part of your conversation with God.
The third way we find our thirst fulfilled for God is by what is also known as the “enacting of the word.” We don’t call it that here in church, we call it The Lord’s Supper. But as we gather around this table today, as we speak the traditional words of institution, we join hands with other Christians around the world, in the very presence of God.
At the beginning of my ministry, I was struck by these words written by Paul, to the Corinthians:
23 For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took a loaf of bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body that is for[g] you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way he took the cup also, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
Paul was NOT at the Last Supper. The words “For I received from the Lord which I also handed on to you” are the words of the Apostle who gave communion to Paul, or of the words of a Christian who received communion from an Apostle who gave it to Paul.
In other words, as we gather around this table today with Christians around the world, we ALSO gather around this table with Christians of every generation. Our mothers, our fathers, our grandparents, our great grandparents, this is a table at crosses generations and time as well as space. This is a table which began at the time Jesus gave it to his disciples, and is a table which remains alive because we participate in it today.
And as we enact, or act out, this table, we are filled in the deep thirst that exists in our lives. We are filled with ways to meet our deepest needs our thirst for God. And here at the table, our thirst is filled.
But these is another critical element to coming to the table. At the end of each communion service there is an acknowledgement that the coming is only the first act of the table. Act 2 happens after we leave the table when we are sent out to the thirsty world.
I opened my sermon with these words, “Lord, make me popcorn for the world, making them thirsty for you.”
We come to worship to be in the presence of the living God and fill our thirst. But in being filled, we are also sent back into the world to direct them to the source of the living water.
The coming and the going are one. Like breathing – in and out, a pattern and a life, let us pray
Dedication of Offerings/Doxology
Communion Service [VIDEO] Text follows
The Lord’s Supper – October 4, 2020
The Invitation:
This is the Joyful feast of the people of God!
Just as the crowds gathered and sat at the foot of Jesus and he fed them with loaves and fish, we also sit.
Some of us are here together.
Some of us remain in our cars.
Some of us are at home watching from afar.
But no matter where we are, this one act unites us as a single body. Together we will take the bread and drink the cup. And in this we are with one another.
Statement of Faith: The Apostles 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.
Great Thanksgiving:
The Lord be with you – And also with you.
Lift up your hearts – We lift them to the Lord.
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God,
It is right to give our thanks and praise.
Prayer of Thanksgiving:
We thank you O God, for the creation of the earth which surrounds us. The sun, the moon, the stars, all bear testimony to your word.
We thank you that you created us, and loved us even in our fall. You sent Jesus to teach us and to die for our sins.
We thank you that through the Holy Spirit, no matter where we are, we are together.
We give you thanks that the Lord Jesus, on the night before he died, took bread, and after giving thanks to you, he broke it, and gave it to his disciples saying: Take, eat. This is my body, given for you. Do this in remembrance of me. In the same way, Jesus took the cup, saying: This cup is the new covenant sealed in my blood, shed for you for the forgiveness of sins. Whenever you drink it, do this in remembrance of me.
Gracious God, pour out your Holy Spirit upon us and upon these your gifts of bread and cup, no matter where we are or what they look like, that the bread we break and the cup we bless may be the communion of the body and blood of Christ.
AMEN
Breaking of the Bread:
For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took a loaf of bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way he took the cup also, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
Jesus said, I am the bread of Life.
Jesus said, I am the vine, you are the branches. Come to me and never be hungry; believe in me and never thirst.
These are the gifts of God for the people of God
Thanks be to God.
Distribution of Elements to people and cars
Prayer after Communion:
God of abundance, with this bread of life and cup of salvation, you have united us with Christ, making us one with all your people. Now send us forth in the power of your Spirit that we may proclaim your redeeming love to the world and continue forever in the risen life of Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.
* He Hideth My Soul
* Benediction/Passing the Peace
Now go into the world as one people, serving one God, the creator and savior of all of us. As you go, may the peace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you.
And also with you
Pastor: Rev. Bobbie Karchner
Ministers: The Congregation
Web Site: http://tricountyministries.weebly.com
Weekly Worship Services uploaded on Sunday
The Invitation:
This is the Joyful feast of the people of God!
Just as the crowds gathered and sat at the foot of Jesus and he fed them with loaves and fish, we also sit.
Some of us are here together.
Some of us remain in our cars.
Some of us are at home watching from afar.
But no matter where we are, this one act unites us as a single body. Together we will take the bread and drink the cup. And in this we are with one another.
Statement of Faith: The Apostles 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.
Great Thanksgiving:
The Lord be with you – And also with you.
Lift up your hearts – We lift them to the Lord.
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God,
It is right to give our thanks and praise.
Prayer of Thanksgiving:
We thank you O God, for the creation of the earth which surrounds us. The sun, the moon, the stars, all bear testimony to your word.
We thank you that you created us, and loved us even in our fall. You sent Jesus to teach us and to die for our sins.
We thank you that through the Holy Spirit, no matter where we are, we are together.
We give you thanks that the Lord Jesus, on the night before he died, took bread, and after giving thanks to you, he broke it, and gave it to his disciples saying: Take, eat. This is my body, given for you. Do this in remembrance of me. In the same way, Jesus took the cup, saying: This cup is the new covenant sealed in my blood, shed for you for the forgiveness of sins. Whenever you drink it, do this in remembrance of me.
Gracious God, pour out your Holy Spirit upon us and upon these your gifts of bread and cup, no matter where we are or what they look like, that the bread we break and the cup we bless may be the communion of the body and blood of Christ.
AMEN
Breaking of the Bread:
For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took a loaf of bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way he took the cup also, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
Jesus said, I am the bread of Life.
Jesus said, I am the vine, you are the branches. Come to me and never be hungry; believe in me and never thirst.
These are the gifts of God for the people of God
Thanks be to God.
Distribution of Elements to people and cars
Prayer after Communion:
God of abundance, with this bread of life and cup of salvation, you have united us with Christ, making us one with all your people. Now send us forth in the power of your Spirit that we may proclaim your redeeming love to the world and continue forever in the risen life of Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.
* He Hideth My Soul
* Benediction/Passing the Peace
Now go into the world as one people, serving one God, the creator and savior of all of us. As you go, may the peace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you.
And also with you
Pastor: Rev. Bobbie Karchner
Ministers: The Congregation
Web Site: http://tricountyministries.weebly.com
Weekly Worship Services uploaded on Sunday