Long Green Valley Church of the Brethren
Long Green & Kanes Rds., near Glen Arm, Md.
October 19, 2008
Worship 10:00 am, Sunday School 11:10 am
 

  Morning Praise (9:45 am)
  Announcements
  Prelude                           "From Thy Throne So High"                           Gluck

  Call to Worship

*Hymn                          "Holy God, we praise thy name"                            121

*Opening Prayer

  Scripture                            1 Thessalonians 1:1-10

  Deacon Dedication                                                                        (see insert)

  For Children     "There is nothing to fear with God!"

  Sharing a joy, a concern, a word of testimony or praise
                                 (please be brief, and aware of God’s listening presence)

  Hymn                                    "Blessed assurance"                                    332

  Pastoral Prayer

  Scripture                               Matthew 22:15-22

  Returning our Tithes and Offerings

  Offertory                                     "Tranquility"                                       Jensen
                                        (Please sign the attendance pad and pass it on)

  Scripture                                 Exodus 33:12-23

  Message   “Known for what is unseen more than for what is seen”

*Hymn                             "A wonderful Savior is Jesus"                              598

*Benediction

*Postlude                          "Allegro moderato" (excerpt)                           Haydn

#'s are from Hymnal: A Worship Book

Worship leaders - see basic guidelines

Call to Worship
Psalm 99

1 - The Lord is king; let the peoples tremble!

2 - He sits enthroned upon the cherubim; let the earth quake!

1 - The Lord is great in Zion; he is exalted over all the peoples.

2 - Let them praise your great and awesome name. Holy is he!

1 - Mighty King, lover of justice, you have established equity; you have executed justice and righteousness in Jacob.

2 - Extol the Lord our God; worship at his footstool. Holy is he!

1 - Moses and Aaron were among his priests, Samuel also was among those who called on his name. They cried to the Lord, and he answered them.

2 - He spoke to them in the pillar of cloud; they kept his decrees, and the statutes that he gave them.

1 - O Lord our God, you answered them; you were a forgiving God to them, but an avenger of their wrongdoings.

2 - Extol the Lord our God, and worship at his holy mountain; for the Lord our God is holy.

1 – Please stand, if you are able, and turn to #121 in your hymnal - “Holy God, we praise thy name”

from the New Revised Standard Version,
copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of
the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.
  

Opening Prayer

            Awesome and majestic God, your creative power, your glory and holiness were experienced by your people of old as clouds and fire guiding them to freedom. They believed that no one could see your face and live. How blessed therefore are we, for you have revealed your face to us in Jesus -
the human face of your love. You also equip us for our journey through life and beyond, by breathing new and everlasting life into our very beings,
through the gift of the Holy Spirit. These people of old believed that it was your presence with them which made them a chosen and special people. We praise and adore you, O God, for making our lives so special, by choosing to share your life with us in and through Jesus. May this time of worship and the service of our lives reveal our thanksgiving and our wonder that you should so care for us. This we pray in Jesus’ name. Amen

by Moira B Laidlaw, from Liturgies Online
  

For Children
"There is nothing to fear with God!"

            Ed Lewis, our resident childrens' storyteller writes: "I have been working on a "Halloween" flavored story. It has to do with the fear factor that it is based on. I would take some of the "scary" stories of the bible i.e. swallowed by a large fish, a boy facing a giant, and being tossed into a lion's den, and then relate how fear is vanquished by God. When we believe in God, we have nothing to fear, for God is great."
 

Pastoral Prayer

written closer to the time (if not at the moment)

Returning our Tithes and Offerings

                                   Please pray with me.

            Most holy Friend, giver of faith and sharer of wondrous love, please strengthen in us an undivided loyalty to you. Out of that first loyalty, let us find the wisdom to fulfill all our small obligations with generosity and patience, not counting the cost but giving our best to the world for which Christ has paid the ultimate price. In his name we pray. Amen!

Ushers, please come forward and serve by receiving our offerings.

Poem and Prayer by Bruce Prewer, Uniting Church in Australia,
in Resources: Based on the Revised Common Lectionary.
  

Benediction

tbd
 

bulletin insert:

Tercentennial Minute:
Sander Mack & John Preisz agree to disagree

Alexander Mack, Jr., (1712-1803), one of the sons of the first minister of the Brethren, held very strong opinions on the proper gospel order for the ordinances and the running of the church, but he had an even stronger love for Christian love and patience.  The book collector Abraham Harley Cassel preserved a number of letters written by Sander Mack (as he was known). 

In one of these, written October 23, 1798 when he was in his eighties, Mack addresses a biblical disagreement he had with one John Preisz (1752-1829) the elder of the Indian Creek congregation.  The two were good friends for decades.  Indeed, Mack had baptized Preisz in 1773.  They regarded each other warmly – & never hesitated to disagree.

Mack addressed Preisz as “Tenderly beloved brother, dear and well esteemed fellow pilgrim,” and opened “With a heartfelt greeting and salutation of the kiss in the spirit of sincere brotherly love…”

Regarding their disagreement, Mack wrote, “Though I have read thy letter again and again with diligence and in the fear of the Lord, I cannot say that all those scripture passages referred to by you did produce such an impression, as I understand they have produced in you.  But what shall I say?  The flowers in the garden are still and peaceful, though one clothed in blue, the other in red, and the other…in white.  They praise quietly their Creator, and shew forth in entire concord the manifold wisdom of the supreme Being.”

Though they were in disagreement, Mack said, in a postscript, “I have told no person in our neighborhood, that there was a dispute between me and you, nor have I permitted any person to see your letter.  The Lord has called me into peace.  May that same peace, which passeth all understanding, keep our hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.  Amen, Amen.”

Perhaps one reason they were able to keep their disagreements in perspective was because they kept first things.  In one tender and poignant paragraph, Mack tells Preisz; “Last night the youngest child of my youngest daughter has left the body of death, and is gone from the land of mortality over the stream, which has no bridge, into the land of the living.  This child has performed its whole journey in 13 months, and I have traveled now already 86 years and 7 months, and have not yet passed over Jordon.  But what our God doeth, is done well.”

by Frank Ramirez, pastor of the Everett, PA Church of the Brethren
posted by permission                        
The Everett church graciously makes available these weekly vignettes from Brethren history
to all who are interested during this 300th anniversary year of our denomination.
Frank will be the guest preacher for our Homecoming on October 26, 2008
(this is our congregation's 100th anniversary year)