Worship Order for Sunday

Long Green Valley Church of the Brethren
Long Green & Kanes Rds., near Glen Arm, Md.
June 1, 2014
Worship 10:00 am          Sunday School 11:10am

Ascension Day
Waiting for the Spirit

      You don’t get to know the time. Timing is the Father’s business. What you’ll get is the Holy Spirit. And when the Holy Spirit comes on you, you will be able to be my witnesses in Jerusalem, all over Judea and Samaria, even to the ends of the world.
                       
(Acts 1:7-8 from The Message)

  Beginning with Praise (9:50 am)                  “God of our strength”                   36
  Announcements
  Prelude                           “From Thy Throne So High”                            Gluck

*Call to Worship                             Psalm 47

*Hymn                              “Rejoice, the Lord is king!”                                288

*Opening (and Lord's) Prayer

  Scripture                                    John 17:1-11           (from the Good News Bible)

  For Children                       Planting Prayers

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

   Hymn                                 “If you but trust in God”                                  576

  Pastoral Prayer

  Scripture                            1 Peter 4:12-14, 5:6-11

  Returning our Tithes and Offerings

  Offertory                                      “Andante”                                  Beethoven
                              (Please sign the attendance pad and pass it on)

  Scripture                                     Acts 1:6-14

  Message                                   Will power (mp3)

*Hymn                           “Heart with loving heart united”                             420

*Benediction

*Postlude                               “God Be With You”                              Williams


*Rise in body or in spirit

#'s are from Hymnal: A Worship Book

Worship leaders - see basic guidelines

Call to Worship

(for 2 leaders: one to guide the response, the other to read the text)
 
Response (vs.1):
 
 
 
 
Clap on the notes, and chant words to the claps. Repeat several times. "Sing" this at beginning, interspersed, & at end, each time a little faster.

For the Lord, the Most High, is awesome,
    a great king over all the earth.
He subdued peoples under us,
    and nations under our feet.
He chose our heritage for us,
    the pride of Jacob whom he loves.

(Response)

 

God has gone up with a shout,
    the Lord with the sound of a trumpet.
Sing praises to God, sing praises;
    sing praises to our King, sing praises.
For God is the king of all the earth;
    sing praises with a psalm.

(Response)

 

God is king over the nations;
    God sits on his holy throne.
The princes of the peoples gather
    as the people of the God of Abraham.
  For the shields of the earth belong to God;
    he is highly exalted.

(Response)

Psalm 47 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

Giver of power and strength,
you take a rag-tag bunch
of denying disciples and
feckless followers,
creating a new community
of servants who seek
to do your will.

Keeper of all time,
you are enthroned on the
rubble of death's shattered power,
calling us to your side
and giving us a new vocation,
by which we serve the
broken of the communities
in which we live.

Constant Presence of hope,
you strengthen us so
we never give in while
confronted by evil;
you continually pray for us
that we never quit when
faith proves to be more
of a challenge than we imagined.

God in Community, Holy in One,
we lift our hearts to you,
as we pray as we are taught,
(The Lord's Prayer)

by Thom M. Shuman
Immanuel Presbyterian Church
Cincinnati, OH
from Lectionary Liturgies
a great resource! Thanks, Thom!
     

John 17:1-11

             Among the last words of Jesus to his disciples before he was arrested, according to the gospel of John, is a prayer. It is long and somewhat hard to understand at points, like the rest of John’s gospel. It is loaded with heavy theology, almost like a sermon. Only this message is addressed to God, and we just listen in. We will read it from the Good News Bible, a paraphrase which tries to bring it down to earth a bit for our ears. By the way, this is only the beginning portion of what is sometimes called Jesus’ High Priestly Prayer. Listen.

John 17:1-11

  

For Children
Planting Prayers

             With a pack of seeds make a big show of having bought some beautiful flowers from the store. After opening it, look really dejected and confused over what is inside. Let the kids tell you what is supposed to happen with the seeds – the work involved in preparing and planting them, and then waiting for something to happen. Does it take place immediately? No. But you need to weed and water.

            Slowly shift, still in a “let the kids point it out” mode to making a connection to prayer. Don’t force meaning onto them. Some may get it, some may not. A child’s literal thinking only goes so far. Prayer is “like” planting seeds. Yes, there is work involved, getting the ground ready, and we are the ground. What we pray for doesn’t happen immediately. Weeding and watering is involved, but God makes things grow. The children may point out things about planting prayers that go beyond what this adult mind thought.

            We begin our summer quarter of Sunday School (which follows worship here) today. Instead of going to classrooms, split up by age groups, we are approaching this intergenerationally all together. Our first “Summer in Spirit” is to plant seeds. We will take home the containers of planted seeds and tend them over the summer, and bring them back in September when we will install and dedicate our Peace Pole for International Day of Prayer for Peace. These will get re-planted around it. Also of the docket for this “Summer in Spirit” day in June is planting already potted plants outside, around our meetinghouse to add beauty. In fact, if the weather cooperates, all of the Sunday School hour will be spent outdoors together. The theme song for this will be, “In the bulb there is a flower” (hymnal #614).

      

Pastoral Prayer

 

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

 

1 Peter 4:12-14, 5:6-11

1 - Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that is taking place among you to test you,

2 - Yes, do not be surprised as though something strange were happening to you.

1 - But rejoice insofar as you are sharing Christ’s sufferings, so that you may also be glad and shout for joy when his glory is revealed.

2 - If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the spirit of glory, which is the Spirit of God, is resting on you.

1 - Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, so that he may exalt you in due time.

2 - Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you.

1 - Discipline yourselves, keep alert.

2 - Like a roaring lion your adversary the devil prowls around, looking for someone to devour.

1 - Resist him, steadfast in your faith, for you know that your brothers and sisters in all the world are undergoing the same kinds of suffering.

2 - And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ,

1 - will himself restore,

2 - support,

1 - strengthen,

2 - and establish you.

1 - To him be the power forever and ever.

2 - Amen.

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
previously used on 6/5/2011

   

Returning our Tithes and Offerings

             As our God of all grace restores, supports, strengthens, and establishes us, we then become part of this restoring, supporting, strengthening, and establishing work. That’s what our tithes and offerings are all about. It’s not a tax we pay. It’s a mission into which we are called. God gives to us what we need to accomplish it, or at least to get one further step down the road towards its fulfillment. That’s not just money, my friends. It’s also time and ability and energy and a sense of purpose that our Lord provides. It’s amazing what can happen as we let go of our anxiety and step into God’s active caring for us. What then surprises us are not all the bad things that can and do happen in this world. What takes our breath away, instead, is what God is doing all around us in this world, if only we have eyes to see and hands ready to become involved. 

             As you give your offering today, think beyond what you place in the plate. What might God be doing in your neck of the woods this week? Are you ready and willing to get your hands dirty in the Lord’s work?

previously used on 6/5/2011
  

Benediction

In the words of the prophet Isaiah:

  Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
   
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
   
his understanding is unsearchable.
He gives power to the faint,
   
and strengthens the powerless.
Even youths will faint and be weary,
   
and the young will fall exhausted;
but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength,
   
they shall mount up with wings like eagles,
they shall run and not be weary,
   
they shall walk and not faint.
*
 

             So, return to where you need to be.
                        Pentecost is coming!

* Isaiah 40:28-31 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
    
 
 

 

Interested in Sunday School?
Below is a growing list of possible sites to visit. As you discover others, please let us know.

International Lesson:
Faith and Life Resources

Mennonite Publishing House

International Lesson:
Mennonite Weekly Review

(scroll down on left to "Sunday School lessons)

International Lesson:
Christian Standard
(one week ahead)

International Lesson:
Adult Bible Studies
from The United Methodist Publishing House
(click "supplemental resources" and "current events supplement" under both the "Student" and "Teacher" sections in the left hand column)

International Lesson:
International Bible Lesson
a weekly column by L.G. Parkhurst, Jr.
in "The Oklahoman" newspaper
also found
here

International Lesson:
Living Web Sunday School Project

While one of our adult classes follows the International lesson above (see also), using
A Guide for Biblical Studies,
published quarterly by our denomination,
another class often uses one of the
Good Ground series.

For children and youth, we use the new
Gather Round curriculum
(developed jointly by the Church of the Brethren and the Mennonite Church)

 

©2014 Peter L. Haynes
(unless otherwise stated, worship resources were written by him)

 

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