Worship - July 3, 2005

Leader: Come, let us worship
People: For we are the people of God's pasture.
Leader: Come, let us worship and bow down,
People: For we are the sheep of God's hand.
Leader: Come, let us worship and bow down,
before the Lord, our Maker.
All: For the Lord is our God,
and God desires our worship!

by Earle W. Fike, Jr., from We Gather Together,
�1979 Brethren Press.

Scriptural Affirmation of faith

No one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid,
         which is Jesus Christ.
In Christ the whole building is joined together
         and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord.
And in Christ we too are being built together
         to become a dwelling in which God lives by the Spirit.
As we come to Christ, the living Stone -
         rejected by builders but chosen by God -
         we also, like living stones,
         are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood,
         offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
So then we are no longer foreigners and aliens,
         but citizens with God's people and members of God's household,
         built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets,
         with Christ Jesus as the chief cornerstone.

Hymnal #716, �1992 The Hymnal Project,
based on 1 Corinthians 3:111, 1 Peter 2:4-5,
and Ephesians 2:19-22, New Revised Standard Version

Responsive Prayer of the People

           Almighty God,
                    from whom comes each good gift of life,
                    we remember your loving kindness and your uncounted mercies
                             as we join in grateful praise.
           For all your gifts to us and to our human race;
                    for our life and the world in which we live,
                    we give you thanks, O God.
           For the order and constancy of nature;
                    for the beauty and bounty of the world;
                    for day and night, summer and winter, seed-time and harvest;
                    for the varied joys which every season brings,
                    we give you thanks, O God.
           For the work we are enabled to do,
                    and the truth we are permitted to discover;
                    good there has been in our past,
                    and for all the hopes which lead us on toward better things,
                    we give you thanks, O God.
           For all the joys and comforts of life;
                    for homes and families;
                    for our friends;
                    for the love, sympathy, and goodwill of persons near and far,
                    we give you thanks, O God.
           For all cultures, wise government and just laws which order our common life;
                    for education and all the treasures of literature, science, and art,
                    we give you thanks, O God.
           For the discipline of life;
                    for the tasks and trials which train us to know ourselves
                    and which bring us to accept one another,
                    we give you thanks, O God.
           For the desire and power to help others;
                    for every opportunity of serving our generation in ways large or small,
                    we give you thanks, O God.
           For the gift of Jesus Christ, and everything which is ours as his disciples;
                    for the presence and inspiration of your Holy Spirit throughout our days,
                    we give you thanks, O God.
           For the tender ties which bind us to the unseen world;
                    for the faith which dispels the shadows of earth
                    and fills the closing years of life with the light of hope,
                    we give you thanks, O God.
ALL: God of all grace and love,
                    we have praised you with our lips
                    for all the richness and meaning that life holds for us.
           Now send us into the world to praise you with our lives,
                    through Jesus Christ, our Lord. AMEN

Hymnal #721, from
The Hymnal of the United Church of Christ, �1974.
United Church Press, 700 Prospect Ave., E.,
Cleveland, OH 44115-1100

Returning our Tithes and Offerings

In the book of Proverbs, we find this wisdom: "If you obey God, you will have something to leave your grandchildren. If you don't obey God, those who live right will get what you leave." (Proverbs 13:22, CEV) ... Please pray with me.

We have been blessed, O Lord, not just with material wealth, but with a heritage passed on to us by those who have walked with you before us. As we prepare to hear you speak through our brother Ed, trouble the waters of our giving just now with his question: "What did I leave behind?" May these offerings move us in the directions in which you intend to lead us, that those who come after us may see in our walk their heritage. In Jesus. AMEN.

Benediction

May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father,
            who has shown us such love,
      and in his grace has given us
            such unfailing encouragement
            and so sure a hope,
       still encourage and strengthen you
             in every good deed and word.

Hymnal #773
2 Thessalonians 2:16-17,
adapted from the Revised English Bible