Long Green Valley Church of the Brethren
Long Green & Kanes Rds., near Glen Arm, Md.
October 15, 2006
Worship 10:00 am, Sunday School 11:10 am

  Morning Praise (9:45 am)
  Announcements
  Prelude                                         "Trusting"                                   Hughes

  Call to Worship

*Hymn                            "O God, our help in ages past"                          328
                                                  (verses 3-4 without accompaniment)

*Opening Prayer

  Song                                          "Step by step"

  Testimony

  Song                                          "Step by step"

  Sharing a joy, a concern, a word of testimony or praise

  Scripture                                Hebrews 4:12-16

  Hymn                      "Marvelous grace of our loving Lord"                      151
                          (Our younger children leave for bell practice & Sunday School)

  Pastoral Prayer

  Returning our Tithes and Offerings

  Offertory                                     "Andantino"                                     Wely

  Song                                              "Shema"                                (see insert)

  Scripture                                  Mark 10:17-31

  Message                              "Traveling light"

*Hymn                           "Just as I am, without one plea"                          516

*Benediction

*Postlude                                        "Marcia"                                    Reinhard

#'s are from Hymnal: A Worship Book

Worship leaders - see basic guidelines

Call to Worship
Psalm 90:12-17
(in King James & Laughing Bird versions)

Worship Leader: Given the rough road some of us have traveled recently, we turn to Psalm 90 for these appropriate words to guide us into worship. Each verse will be read in the poetic style of the old King James Version, followed a more contemporary paraphrase. Listen and be led by the Word of God.

Voice 1: So teach us to number our days,
                     that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.

Voice 2: Teach us to value each and every day, LORD,
                     so that we will be wise enough to make the most of them.

Voice 1: Return, O LORD, how long?
                     and let it repent thee concerning thy servants.

Voice 2: It’s time for a change, LORD.
                     Hasn’t this gone on long enough?
                               For pity’s sake, it’s time to give us a break.

Voice 1: O satisfy us early with thy mercy;
                     that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.

Voice 2: Let a new day dawn
                            and give us our fill of your love and loyalty,
                  so that our lives may be full of smiles and laughter
                            till the end of our days.

Voice 1: Make us glad according to the days wherein thou hast afflicted us,
                     and the years wherein we have seen evil.

Voice 2: Give us more days of happiness
                            than the days of suffering you sent.
                  May the years where evil reigned
                            be cancelled out by years of joy.

Voice 1: Let thy work appear unto thy servants,
                     and thy glory unto their children.

Voice 2: Make your actions clear to those of us in your service;
                     let your children see your strength in all its glory.

Voice 1: And let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us:
                     and establish thou the work of our hands upon us;
                               yea, the work of our hands establish thou it.

Voice 2: Put us in your good books, O Lord our God,
                     and give us a rich return for all our labour —
                               may the work of our hands turn to gold!

Worship Leader: Stand, as God makes you able, and sing a hymn based upon the first 11 verses of this same psalm. Let’s sing it as a bright song of praise on this resurrection day.

Laughing Bird Version ©2002 Nathan Nettleton www.laughingbird.net
    

Opening Prayer

O God who raised Christ from the dead,
                    our help and hope,
                    our shelter and strength,
          let the dawning of this new day
                    fill us with your unexplainable gladness,
                              even amid our sorrow.
Eternal God, the Alpha and Omega,
                    our beginning and end,
          teach us wisdom for the ‘counting’ of this day,
                    that we might make the most of this time.
May this all-too-brief period of worship be an hour for change,
          as we release our burdens
                    and turn to you,
                              and seek to walk in your ways,
                                        step by step. Amen.
   

Testimony

         A retirement-age member of our congregation will share about his baptism and what it has meant in the years since he first said "yes" to Jesus.
   

Pastoral Prayer

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

Returning our Tithes and Offerings

         Listen again to Hebrews 4:12-16, this time from the ‘down under’ perspective of the Laughing Bird version of the Bible.

         "The word of God is no dead letter — it is full of life and constantly at work. It is as sharp as a surgeon’s scalpel, and anyone who pushes against it will be cut to the bone. With great precision it opens us up, layer by layer, uncovering what really makes us tick and diagnosing the state of our hearts. You can’t hide your true self from God’s word any more than you hide your body from a surgeon while lying naked and unconscious on the table. No matter who you are, your life is an open book to God.
         "As exposed as this makes us feel, it is all the more reason to stand firm in the faith we’ve already put our hands up to. After all, the one who will present us to God and speak on our behalf — our great high priest — is Jesus, and as God’s own Son we can be sure he has God’s ear. We can also be sure that he can relate to the realities we have to live with, because he has already been through everything we have to go through — weakness, doubts and torments — and all without selling out to sin. What more could we want in a high priest?! So let’s not be timid. Whenever we’re in need of help, let’s walk right up to the throne of God and ask, for our God is extravagantly welcoming and generous — only too happy to wipe our debts and help us out."

(©2000 Nathan Nettleton www.laughingbird.net)

         Will the ushers come forward now to receive our tithes and offerings?
     

Benediction

Go now in the confidence of people who have found mercy.
Follow Jesus,
keeping the commandments,
letting go of all that binds you to the ways of this world,
and investing everything in God’s realm.

And may God come close to you and keep you safe;
May Christ Jesus reward your faithfulness a hundredfold;
and may the Holy Spirit be your help in time of need.

(©2000 Nathan Nettleton www.laughingbird.net - slightly adapted)