Long Green Valley Church of the Brethren
Long Green & Kanes Rds., near Glen Arm, Md.
September 14, 2008
Worship 10:00 am, Sunday School 11:10 am
 

  Morning Praise (9:45 am)
  Announcements
  Prelude

  Call to Worship

*Hymn                              "O bless the Lord, my soul"                               600

*Unison Confession                                                                                   703

  Scripture                                 Psalm 103:6-13

  Tercentennial Minute

  Scripture                               Matthew 18:21-35

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

  Pastoral Prayer

  Scripture                                 Romans 14:1-12

  Message                            "Passing Judgment"

  Song                                   "Wilderness Travelers"

  Quiet Reflecting and Responding

  Returning our Tithes and Offerings

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

*Hymn                                 "Come, come ye saints"                                   425

*Benediction

#'s are from Hymnal: A Worship Book

Worship leaders - see basic guidelines

Call to Worship
Psalm 103:1-5
(LaughingBird Version)

©2001 Nathan Nettleton www.laughingbird.net
   

Unison Confession

Gracious God, hear our confession.
Our faith is uncertain,
      our forgiveness slow,
      our conviction weak,
      our compassion wavering.
We have exalted the proud and powerful,
      put down the weak,
      saturated the rich with good things,
      neglected the poor,
      sent the hungry away empty-handed.
We have helped ourselves.

Show us your mercy,
Help us show mercy,
      through your Son, our Savior. AMEN

Hymnal #703
Adapted from the musical "Prayer Phrases"
by Harris J. Loewen, ©1986
   

Tercentennial Minute
   The Brethren Bible makes its way home

            September 17, 1862, was the bloodiest single day of the American Civil War.  The Battle of Antietam near Sharpsburg, Maryland, included Union losses of 12,410 while the confederates lost 10,700. General Robert E. Lee had taken the war into Maryland, a slave state that had stayed with the Union, to encourage them to secede, and also to sharpen public opinion in a war weary North to end the war and recognize the Confederacy. In addition he hoped with a swift victory to draw France and England into the war on the South’s side, in part because both nations depended on southern cotton for their textile industries.

            He accomplished none of these things.  The southern army had been depicted in the newspapers as gallant cavaliers, but the sight of barefoot and ragged troops startled Marylanders.  The rare northern victory not only strengthened the resolve of the Union, but also gave political cover to Lincoln, who was able to issue the Emancipation Proclamation, which defined the war as one against slavery.  Since both France and England had outlawed slavery, they were no longer able to support the south as they had hoped.

            The battle took place in part on the Mumma property.  The Mummas were a Brethren family whose home was destroyed.  The Dunker meeting house was a major landmark throughout the battle.  It was built on property donated by the Mummas, and was at the center of the battle.  Photographs of confederate dead in front of the bullet riddled meetinghouse startled Americans with the horrendous ugliness of war.  Previously they had thought of the Civil War as a gallant affair.

            As often happened, the church's Bible was stolen as a souvenir.  In 1903 a soldier's widow asked the 107^th Regiment of New York to return it, but the problem was that no one knew any Dunkers in that part of the country.

            Except one.  John Lewis (1835-1906), an African American, baptized Brethren, who wore the beard and plain clothes and kept his Brethren ties after he moved to New York State.  Lewis was famous because he'd saved the lives of three people on a runaway carriage, including the sister-in-law of his friend Mark Twain, at great risk to his own life.  This made him a local hero.  As a result he was contacted by the regiment to return the Bible, which he did, after posing with it for a magazine.  The Bible is now on display at the museum of the Antietam National Battlefield.  And Lewis?  Many think he served as the model for the runaway slave Jim in Twain's famous novel, Huckleberry Finn.

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)
  

Pastoral Prayer

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

Quiet Reflecting and Responding

         The following questions will be listed on a bulletin insert with space for written answers. One list is for those who have been connected to the ongoing story of this congregation. On the other side of the insert, the questions are worded with visitors in mind. These will be introduced at the end of the sermon, with folks invited to write their responses in this quiet time after (or even during) the previous song.

Returning our Tithes and Offerings

Thank you for pondering these questions and sharing your responses. The adult and youth Sunday School classes will meet together after worship to go over these vision statements. You’re invited to participate. As you enter the Fellowship Hall, you’ll be given someone else’s response. Choose a table and sit there. In small groups around the tables, you’ll each read the answers we’ve been given, and see if any strike a common chord for the group. That’s all.

            Now, as we draw this service of worship to a close, it’s time for us to respond to God with our tithes and other offerings. Please pray with me.

Ushers?
 

Benediction

You who are, indeed, “saints”
         through the One who has called you
                                      and is transforming you,
                  wend your way this week with joy.
Pass up the temptation to judge other people,
         but don’t lay down the God-given ability
                  to discern where the Lord may be leading.
Live into that vision,
         trusting that God will provide a way,
                  and allowing your heart to swell:
                           All is well!