Worship - January 18, 2009

Long Green Valley Church of the Brethren
Long Green & Kanes Rds., near Glen Arm, Md.
January 18, 2009
Worship 10:00 am, Sunday School 11:10 am

Now the Lord came and stood there, calling as before, “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.” (1 Samuel 3:10)

Morning Praise (9:45 am)
Announcements
Prelude

Known by God Psalm 139:1-6

Called to the Lord "Come and see" 20

Recognition Psalm 139:13-18

*Opening to Praise "Joyful, joyful, we adore thee" 71

*Opening in Prayer

Confession (vs. 1-2) "Amazing grace!" 143

Gospel John 1:43-51

Affirmation 711

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

In God’s hands (vs. 3 & 6) "Amazing grace!" 143

Praying

Reminder 1 Corinthians 6:12-20

Returning our Tithes and Offerings

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

Nudged "I heard the voice of Jesus say" 493

Listening 1 Samuel 3:1-20

Telling “You called?”

*Singing "God's calling" (see insert)

*Sending

*Postlude

#'s are from Hymnal: A Worship Book

Worship leaders - see basic guidelines

Known by God
Psalm 139:1-6
(Laughing Bird Version)

You have taken a good hard look at me, LORD,
........and you know exactly what makes me tick.

You know when I’ve got my feet up and when I’m on the job;
........you can read my mind like an open book.

You see where I am going and where I stop,
........and you know all about what I do and why.

You know exactly what I am going to say, LORD,
........even before I open my mouth.

You are in front of me, behind me, beside me;
........your hand on my shoulder at every turn.

All this is more than I can get my head around;
........I pinch myself, and struggle to take it in.

Recognition
Psalm 139:13-18
(Laughing Bird Version)

It was you who put me together, every part of me;
........you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

I sing your praises, LORD,
........for the way you have made me fills me with awe.

Your creative works blow my mind;
........too wonderful for words.

You could see me clearly before I was born;
........you watched me taking shape in the secret depths
................and laid out the intricacies of nerve and muscle.

You kept your eye on me
........from conception to birth.

My life lay before you like an open book
........before I had even lived a day.

Your thoughts are way beyond my grasp, God,
........and they add up to more than I can count.

Deeper than the oceans,
........outnumbering the grains of sand;

I give up trying
........but you are with me just the same.

Opening to Prayer

God, we barely scratch the surface of understanding who you are and what you have created us to be. Even so, joy is a song that flows naturally from our lips, a happiness that is not bound by our present circumstances, but bidden by your invitation to come and follow. May our praise this day be more than words, our following Jesus be more than a show, our care for one another be more than gossip, and our giving involve all of who we are and not just a teenie-weenie part.
May our hearts truly unfold like flowers before you, Lord, as we have just sung. Indeed, “melt the clouds of sin and sadness,” and “drive the dark of doubt away.” This we pray, upheld by your amazing grace. Amen.

Gospel
John 1:43-51

Our gospel reading this morning is from the first chapter of John. It’s the story of Jesus calling Philip and then Nathaniel to become his disciples. One invitation leads to another. As usual with the gospel of John, there’s more going on behind the words than we realize at first. There is a playful interchange between Jesus and Nathaniel when they finally meet. Listen:

⁴³The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.” ⁴⁴Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. ⁴⁵Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth.” ⁴⁶Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” ⁴⁷When Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him, he said of him, “Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!” ⁴⁸Nathanael asked him, “Where did you get to know me?” Jesus answered, “I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you.” ⁴⁹Nathanael replied, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” ⁵⁰Jesus answered, “Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than these.” ⁵¹And he said to him, “Very truly, I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.”

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.

Affirmation

Leader: Jesus taught us to speak of hope as the coming of God's kingdom.

ALL: We believe that God is at work in our world
                  turning hopeless and evil situations into good.
            We believe that goodness and justice
                  will triumph in the end
                  and that tyranny and oppression cannot last forever.
            One day all tears will be wiped away;
                  the lamb will lie down with the lion,
                  and justice will roll down like a mighty stream.

Leader: True peace and true reconciliation are not only desired,
they are assured and guaranteed in Christ.

ALL: This is our faith.
This is our hope.

Hymnal, #711, South African creed, 20th c.,
Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace,
Toronto, Ontario, CANADA

Pastoral Prayer

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

Reminder
1 Corinthians 6:12-20
(The Message)

As Psalm 139 tells us, God knows us better than we know ourselves, inside and out, backward and forward. And, like Nathaniel, God invites us to “come and see” if anything good can come out of it all. In the next scripture reading, the apostle Paul reminds us of something that’s easy to forget. I’m reading from The Message, a paraphrase. Listen:

            ¹² Just because something is technically legal doesn’t mean that it’s spiritually appropriate. If I went around doing whatever I thought I could get by with, I’d be a slave to my whims.
            ¹³ You know the old saying, “First you eat to live, and then you live to eat”? Well, it may be true that the body is only a temporary thing, but that’s no excuse for stuffing your body with food, or indulging it with sex. Since the Master honors you with a body, honor him with your body!
            ^14-15 God honored the Master’s body by raising it from the grave. He’ll treat yours with the same resurrection power. Until that time, remember that your bodies are created with the same dignity as the Master’s body. You wouldn’t take the Master’s body off to a whorehouse, would you? I should hope not.
            ^16-20 There’s more to sex than mere skin on skin. Sex is as much spiritual mystery as physical fact. As written in Scripture, “The two become one.” Since we want to become spiritually one with the Master, we must not pursue the kind of sex that avoids commitment and intimacy, leaving us more lonely than ever—the kind of sex that can never “become one.” There is a sense in which sexual sins are different from all others. In sexual sin we violate the sacredness of our own bodies, these bodies that were made for God-given and God-modeled love, for “becoming one” with another. Or didn’t you realize that your body is a sacred place, the place of the Holy Spirit? Don’t you see that you can’t live however you please, squandering what God paid such a high price for? The physical part of you is not some piece of property belonging to the spiritual part of you. God owns the whole works. So let people see God in and through your body.

Returning our Tithes and Offerings

Okay, we’ve been reminded. Our bodies are more important than we realize, just like this “body” we call “the church.” We can squander what we have been given by God, whether we’re talking about sex or money. As Paul wrote long ago, “God owns the whole works. So let people see God in and through your body.” That’s a good reminder! Let’s act on it right now as we return our tithes and offerings. Ushers? Would you help us?

Sending

Go now. Listen for the voice of the Lord
and follow wherever it leads.
Do not be dominated by anything.
Allow no room within yourselves for deceit,
but offer yourselves as a temple for the Holy Spirit.

And may God be with you and speak through you;
May Christ Jesus be one with you and raise you to life;
And may the Holy Spirit dwell within you and make you holy.