Worship Order for
Sunday
Long Green Valley Church of the Brethren
Long Green & Kanes Rds., near Glen Arm, Md.
February 28, 2010
Worship 10:00 am
Sunday School 11:10am
Second Sunday of Lent
Then
(God) took him outside and said, "Look at the sky. Count
the stars. Can you do it? Count your descendants! You're
going to have a big family, Abram!" And he believed!
Believed God!
God declared him "Set-Right-with-God."
(Genesis
15:5-6) |
Beginning with Praise
(9:50 am)
Announcements
Prelude
"Beneath the Cross of Jesus"
arr. Elmore Call to
Worship
"The Lord is my light"
(see insert)
Responsive Scripture
Reading
*Hymn
"Unto thy temple, Lord,
we come"
4
*Opening Prayer
Scripture
Genesis 11:27 - 12:4
A
Time with Children
Scripture
Romans 4:1-14
(Contemporary English Version)
Sharing
a joy, a concern, a word of testimony or praise
(please be brief, and aware of God's listening presence)
Prayer Hymn
"I
am thine, O Lord"
505
Pastoral Prayer
Scripture
Hebrews 11:8-12
Returning our Tithes
and Offerings
Offertory
"The Promises"
Panchenko
(Please sign the attendance pad and pass it on)
Scripture
Genesis 15:1-18a
Message
"Cutting your teeth"
(mp3)
*Hymn
"Beneath
the cross of Jesus"
250
*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
|
Responsive Scripture Reading
Psalm 27
Each pew has 2
Bibles located in the rack with the hymnals. I invite you to
draw closer to one another and share, as together we draw near
to the Lord through a responsive reading of Psalm 27. Please
turn there now. It begins on page 477. This Revised Standard
Version of the Psalm is divided into 10 sections, each being
a verse – until we reach the 7th verse, when the
sections begin including more than one verse. We will take turns
reading, starting with the left side of the sanctuary; your
left, not mine. The right side will then read the second
section, the left reading the third, the right the fourth, etc.
Please rise in
body or spirit, and let us worship with a psalm of David.
1The LORD is my
light and my salvation;
whom shall I fear?
The LORD is the stronghold of my life;
of whom shall I be afraid?
2When evildoers
assail me
uttering slanders against me,
my adversaries and foes,
they shall stumble and fall.
3Though an army
encamp against me,
my heart shall not fear;
though war arise against me,
yet I will be confident.
4One thing have
I asked of the LORD,
that will I seek after:
that I may dwell in the house of the LORD
all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD
and to inquire in his temple.
5For he will
hide me in his shelter
in the day of trouble;
he will conceal me under the cover of his tent;
he will lift me high upon a rock.
6And now my
head shall be lifted up
above my enemies around about me,
and I will offer in his tent
sacrifices with shouts of joy;
I will sing and make melody to the LORD.
7Hear, O LORD,
when I cry aloud,
be gracious to me and answer me!
8Thou hast said,
"Seek ye my face.
My heart says to
thee,
"Thy face, LORD, do I seek."
9
Hide not your face from me.
Turn not thy servant away in anger,
thou who hast been my help.
Cast me not off; forsake me not,
O God of my salvation!
10For my father
and my mother have forsaken me,
but the LORD will take me up.
11Teach me your
way, O LORD,
and lead me on a level path
because of my enemies.
12Give me not up
to the will of my adversaries;
for false witnesses have risen against me,
and they breathe out violence.
13I believe
that I shall see the goodness of the LORD
in the land of the living!
14Wait for the
LORD;
be strong, and let your heart take
courage;
yea, wait for the LORD!
|
Opening
Prayer
We come to worship you, O God, seeking signs of your presence to
strengthen us in our journey through life. We wonder how prepared we
are to journey, like Abraham, into the unknown of your future. He
looked for signs of your presence and journeyed on in hope,
confident that your presence was there to protect and guide him. How
much more fortunate are we, blessed as we are with your presence
with us in Jesus. He undertook his journey towards the cross with a
heavy heart, and in dying, revealed his undying love for all -
blessing lives forever with his life and your love. We approach
you, O God, with hearts filled with awe over such undeserved gifts
and we pray that this time of worship will reveal the depth of our
gratitude and praise. This we pray in Jesus’ name. Amen
by Rev
Moira Laidlaw,
Uniting Church in Australia,
from
Liturgies Online
|
A Time with
Children
Our resident storyteller, "Mr. Ed," will share some time with
our little ones. |
Pastoral Prayer
written closer to the time (if not at the
moment)
|
Returning
our Tithes and Offerings
Please pray with me.
Lord God, this
whole “living by faith” business always seems to be a bit
over our heads. We know, for instance, that the offerings we
return just now don’t earn us a thing with you. With this money
we’re not paying for our ticket to heaven. Even so, what we do
with our finances – along with every other aspect of our lives -
does matter to you. If our giving is only is out of what
we think we have to spare, stretch us that we might grow in
living larger than we think possible. Nudge us out of our
comfort zones and push or pull us toward your promises that we,
like Abraham and Sarah (and all the other cast of characters in
your book), might live by faith this journey you have set before
us. This we pray, looking to Jesus. Amen.
Ushers?
|
Genesis 15:1-18a
(a reading for 3 persons)
[Reader 1 stands at
podium. Reader 2 uses microphone from balcony. Reader 3 wanders.
DO NOT RUSH ! Use creative pauses.]
1 - We turn now to the 15th chapter of Genesis, where
we discover an ancient story of a twilight covenant made between
God and the wandering Aramean named Abraham. At this point in
the narrative, he still goes by “Abram.” At God’s direction, he
and his wife and family have left the comfort of home and headed
out into the unknown, armed only with a promise – a promise which
seems very far from being realized, if ever.
In your
mind’s eye, picture a tent pitched out in the middle of nowhere.
The campfire is but embers, and everyone else is asleep. A
restless soul is still awake in his tent, wondering about his
wandering. He is old and already tired of this journey which has
only just begun. Listen….
(pause)
1 - After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a
vision,
2 - “Do not be afraid, Abram, I am your shield; your reward
shall be very great.”
1 - But Abram said,
3 - “O Lord God, what will you give me, for I continue
childless. What’s to become of my family?” (pause)
“You have given me no offspring, and so a slave born in my house
is to be my heir.”
1 - But the word of the Lord came to him,
2 - “This man shall not be your heir; no one but your very own
issue shall be your heir.”
1 - He brought him outside (pause as 3 moves) and said,
2 - “Look toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to
count them.” (pause as Abram looks up and around in awe)
“So shall your descendants be.”
1 – (pause, allowing the words to sink in) And he
believed the Lord; and this faith, this trust, set the
relationship between these two right in God’s eyes. Then
he said to him,
2 - “I am the Lord who brought you from Ur of the Chaldeans, to
give you this land to possess.”
1 - But he said,
3 - “O Lord God, how am I to know that I shall possess it?”
1 - He said to him,
2 - “Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three
years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young
pigeon.”
1 - Abram brought him all these and cut them in two, laying each
half over against the other; but he did not cut the birds in
two. And when birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram
drove them away. (pause) As the sun was going down, a
deep sleep fell upon Abram, (3 lays down) and a deep and
terrifying darkness descended upon him. Then the Lord said to
Abram,
2 - “Know this for certain, that your offspring shall be aliens
in a land that is not theirs, and shall be slaves there, and
they shall be oppressed for four hundred years; but I will bring
judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall
come out with great possessions. As for yourself, you shall go
to your ancestors in peace; you shall be buried in a good old
age. And they shall come back here in the fourth generation; for
the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.”
1 - When the sun had gone down and it was dark, a smoking fire
pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. On that day
the Lord made a covenant with Abram….
text adapted 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.
|
Benediction
Go
now, trusting in God’s promises.
Seek the presence of the Lord
and abandon yourself to prayer.
Follow those who are faithful to God,
stand firm against evil and seek healing for all.
And may God be your saving light and fortress;
May Christ Jesus gather you into the safe wings of mercy;
And may the Holy Spirit make you citizens of heaven.
©2001
Nathan Nettleton
www.laughingbird.net |
(para traducir a español, presione la bandera de España)
|