Long Green Valley Church of the Brethren
Long Green & Kanes Rds., near Glen Arm, Md.
August 10, 2014
Worship 10:00 am          Summer in Spirit 11:10am

  Beginning with Praise (9:50 am)          “Savior, like a shepherd lead us”          355
  Announcements
  Prelude                         “Processional for a Joyful Day”                  Dale Wood

*Call to Worship

*Hymn                                   “Blessed assurance”                                      332

*Opening Prayer

  Scripture                                 Romans 10: 5-15               Laughing Bird Version

  Returning our Tithes and Offerings

  Offertory                                 “Amazing Grace”                 arr. by Julia Jewell
                              (Please sign the attendance pad and pass it on)

  Scripture                                  1 Kings 19:8-12

  Silence

  Scripture                                 1 Kings 19:13-16

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

  Hymn                          “What a friend we have in Jesus”                           574
                                          (the story behind this hymn)

  Pastoral Prayer

  Acting out the Gospel             Matthew 14:22-33

  Message                                 “Stepping out” (mp3)

*Hymn                               “When peace like a river”                                  336

*Benediction

*Postlude                                   “Psalm of Glory”                       Dorothy Wells

*Rise in body or in spirit

#'s are from Hymnal: A Worship Book

Worship leaders - see basic guidelines

(meditation on the back of the bulletin) 

TAKE HEART. . . DO NOT BE AFRAID

• Take several deep breaths, focusing on the breath entering your body, expanding your chest, filling you with life.

• Notice muscles in your body that are tense—in your arms, legs, back, neck, and face—and try to relax them.

• Take several more deep breaths, focusing on the breath leaving your body, cleansing and emptying your chest of depleted air.

• Continue deep breathing, and each time you breathe out, name something that is worrying you. Take each worry, hold it in your hands, and then hand it to Jesus, who says to you, "Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid." Repeat this for each worry.

• Now think back on a time when you felt very close to Jesus, a time when you knew the fullness of faith. Feel throughout your body the security, hope, and joy from this special experience.

• Continue deep breathing, and each time you breathe in, name something that is good in your life, something to be thankful for.

• Name more things for which you are grateful, and sit with them, allowing their goodness to surround you. Thank God, who gives all good things, for each one.

• Take several more deep breaths to end this time. When you are ready, open your eyes and return to a posture that allows you to continue worship with renewed courage and hope in your life.

by Tracy Wenger Sadd,
chaplain at Elizabethtown College
Church of the Brethren Living Word Bulletin
Anchor/Wallace, Sleepy Eye MN 56085,
"The Living Word" Series
      

Call to Worship 

(voice 1 speaks from the lectern, 2 from the pulpit)

1 - Let me hear what God the Lord will speak, for he will speak peace to his people, to his faithful, to those who turn to him in their hearts.

2 - Surely his salvation is at hand for those who fear him that his glory may dwell in our land.

1 - Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet;

2 - righteousness and peace will kiss each other.

1 - Faithfulness will spring up from the ground,

2 - and righteousness will look down from the sky.

1 - The Lord will give what is good, and our land will yield its increase.

2 - Righteousness will go before him, and will make a path for his steps.

Pastor: Our steadfast and faithful God has drawn us together this day. In our gathering, may we claim the story and song of our Savior as our own. Therefore, rise in body or spirit, and be aware of the Lord walking among us. Listen for his “echoes of mercy” and “whispers of love.” Praise your Savior this day.

Psalm 85:8-13 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
     

Opening Prayer

Faithful God, speak your peace
       to your people gathered here,
              as we turn to you with heart, soul, and mind.
Connect our emotions with your steadfast love,
              our intellect with your justice and righteousness,
              our will with your faithfulness.
       This is your story and song that we speak and sing,
                                         daring to call them our own.
               We do so only because you call us your own.
Dwell in these all-too-brief moments of worship
        that we may know
                that your salvation is at hand,
                that your still, small voice is ever near, and
                that our Savior, your Son comes to us
                         and invites us to walk by faith.
Maranatha, come, Lord Jesus.
        In your name we pray. Amen

Romans 10:5-15
(Laughing Bird Version)

Pastor: Listen to the apostle Paul, his words paraphrased here with an Australian flavor in the “Laughing Bird Version.”

(voice 1 speaks from the lectern, 2 from the pulpit)

1 - Moses said that to put yourself in the right by obeying the law, you would have to resolutely obey every bit of it.

2 - But if you are put right by trusting God, it is quite a different matter.

1 - Those who trust God don’t need to devise arduous schemes to save themselves by scaling the heights of heaven to collect Christ, or storming the gates of hell to bring him up to us from the dead.

2 - Rather they experience what the scriptures promised:

1 - “The Word that saves is with you; it is on the tip of your tongue; it is beating in your heart.”

2 - This is exactly the message we’ve been preaching: it’s all about trust.

1 - If you put that trust into words, declaring that Jesus is the one you answer to;

2 - and embrace that trust in your heart, believing that Jesus lives because God raised him from the dead,

1 - then you will be put back on the right track with God.

2 - That’s what salvation is!

1 - When anyone allows that trust in God to rewrite basic beliefs they live by, their heart is put right with God;

2 - and when those rewritten beliefs are expressed openly in what they say and do, then you know they are safely in God’s care.

1 - The scriptures back this up, saying,

2 - “No one who trusts God will ever be let down.”

1 - Your ethnic or religious background makes no difference in this:

2 - there is only one God, and that one God has the last word on everyone.

1 - God is equally generous to all those who call out in trust for help. As the saying goes,

2 - “Anyone who wants help from God only has to ask.”

1 - But think about it for a moment. How is anyone going to ask for help if they don’t know who to ask?

2 - And how are they going to know who to ask if they haven’t even heard of the One who can be trusted?

1 - And how are they going to hear unless someone comes to tell them?

2 - And how is anyone going to come and tell them if no one is sent to tell them?

1 - As the scriptures say:

2 - “What a sight for sore eyes is the arrival of those who come to tell us the good news about God!”

from the Laughing Bird version
©2001 Nathan Nettleton
       

Returning our Tithes and Offerings

             As disciples of Christ individually, and as the body of Christ (his church) all together, our purpose is to bear and to share God’s good news. The question for us to ponder, as we return our tithes and offerings just now: are we “a sight for sore eyes” to those who receive the good news from us? Or are we perceived as just a bunch of windbags, all talk but little substance? Are these feet stepping out by faith, trusting the voice of the One who is nearer than the beating of our heart, whose word is on the tip of our tongue? Mull this over in your mind as the ushers guide our giving.

1 Kings 19:8-16

Pastor: In the Old Testament, the prophet Elijah was one who spoke for God. He not only spoke, he acted. At a certain point in his journey, he showed that God is greater than Ba’al, defeating the priests of that make-believe god at Mount Carmel. For all his courage in facing into that task, Elijah ran away when a price was then put on his head. He fled into the wilderness, where angels attended to his needs. This is where we pick up the story. Be prepared in the middle of it to quiet your inner distractions and be silent. Listen:

(voice 1 speaks from the lectern, 2 from the pulpit, and 3 from the balcony)

1- Elijah got up, and ate and drank; then he went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb the mount of God. At that place he came to a cave, and spent the night there. Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying,

3 - “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

1 - He answered,

2 - “I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away.”

1 - The word of the Lord said,

3 - “Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.”

1 - Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces before the Lord,

3 - but the Lord was not in the wind;

1 - and after the wind an earthquake,

3 - but the Lord was not in the earthquake;

1 - and after the earthquake a fire,

3 - but the Lord was not in the fire;

1 - and after the fire a still, small voice;

2 - a gentle and quiet whisper;

3 - a sound of sheer silence.

(pause for 10 seconds)

1 - When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. Then there came a voice to him that said,

3 - “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

1 - He answered,

2 - “I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away.”

1 - Then the Lord said to him,

3 - “Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus; when you arrive, you shall anoint Hazael as king over Aram. 16 Also you shall anoint Jehu as king over Israel; and you shall anoint Elisha as prophet in your place.

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.
Used by permission. All rights reserved
   

Pastoral Prayer

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

Acting out the Gospel

             Involving both children and adults (many volunteers), we'll act out Matthew 14:22-33, engaging the imagination (and exaggerating where needed). A large, one-dimensional cardboard boat would be nice, behind which the disciples can grow seasick and afraid (of both the storm, and then of the "ghost" walking toward them on the water).

Benediction

Amid the storm of daily living
      listen for the One who still speaks
            (often in ways barely heard):
                  Don’t be afraid.
                  It is the Lord.
                  Take heart.
As you step out of this boat we call the church,
      and head into your day-by-day world,
            walk toward the One who says, “Come.”
      There you will discover,
            as you grow in bearing and sharing
                  the good news with others,
            that Jesus is right there in front of you.
It is well!