Long Green Valley Church of the Brethren
Long Green & Kanes Rds., near Glen Arm, Md.
August 17, 2014
Worship 10:00 am          Summer in Spirit 11:10am

  Beginning with Praise (9:50 am)           “Precious Lord, take my hand”           575
  Announcements
  Led into worship by a “Nigeria Road Trip” video

*Call to Worship                             Psalm 67

*Song of Praise                    “Fresh as the morning”                               (insert)

*Opening Prayer

  From the Prophets                   Isaiah 56:1, 6-8

  Returning our Tithes and Offerings

  Offertory  Video          “Girls Choir from Uba, Nigeria”
                              (Please sign the attendance pad and pass it on)

  Invitation to Pray for the Church in Nigeria

  Song                                           “You and I”                                       (insert)

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

   Prayer Song                            “Nasa cana nan”                                    (insert)

  Pastoral Prayer

  Gospel                                   Matthew 15:21-28

  Message                               “A cry for mercy” (mp3)

*Hymn                                 “Healer of our every ill”                                  377

*Benediction

*Led out of worship by a “Faces of Nigeria” video

*Rise in body or in spirit

#'s are from Hymnal: A Worship Book

Worship leaders - see basic guidelines

Call to Worship

One: May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face to shine upon us, that your way may be known upon earth, your saving power among all nations.

All: Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you.

One: Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you judge the peoples with equity and guide the nations upon earth.

All: Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you.

One: The earth has yielded its increase; God, our God, has blessed us.

All: May God continue to bless us; let all the ends of the earth revere him.

Psalm 67 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

Welcoming God:
you gather everyone,
especially the outsiders,
to worship you, for
you are not an image or idol,
   but protector of the helpless,
          parent to the poor,
          friend of the lonely.

Accepting Christ:
there is not any place
you will not go to bring
God's grace to others.
In you,
   the enemy is made a friend,
   the broken are made whole,
   the orphan finds a home.

Embracing Spirit:
your gentleness falls upon us,
and our fears of rejection disappear;
   your truth is whispered in our ears,
   and our arms embrace strangers;
your peace is poured into our souls,
and we are reconciled to all we hurt;
   your love throws open our shuttered hearts,
   and we see our sisters and brothers all around us.

God in Community, Holy in One,
in you we have life and hope forever.
Hear us as we pray together saying,
(The Lord's Prayer)

by Thom M. Shuman
Immanuel Presbyterian Church
Cincinnati, OH
from Lectionary Liturgies
  

Returning our Tithes and Offerings

             Jesus quoted this scripture when he encountered the money-changers in the Temple. “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer’,” he said, “but you have made it a den of thieves” (Matthew 21:13, Luke 19:40). The issue for both Isaiah and Jesus involved stealing from those interested in getting right with God, whether Jew or Gentile, by those whose main purpose is to make money.

            “Maintain justice, and do what is right,” Isaiah spoke on God’s behalf, “for soon my salvation will come, and my deliverance be revealed.” And that salvation, that deliverance will be “for all peoples.” Not just for one racial or ethnic or religious group, but for all. Imagine a “house of prayer for all peoples.”   (pause)   Pray with me.

Invitation to Pray for the Church in Nigeria 

             I took that video (“Girls Choir from Uba, Nigeria”) back in 2009 when we were in the town of Mayo Bani (10 miles from Kulp Bible College and EYN headquarters) visiting the Emir of Uba. It just so happened that the EYN church in Mayo Bani was practicing that evening for an upcoming choir festival in their district. The women of the Church of the Brethren in Nigeria (EYN), have much influence. They have a powerful organization, called ZME, and sponsor many ministries. They are known for their womens’ choirs, and for marching through towns singing about Jesus and inviting people to join them. What we saw in that video was the girls’ choir of that church.

             Mayo Bani is only 42 miles from Chibuk, where in April over 200 girls were kidnapped from a school. The group Boko Haram has been terrorizing that region of Nigeria. Christians and Muslims have been living together there in peace. The Muslim Emir we met was a close friend of an EYN leader in whose home we ate that evening. Boko Haram does not speak for the majority of Muslims, but is pushing back against western ways. They are especially critical of women having any rights, females like those girls we saw singing.

             We have been called by our church here in the United States to be intentional and intensive in our praying for the church in Nigeria this week in particular. Through the three videos during worship today, you are able to put some faces on those for and with whom you are invited to pray. These are your sisters and brothers in the faith. May the tribulation they are going through come to an end. May God provide them wisdom and courage for the facing of these days. This is our prayer, which we need to “pray without ceasing” this week. To help give focus and strength to your prayers, consider fasting (from food or TV or ….). Place your own feet into the sandals of the girls you saw in that video. Walk (so to speak) with the various persons you have seen, or will see, in the other videos. If you would find it helpful, we have a devotional guide for this week, written by the pastor of the San Diego Church of the Brethren. You may also respond by giving to an EYN Compassion Fund, either through adding a special, designated offering here or directly through the denomination on its website.

             As we move toward our time of sharing, let’s sing together a song I was taught in Nigeria, found on your bulletin insert. “You and I”

Pastoral Prayer

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

Benediction

             I find it interesting that in the benediction with which most of us are familiar (or have at least heard), the “Blessing of Aaron” (Numbers 6:24-26), God’s face is mentioned twice. Mind you, according to Exodus 33:20, no one can see God’s face and live. The glory would be too much. And yet, we were made in this image, our faces bear a glimpse of God’s glory, no matter where we call home, which family we claim as our own, or what color the pigment of our skin. Today’s postlude includes snapshots of faces from Nigeria. As the video is over 5 minutes long, you probably won’t stay for it all, but I challenge you to allow some of those images to travel with you this week as you pray for the church in Nigeria. To send you forth, let me repeat the words of Moses’ brother, Aaron:

“Faces of Nigeria”