Long Green Valley Church of the Brethren
Long Green & Kanes Rds., near Glen Arm, Md.
October 25, 2015
Worship 10:00 am          Sunday School 11:10am

  Beginning with Praise (9:50 am)        “Open my eyes, that I may see”       517
  Announcements
  Prelude                                        “Andante”                                Beethoven

 Call to Worship

*Hymn                            “Come, we that love the Lord”                           14

*Opening Prayer

  Scripture                                  Mark 10:46-52

  Hymn                           (vs. 1-2) “Healer of our every ill”                          377

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

  Hymn                           (vs. 3-4) “Healer of our every ill”                          377

  Pastoral Prayer

  Returning our Tithes and Offerings

  Offertory                             “Adagio e Tranquillo”                   Mendelssohn
                              (Please sign the attendance pad and pass it on)

  Scripture in song                           Psalm 126

  Message                “Sowing in tears, reaping in joy” (mp3)

*Hymn                             “In the bulb there is a flower”                            614

*Benediction                                 Psalm 126:5                                   (insert)

*Postlude

*Rise in body or in spirit

#'s are from Hymnal: A Worship Book

Worship leaders - see basic guidelines

Call to Worship
Jeremiah 31:7-9
(each line spoken immediately after the one before)

1 - Thus says the LORD...

2 - the LORD says thus:

1 - “Sing aloud...

2 - Sing aloud - with gladness

1 - gladness for Jacob,

2 - and raise shouts”

1 - yes, not whimpers, but shouts,

2 - “shouts for the chief of the nations;

1 - proclaim,

2 - give praise,

1 - and say, ‘Save, O LORD, your people,

2 - Save the remnant of Israel.’”

1 - Thus says the LORD...

2 - the LORD says thus:

1 - “See,

2 - look with the eyes of faith,

1 - behold,

2 - I am going to bring them from the land of the north,

1 - and gather them from the farthest parts of the earth,

2 - among them the blind and the lame,

1 - those with child and those in labor,

2 - together; a great company,

1 - they shall return here.

2 - With weeping they shall come,

1 - and with consolations I will lead them back,

2 - I will let them walk by brooks of water,

1 - in a straight path in which they shall not stumble;

2 - for I have become a father to Israel,

1 - and Ephraim is my firstborn.”

2 - Thus says the LORD...

1 - (pause) Come, you who love the Lord. Stand if you are able,

2 - rise in body or spirit and sing aloud with gladness.

1 - Let your joys be known. God’s people are heading home.

“Come, we that love the Lord” - Hymnal #14

scripture text 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

             Ever present God, accept our heartfelt thanks for being with us in this hour of worship and in all of life. Take from us those things that make us blind to your holy presence. Tune our ears to hear your call. Enable us to trust you enough to ask for what we need. Give us faith to believe in your power and love. Fill us with courage to follow wherever you call us to go. We pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.

by Marlene M. Neher, retired pastor
Ivester Church of the Brethren, Grundy Center, Iowa
from an Oct. 29, 2000 Church of the Brethren Living Word Bulletin
    

Gospel

            “See …  look with the eyes of faith … behold” what I am going to do, the Lord spoke through Jeremiah. From the promise behind this Old Testament prophet, we move to our gospel story for today, one that is remembered by Matthew, Mark, and Luke. In all three it takes place in Jericho. Question: what other Bible stories do you associate with Jericho? …

             When the children of Israel crossed over the Jordan river, entering the promised land after 40 years of wandering in the wilderness, Jericho was the first city they encountered. Do you remember hearing about a prostitute there named Rahab, who helped them scout out the place? Do you remember what God told them to do?, how for seven days the people marched around that walled town with the Ark of the Covenant and blew their rams horns. On the seventh day, the walls came tumbling down. Quite a sight to see, no doubt. Remember the story? (Joshua 6) “See …  look with the eyes of faith … behold.”

             What else do you associate with Jericho? Perhaps you remember the story Jesus told about a man who was robbed, beaten, and left for dead. A foreigner from Samaria cared for him, when others would not, and we still call this man the “good Samaritan.” In Jesus’s parable, according to Luke (10:25-37), this happened on the road to Jericho – where the Samaritan left the wounded man in good hands… “See …  look with the eyes of faith … behold.”

            Today’s gospel story is about the blind receiving sight. As Matthew remembers it, there are two nameless blind men in Jericho (20:29-34). Luke also tells the story, but his account includes only one nameless blind beggar on the road outside of Jericho (18:35-43). Once inside town, Jesus encounters someone else who then began seeing in a whole new way – a fellow named Zacchaeus (19:1-10).

            In Mark’s gospel, this blind beggar has a name, and a history – he is the son (bar) of Timaeus. To more fully hear the story of his encounter with Jesus, I invite you to participate in its telling. Those of you on the piano side of the church – you are, collectively, Bartimaeus. At the appropriate places, I will guide you, all together, to give him a voice. Now, you who sit on the organ side of the center aisle, you are the crowds who are following Jesus. I’ll, likewise, give you the words you’ll speak. I have asked ______ to speak for Jesus. Do you understand? Those who have ears, let them hear. Listen

(N – Narrator, P – Piano side, O – Organ side, J – Jesus)

Mark 10:46-52

N - ⁴⁶ And they came to Jericho; and as he was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a great multitude, Bartimae′us, a blind beggar, the son of Timae′us, was sitting by the roadside. ⁴⁷ And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say,

P - “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”

N - ⁴⁸ And many rebuked him, telling him to be silent;

O - “Be quiet!” … “Don’t bother the teacher” … “Stop”

N - but he cried out all the more,

P - “Son of David, have mercy on me!”

N - ⁴⁹ And Jesus stopped and said,

J - “Call him.”

N - And they called the blind man, saying to him,

O - “Take heart; rise, he is calling you.”

Pastoral Prayer

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

Returning our Tithes and Offerings

             In the book of Hebrews it says that Jesus Christ, our true high priest, “is able for all time to save those who approach God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them” (7:25). With this assurance, we have just prayed. With this assurance, we return our offerings to God just now. Please pray with me.

Will the ushers now come forward to receive our offerings?

Benediction

this is the ending refrain to Psalm 126