Prelude: Allegro Moderato, Edward Bunnet - Steven Frank, organ WE APPROACH OUR GOD Welcome and Announcements Call to Worship L: Come gather together here in the presence of Christ, who is our friend and healer. P: We have entered here, and in our worship together, we yearn for hope and comfort. L: Let us reach to the heart of Jesus, who is our life. P: We encounter our Lord, who makes us whole. L: Here we are welcome and loved and cherished. P: Here we are the people of God. Let us rejoice and give God praise. Hymn of Praise: God of All Ages, Whose Almighty Hand, National Hymn God of the ages, whose almighty hand leads forth in beauty all the starry band of shining worlds in splendor through the skies, our grateful songs before thy throne arise. Thy love divine hath led us in the past; in this free land with thee our lot is cast; be thou our Ruler, Guardian, Guide, and Stay, thy word our law, thy paths our chosen way. Refresh thy people on their toilsome way; lead us from night to never-ending day; fill all our lives with love and grace divine, and glory, laud, and praise be ever thine. Call to Confession God gives all people the same gift of repentance that leads to life. Let us open that gift as together we confess our sins. Prayer of Confession God of steadfast love, we have ignored your many gifts; we have forgotten to give thanks in all things. We have taken for granted the air we breathe, the food that nourishes our bodies, even the love of family and friends. We have forgotten that all these gifts come from you. We have sinned with our lips and in our hearts. Forgive our selfish ways, and turn our hearts to you. Heal our wounded souls and restore hope and compassion to our relationships with you and with each other. Lift us up and cause us to serve you by serving others in this world. Thank you for accepting us and restoring us in the name of Jesus. Amen. Words of Assurance L: God hears our cry and sends the Spirit to change us and empower our lives in the world. P: Our sins are forgiven, God’s love is unconditional, and we are raised up as God’s people, who will always be made new in the name of Jesus Christ. The Law of God: Matthew 22:37-40 Hear what our Lord Jesus Christ says: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. Passing the Peace Extend the sign of God’s peace to one another. WE LISTEN TO GOD’S WORD Children’s Sermon Pastor Albert Hymn of Preparation: Spirit of God, Descend upon My Heart, Morecambe Spirit of God, descend upon my heart; wean it from earth; through all its pulses move. stoop to my weakness, mighty as thou art, and make me love thee as I ought to love. Teach me to feel that thou art always nigh; teach me the struggles of the soul to bear, to check the rising doubt, the rebel sigh; teach me the patience of unanswered prayer. Teach me to love Thee as Thine angels love, one holy passion filling all my frame; the baptism of the heav’n-descended Dove, my heart an altar, and thy love the flame. Scripture Reading: 2 Corinthians 12:2-10 2 I know a person in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know; God knows. 3 And I know that such a person—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know; God knows— 4 was caught up into Paradise and heard things that are not to be told, that no mortal is permitted to repeat. 5 On behalf of such a one I will boast, but on my own behalf I will not boast, except of my weaknesses. 6 But if I wish to boast, I will not be a fool, for I will be speaking the truth. But I refrain from it, so that no one may think better of me than what is seen in me or heard from me, 7 even considering the exceptional character of the revelations. Therefore, to keep me from being too elated, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me, to keep me from being too elated. 8 Three times I appealed to the Lord about this, that it would leave me, 9 but he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.” So, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. 10 Therefore I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities for the sake of Christ; for whenever I am weak, then I am strong. Message: When God says no Sometimes the answer to our prayers is “no”. 2 Corinthians 12:8 (NRSV) 2 Corinthians 12:9 (NRSV) Matthew 26:39 (NLT) Matthew 7:7-8 (NLT) The answer to prayer for ourselves often comes in the form of spiritual graces in our lives. WE RESPOND TO GOD’S WORD Celebration of the Lord’s Supper L: Beloved in the Lord Jesus, the meal which we are about to celebrate is a feast of remembrance, communion, and hope. P: We come to remember that Jesus was sent into the world to assume our flesh and blood, to become God with us, that we might be redeemed. L: We come to have communion with this same Christ who has promised to be with us even to the end of the world. P: We come in hope, believing that this bread and this cup are a pledge and a foretaste of a new heaven and a new earth, where we shall behold God. L: Jesus said, I was hungry and you gave me food; P: I was thirsty and you gave me drink. L: Here is the bread of life given for us; P: let all who hunger come and eat. L: Here is the fruit of the vine, poured out for us; P: let all who thirst come and drink. L: The Lord be with you. P: And also with you. L: Lift up your hearts! P: We lift them up to the Lord. L: Let us give thanks to the Lord our God. P: It is right to give our thanks and praise! L: Holy and right it is to give you thanks and praise at all times and in all places, O God our Creator. Source of all life and goodness, You created heaven with all its hosts and the earth with all its plenty and preserve us by your providence. P: When we disobeyed, you sent Jesus to deliver us from sin and death and free us to joyful obedience. L: With your whole church on earth and with all the company of heaven we proclaim your glory. L: Most righteous God, we remember in this meal the perfect sacrifice offered once on the cross by our Lord Jesus Christ for the sin of the whole world. P: United with Christ in his suffering, strengthened by the Holy Spirit, trusting in the power of God to triumph over evil, we wait in joyful hope for the fullness of God’s reign. L: Send your Holy Spirit upon us, we pray, that the bread which we break and the cup which we bless may be to us the communion of the body and blood of Christ. Grant that, being joined together in him, we may attain to the unity of the faith and grow up in all things into Christ our Lord. P: And as this grain has been gathered from many fields into one loaf, and these grapes from many hills into one cup, grant, O Lord, that your whole Church may soon be gathered from the ends of the earth into your kingdom. Even so, come, Lord Jesus! Thanksgiving after Communion L: I will give to the Lord the thanks due to his righteousness, and sing praise to the name of the Lord, the Most High (Psalm 7:17). P: I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart; I will tell of all your wonderful deeds (Psalm 9:1). L: Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness. P: Know that the Lord is God. It is he that made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. L: Give thanks to him, bless his name. P: For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations (Psalm 100). Time of Offering and Thanksgiving https://tithe.ly/give?c=1332203 Offertory Music: Andante, Walter Alcock - Steven Frank, organ Prayer of Dedication/Offering Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and power, and the glory, forever. Amen. Closing Hymn: America the Beautiful, Mantera O beautiful for spacious skies, For amber waves of grain, For purple mountain majesties above the fruited plain! America! America! God shed His grace on thee, And crown thy good with brotherhood From sea to shining sea! O beautiful for heroes proved in liberating strife, Who more than self their country love and mercy more than life! America! America! May God thy gold refine Till all success be nobleness, and every gain divine! Blessing