Too Good to be True?

Prelude: Allegretto, Dionigio Canestrari - Steven Frank, organ

WE APPROACH OUR GOD

Welcome and Announcements

Call to Worship

L: Come, rest your spirits in the Lord.

P: We come, hungering and thirsting for God’s word.

L: This is a place of peace and hope, where all may be fed and healed.

P: Bring us to the time of healing.

L: Come, place your trust in God who is always near you.

P: Open our hearts, Lord, to hear your word and feel your presence. Amen!

Hymn of Praise: There's A Wideness In God’s Mercy, In Babilone - Elizabeth C. Frank

There's a wideness in God's mercy like the wideness of the sea. There's a kindness in his justice which is more than liberty. There is plentiful redemption in the blood that has been shed. There is joy for all the members in the sorrows of the head.

For the love of God is broader than the measures of man’s mind. And the heart of the Eternal is most wonderfully kind. If our love were but more simple we should take him at his word. And our lives would be all sunshine in the sweetness of our Lord.

Call to Confession

Let us come before God with repentant and open hearts, striving to be honest in admitting our shortcomings and open to receiving forgiveness so that we might let go and move on

Prayer of Confession

Lord, you know how we are. We say that we will take time to refresh our spirits and our souls and then we quickly crowd our lives with activities to the point of exhaustion. We turn to you for feeding and nurture, asking you to give us something to sustain us through our times. We even are willing to tell you what we have, but when we look closely, we discover that we bring so little to you. Take what we have, our gifts and our needs. Heal and forgive us when we boldly disobey your word. Remind us that you have given to us all that we need to serve you in this world. The world abounds with your miracles of love and hope. Open our eyes to see them and our hearts to know that these are from you and not of our own making. Heal and restore us to your everlasting love. In Jesus’ Name, we pray.

Words of Assurance

L: The love of God is your firm foundation; by faith you are rooted deeply in the Lord.

P: May we know the breadth and length and height and depth of the love of Christ, which surpasses all human knowledge.

L: God’s love is lavished upon you. It is always there for you, offering healing and hope. Rest in God’s love.

P: May we attain the fullness of being, the fullness of life that God brings.

The Law of God: (God’s will for our lives)

Our Lord Jesus said: “‘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.” Matthew 22:37-40

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: What a Friend We Have in Jesus, What A Friend

What a friend we have in Jesus, All our sins and griefs to bear! What a privilege to carry Everything to God in prayer. O what peace we often forfeit O what needless pain we bear, All because we do not carry Everything to God in prayer!

Have we trials and temptations? Is there trouble anywhere? We should never be discouraged: Take it to the Lord in prayer! Can we find a friend so faithful, Who will all our sorrows share? Jesus knows our every weakness Take it to the Lord in prayer!

Are we weak and heavy-laden, Cumbered with a load of care? Precious Savior, still our Refuge— Take it to the Lord in prayer! Do thy friends despise, forsake thee? Take it to the Lord in prayer! In his arms he’ll take and shield thee, Thou wilt find a solace there.

Scripture Reading: Ephesians 3:14-21

14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth takes its name. 16 I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, he may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit, 17 and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love. 18 I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. 20 Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.