Watchword for the Week

For me, living is Christ and dying is gain.(Philippians 1:21) (Moravian Daily Texts 2014)

ORGAN PRELUDE

WELCOME and CALL to WORSHIP

(based on Psalm 105)

Give praise to the LORD, proclaim his name;

make known among the nations what he has done.

Sing to him, sing praise to him;

tell of all his wonderful acts.

Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice. Look to the LORD and his strength; seek his face always.

Remember the wonders he has done, his miracles, and the judgements he pronounced.

On this day, we remember with gratitude and joy God’s faithfulness: in the life of Abraham and Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph, in the lives of Moses, Miriam, and Aaron,

in the lives of Ruth and David, Isaiah and Jeremiah, in the lives of Mary and Martha, Peter and John, in the lives of Paul, Barnabas, and Lydia, in the lives of an Ethiopian eunuch and a Roman centurion, in our own congregational life.

Truly, God is faithful.

For God remembered his holy promise.

God brought out his people with rejoicing, his chosen ones with shouts of joy; that they might keep his precepts and observe his laws. Praise the LORD!

Hymn 500 Lord of creation

(Hymn of the Month, September 2014)

PRAYER of CONFESSION

Our insensitivity to the needs of others, O Lord, forgive.

Our prejudice and fear that prevent us from loving, O Lord, forgive.

The narrowness of our vision and our shrinking from your demands, O Lord, forgive.

Our resentment against those who have hurt us, O Lord, forgive.

Our desire to do your work in our way, O Lord, forgive.

Our impatience with those who are different from us, O Lord, forgive.

Our failure to listen properly to other points of view, O Lord, forgive.

Our fear of coming out of the fortress of our own

souls into fuller life and deeper loving, O Lord, forgive.

When we seek vengeance and strife instead of understanding and love, forgive us.

Hymn 776 * Kyrie eleison [repeated ad lib.]

People’s Choice Hymns are marked with an asterisk (*)

ASSURANCE of PARDON

Hear the Word of Grace. Christ says: I am the

door for the sheep. Whoever comes in by me

will be saved; he will come in and go out and

find pasture. Thanks be to God. Amen.

Hymn 516 * We are marching in the light

CHILDREN’S TIME

SHARING GOD’S PEACE

(Children may leave for Kids’ Church in the halls next door)

SCRIPTURE READINGS

Exodus 16:2-15 OT p. 72

St. Matthew 20:1-16 NT p. 29

People may stand for the Gospel reading.

The word of God: Thanks be to God![

Hymn 225 * Summer suns are glowing

SERMON Rev. James Brown

Hymn 502 * Take my life, Lord, let it be

(Offerings are gathered and brought forward)

DEDICATION PRAYER

[based on words by John Wesley]

Lord, we dedicate our lives to you. Help us, trusting in you alone, to do your will, to fulfil our calling,

and to serve the present age; through our Lord and Master Jesus Christ. Amen.

NOTICES and PRAYERS for OTHERS

Lord, in your mercy: hear our prayer.

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 trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.

Hymn 543 * Christ, be our light!

BLESSING and Threefold Amen (No. 819)

ORGAN POSTLUDE