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Prelude
Welcome and Announcements *Call to Worship Psalm 95 O come, let us sing to the Lord! Shout to the rock of our salvation! Let us come into God’s presence with thanksgiving, singing joyful songs of praise. *Hymn Holy, Holy, Holy! Lord God, Almighty! Glory to God 1 Prayer of Confession Mighty and merciful God, you have called us to be your people and claimed us for the service of Jesus Christ. We confess that we have not lived up to our calling. We have been timid and frightened disciples, forgetful of your powerful presence, ignoring the strength of your Spirit among us. O God, forgive us in our weakness, strengthen us anew, and gift us with everything we need to fulfill our common calling, through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Take, O Take Me As I Am Glory to God 698 Assurance of Forgiveness The mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting. I declare to you, in the name of Jesus Christ, you are forgiven. May the God of mercy, who forgives all your sins, strengthen you in all goodness, and by the power of the Holy Spirit, keep you in eternal life. Amen. Old Testament Reading Psalm 103 Time With Our Young Disciples New Testament Reading 1 Corinthians 12:4-7 Morning Message I read a church ministry article this week that was supposed to be encouraging, but, it rubbed me the wrong way. The article addressed service and leadership in the church, which is something with which we are all concerned. Our whole service today is built around it. God has called several of our members to particular roles. They will take vows to serve and we will make vows to support them. We will ask God to bless all our efforts in advancing God’s kingdom here in Barboursville. That’s what we’re about. But, the article spoke to the method used to call church folks to service. The writer said, in seeking help for our varied ministries, the church is more like amateur sports than professional sports. In amateur sports you play with whoever shows up. In professional sports you have resources that allow you to draft and trade and fund big salaries and lavish perks on your players. In other words, if you have the goods, you can get whoever you want to get the job done. In the church you’re stuck with whoever gets out of bed and makes it to church on time. Our task then is to somehow inspire people to greatness and be thankful for the attempt. Ok. I can agree that churches rely on a volunteer work force. That’s a fact. And, in seeking to call competent people to the Lord’s work, we may not readily see who has what gifts. But, there’s an important difference: in the church, or at least every church I’ve been a part of, what qualifies people for service is not their resume or pedigree. What qualifies any of us is our faith and devotion to Jesus Christ, his church and his people. Have you ever been recruited to serve on a committee or help with a project, and at the first meeting, you are overwhelmed with the vast nature of the job? You think, “There’s so much to do. I don’t know the first thing about this, and I’m pretty sure no one else does either.” But, somehow, through honest effort and a will to succeed, and maybe a lot of elbow grease, the work is done, the tasks are completed, and the project is declared a success. The committee is dismissed with thanks. Not all church work is pleasant. Sometimes it’s fraught with emotional or physical landmines threatening to blow. I was once tapped to lead an administrative commission to investigate problems that were deeply dividing one of our churches. I had never done this, didn’t know where to start. But, to my surprise, as the AC met, the personalities of the members emerged, their gifts emerged. Lawyers who guided our research, a counselor who showed us how to communicate effectively, a forensic accountant who ferreted out deposits and receipts and missing checks and eventually over $100,000. We had one goal: to bring order and healing to a broken church. It took time and laboring over details. And about three years later, we celebrated with a church that had experienced a real renaissance. My point is that it is no accident that we are here today. God called us here. Each one of us. And those whom God calls, God equips. Whatever is needed for Kuhn Memorial Presbyterian Church to be a witness for Christ is here and it is enough. One of my all-time favorite books is Christy, by Catherine Marshall. I read it first as a teenager and it was influential in my own call. Catherine Marshall’s mother had served as a teacher in a missionary school in Tennessee. Christy is the story of her life and faith. The excerpt may be found in Christy, by Catherine Marshall. *Affirmation of Faith The Apostles’ Creed Glory to God p. 35 Service of Ordination and Installation Through the voice of the church, God has called the following members to ordained and active service: Clara Adkins, Hala Mosrie Through the voice of the church, God has called the following member to return to ordained and active service: Mary Minichan Pastoral Prayer and the Lord’s Prayer Presenting Our Tithes and Offerings Prayer of Dedication Blessed are you, O God of all creation; through your goodness, we have these gifts to share. Accept and use our offerings for your glory and for the service of your church. Amen. *Hymn I, the Lord of Sea and Sky (Here I Am, Lord) Glory to God 69 *Blessing Now may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Alleluia! Amen. *Postlude Announcements Elder of the Month Nancy McIntosh Birthdays and Anniversaries Prelude
Welcome and Announcements Call to Worship The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof. God alone is our sovereign, to whom we bow in allegiance. Come, let us worship the Lord, our God, the Ruler of all nations. *Hymn O Beautiful for Spacious Skies Glory to God 338 Call to Confession This is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. I will forgive their evil deeds, and remember their sin no more. Prayer of Confession Gracious God, our sins are too heavy to carry, too real to hide, and too deep to undo. Forgive what our lips fear to tremble to name, what our hearts can no longer bear, and what has become for us a consuming fire of judgment. Set us free from a past we cannot change, open to us a future in which we can be changed, and grant us grace to grow more and more in your likeness and image, through Jesus Christ, the Sovereign Lord. Amen. Take, O Take Me as I Am Glory to God 698 Declaration of Forgiveness Hear the good news! Who is in a position to condemn? Only Christ, and Christ died for us, Christ rose for us, Christ reigns in power for us, Christ prays for us. Anyone who is in Christ is a new creation. The old life is gone and a new life has begun. Friends, believe the good news of the gospel: in Jesus Christ our sins are forgiven. Alleluia! Amen. Time With Our Young Disciples Scripture Reading Isaiah 58:1-12 Morning Message As I was reading this passage from Isaiah, it reminded me of one of our Presbyterian distinctives: The Great Ends of the Church. These are a set of statements, drafted in the early 20th century, to guide the vision and mission of the Presbyterian Church. So, how would we use the great ends? How do we apply them to our faith and life? We might use them at the end of a church year to reflect on the ways in which we lived out the great ends as a church. We would likely put newsprint around the room and order pizza to make it more fun. Hopefully, there will be a number of good memories to reflect on. The end of the meeting might find all of us in a prayer of thanksgiving for what God had done through us. So, who can name all six of the great ends of the church? I confess, I can’t. So I did a little research this week. Here we go: The first great end is the proclamation of the gospel for the salvation of humankind. This is how a church in New jersey lives that out: They have joined a ministry called “The Church Has Left the Building.” One Sunday in October, the church closes its doors and sends small groups of all ages out into the community to proclaim the gospel through hands-on work. Rev. Eryn Mera says “We have to re-think what the church is.” Groups have been sent to do community clean-up and beautification, making blankets for cancer patients, serving the hungry through a food pantry or community meal, visiting the elderly and shut-in, and working on Habitat for Humanity projects. Five other churches are part of the “Church Has Left the Building” effort. At the end of the day, all the work groups come together as one united community of faith, giving thanks and praise to God for their experiences. They like to say that this project helped them discover how Jesus can prompt his people to live on the outside what we believe on the inside. The second great end is the shelter, nurture and spiritual fellowship of the children of God. In Lincoln, Nebraska, the congregation of the Eastridge Presbyterian Church gather early one Sunday morning a month to participate in “GIFT,” which stands for “Growing in Faith Together.” Gift features an intergenerational learning activity, fellowship time and breakfast. A theme is adopted each season. Some past themes have been “loving thy neighbor,” “faith and service,” and “special days in the church year.” I loved learning about this project because it originated with a colleague of mine, Thomas Dummermuth, who came to the US from Switzerland to be near his fiancé while she was a medical resident at CAMC. He served the Ravenswood Church while they lived in the area. Lincoln, Nebraska is her hometown. They married and moved there as soon as she finished her training. God be good to them and their three children. The third great end is the maintenance of divine worship. Faith Presbyterian Church in Greensboro, North Caroline has created a worship space for children called “The Prayground.” In order to accommodate a casket for a funeral service, some pews were removed from the small sanctuary. Instead of re-installing them, they placed a child-size table and chairs in front of the pulpit. The children gather there as the service begins. A variety of art supplies are provided so that they may interpret what they see and hear in worship. The pastor, Rev. Karen Ware Jackson, engages both the children and the adults in sermon conversations, the reading of scripture and prayers. She likes to say that “this little church made space for God to bring new life out of death. The prayground is making us whole. We are the body of Christ. Kids are a loud and messy part of the body, but when we pull the kids out, it’s like trying to worship blindfolded. Kids are distracting, yes, but they bring us life and they bring us joy, and they bring surprising depth and mirth. They understand the holy power of prayer and praise. They are hungry for God.” The fourth great end is the preservation of the truth. Megan and Dave Collins are co-pastors of Maitland Presbyterian Church in Orlando, Florida. They host a pod-cast called “Everything Jesus Taught.” They take up topics like money, forgiveness, family, and explore the way Jesus’ life and teaching can inform these topics in the 21st century. Dave says, “Truth isn’t something we receive. We have to interact with it, talk about it, digest it, parse out how it works in our lives. We wrestle out loud as we work to fully comprehend what Jesus taught.” “Truth is what he taught, but how can we translate that in the world we live in and the lives we live is the challenge,” Megan Collins says. To engage in this type of conversation takes special skill, the ability to really listen, and to respond well to criticism. It is hard, courageous work. I believe it is the Lord’s work. The next great end is the promotion of social righteousness. There are not many Presbyterians in Idaho, but, as soon as the Presbyterian Church in the Tetons opened its doors in 2012, a young woman, Monica, became curious about the church and began worshiping there. Recently approved to stay in the US through the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, she received a renewable two-year period of deferred action from deportation and got a work permit and a driver’s license. Monica found a job with the local Family Safety Network. In that capacity, she was often interacting with Emily Bilcher, who happened to be the wife of the Pastor of the Church in the Tetons, Karlin Bilcher. This frequent interaction allowed Monica to open up and share her life story, its challenges and hardships, its joys and blessings, her hopes for the future. Before long, other members of the church, having heard Monica’s story, were interested in helping the immigrant population in their community. The church also struck up a relationship with the primarily Hispanic Good Shepherd Catholic Church nearby. As you might expect, not everyone in the church is enthused about the direction this ministry has taken. But, as the pastor explains, the community and the church are both made up of a diverse collection of people who don’t always think or believe the same way. So they practice what they call “radical hospitality,” because we “don’t know much about the lives of people who are different from us.” They believe this is their call. The last great end is the exhibition of the kingdom of heaven to the world. Sometimes an idea is sparked or a new initiative sounds interesting to church folks. But, such things are disregarded because there are obstacles or there are meager resources, financial or human. This is the situation in which two women at Memorial West Presbyterian Church in Newark, New Jersey found themselves. They had concerns about the working poor in their town. They could see every day the plight of their neighbors. They may work, but at very low wage jobs. They had childcare problems, children had school problems, families had their own issues. A lot of this was brought on through no fault of their own. Paychecks just could not stretch to meet their needs and that led to a multitude of issues. So, on Reformation Sunday, these two women went to talk to members of the Livingston Presbyterian Church to consider how to meet the needs of the suffering in their community. What quickly developed was the Seventh Street Bistro, a ministry offering free meals every Saturday. The Bistro also provides help with personal care items and clothing. But that’s not all. They have sponsored health fairs and special holiday events and opportunities. As positive as these events are, the people involved say the greatest benefit is the relationships that have been formed, the prayers and support that are in good supply among the workers and the guests. The take-away would seem to be that, if you have a sense that someone near you has need, and you feel inadequate to address it, or think you aren’t prepared or resourced, think again. Reach out for help. It may well lead to a reformation. So, those are the great ends of the Presbyterian Church. And examples that jumped out at me. Keep your eyes, ears, and hearts open…God’s people are living out the great ends of the church. *Affirmation of Faith The Apostles’ Creed Glory to God, p. 35 Gloria Patri Glory to God 581 Pastoral Prayer and the Lord’s Prayer Presenting Our Tithes and Offerings Prayer of Dedication Almighty and merciful God, from whom comes all that is good, we praise you for your mercies, for your goodness that has created us, your grace that sustains us, the discipline that corrects us, your patience that has borne with us, and your love that has redeemed us. Receive our gifts, offered in humility and gratitude, that the world may know, love and serve you. We give in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. *Hymn Live Into Hope Glory to God 772 *Blessing Go out into the world in peace; have courage; hold onto what is good; return no one evil for evil; strengthen the fainthearted, support the weak and help the suffering; honor all people; love and serve the Lord, rejoicing in the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen. *Postlude Announcements A congregational meeting will be held at the beginning of worship next Sunday, July 11, for the purpose of electing Trustees. Newly elected Elders and Trustees will be ordained and/or installed during worship. The Session will meet after worship next Sunday, July 11. |
PastorCinda Harkless Archives
July 2024
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