We invite you to participate in signing the Friendship Folders adding your name and address and if you desire a church newsletter or a pastoral call.

Transcription

1 A SPECIAL WELCOME TO OUR GUESTS: We extend a warm welcome from Bethel Presbyterian Church! We invite you to participate in signing the Friendship Folders adding your name and address and if you desire a church newsletter or a pastoral call. When we pray the Lord s Prayer, we say sins sin against us rather than debts... or trespasses Prayer requests can be noted on the cards provided in the pew racks and placed in the offering plate.

2 The Service for the Lord s Day Bethel Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Christ the King Sunday November 25, :00 AM * Indicates congregation standing if able. Parents with infants may remain seated. Congregational responses indicated in bold. Chiming of the Hour GATHERING AND GREETING OF GOD S PEOPLE Welcome and Announcements Please sign the Friendship Pad found in your pew, passing it down the pew then back. Prelude LET ALL THINGS NOW LIVING arr. John Purifoy Call to Worship (L = Leader, P = People) L: Grace to you and peace from the one who is and who was and who is to come, P: and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. L: Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. P: the whole earth is full of God s glory. Prayer of Invocation Let us pray: Sovereign God, come to us now in silent, holy power. Still our distracted minds, our bruised hearts, our longing bodies. Then speak the power of Jesus name in such a way that we might hear it, in such a way that we might bear it into the world as a people who seek not to preserve what we know but to make palpable who you are for we move and pray by the gift of your breath within us. Amen. * Hymn No. 35 PRAISE YE THE LORD, THE ALMIGHTY LOBE DEN HERREN

3 * Call to Confession Trusting in the power of God not only to fashion the world but to mend and refashion our hearts, let us say how it is with us. * Prayer of Confession Holy One, we dare to call you Lord, but yield to you only fragments of our lives. You had nowhere to lay your head; we surround ourselves with comfort. We expect to serve you with what remains after we have indulged our desires. Forgive our greed, our lack of trust, our desire to pick the times and places we will respond to our call. In your abundant mercy teach us what it means to follow, even at the cost of our lives. (silent and personal confession) Amen. * Sung Response No. 577 KYRIE ELEISON GHANIAN KYRIE (LORD, HAVE MERCY) Ky-ri-e e-le-i-son. Ky-ri-e e-le-i-son. Ky-ri-e e-le-i-son. Ky-ri-e e-le-i-son. * Declaration of Forgiveness Beloved of God, the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting it cannot be contained, but must be poured out. Believe this good news: in Jesus Christ, our sin is forgiven. Live as a people set free. * Sung Response No. 635 LAUDATE DOMINUM (Sing, Praise, and Bless the Lord) Lau-da-te Do-mi-num, lau-da-te Do-mi-num, om-nes gen-tes, al-le-lu-ia! Lau-da-te Do-mi-num, lau-da-te Do-mi-num, om-nes gen-tes, al-le-lu-ia!

4 Children s Moment Choral Anthem THE WORD PRAISE TO THE LORD WITH HEARTS AND VOICES Prayer for Illumination Let us pray: Spirit of truth, move now in ancient words and cluttered hearts that we might hear your voice and live, for we long to be glad servants of your hidden, holy reign. We pray in the name of Jesus, the Prince of Peace. Amen. Readings from Scripture Prophecies Revelation 1:4b-8 (Introduction & Salutation) Pg. 230 Gospel John 18:33-37 (Jesus before Pilate) Pg. 106 Sermon: King of What? RESPONSE TO THE WORD * Affirmation of Faith Hymnal Pg. 37, Sections 1-2 Jesus portion of The Brief Statement of Faith, 1991 * Hymn No. 274 YOU, LORD, ARE BOTH LAMB AND SHEPHERD PICARDY Sharing of Joys and Concerns Prayers of the People Holy God, we do not know how to pray, but Jesus invites us into the life he shares with you, and so we keep coming, because we want to live. Receive us now in our frailty, our complacency, our desire. We pray for your church all over the world. May the life we discover in you bind us to each other and to the world you love, for no need is beyond the strength of your call and no child of yours is expendable.

5 Merciful God, give us wisdom and courage beyond our imagining. We pray for each leader who might be an instrument of peace in a troubled land. By the movement of your reconciling spirit, bless your people with the courage to reach past old wounds and persistent fears. God of resurrection, bring life where hope has died. We pray for friends and strangers in the grip of addiction. Make us able companions for each other, and bless us with hope that bears fruit. We pray for unsettled economies and those whose needs are overlooked in the choices of the powerful. May we, who know so much privilege, bear our responsibilities with open eyes and open hands. We pray for all who stand at the thresholds of life: your children who are soon to be born, and your children who are soon to go home. We give thanks for new faces to love, ideas to ponder, work to do and we marvel at the sturdy friendships and persistent memories that sustain us when the way is hard. May each be a reminder of your love and your provision. We thank you for the gift of song for notes that speak when words fail, and choirs that practice at the end of long days. Give strength to leaders who call forth the best from us and invite us to breathe together. Holy One, keep calling us into the world your world as salt and light. Equip each of us for the challenges we will face until we learn to worship in the most unlikely places, for you are the source of our song and the well from which we pray, wherever we are planted.

6 By the power of your Spirit, we make our prayer with resurrection hope, in the name of Jesus. Amen. Invitation to the Offering Sisters and brothers, we worship the One who stands at the beginning and at the end of history the God for whom all time is now. Every day we have a chance to participate in the work God is doing in the world. By bringing our gifts each week, by offering our lives each day, we affirm our trust in a power beyond violence, beyond greed. Let us gladly offer who we are and what we hold in service to God. Offertory HARVEST MEDLEY arr. Terry Osman * Hymn No. 606 Praise God, from Whom All Blessings Flow * Prayer of Dedication Holy God, the psalmist declares that in your realm, all the poor are satisfied with bread. Plant that promise firmly in our hearts, that we might be agents of your covenant love. Use these gifts, shape our desire, until hunger is no more for Jesus taught us to seek our neighbor s daily bread, and we pray by the power of his name. Amen. THE SENDING FORTH * Hymn No. 108 OF THE FATHER S LOVE BEGOTTEN DIVINUM MYSTERIUM * Charge Sisters and brothers, there is no greater joy in life, no greater freedom, than to offer our lives in service to God. Let the same mind be in us that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited,

7 but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant. * Blessing May the Lord God who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty, be your strength, your hope, and your joy, this day and forevermore. * Sung Response SURELY, IT IS GOD WHO SAVES ME FIRST SONG THE FIRST SONG OF ISAIAH Sure-ly, it is God who saves me; I will trust and not be a-fraid. For the Lord is my strong-hold and my sure de-fense, and God will be my Sav-ior. * Postlude SLEEPERS, WAKE! A VOICE ASTOUNDS US arr. Gilbert M. Martin