CHRIST IS RISEN! ALLELUIA! ORDER OF WORSHIP 5 th Sunday of Easter *Congregation Stands (If you prefer, It is acceptable to remain seated.) Welcome to each of you to Knox Presbyterian Church. We invite you to sign and pass the Friendship Book located at the end of your pew. If you re a first-time visitor, our prayer is that you will experience the presence of the eternal, as we worship our God together. WELCOME & ANNOUNCEMENTS Minute for Camperships Congregational Life PRELUDE CALL TO WORSHIP Cathy Roginski Rev. Don Meekhof Prelude on the Welsh Tune Hyfrydal Arr. Richard Warner Organ Andrew Bortz Alleluia, Christ is alive; let all the people praise him. Let all creation sing with joy. Alleluia! *SONG ALLELUIA, ALLELUIA! HEARTS TO HEAVEN (Hymn #254) Alleluia, alleluia! Hearts to heaven and voices raise: sing to God a hymn of gladness, sing to God a hymn of praise; he who on the cross a victim for the world s salvation bled, Jesus Christ, the King of Glory, now is risen from the dead. Alleluia, Christ is risen! Death at last has met defeat: see the ancient powers of evil in confusion and retreat; once he died, and once was buried: now he lives forevermore,
Jesus Christ the world s Redeemer, whom we worship and adore. (VERSE 3) Christ is risen, we are risen! Set your hearts on things above: there in all the Father s glory lives and reigns our King of love; hear the word of peace he brings us, see his wounded hands and side; now let every wrong be ended, every sin be crucified. (VERSE 4) Alleluia, alleluia! Glory be to God on high! Alleluia to the Savior who has gained the victory! Alleluia to the Spirit, fount of love and sanctity! Alleluia, alleluia to the Triune Majesty! Ben Palpant Precious Jesus, we languish here without you. Our reason is bent, our longings are perverse, and our imaginations are fueled by vanity and pleasure. We gather together under these great beams and remember the beams that held you aloft so that our eyes might be fixed upon you. And we gather under this vaulted ceiling to remind us of the vaulting heavens that are filled with your praise, harmonies we are too deaf to hear. So come, we pray, unplug our ears, lift our faces, and unblind us that we might see the Glory of The Lord in the land of the living. Amen. PRAYER *SONG BE THOU MY VISION (Hymn #532) Be thou my Vision, O Lord of my heart; naught be all else to me, save that thou art thou my best thought, by day or by night, waking or sleeping, thy presence my light. Be thou my Wisdom, and thou my true Word, I ever with thee and thou with me, Lord; thou and thou only, first in my heart, high King of heaven, my Treasure thou art.
(VERSE 3) High King of heaven, my victory won, may I reach heaven s joys, O bright heaven s Sun! Heart of my own heart, whatever befall, still be my Vision, O Ruler of all. Sam Palpant Brothers and Sisters, we are family who share the same blood, the blood of the Lamb. We are characters in His story and He has caused our stories to converge here in this moment. We are pilgrims. Some of us walk beside quiet waters and some of us walk the wilderness. But we all look to Christ, the author and perfecter of our faith. We will praise our Lord for the good and the bad and remember both. We will praise and give thanks lest the stones take our place. Amen. LITANY OF ASSURANCE *SONG LET ALL MORTAL FLESH KEEP SILENCE (Hymn #167) Let all mortal flesh keep silence, and with fear and trembling stand; ponder nothing earthly minded,
for with blessing in his hand Christ our God to earth descendeth, our full homage to demand. King of kings, yet born of Mary, as of old on earth he stood, Lord of lords, in human vesture, in the body and the blood, he will give to all the faithful his own self for heavenly food. (VERSE 3) Rank on rank the host of heaven spreads its vanguard on the way, as the Light of Light descendeth from the realms of endless day, that the powers of hell may vanish as the darkness clears away. (VERSE 4) At his feet the six-winged seraph, Cherubim, with sleepless eye, Veil their faces to the Presence, As with ceaseless voice they cry, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Lord most high! Cathy Roginski OFFERING OF OURSELVES & OUR GIFTS: I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. John 13:34 Let us with gladness offer to God the gifts of our labor, life, and love. *Doxology Praise God from whom all blessings flow; Praise him, all creatures here below Praise him above ye heavenly host; Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost *Prayer of Dedication Mighty God and Father, you overwhelm us with your great mercy. At the time of our greatest need
you surprised us with your wondrous love. Jesus offered his life for us to remove our dreadful curse. As you draw us into this renewing relationship of love, may we respond with gratitude as we offer the substance of our souls to continue the ministry of Christ. For his name and glory we pray and present our gifts. Amen! Reprinted by permission from The Worship Sourcebook, 2004, Faith Alive Christian Resources. Bringing our gifts forward and/or lighting a candle Offertory Faith Organ (from Song Without Words ) Mendelssohn SCRIPTURE READINGS: Cathy Roginski Isaiah 42:15: "I will lay waste the mountains and hills, and dry up all their vegetation; I will make the rivers coastlands, and I will dry up the pools. I will bring the blind by a way they did not know; I will lead them in paths they have not known. I will make darkness light before them, and crooked places straight. These things I will do for them, and not forsake them." Hosea 2:14-15: "Therefore, behold, I will allure her, will bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfort to her. I will give her her vineyards from there, and the Valley of Achor as a door of hope; She shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, as in the day when she came up from the land of Egypt." MESSAGE Ben Palpant The Million Dollar Question TEXT: When Sarai dealt harshly with her, she fled from her presence. Now the Angel of The Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring on the way to Shur. And He said, "Hagar, Sarai's maid, where have you come from, and where are you going?" She said, "I am fleeing from the presence of my mistress Sarai." The Angel of The Lord said to her, "Return to your mistress, and submit yourself under her hand." Genesis 16:6-9 SONG
O THE DEEP, DEEP LOVE OF JESUS (Hymn #477) O the deep, deep love of Jesus, vast, unmeasured, boundless, free. Rolling as a mighty ocean in its fullness over me! Underneath me, all around me, is the current of his love, leading onward, leading homeward to that glorious rest above. PASTORAL PRAYER O the deep, deep love of Jesus, spread his praise from shore to shore! He who loves us, ever loves us, changes never, nevermore. He, who died to save his loved ones, intercedes for them above; he, who called them his own people, watches over them in love. (VERSE 3) O the deep, deep love of Jesus, love of every love the best, vast the ocean of his blessing, sweet the haven of his rest! O the deep, deep love of Jesus for my heaven of heavens is he; this my everlasting glory Jesus mighty love for me! Rev. Don Meekhof *BENEDICTION Rev. Don Meekhof "Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and our God and Father, who has loved us and given us everlasting consolation and good hope by grace, comfort your hearts and establish you in every good word and work" I Thessalonians 2:16-17 *POSTLUDE Ancient of Days Organ James Mansfield