AUGUST 25, 2024

Hymn Sing     Supplemental Hymnal

 

     Insert     Come People of the Risen King

     #58        Before the Throne of God Above

     #34        I Have Decided to Follow Jesus, vs 1, 3

 

 Call to Worship    

 

 Hymn    #430     We Sing the Mighty Power of God                    (Gray Psalter Hymnal)

 

Confession of Sin and Assurance of Pardon 

 

    Merciful God, we confess that we have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done, and by what we have left undone. We have not loved you with our whole heart and mind and strength. We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. In your mercy forgive what we have been, help us amend what we are, and direct what we shall be, so that we may delight in your will and walk in your ways, to the glory of your holy name. Through Christ, our Lord. Amen

 

 

Psalter     Psalm 84     (NRSVUE)                                                             Mike Bergmann

 

1How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts!
2My soul longs, indeed it faints, for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh sing for joy to the living God.

3Even the sparrow finds a home and the swallow a nest for herself where she may lay her young, at your altars, O Lord of hosts, my King and my God.
4Happy are those who live in your house, ever singing your praise. 

5Happy are those whose strength is in you, in whose heart are the highways to Zion.
6As they go through the valley of Baca, they make it a place of springs; the early rain also covers it with pools.
7They go from strength to strength the God of gods will be seen in Zion.

8O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer; give ear, O God of Jacob!
9Behold our shield, O God; look on the face of your anointed.

10For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than live in the tents of wickedness.
11For the Lord God is a sun and shield; he bestows favor and honor. No good thing does the Lord withhold from those who walk uprightly.
12O Lord of hosts, happy is everyone who trusts in you.

 

Prayer for Illumination

 

Old Testament Reading     Deuteronomy 15:1-11

 

       15 “Every seventh year you shall grant a remission of debts. 2And this is the manner of the remission: every creditor shall remit the claim that is held against a neighbor, not exacting it, because the Lord’s remission has been proclaimed. 3 Of a foreigner you may exact it, but you must remit your claim on whatever any member of your community owes you. 4 There will, however, be no one in need among you, because the Lord is sure to bless you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you as a possession to occupy, 5 if only you will obey the Lord your God by diligently observing this entire commandment that I command you today. 6 When the Lord your God has blessed you, as he promised you, you will lend to many nations, but you will not borrow; you will rule over many nations, but they will not rule over you.

       7“If there is among you anyone in need, a member of your community in any of your towns within the land that the Lord your God is giving you, do not be hard-hearted or tight-fisted toward your needy neighbor. 8 You should rather open your hand, willingly lending enough to meet the need, whatever it may be. 9 Be careful that you do not entertain a mean thought, thinking, ‘The seventh year, the year of remission, is near,’ and therefore view your needy neighbor with hostility and give nothing; your neighbor might cry to the Lord against you, and you would incur guilt. 10 Give liberally and be ungrudging when you do so, for on this account the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you undertake. 11 Since there will never cease to be some in need on the earth, I therefore command you, ‘Open your hand to the poor and needy neighbor in your land.’

 

Lector: This is the Word of the Lord.

Congregation: Thanks be to God for His Word.

 

Choral Anthem    My Shepherd Will Supply My Need

 

My Shepherd, you supply my need,
most holy is your name;
in pastures fresh you make me feed,
beside the living stream.
You bring my wand'ring spirit back.
when I forsake your ways;
you lead me, for your mercy's sake,
in paths of truth and grace.

 

When through the shades of death I walk,
your presence is my stay;
one word of your supporting breath
drives all my fears away.
Your hand in sight of all my foes,
does still my table spread;
my cup with Blessings overflows,
your oil anoints my head.

 

Your sure provisions gracious God
attend me all my days;
oh, may your house be my abode,
and all my work be praise.
Here would I find a settled rest,
while others go and come;
no more a stranger, nor a guest,
but like a child at home.

 

Children’s Sermon                                               

 

 Hymn     # 62     Ancient Words           (Supplemental Hymnal)

 

New Testament Reading     John 12:1-8          

 

     12 Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. 2 There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those reclining with him. 3 Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus’s feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. 4 But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said, 5 “Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?” 6(He said this not because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; he kept the common purse and used to steal what was put into it.) 7 Jesus said, “Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. 8 You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.”

 

Sermon          Andrew Winter