SEPTEMBER 3, 2023

Prelude     Berceuse          Douglas E. Wagner

If I say, surely the darkness shall cover me,

Even the night shall light about me. — Psalm 139:11

Welcome and Greeting

Preparation of Our Hearts

Call to Worship 

God calls us to worship, and we come,

some with laughter and songs of joy.

God calls us to worship, and we come,

some from a sense of obligation or habit.

God calls us to worship, and we come,

some with hearts heavy with grief.

God calls us to worship, and we come,

some with distraction or exhaustion.

God calls us to worship, and we come,

some with eagerness and enthusiasm.

God calls us to worship, and we come,

some with stress, loneliness, or depression.

As God’s dearly loved children,

we bring all our joy and pain, hurt and hope

into this place of Spirit-given grace, love, and hope.

Psalm     # 146     Praise the Lord! Sing Hallelujah!          (Gray Psalter Hymnal)

Prayer of Confession     Front of Gray Psalter Hymnal

Prayer for Illumination          Grieke Toebes

New Testament Reading     Acts 28:1-10     (NRSVUE)

       28 After we had reached safety, we then learned that the island was called Malta. 2The local people showed us unusual kindness. Since it had begun to rain and was cold, they kindled a fire and 

welcomed all of us around it. 3Paul had gathered a bundle of brushwood and was putting it on the fire when a viper, driven out by

the heat, fastened itself on his hand. 4When the local people saw the creature hanging from his hand, they said to one another, “This man must be a murderer; though he has escaped from the sea, Justice has not allowed him to live.” 5He, however, shook off the creature into the fire and suffered no harm. 6They were expecting him to swell up or drop dead, but after they had waited a long time and saw that nothing unusual had happened to him, they changed their minds and began to say that he was a god.

       7Now in the vicinity of that place were lands belonging to the leading man of the island, named Publius, who received us and entertained us hospitably for three days. 8It so happened that the father of Publius lay sick in bed with fever and dysentery. Paul visited him and cured him by praying and putting his hands on him. 9After this happened, the rest of the people on the island who had diseases also came and were cured. 10They bestowed many honors on us, and when we were about to sail, they put on board all the provisions we needed.

Lector: This is the Word of the Lord.

Congregation: Thanks be to God for His Word.

Hymn     Insert     O Wondrous Love

Children’s Sermon

Choral Anthem     Come, People of the Risen King

Come, people of the Risen King
Who delight to bring Him praise
Come all and tune your hearts to sing
To the Morning Star of grace
From the shifting shadows of the earth
We will lift our eyes to Him
Where steady arms of mercy reach
To gather children in

Rejoice, Rejoice
Let every tongue rejoice
One heart, one voice
O Church of Christ, rejoice

Come, those whose joy is morning sun
And those weeping through the night
Come, those who tell of battles won
And those struggling in the fight
For His perfect love will never change
And His mercies never cease
But follow us through all our days
With the certain hope of peace

Come, young and old from every land
Men and women of the faith
Come, those with full or empty hands
Find the riches of His grace
Over all the world, His people sing
Shore to shore we hear them call
The Truth that cries through every age
"Our God is all in all"

Old Testament Reading     Daniel 6

       6 It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom one hundred twenty satraps, stationed throughout the whole kingdom, 2and over them three administrators, one of whom was Daniel; to these the satraps gave account, so that the king might suffer no loss. 3Soon Daniel distinguished himself above the other administrators and satraps because an excellent spirit was in him, and the king planned to appoint him over the whole kingdom. 4So the administrators and the satraps tried to find grounds for complaint against Daniel in connection with the kingdom. But they could find no grounds for complaint or any corruption, because he was faithful, and no negligence or corruption could be found in him. 5The men said, “We shall not find any ground for complaint against this Daniel unless we find it in connection with the law of his God.”

       6So the administrators and satraps conspired and came to the king and said to him, “O King Darius, live forever! 7All the administrators of the kingdom, the prefects and the satraps, the counselors and the governors are agreed that the king should establish an ordinance and enforce an interdict, that whoever prays to any god or human, for thirty days, except to you, O king, shall be thrown into the den of lions. 8Now, O king, establish the interdict and sign the document, so that it cannot be changed, according to the law of the Medes and the Persians, which cannot be revoked.” 9Therefore King Darius signed the document and interdict.

       10Although Daniel knew that the document had been signed, he continued to go to his house, which had windows in its upper room open toward Jerusalem, and to get down on his knees three times a day to pray to his God and praise him, just as he had done previously. 11Then those men watched and found Daniel praying and seeking mercy before his God. 12Then they approached the king and said concerning the interdict, “O king! Did you not sign an interdict, that anyone who prays to any god or human, within thirty days, except to you, O king, shall be thrown into the den of lions?” The king answered, “The thing stands fast, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which cannot be revoked.” 13Then they responded to the king, “Daniel, one of the exiles from Judah, pays no attention to you, O king, or to the interdict you have signed, but he is saying his prayers three times a day.”

       14When the king heard the charge, he was very much distressed. He was determined to save Daniel, and until the sun went down he made every effort to rescue him. 15Then the conspirators came to the king and said to him, “Know, O king, that it is a law of the Medes and Persians that no interdict or ordinance that the king establishes can be changed.”

       16Then the king gave the command, and Daniel was brought and thrown into the den of lions. The king said to Daniel, “May your God, whom you faithfully serve, deliver you!” 17A stone was brought and laid on the mouth of the den, and the king sealed it with his own signet ring and with the signet ring of his lords, so that nothing might be changed concerning Daniel. 18Then the king went to his palace and spent the night fasting; no entertainment was brought to him, and sleep fled from him.

       19Then at dawn, the king got up and at first light hurried to the den of lions. 20When he came near the den where Daniel was, he cried out anxiously to Daniel, “O Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God whom you faithfully serve been able to deliver you from the lions?” 21Daniel then said to the king, “O king, live forever! 22My God sent his angel and shut the lions’ mouths so that they would not hurt me, because I was found blameless before him; also before you, O king, I have done no wrong.” 23Then the king was exceedingly glad and commanded that Daniel be taken up out of the den. So Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no kind of harm was found on him because he had trusted in his God. 24The king gave a command, and those who had maliciously accused Daniel were brought and thrown into the den of lions—they, their children, and their wives. Before they reached the bottom of the den, the lions overpowered them and broke all their bones in pieces.

       25Then King Darius wrote to all peoples and nations of every language throughout the whole world: “May you have abundant prosperity! 26I make a decree, that in all my royal dominion people shall tremble and fear before the God of Daniel: For he is the living God, enduring forever. His kingdom shall never be destroyed, and his dominion has no end. 27He delivers and rescues; he works signs and wonders in heaven and on earth; he has saved Daniel from the power of the lions.”  

        28So this Daniel prospered during the reign of Darius and the reign of Cyrus the Persian.

Sermon          Pastor Andrew Winter