PRELUDE:
Prelude and Fugue in e minor, Johann Sebastian Bach
Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring, Johann Sebastian Bach
WELCOME
* CELEBRATION OF FRIENDSHIP
* SANCTUS (pew card)
* CALL TO WORSHIP AND SALUTATION, Emerson Chen
Leader: O come, let us sing to the Lord;
People: Let us make a joyful noise to the Rock of our salvation!
Leader: Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
People: Let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!
Leader: O come, let us worship and bow down,
People: Let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker!
Leader: For he is our God,
People: And we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.
Leader: Grace and peace to you from God our Father, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit.
ALL: Amen.
– Psalm 95: 1-2, 6-7
* HYMN No. 34: Rejoice, Ye Pure in Heart
* PRAYER OF CONFESSION (unison)
Eternal God, in whom we live and move and have our being, whose face is hidden from us by our sins, and whose mercy we forget in the blindness of our hearts: Cleanse us from all our offenses, and deliver us from proud thoughts and vain desires, that with reverent and humble hearts we may draw near to you, confessing our faults, confiding in your grace, and finding in you our refuge and strength; through Jesus Christ your Son. Amen.
* KYRIE (pew card)
* ASSURANCE OF PARDON
* SUMMARY OF THE LAW
* Gloria Patri (pew card)
JUNIOR SERMON
ACT OF PRAISE: Hear My Prayer, O Lord, Antonín Dvořák
Emerson Chen, baritone
MORNING PRAYER AND LORD’S PRAYER
Lord’s Prayer (pew card)
Response
* HYMN No. 311: God Has Spoken by His Prophets
SCRIPTURE READINGS
Psalm 100, Pew Bible, page 481
Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth.
Worship the Lord with gladness; come into his presence with singing.
Know that the Lord is God. It is he that made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise. Give thanks to him, bless his name.
For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.
Acts 17: 1- 28, Pew Bible, page 901
After Paul and Silas had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. And Paul went in, as was his custom, and on three sabbath days argued with them from the scriptures, explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Messiah to suffer and to rise from the dead, and saying, “This is the Messiah, Jesus whom I am proclaiming to you.” Some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a great many of the devout Greeks and not a few of the leading women. But the Jews became jealous, and with the help of some ruffians in the marketplaces they formed a mob and set the city in an uproar. While they were searching for Paul and Silas to bring them out to the assembly, they attacked Jason’s house. When they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some believers before the city authorities, shouting, “These people who have been turning the world upside down have come here also, and Jason has entertained them as guests. They are all acting contrary to the decrees of the emperor, saying that there is another king named Jesus.” The people and the city officials were disturbed when they heard this, and after they had taken bail from Jason and the others, they let them go.
That very night the believers sent Paul and Silas off to Beroea; and when they arrived, they went to the Jewish synagogue. These Jews were more receptive than those in Thessalonica, for they welcomed the message very eagerly and examined the scriptures every day to see whether these things were so. Many of them therefore believed, including not a few Greek women and men of high standing. But when the Jews of Thessalonica learned that the word of God had been proclaimed by Paul in Beroea as well, they came there too, to stir up and incite the crowds.Then the believers immediately sent Paul away to the coast, but Silas and Timothy remained behind. Those who conducted Paul brought him as far as Athens; and after receiving instructions to have Silas and Timothy join him as soon as possible, they left him.
While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was deeply distressed to see that the city was full of idols. So he argued in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and also in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there. Also some Epicurean and Stoic philosophers debated with him. Some said, “What does this babbler want to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign divinities.” (This was because he was telling the good news about Jesus and the resurrection.) So they took him and brought him to the Areopagus and asked him, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? It sounds rather strange to us, so we would like to know what it means.” Now all the Athenians and the foreigners living there would spend their time in nothing but telling or hearing something new.
Then Paul stood in front of the Areopagus and said, “Athenians, I see how extremely religious you are in every way. For as I went through the city and looked carefully at the objects of your worship, I found among them an altar with the inscription, ‘To an unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. The God who made the world and everything in it, he who is Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by human hands, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mortals life and breath and all things. From one ancestor he made all nations to inhabit the whole earth, and he allotted the times of their existence and the boundaries of the places where they would live, so that they would search for God and perhaps grope for him and find him—though indeed he is not far from each one of us. For ‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we too are his offspring.’
The Word of God for the people of God. Let the people of God say AMEN!
THE SERMON: Why Worship?, Rev. Douglas Estella
WORSHIP OF TITHES AND OFFERINGS
Offering
Offertory: The Beatitudes, Albert Hay Malotte
* The Doxology (pew card)
* Prayer of Dedication
* AFFIRMATION OF FAITH
* Apostles’ Creed (pew card)
* HYMN No. 543: Christ Beside Me
* BENEDICTION
Response
POSTLUDE: Trumpet Tune, Henry Purcell
ANNOUNCEMENTS
WE WELCOME BACK THE REV. DOUGLAS ESTELLA TO THE PULPIT. Rev. Estella previously served as pastor of the Sunnyside Reformed Church and currently teaches ESL at the Academy of Urban Planning.
APPRECIATIONS: We thank Emerson Chen for sharing his musical talents to enhance our worship service.
OUR WORSHIP HOURS will continue at the 10:00 AM hour through Labor Day Sunday, August 31, 2014.
2014 VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL
Weird Animals – Where Jesus’ Love Is One-of-a-Kind
August 11- 15, 9:30 AM- 12:30 PM; Fee: $40 per child
Registration taken thru July 31; Forms at the back of the church
VAN SERVICE for worship service will not be available during the summer but will resume on September 7th.
CROP WALK September 21, 2014 – Donation envelopes are available at the back of the sanctuary.
FINANCE – Please remember to submit your pledge cards for 2014. If you have already done so, thank you. If you need a pledge card, speak to an usher or call the church office.
YEAR-ROUND COLLECTIONS –
- Donations for the Food for Kids Ministry should be brought to the Church office. During the school year, this food will be given to families in need in Jamaica, New York.
- Donations for pets brought to the church office will be given to Worthy Pause to be distributed to local animal shelters.
- Christmas cards (with Forever Stamps on the envelopes) are collected in a basket at the back of the sanctuary. These cards will enable inmates at the Nassau County Correction Center to correspond with their loved ones.
PRAYER REQUESTS: Grace Attanasio, Ruth Bailey, Letty Delgardo, Ed Diercks, Dombrowski Family, Edythe Durney, Jenny Hampton, Robert Keller, Fritz Kunisch, Gina Lombardo, John Molino, Josephine Rivera, Janice Serra, Evelyn Stuedly