The Church on the Hill at Worship
September 15, 2013 11:00 A.M.
* All who are able, please stand.
Please turn off your cell phones. Thank you.
PRELUDE:
Prelude and Fugue in a minor J. S. Bach
Jesu, Priceless Treasure J. S. Bach
WELCOME
* CELEBRATION OF FRIENDSHIP
* SANCTUS (pew card)
* CALL TO WORSHIP AND SALUTATION Gerry Mendler
Leader: O LORD, you have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from far away.
People: You search out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, O LORD, you know it completely.
Leader: You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is so high that I cannot attain it.
People: For it was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; that I know very well.
Leader: Grace and peace to you from God our Creator, our Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Based on Psalm 139
* HYMN No. 3 Holy God, We Praise Your Name
* PRAYER OF CONFESSION (unison)
Almighty God, we have sinned against you and one another, in thought, word, and deed, in what we have done and in what we have left undone. Therefore we pray in silence before you.
(Silent contemplation)
* KYRIE (pew card)
* ASSURANCE OF PARDON
* SUMMARY OF THE LAW
* Gloria Patri (pew card)
ANTHEM: Lord, It Belongs Not To My Care Carl Schalk
Lord, it belongs not to my care whether I die or live, to love and serve thee is my share, and this thy grace must give. If life be long, I will be glad that I may long obey: if short, yet why should I be sad to soar to endless day? Christ leads us through no darker rooms than he went through before, He that unto God's kingdom comes must enter by this door, Come Lord, when grace has made me meet, thy blessed face to see; for if thy work on earth be sweet, what will thy glory be! My knowledge of that life is small, the eye of faith is dim; but 'tis enough that Christ knows all, and I shall be with him.
JUNIOR SERMON
MORNING PRAYER AND LORD’S PRAYER
Lord’s Prayer (pew card)
Prayer Response Alois Kaiser
May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Thy sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. Amen.
* HYMN No.115 Fairest Lord Jesus
SCRIPTURE LESSONS
Psalm 81:1, 10-16 Pew Bible, pg. 471
Sing aloud to God our strength; shout for joy to the God of Jacob.
I am the Lord your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. Open your mouth wide and I will fill it.
“But my people did not listen to my voice; Israel would not submit to me.
So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts, to follow their own counsels.
O that my people would listen to me, that Israel would walk in my ways!
Then I would quickly subdue their enemies, and turn my hand against their foes.
Those who hate the Lord would cringe before him, and their doom would last forever.
I would feed you with the finest of the wheat, and with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.”
Luke 14: 1-14 Page 849
On one occasion when Jesus was going to the house of a leader of the Pharisees to eat a meal on the sabbath, they were watching him closely.Just then, in front of him, there was a man who had dropsy. And Jesus asked the lawyers and Pharisees, “Is it lawful to cure people on the sabbath, or not?” But they were silent. So Jesus took him and healed him, and sent him away. Then he said to them, “If one of you has a child or an ox that has fallen into a well, will you not immediately pull it out on a sabbath day?” And they could not reply to this.
When he noticed how the guests chose the places of honor, he told them a parable. “When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not sit down at the place of honor, in case someone more distinguished than you has been invited by your host; and the host who invited both of you may come and say to you, ‘Give this person your place,’ and then in disgrace you would start to take the lowest place. But when you are invited, go and sit down at the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher’; then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at the table with you. For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” He said also to the one who had invited him, “When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, in case they may invite you in return, and you would be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”
“The Word of God for the people of God. Let the people of God say - AMEN!
THE SERMON A Teaching Moment Donna M. Field
WORSHIP OF TITHES AND OFFERINGS
Offering
Offertory: Teach Me, O Lord Thomas Attwood
Teach me, O Lord, the way of Thy statutes, and I will keep it unto the end.
* The Doxology (pew card)
* Prayer of Dedication
* AFFIRMATION OF FAITH Heidelberg Catechism, Question and Answer 1
Leader: What is your only comfort in life and in death?
All: That I am not my own, but belong—body and soul, in life and in death—to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ. He has fully paid for all my sins with his precious blood, and has set me free from the tyranny of the devil. He also watches over me in such a way that not a hair can fall from my head without the will of my Father in heaven; in fact, all things must work together for my salvation. Because I belong to him, Christ, by his Holy Spirit, assures me of eternal life and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready from now on to live for him.
* HYMN No. 692 Faith of Our Fathers
* BENEDICTION
Response: Sevenfold Amen Peter C. Lutkin
POSTLUDE: Fugue in g minor J. S. Bach
ANNOUNCEMENTS
WE WELCOME DONNA MARIE FIELD to the pulpit. Donna graduated from the New Brunswick Theological Seminary with a Masters in Divinity degree. She will be leading our worship services until a permanent minister is in place.
World Communion Sunday is October 6, 2013. We are looking for volunteers to help with the service. If you can read/speak another language, we would love for you to help with the readings and prayers for that day. There is a sign up sheet in Gessner Hall. All material will be assigned/handed out the Sunday before. See Donna if you have any questions. Thank you.
OUR APPRECIATION FOR TODAY’S VOLUNTEERS:
Van Drivers: Kay Buchakian (AM), Gerry Mendler (AM)
Coffee Hour Host: Rhoda Jabbour
Greeters: Barbara Andrade, Angela Edward
Ushers: Gia Antonucci, Joseph Doyle, Patrick Mahowald, Katherine Ritter and Head Usher, Jerry Good
Children and Worship: Sharon Rivilli
COFFEE HOUR VOLUNTEERS NEEDED – Please pick a date on the Sign-up sheet on the bulletin board in Gessner Hall or see Rhoda Jabbour.
CHILDCARE during the worship hour
Children thru age 3 in the Educational Building, 1st floor, in Room 1A.
Children ages 3 thru 2nd grade are invited to share in the service through the Junior Sermon, then go to Room 2E for the Children and Worship Program.
WOMEN’S CHRISTIAN CIRCLE LUNCHEON, September 21, 2013, 1-3 PM
Bring your own sandwich. Dessert and beverage provided. A planning meeting for the Harvest Festival.
PRAYER REQUESTS: Ruth Bailey, Letty Delgado, Ed Diercks, Dombrowski Family, Edythe Durney, Alfred Gessner, Lisa Gessner, Robert Keller, Fritz Kunisch, Ann Martin, John Molino, Josephine Rivera, Gloria Scrivano, Janice Serra, Mary Wainwright.