The Presbyterian Church at Woodbury

June 12, 2022

TRINITY SUNDAY

9:30 am

HYMN OF PREPARATION NO. 372 “O For a World”

1 O for a world where everyone
respects each other’s ways,
where love is lived and all is done
with justice and with praise.

2 O for a world where goods are shared
and misery relieved,
where truth is spoken, children spared,
equality achieved.

3 We welcome one world family
and struggle with each choice
that opens us to unity
and gives our vision voice.

4 The poor are rich; the weak are strong;
the foolish ones are wise.
Tell all who mourn: outcasts belong,
who perishes will rise.

5 O for a world preparing for
God’s glorious reign of peace,
where time and tears will be no more,
and all but love will cease. 

WELCOME

OPENING PRAYER

Holy, triune God, all that is, all that was, and all that ever will be belongs to you alone.  You have spoken to us through your Word made flesh. Now guide us into the truth by the gift of your Holy Spirit, so that we may glorify you forever and ever. Amen.

PRELUDE               The New Commonwealth             R. Vaughan Williams

CALL TO WORSHIP

Let us praise God the Creator,
who is filled with glory and power—with holiness and splendor;
Let us worship God the Savior,
who is filled with love and compassion—with justice and peace.
Let us experience God the Spirit,
who fills us with faith and joy—with love and eternal life.

*HYMN No. 301 “Let Us Build a House”

1 Let us build a house where love can dwell
and all can safely live,
a place where saints and children tell
how hearts learn to forgive.
Built of hopes and dreams and visions,
rock of faith and vault of grace;
here the love of Christ shall end divisions:

Refrain:
all are welcome; all are welcome; all are welcome in this place.

2 Let us build a house where prophets speak,
and words are strong and true,
where all God’s children dare to seek
to dream God’s reign anew.
Here the cross shall stand as witness
and as symbol of God’s grace;
here as one we claim the faith of Jesus: (Refrain)

3 Let us build a house where love is found
in water, wine, and wheat;
a banquet hall on holy ground
where peace and justice meet.
Here the love of God, through Jesus,
is revealed in time and space;
as we share in Christ the feast that frees us: (Refrain)

4 Let us build a house where hands will reach
beyond the wood and stone
to heal and strengthen, serve and teach,
and live the Word they’ve known.
Here the outcast and the stranger
bear the image of God’s face;
let us bring an end to fear and danger: (Refrain)

Let us build a house where all are named,
their songs and visions heard
and loved and treasured,
taught and claimed as words within the Word.
Built of tears and cries and laughter,
prayers of faith and songs of grace;
let this house proclaim from floor to rafter: (Refrain) 

*CALL TO RECONCILIATION

If we say we are completely put together, the truth is not in us. But if we confess our distractions, our errors, and our anxieties, God will meet us and renew us.

*PRAYER FOR CONFESSION

Before God and God’s people, we confess that we have been reluctant to speak out clearly, naming the injustice we see and declaring God’s vision.  Before God and one another, we confess our reluctance to receive our calling as God’s people, made by God and chosen as witnesses to God’s dream of justice and joy. Remind us, God, that you have made us for your service and recharge us with your Word. Renew us, God. Grant us courage to live out your Way of peace and grace. We ask it in Jesus’ name, Amen. 

Silence is observed

*ASSURANCE OF PARDON

God has promised that whenever we repent and seek a new union with God, forgiveness is ours. That promise comes true now.  Sisters and brothers, know that in Christ Jesus, we are forgiven.

Thanks be to God! Amen.

*RESPONSE No. 581 “Glory Be To the Father”

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen, amen.

*PASSING OF THE PEACE OF CHRIST

Since God has forgiven us in Christ, let us forgive one another. The peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.
And also with you.

ANTHEM                 “Come Thou Font”              arr. Bob Krogstad

CHILDREN’S MESSAGE                        Laken Franchetti

PLEASE JOIN ME IN THE UNISON PRAYER OF ILLUMINATION…

Come, Holy Spirit, giver of life; breathe into us that we may hear a word of truth this day. Draw us into communion, enable us to love, conspire to make us one with you for the world you so deeply love. Amen.  

THE SCRIPTURE READING FOR TODAY IS Ephesians 3:16-19,

LET US HEAR THE WORD OF GOD:

¹⁶ I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, he may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit ¹⁷ and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love. ¹⁸ I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth ¹⁹ and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

PAUSE – COUNT TO 10

THIS IS THE WORD OF THE LORD.

THANKS BE TO GOD

MINISTRY UPDATE        Greater Woodbury Cooperative Ministry

Invitation to all the Churches in Woodbury

• Outreach Programs
• Needs of the community

Develop the Organization

• Name
• Representation
• Sub-Committees
• Unity

Expand Existing Programs

• Handy Helpers
• Food Assistance

Ecumenical Services and Events

• National Day of Prayer
• Community Thanksgiving Service
• Christian Unity Service

Peace Essay

CROP WALK

Summer Lunch Box Program

Vacation Bible School

Food Pantry

• March 2002 in SODAT Building
• March 2007 move to Seventh Day Adventist Church

Trusting and Seeing God’s Hand

Video – Overview

Ways to Help

*AFFIRMATION OF FAITH       from the Iona Community in Scotland

We believe in God above us, maker and sustainer of all life.

We believe in God beside us, Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh, born of a woman, servant of the poor, tortured and nailed to a tree. A man of sorrows, he died forsaken. He descended into the earth to the place of death. On the third day he rose from the tomb. He ascended into heaven to be everywhere present, and his kingdom will come on earth.

We believe in God within us, the Holy Spirit of Pentecostal fire, life-giving breath of the church, Spirit of healing and forgiveness, source of resurrection and eternal life. Amen.

*HYMN No. 300 “We Are One in the Spirit”

1 We are one in the Spirit; we are one in the Lord;
we are one in the Spirit; we are one in the Lord,
and we pray that all unity may one day be restored:

Refrain:
And they’ll know we are Christians by our love,
by our love;
yes, they’ll know we are Christians by our love.

2 We will walk with each other; we will walk hand in hand;
we will walk with each other; we will walk hand in hand,
and together we’ll spread the news that God is in our land: (Refrain)

3 We will work with each other; we will work side by side;
we will work with each other; we will work side by side,
and we’ll guard human dignity and save human pride: (Refrain)

4 All praise to the Father, from whom all things come,
and all praise to Christ Jesus, God’s only Son,
and all praise to the Spirit, who makes us one: (Refrain)

THE PASTORAL PRAYER AND LORD’S PRAYER

What does it mean that you are sovereign, God? Does it mean that you direct our days with a strong hand, marshalling us into obedience and servitude? Does it mean that creation is for the exercise of your dominion, for you to show your power and might?

Or maybe, does your sovereignty mean something more like a pouring out: an emptying of the political words  that do nothing; an emptying of religion that only serves to make a show of itself, to gain votes and money and power; an emptying of the very heavens themselves, raining down upon a weary world with something like joy; an emptying of our theologies of safety and comfort  that we may be filled with the courage and creativity of the wild dreamers and builders of new worlds; an emptying of our borders of church walls and building projects and bottom lines, so that we can remember what it really means to be your people, to do church and not incorporate it, to live who we say you are in our every moment; an emptying of our deep places of despair and fear and rage and insecurity so that we can be filled like cracked cups overflowing still with a grace that cannot be contained.

If this is what it means for you to be our sovereign God, we welcome it. We welcome you, birther of new worlds and new life, to come and disrupt our patterns that serve neither us nor you nor our neighbor.  We welcome you, birther of new worlds and new life, to create something alive in us, even now, especially now.  It is in this recognition of hope that we pray in the way that you taught us, “Our Father…”.

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name.  Thy kingdom come.  Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.  Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.  And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Today’s flowers are given in the glory and honor of God by Judy and Dave Platt in honor of Charlotte Nelsons 102nd Birthday; and by Don and Ann Tatham, thinking of Tooie on her 4th anniversary of her going home.

OFFERING OF TITHES

For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that all who love him may have life eternally. With loving hearts, let us bring our offerings to God.

OFFERTORY

*RESPONSE

Praise God, from whom all blessing flow, Praise God, all creatures here below.  Alleluia, Alleluia Praise God in Jesus fully known; Creator, Word, and Spirit one. Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia. 

* PRAYER OF DEDICATION

Holy God, your love overflows in the gift of your Spirit. Bless these gifts that we offer that they may spread your blessing in a world of hurt and need, in Christ’s name. Amen.

*HYMN No. 754 “Help Us Accept Each Other”

1 Help us accept each other
as Christ accepted us;
teach us as sister, brother,
each person to embrace.
Be present, Lord, among us
and bring us to believe
we are ourselves accepted,
and meant to love and live.

2 Teach us, O Lord, your lessons,
as in our daily life
we struggle to be human
and search for hope and faith.
Teach us to care for people,
for all, not just for some,
to love them as we find them,
or as they may become.

3 Let your acceptance change us,
so that we may be moved
in living situations
to do the truth in love;
to practice your acceptance
until we know by heart
the table of forgiveness,
and laughter’s healing art.

4 Lord, for today’s encounters
with all who are in need,
who hunger for acceptance,
for justice and for bread,
we need new eyes for seeing,
new hands for holding on:
renew us with your Spirit;
Lord, free us; make us one! 

*BENEDICTION

So now we leave this space of worship and while so much of the road ahead is uncertain, the path constantly changing, we know some things that are as solid and sure as the ground beneath our feet, and the sky above our heads.

We know God is love. We know Christ’s light endures.

We know the Holy Spirit this there, found in the space between all things, closer to us than our next breath, binding us to each other, until we meet again,

Go in peace.