Tower Weekly | Sunday, July 22, 2012
Eighth Sunday after Pentecost
Morning Worship at 10 o’Clock
The Church Gathers
Organ Prelude
Words of Welcome and Announcements (by the minister)
Introit: No. 145, “Morning Has Broken” Bunessan
Morning has broken like the first morning;
blackbird has spoken like the first bird.
Praise for the singing! Praise for the morning!
Praise for them, springing fresh from the Word!
Call to Worship
From the wanderings of our lives,
we have come to center our hearts in worship.
We have gathered in the presence of God
and in the shadow of the cross,
the sign of God’s love for us.
We are here to offer our lives to God.
We come here to pray and sing, praising the God of love,
who has created us
and who promises to guide and shepherd us.
Hymn: No. 185, When Morning Gilds the Skies” Laudes Domini
When morning gilds the skies my heart awaking cries:
May Jesus Christ be praised! Alike at work and prayer,
to Jesus I repair: May Jesus Christ be praised!
The night becomes as day when from the heart we say:
May Jesus Christ be praised! The powers of darkness fear
when this sweet chant they hear:
May Jesus Christ be praised!
Let all the earth around ring joyous with the sound:
May Jesus Christ be praised! In heaven’s eternal bliss
the loveliest strain is this: May Jesus Christ be praised!
Be this, while life is mine, my canticle divine:
May Jesus Christ be praised! Be this th’ eternal song
through all the ages long: May Jesus Christ be praised!
Morning Prayer
Lord Jesus, it is your compassion that sustains us.
When we first look to you,
we are frightened and intimidated by such holiness.
We don’t dare to ask anything of the holy one.
But you have loved us.
We have read the story of your love,
and your compassion has subdued our fear.
Thank you for words and stories
and images of your grace and mercy.
Touch with your love all those
who have special needs this day.
Grace with your presence all communities of faith
who look to you.
We need your shepherding care,
and thank you for your love. Amen.
To Hear The Word
A Reading from the Hebrew Scriptures: 2 Samuel 7:1-14a
Now when the king was settled in his house, and the Lord had given him rest from all his enemies around him, the king said to the prophet Nathan, “See now, I am living in a house of cedar, but the ark of God stays in a tent.” Nathan said to the king, “Go, do all that you have in mind; for the Lord is with you.”
But that same night the word of the Lord came to Nathan: Go and tell my servant David: Thus says the Lord: Are you the one to build me a house to live in? I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day, but I have been moving about in a tent and a tabernacle. Wherever I have moved about among all the people of Israel, did I ever speak a word with any of the tribal leaders of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, saying, “Why have you not built me a house of cedar?” Now therefore thus you shall say to my servant David: Thus says the Lord of hosts: I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep to be prince over my people Israel; and I have been with you wherever you went, and have cut off all your enemies from before you; and I will make for you a great name, like the name of the great ones of the earth. And I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them, so that they may live in their own place, and be disturbed no more; and evildoers shall afflict them no more, as formerly, from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel; and I will give you rest from all your enemies. Moreover the Lord declares to you that the Lord will make you a house. When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come forth from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be a father to him, and he shall be a son to me.
Eleanor Packard is our reader.
An Act of Praise: pp. 807-808, Psalm 89 (with sung response #2)
Response: O Lord, your love is constant;
you are faithful to all generations.
I will sing of your steadfast love, O Lord, for ever
with my mouth I will proclaim your faithfulness
to all generations.
Your steadfast love is established for ever,
your faithfulness is firm as the heavens.
You have said, “I have made a covenant with my chosen one,
I have sworn to David my servant:
‘I will establish your descendants for ever,
and build your throne for all generations.’” Response:
Then you spoke in a vision to your faithful one, and said:
“I have set the crown upon one who is mighty,
I have exalted one chosen from the people.
I have found David, my servant;
with my holy oil I have anointed him;
so that my hand shall ever abide with him,
my arm also shall strengthen him.
The enemy shall not outwit him,
the wicked shall not humble him.
I will crush his foes before him
and strike down those who hate him.
My faithfulness and my steadfast love shall be with him,
and in my name shall his horn be exalted.
I will set his hand on the sea
and his right hand on the rivers. Response:
“He shall cry to me, ‘You are my Father,
my God, and the Rock of my salvation.’
And I will make him the first-born,
the highest of the kings of the earth.
My steadfast love I will keep for him for ever,
and my covenant will stand firm for him.
I will establish his line for ever
and his throne as the days of the heavens.
If his children forsake my law
and do not walk according to my ordinances,
if they violate my statutes
and do not keep my commandments,
then I will punish their transgression with the rod
and their iniquity with scourges;
but I will not remove from him my steadfast love,
or be false to my faithfulness.
I will not violate my covenant,
or alter the word that went forth from my lips.
Once for all I have sworn by my holiness;
I will not lie to David.
His line shall endure for ever,
his throne as long as the sun before me.
Like the moon it shall be established for ever;
it shall stand firm while the skies endure.” Response:
Lee Enos is the acolyte and reader.
Musical Selection: “The Gift of Love” trad, arr. Hopson
Though I may speak with bravest fire,
and have the gift to all inspire,
and have not love, my words are vain,
as sounding brass, and hopeless gain.
Come, Spirit, come, our hearts control;
our spirits long to be made whole.
Let inward love guide every deed;
by this we worship, and are freed.
A Reading from the Gospels: Mark 6:30-34, 53-56
The apostles gathered around Jesus, and told him all that they had done and taught. He said to them, “Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while.” For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. And they went away in the boat to a deserted place by themselves. Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they hurried there on foot from all the towns and arrived ahead of them. As he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things.
When they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret and moored the boat. When they got out of the boat, people at once recognized him, and rushed about that whole region and began to bring the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was. And wherever he went into villages or cities or farms, they laid the sick in the marketplaces, and begged him that they might touch even the fringe of his cloak; and all who touched it were healed.
Sermon: “God’s Dwelling Place” Rev. Nancy Nedwell, preaching
To Respond in Faith
Hymn: No. 136, “The Lord’s My Shepherd” Crimond
The Lord’s my shepherd, I’ll not want.
He makes me down to lie
in pastures green; he leadeth me
the quiet waters by.
My soul he doth restore again,
and me to walk doth make
within the paths of righteousness,
e’en for his own name’s sake.
Yea, though I walk in death’s dark vale,
yet will I fear no will;
for thou art with me, and thy rod
and staff me comfort still.
My table thou hast furnished
in presence of my foes;
my head thou dost with oil anoint,
and my cup overflows.
Goodness and mercy all my life
shall surely follow me;
and in God’s house forevermore
my dwelling place shall be.
Affirmation of Faith
We believe in one God,
creator and sustainer of all things,
the source of all goodness and beauty,
all truth and love.
We believe in Jesus Christ,
God manifest in the flesh,
our teacher, example, and Redeemer,
the Savior of the world.
We believe in the Holy Spirit,
God present with us for guidance,
for comfort, and for strength.
We believe in the forgiveness of sins,
in the life of love and prayer,
and in grace equal to every need.
We believe in the Word of God
contained in the Old and New Testaments
as the sufficient rule both of faith and of practice.
We believe in the church,
those who are united in the living Lord
for the purpose of worship and service.
We believe in the reign of God
as the divine will realized in human society,
and in the family of God,
where we are all brothers and sisters.
We believe in the final triumph of righteousness
and the life everlasting. Amen.
Prayers of the Congregation with the Lord’s Prayer
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come,
thy will be done of earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, and the power,
and the glory, forever. Amen.
Offertory
Presentation of Tithes and Offerings with Doxology: No. 95
Praise God, from whom all blessings flow;
praise God, all creatures here below;
praise God above, ye heavenly host;
praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Amen.
And Scatters to Be the Church in the World
Hymn: No. 127, “Guide Me” Cwm Rhondda
Guide me, O thou great Jehovah,
pilgrim through this barren land.
I am weak, but thou art mighty;
hold me with thy powerful hand.
Bread of heaven, feed me till I want no more.
Open now the crystal fountain,
when the healing stream doth flow;
let the fire and cloudy pillar
lead me all my journey through.
Strong deliverer,
be thou still my strength and shield.
When I tread the verge of Jordan,
bid my anxious fears subside,
death of death and hell’s destruction,
land me safe on Canaan’s side.
Songs of praises, I will ever give to thee.
Dismissal with Blessing
Congregational Response Azmon
The love of God with peace and joy,
will each of us attend,
and guide our ways through coming days,
until we meet again.
Ringing of the Bicentennial Bell
Organ Postlude
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