Tower Weekly | Sunday, July 8, 2012

Sixth Sunday after Pentecost
Morning Worship at 10 o’Clock

 

The Church Gathers

 

Organ Prelude: “Andantino non mesto”                                Bayle

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

Rejoice, people of God! Celebrate the life within you,

and Christ’s presence in your midst.

Our eyes shall be opened!

The present will have new meaning,

and the future will be bright with hope.

Rejoice, people of God! Bow your head before the One

who is our wisdom and our strength.

We place ourselves before this God,

that we may know God’s peace

by the power of God’s spirit.

 

Hymn: No. 152, “I Sing the Almighty Power”           Forest Green

I sing the almighty power of God,

that made the mountains rise,

that spread the flowing seas abroad,

and built the lofty skies.

I sing the wisdom that ordained

the sun to rule the day;

the moon shines full at God’s command,

and all the stars obey.

I sing the goodness of the Lord,

who filled the earth with food,

who formed the creatures thru the Word,

and then pronounced them good.

Lord, how thy wonders are displayed,

where’er I turn my eye,

if I survey the ground I tread,

or gaze upon the sky.

There’s not a plant or flower below,

but makes thy glories known,

and clouds arise, and tempests blow,

by order from thy throne;

while all that borrows life from thee

is ever in thy care;

and everywhere that we can be,

thou, God, art present there.

 

Morning Prayer

Holy Spirit of God,

who gathers the church into one body,

gather us once again in your presence

and strengthen the bonds of affection

that hold your people together.

Bless us with grace to cooperate with one another

in love and service

that we may be the signs of your uniting love

to our fractured world.

Teach us to show compassion for those in need,

to face challenges with imagination,

and to counter disappointments with prayerful trust.

So may your church

be an expression of joy and hope. Amen.

 

To Hear The Word

A Reading from the Hebrew Scriptures: 2 Samuel 5:1-5, 9-10

Then all the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron,

and said, “Look, we are your bone and flesh.

For some time, while Saul was king over us,

it was you who led out Israel and brought it in.

The Lord said to you:

It is you who shall be shepherd of my people Israel,

you who shall be ruler over Israel.”

So all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron;

and King David made a covenant with them at Hebron

before the Lord, and they anointed David king over Israel.

David was thirty years old when he began to reign,

and he reigned forty years.

At Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months;

and at Jerusalem he reigned

over all Israel and Judah thirty-three years.

 

David occupied the stronghold,

and named it the city of David.

David built the city all around from the Millo inward.

And David became greater and greater,

for the Lord, the God of hosts, was with him.

Georgann Nedwell is the reader.

An Act of Praise: pp. 782-783, Psalm 48 (with sung response)

Response: Tell to every generation

that the Lord will be our guide.

Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised

in the city of our God;

whose holy mountain, beautiful in elevation,

is the joy of all the earth,

Mount Zion, in the far north,

the city of the great Ruler.

Within its citadels

God has proven a sure defense. Response:

 

For lo, the kings assembled,

they matched together.

As soon as they saw it, they were astounded,

they were in panic, they took to flight;

trembling took hold of them there,

anguish as of a woman in travail,

As when an east wind

shatters the ships of Tarshish.

As we have heard, so have we seen

in the city of the Lord of hosts,

in the city of our God,

which God establishes for ever,

We have thought on your steadfast love, O God,

in the midst of your temple. Response:

 

As your name, O God,

so your praise reaches to the ends of the earth.

Your right hand is filled with victory;

let Mount Zion be glad!

Let the daughters of Judah rejoice

because of your judgments!

Walk about Zion, go round about it,

number its towers,

consider well its ramparts,

go through its citadels,

that you may tell the next generation,

“This is God, our God for ever and ever.

God will be our guide for ever.” Response:

Musical Selection: “Come, O Thou Traveler Unknown”

Charles Wesley to Ye Banks and Braes

Lauren Macdonald, Mezzo Soprano

Come, O thou Traveler unknown,

Whom still I hold, but cannot see!

My company before is gone,

And I am left alone with Thee;

With Thee all night I mean to stay,

And wrestle till the break of day.

I need not tell Thee who I am,

My misery and sin declare;

Thyself hast called me by my name,

Look on Thy hands, and read it there;

But who, I ask Thee, who art Thou?

Tell me Thy name, and tell me now.

A Reading from the Gospels: Mark 6:1-13

Jesus left that place and came to his hometown,

and his disciples followed him.

On the Sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue,

and many who heard him were astounded.

They said, “Where did this man get all this?

What is the wisdom that has been given to him?

What deeds of power are being done by his hands!

Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary

and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon,

and are not his sisters here with us?

And they took offense at him.

Then Jesus said to them, “Prophets are not without honor,

except in their hometown, and among their own kin,

and in their own house.”

And he could do no deed of power there,

except that he laid his hands

of a few sick people and cured them.

And he was amazed at their unbelief.

 

Then he went about among the villages teaching.

He called the twelve and began to send them out two by two,

and gave them authority over the unclean spirits.

He ordered them to take nothing for their journey except a staff;

no bread, no bag, no money in their belts;

but to wear sandals and not to put on two tunics.

He said to them, “Wherever you enter a house,

stay there until you leave the place.

If any place will not welcome you and they refuse to hear you,

as you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet

as a testimony against them.”

So they went out and proclaimed that all should repent.

They cast out many demons,

and anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them.

 

Sermon: “In God’s Hands”          Rev. Nancy Nedwell, preaching

 

To Respond in Faith

Hymn: No. 463, “Lord, Speak to Me”                               Canonbury

Lord, speak to me, that I may speak

in living echoes of thy tone;

as thou hast sought, so let me seek

thine erring children lost and lone.

O strengthen me, that while I stand

firm on the rock, and strong in thee,

I may stretch out a loving hand

to wrestlers with the troubled sea.

O teach me, Lord, that I may teach

the precious things thou dost impart;

and wing my words,

that they may reach

the hidden depths of many a heart.

O fill me with thy fullness, Lord,

until my very heart o’erflow

in kindling thought and glowing word,

thy love to tell, thy praise to show.

O use me, Lord, use even me,

just as thou wilt, and when, and where,

until thy blessed face I see,

thy rest, thy joy, thy glory share.

Affirmation of Faith

We believe that God was in love with the world

and could not keep the secret.

The telling of it was Creation.

We believe that God’s love is constantly being shown

as creation continues every moment of every day.

We believe that Jesus is our window to divinity

and our mirror of humanity.

Through Jesus we find God’s love for us fully revealed,

and we discover that God’s will for us

is that we love one another in full humanness.

We find God’s presence of love with us in the Holy Spirit.

We believe that God never gives up on us,

and that nothing can separate us from God’s love.

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. 156, “I Love to Tell the Story”                        Hankey

I love to tell the story of unseen things above,

of Jesus and his glory, of Jesus and his love.

I love to tell the story, because I know ‘tis true;

it satisfies my longings as nothing else can do.

Refrain: I love to tell the story,

‘twill be my theme in glory,

to tell the old, old story

of Jesus and his love.

I love to tell the story; more wonderful it seems

than all the golden fancies of all our golden dreams.

I love to tell the story, it did so much for me;

and that is just the reason I tell it now to thee.       Refrain:

I love to tell the story; ‘tis pleasant to repeat

what seems, each time I tell it, more wonderfully sweet.

I love to tell the story, for some have never heard

the message of salvation

from God’s own holy word.   Refrain:

I love to tell the story, for those who know it best

seem hungering and thirsting to hear it like the rest.

And when, in scenes of glory,

I sing the new, new song, ‘twill be the old, old story

that I have known so long.    Refrain:

Dismissal with Blessing

 

Organ Postlude: “Allegro Spiritoso”                                      Blake