WORSHIP MATERIALS

Order of Service

Sunday, April 27, 2025 10:00 am

Ringing of the Bell

Prelude

Welcome & Announcements

Confession (Samuel Johnson, Anglican Lay Preacher)

O merciful God, full of compassion, long-suffering and of great pity, make me earnestly repent, and heartily to be sorry for all my misdoings; make the remembrance of them so burdensome that I may flee to you with a troubled spirit and a contrite heart; and, O merciful Lord, visit, comfort, and relieve me; excite in me true repentance; give me in this world knowledge of your truth and confidence in your mercy, and, in the world to come, life everlasting. Amen.

Pardon

Passing of the Peace

*Opening Hymn:                               110 - You Servants of God

Call to Worship (adapted from Psalm 118)

Leader: The lord is God; he shines upon us the glorious brightness of his face.

Congregation: Bind festal offerings to the altar and worship him with shouts of praise.

L: You are my God, and I will praise you, my rock and refuge, firm and sure.

C: You are my God, I will extol you, for in your love I am secure.

L: Come to the lord with your thanksgiving; with joyful anthems him adore.

C: O thank the lord for all his goodness; his love endures for evermore. Amen.

Opening Prayer (Gerhard Tersteegen, Lay Devotional Author)

Lord, you know what distracted hearts we have, O give us self-recollection; you know what hard, dead hearts we have, O touch and awaken us! You know how we resist your Word and our lower nature is reluctant to bow to your scepter; therefore, O Lord, show forth your power; send your Spirit on high to work among us, to make our hearts submissive, and ourselves capable of living in true union with you, our salvation, and of yielding totally to your grace. Amen.

*Hymn:                            91 - All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name!

Reading of God’s Word

John 20:19-23 & 30-31

Acts 5:27-32

Revelation 1:4-8

Children’s Sermon

Sermon         Y'all are the Church & You Individually are a Disciple

*Response of Faith                               The Barmen Declaration

abridged from the UCC Website Version

Leader: We confess the following evangelical truths:

Jesus Christ, as he is attested to us in Holy Scripture, is the one Word of God whom we have to hear, and whom we have to trust and obey in life and in death. We reject the false doctrine that the Church could and should recognize as a source of its proclamation, beyond and besides this one Word of God, yet other events, powers, historic figures and truths as God’s revelation.

Congregation: As Jesus Christ is God’s comforting pronouncement of the forgiveness of all our sins, so, with equal seriousness, he is also God’s vigorous announcement of his claim upon our whole life. Through him there comes to us joyful liberation from the godless ties of this world for free, grateful service to his creatures. We reject the false doctrine that there could be areas of our life in which we would not belong to Jesus Christ but to other lords, areas in which we would not need justification and sanctification through him.

L: The Christian Church is the community of brethren in which, in Word and Sacrament, through the Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ acts in the present as Lord. We reject the false doctrine that the Church could have permission to hand over the form of its message to the vicissitudes of the prevailing ideological and political convictions of the day.

C: The various offices in the Church do not provide a basis for some to exercise authority over others but for the ministry with which the whole community has been entrusted and charged to be carried out. We reject the false doctrine that, apart from this ministry, the Church could, and could have permission to, give itself or allow itself to be given special leaders vested with ruling authority.

L: Scripture tells us that by divine appointment the State, in this still unredeemed world in which also the Church is situated, has the task of maintaining justice and peace, so far as human discernment and human ability make this possible.  We reject the false doctrine that beyond its special commission the State should and could become the sole and total order of human life and so fulfill the vocation of the Church as well. We reject the false doctrine that beyond its special commission the Church should and could take on the nature, tasks and dignity which belong to the State and thus become itself an organ of the State.

C: The Church’s commission, which is the foundation of its freedom, consists in this: in Christ’s stead, and so in the service of his own Word and work, to deliver all people, through preaching and sacrament, the message of the free grace of God. We reject the false doctrine that with human vainglory the Church could place the Word and work of the Lord in the service of self-chosen desires, purposes and plans.

L: The Church declares that it sees in the acknowledgment of these truths and in the rejection of these errors the indispensable theological basis of the Church as a confederation of Confessing Churches. It calls upon all who can stand in solidarity with its Declaration to be mindful of these theological findings in all their decisions concerning Church and State. It appeals to all concerned to return to unity in faith, hope and love.

All: The Word of God will last forever. Amen.

Prayers of the Community, for the Church, and the World

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.

Offering

*Doxology & Prayer of Dedication

Praise God from whom all blessings flow;

Praise him, all creatures here below;

Praise him above, ye heavenly host;

Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost.  Amen.

*Closing Hymn:                 5 - O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing

*Benediction

Postlude