Worship
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Friends Far & Near,
Join Us for Worship Here!
Sunday, October 17, 2021
During this season of COVID-19 upheaval, you are invited to join us in worship wherever you may be by:
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Reading aloud the liturgy below
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Listening and singing along to the music in praise
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Watching the sermon preaching God's Word and love
Call to Worship
We’ve come to worship God, who makes streams flow from rock,
who turns the parched earth into springs of water, who sends the rain from heaven and makes the wilderness blossom and flourish.
As the deer thirsts for flowing streams, so we thirst for You, O God.
Lifegiving Lord, we lift our hearts in your worship, adoration and praise!
Gathering Prayer
God, you tell us that those who hunger and thirst for you will be filled. So fill our minds with your promises and hearts with your love, and receive our worship as a blessing to you. Amen.
Confessing Our Sin & Reliance Upon God
God of mercy, hear the prayers of your thirsting people.
For every time we have attributed your miracles in our lives
to our own hands alone,
Forgive us, we pray.
For every time we promised to trust you but turned to our own way when your response did not come soon enough or in the way we expected,
Grant us mercy, O God.
For the many opportunities to extend forgiveness that we have refused,
Show us what it means to love, again, dear Lord.
For each way we put our own understandings above your wisdom,
For each time we resist your command to be reconciled with creation and others, direct us in the way of wholeness and peace.
Forgive us, Loving One, and quench our thirst with your grace;
Remake us into vessels of tenderness and compassion.
For Christ’s sake we pray. Amen. [Time for silent confession]
Sermon
Scripture Reading: John 4:1-27
We are sorry, but the sermon for today is down due to technical difficulties. You are welcome to check back later.
Affirmation of Faith
From A Brief Statement of Faith
We trust in God the Holy Spirit, everywhere the giver and renewer of life. The Spirit justifies us by grace through faith, sets us free to accept ourselves and to love God and neighbor, and binds us together with all believers in the one body of Christ, the Church. The same Spirit who inspired the prophets and apostles rules our faith and life in Christ through Scripture, engages us through the Word proclaimed, claims us in the waters of baptism, feeds us with the bread of life and the cup of salvation, and calls women and men to all ministries of the church. In a broken and fearful world the Spirit gives us courage to pray without ceasing, to witness among all peoples to Christ as Lord and Savior, to unmask idolatries in Church and culture, to hear the voices of peoples long silenced, and to work with others for justice, freedom, and peace. In gratitude to God, empowered by the Spirit, we strive to serve Christ in our daily tasks and to live holy and joyful lives, even as we watch for God’s new heaven and new earth, praying,
“Come, Lord Jesus!”
Confession from Thirsting for Grace: Service Prayers for the Third Sunday of Lent, written by the Rev. Renee C. Jackson. Posted on the United Church of Christ’s Worship Ways website. www.ucc.org/worship/worship-ways/
