“See How He Loved Him”

WE GATHER IN GOD’S NAME

FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF HOMEWOOD 

MISSION STATEMENT

Through the grace of God, faith in Jesus Christ, and the power of the Holy Spirit, we prayerfully seek to discern God’s will for this congregation and to reach beyond ourselves to feed the hungry, body and soul.         Adopted by Session 7/31/17

PRAYER FOR PEACE​​​​ ||| Peace Prayer of Saint Francis

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace: where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy. O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console, to be understood as to understand, to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive, it is in pardoning that we are pardoned, and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.  Amen.

PRELUDE

*CALL TO CONTINUING WORSHIP

Wait for the Lord.
Our souls wait and hope in God’s word.
Hope in the Lord.
With God there is steadfast love,and great power to redeem.
Our souls wait for the Lord,more than those who watch for the morning, more than those who watch for the morning.

*HYMN 53​​​​ ||| O God, Who Gives Us ​​​​ ||| Life​​​​Noel

CALL TO CONFESSION

Christ is nearer to us than we can imagine.  Jesus’ power is not just for a distant pastand a far-off future.Jesus is here for us here and now.  Because there is forgiveness with God, let us call upon the Lord.

*PRAYER OF CONFESSION

God of resurrection, We know the power of death.  We have seen its works, we have felt its sting.  We have been to the valley of despair, and felt like there was no chance for life.  We do not believe in your power to resurrect.  We do not believe in your power to redeem our pain, and fashion something beautiful in this world.  Forgive us.  We cry from the depths—however faint our call may be, we pray you hear our voice.

(silent prayer)

Amen.

*DECLARATION OF FORGIVENESS

Thus says the Lord,You shall know that I am the Lord when I open your graves,and bring you up from your graves, O my people.  I will put my spirit within you, and you shall live.  We believe the good news!

Thanks be to God!

*THE GLORIA 581

MOMENT WITH OUR CHILDREN​​​​ ||| Rev. Matt Lang

WELCOME AND CHURCH COMMUNICATIONS

WE HEAR GOD’S WORD

PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION

FIRST SCRIPTURE READING​​​​ ||| Ezekiel 37:1-14

1The hand of the LORD came upon me, and he brought me out by the spirit of the LORD and set me down in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. 2He led me all around them; there were very many lying in the valley, and they were very dry. 3He said to me, “Mortal, can these bones live?” I answered, “O Lord GOD, you know.” 4Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones, and say to them: O dry bones, hear the word of the LORD. 5Thus says the Lord GOD to these bones: I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. 6I will lay sinews on you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live; and you shall know that I am the LORD.”7So I prophesied as I had been commanded; and as I prophesied, suddenly there was a noise, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. 8I looked, and there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them; but there was no breath in them. 9Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, mortal, and say to the breath: Thus says the Lord GOD: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.” 10I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood on their feet, a vast multitude.11Then he said to me, “Mortal, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are cut off completely.’ 12Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: I am going to open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people; and I will bring you back to the land of Israel. 13And you shall know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people. 14I will put my spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you on your own soil; then you shall know that I, the LORD, have spoken and will act,” says the LORD.

SPECIAL MUSIC         

SECONDSCRIPTURE READING​​​​​ ​​​​ ||| John 11:1-45

1Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2Mary was the one who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair; her brother Lazarus was ill. 3So the sisters sent a message to Jesus, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.” 4But when Jesus heard it, he said, “This illness does not lead to death; rather it is for God’s glory, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” 5Accordingly, though Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus, 6after having heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.7Then after this he said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.” 8The disciples said to him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just now trying to stone you, and are you going there again?” 9Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Those who walk during the day do not stumble, because they see the light of this world. 10But those who walk at night stumble, because the light is not in them.” 11After saying this, he told them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going there to awaken him.” 12The disciples said to him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will be all right.” 13Jesus, however, had been speaking about his death, but they thought that he was referring merely to sleep. 14Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead. 15For your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.” 16Thomas, who was called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”17When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. 18Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, some two miles away, 19and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them about their brother. 20When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, while Mary stayed at home. 21Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him.” 23Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” 24Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” 25Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, 26and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” 27She said to him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, theone coming into the world.”28When she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary, and told her privately, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.” 29And when she heard it, she got up quickly and went to him. 30Now Jesus had not yet come to the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. 31The Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary get up quickly and go out. They followed her because they thought that she was going to the tomb to weep there. 32When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” 33When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. 34He said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” 35Jesus began to weep. 36So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” 37But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”38Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. 39Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead four days.” 40Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?” 41So they took away the stone. And Jesus looked upward and said, “Father, I thank you for having heard me. 42I knew that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me.” 43When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” 44The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”45Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him.

The Word of the Lord

Thanks be to God!

SERMON​​​​​ ||| "See How He Loved Him"​​​​ ||| Rev. Matt Lang

WE RESPOND TO GOD’S WORD

*HYMN 250​​​​ ||| In the Bulb There Is a Flower​​​​​​​ ||| Promise​​​​ ||| (Hymn of Promise) 

*AFFIRMATION OF FAITH​​​​ ||| The Brief Statement of Faith 1983

In life and in death we belong to God.  Through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit, we trust in the one triune God, the Holy One of Israel, whom alone we worship and serve.

PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE AND THE LORD’S PRAYER

…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 OF OUR GIFTS

INVITATION TO OFFERING

Jesus says: Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.Let us offer our lives to the Lord.

OFFERTORY

*DOXOLOGY 606​​​​​​​​​​​ ||| Old Hundredth

​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.

*PRAYER OF DEDICATION

For the blessings of this and all our days, we thank you, gracious God.  Accept, we pray, not just this money but also our lives freely offered in gratitude for all you have done for us.  Use them both, in this place and wherever you might take us.  Amen.

WE GO IN GOD’S NAME

*HYMN 835​​​​ ||| ​​Just a Closer Walk with Thee​​​​ ||| Closer Walk

BLESSING & CHARGE

Put away the past.  God is about to do a new thing!God makes a way where there is no way!  God carves a path through the wildernessand sends angels to guard and guide us.

Having been reconciled to God,we are now agents of God’s righteousnessand ambassadors for Christ.  Live boldly, for Christ welcomes sinnersand makes all things new.

POSTLUDE         ​

Go in peace to love and serve the Lord!  Thanks be to God!

Rev. Matt Lang, Pastor
Mrs. Mary Ann Wenzelman, Interim Organist/Pianist
Worship Liturgist: Jay Ruklic
Usher: Phil Dillman
Web Techs: Shirley Armistead, Nancy Beaudoin, Phil Dillman, Kathie Hazlett