"As Though God Needed Anything"
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First Presbyterian Church of Homewood
P.O. BOX 1519
Homewood IL 60430
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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
Our God gathers us here.
We have been tested, we have suffered, but God has brought us through.
Come, let us tell of what God has done for us!
We cried aloud to God, and God listened and answered.
Therefore, we will praise God with shouts of joy!
Alleluia! Alleluia!
*HYMN 282 ||| Come Down, O Love Divine ||| Down Ampney
CALL TO CONFESSION
God does not reject our prayers. God does not withdraw love from us. Even when we fail to love others and struggle to love ourselves, God’s love is steadfast. Let us lift our prayers to God.
*PRAYER OF CONFESSION
Holy One, We love you imperfectly: we do not always keep your commandments. We love each other imperfectly: we hurt those you call us to love through our actions and our inaction. We love ourselves imperfectly: we struggle to believe that we are truly your children, made in your image. Forgive us. By the power of your Spirit, make us more faithful that we might live as Christ has shown us, reflecting your love and grace.
(silent prayer)
Amen.
*DECLARATION OF FORGIVENESS
Because Christ lives, we also live. Not because of anything we have done, not because of our belief or faithfulness: we live because Christ lives.
This is the Christ who forgives us. This is the God who is in us. This is the Spirit who is with us. Alleluia! Praise 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 ||| Acts 17:22-31
22Then Paul stood in front of the Areopagus and said, “Athenians, I see how extremely religious you are in every way. 23For as I went through the city and looked carefully at the objects of your worship, I found among them an altar with the inscription, ‘To an unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. 24The God who made the world and everything in it, he who is Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by human hands, 25nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mortals life and breath and all things. 26From one ancestor he made all nations to inhabit the whole earth, and he allotted the times of their existence and the boundaries of the places where they would live, 27so that they would search for God and perhaps grope for him and find him — though indeed he is not far from each one of us. 28For ‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we too are his offspring.’ 29Since we are God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the deity is like gold, or silver, or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of mortals. 30While God has overlooked the times of human ignorance, now he commands all people everywhere to repent, 31because he has fixed a day on which he will have the world judged in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”
SPECIAL MUSIC
SECOND SCRIPTURE READING ||| John 14:15-21
15“If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you for ever. 17This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you. 18“I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. 19In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. 20On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. 21They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them.”
The Word of the Lord
Thanks be to God!
SERMON ||| As Though God Needed Anything ||| Rev. Matt Lang
WE RESPOND TO GOD’S WORD
*HYMN 735 ||| I Need Thee Every Hour ||| Need
*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 THE OFFERING
As God gave us Christ, the firstfruit of creation, let us humbly offer the substance of our lives in thanksgiving to our God.
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
Thank you, O God, for giving us life with our risen and glorious Lord. Now send us out to be a sign of the new life that has come into the world; through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
WE GO IN GOD’S NAME
*HYMN 366 ||| Love Divine, All Loves Excelling ||| Hyfrydol
CHARGE & BLESSING
May the love of the holy triune God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—abide with you forever.
Alleluia!
Now go forth in Jesus’ name, remembering his new commandment to love one another, just as he has loved us.
Amen.
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: Nancy Beaudoin
Usher: Phil Dillman
Web Techs: Shirley Armistead, Nancy Beaudoin, Phil Dillman, Kathie Hazlett, Scott Sneffner
CHRIST IS RISEN – HE IS RISEN INDEED! We greet those who are visiting with us today in the name of our risen Savior. We are gathered as a community of Christians. Our center is Jesus Christ. We are here to know again the touch of his forgiving and healing hand.
SCRIPTURES IN WORSHIP – Next Sunday we will be reading Acts 1:1-11 and Luke 24:44-53.
PRAYER CHAIN – If you want prayer requests included on the prayer chain, contact Shirley Armistead at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
HEAVENLY PERKS – Please join us for fellowship via Zoom immediately after worship from 12:15-2:00 p.m. We look forward to seeing you there!