Worship Service
August 23, 2020
Note: The prelude begins 20 minutes into the video but is at the beginning of the audio file
We are RECEIVED as the Beloved of God
PRELUDE
WELCOME
OPENING PRAYER
We are grateful, O God, for this time which calls us together – as your people, we come fully as we are, as people yearning for you and yearning for one another.
Even in these days of difficulty, anxiety, fatigue, and care you have especially offered us so many blessings and opportunities to gather. Our gathering is not at all as it was but yet we do still gather in prayer and worship; we gather in heart and spirit; we gather with care and concern and living faith, faith that is put into action in the ways we’re able.
May your Spirit guide and bless us this morning. Surround us once more with your grace, and renew the experience of your compassion and love for us as we extend the same grace and compassion for our neighbors near and far.
Thank you, O God, as we gather our hearts and lift our prayers in Christ. Amen.
SONG – Something Beautiful United Methodist Hymnal # 394
CHILDREN’S TIME
SONG – Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone)
We are TRANSFORMED by the Word of Jesus Christ
JOHN 11:32-44
32 When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”
33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled.34 “Where have you laid him?” he asked.
“Come and see, Lord,” they replied.
35 Jesus wept.
36 Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!”
37 But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”
38 Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. 39 “Take away the stone,” he said.
“But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.”
40 Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”
41 So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42 I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.”
43 When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” 44 The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face.
Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”
GOOD NEWS When I Cry to Jesus, He Cries with Me
SONG – Pass It One United Methodist Hymnal # 572
RESPONSE TO GOD’S GRACE (OFFERING)
Pastor: God wants our love more than God wants our offerings; God cares about our hearts not the amounts of our offerings. (Hosea 6:6).
All: As we count all the blessings God has already given to us, we cheerfully give our offerings to God, the Provider, with grateful hearts. Amen! (2 Corinthians 9:7).
PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE
THE LORD’S PRAYER
SHARING THE PEACE OF CHRIST
We are SENT in the Power of the Holy Spirit
ANNOUNCEMENTS
BLESSING AND SENDING
May the grace and peace of Christ be with you, my friends.
Go and share the love of God, love that never ends.
POSTLUDE