Sunday Worship Service
May 2, 2021
We are RECEIVED as the Beloved of God
The actual worship service begins 15 minutes into the recordings.
SONG – Morning Has Broken (Blue Hymnal #145)
WELCOME
OPENING PRAYER
Dear Lord,
As we prepare ourselves for worship today, please help us to open our eyes, our ears, our mouth and our heart. Open our eyes to the beauty around us and to glimpse the truth you share with us. Open our ears to the words that are spoken and the sounds that will fill our souls. Open our mouths that we may sing your praises, proclaim the truth, and speak your words. Open our heart to show us how to share your love with one another and all your creation. Silently now, we wait for you, ready for you to fill us with your truth. Open our eyes, our ears, our mouth, our hearts, to illumine us with your divine spirit. In Praise of your Holy name and in the name of your beloved son, Jesus, we pray.
Amen
SONG – Come to Me (Worship & Song # 3094)
CHILDREN’S TIME
SONG – Open the Eyes of my Heart (Worship & Song # 3008)
We are TRANSFORMED by the Word of God
1 KINGS 19:1-18
1 Now Ahab told Jezebel everything Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. 2 So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah to say, “May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like that of one of them.”
3 Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there, 4 while he himself went a day’s journey into the desert. He came to a broom tree, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, LORD,” he said. “Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.” 5 Then he lay down under the tree and fell asleep.
All at once an angel touched him and said, “Get up and eat.” 6 He looked around, and there by his head was a cake of bread baked over hot coals, and a jar of water. He ate and drank and then lay down again.
7 The angel of the LORD came back a second time and touched him and said, “Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you.” 8 So he got up and ate and drank. Strengthened by that food, he traveled forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God.
9 There he went into a cave and spent the night. And the word of the LORD came to him: “What are you doing here, Elijah?” 10 He replied, “I have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, broken down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.”
11 The LORD said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by.”
Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. 12 After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. 13 When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.
Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
14 He replied, “I have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.”
15 The LORD said to him, “Go back the way you came, and go to the Desert of Damascus. When you get there, anoint Hazael king over Aram. 16 Also, anoint Jehu son of Nimshi king over Israel, and anoint Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel Meholah to succeed you as prophet. 17 Jehu will put to death any who escape the sword of Hazael, and Elisha will put to death any who escape the sword of Jehu. 18 Yet I reserve seven thousand in Israel—all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and whose mouths have not kissed him.”
GOOD NEWS – God Wants Us to Be Well – Part 2
Are you living the vitality that Risen Christ has granted you? As the pandemic has been elongated, many of us have experienced emotional burnout. What does the Bible have to say about emotional burnout? We are going to learn what God wants us to do when we are depressed/emotionally burnt out through the story of Elijah. (This series of Good News is developed from the article “God’s Remedy for Burnout” by Rev. Rick Warren.)
SONG – Cares Chorus (Faith We Sing # 2215)
THE HOLY COMMUNION
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).
VIDEO TRIBUTE TO KAREN FRIEL
BLESSINGS
PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE
THE LORD’S PRAYER
SHARING THE PEACE OF CHRIST
We are SENT in the Power of God
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.
CLOSING Song – At the Table (Bells)