Sunday Worship Service
April 25, 2021
We are RECEIVED as the Beloved of God
The actual worship service begins 15 minutes into the recordings.
SONG – Come and Fill this Place
WELCOME
OPENING PRAYER
Dearest Lord and Creator,
I did really icky things this week—cleaned the bird cages, cleaned the bathroom, took the stinky trash to the dump. All the cans, plastic bottles, glass and paper go to the town’s recycling bins. And if I don’t take them by early Saturday, the bins will be full of my neighbors’ plastic, glass, paper, and cans, and I’ll have to bring my stuff home. And then there were the things I did wrong— forgot a Spanish lesson, banged on the piano when the music called for quiet, missed a meeting, didn’t call my mother, let the dust pile up in the living room. It all made me grouchy. In all these times of forgetting, neglecting, messing up, something was wrong, something was missing. But it was only yesterday, as I was putting cans, plastic, and glass in the car, that I recognized your voice.
Where were you all week? Visiting the sick? Feeding the hungry? Saving the planet? Fighting racism, cruelty, poverty? You should have been with me, God, as I gathered the trash, made mistakes, wasted time, wasted my life.
But now I realize you were with me. Glancing at a tulip starting to open, I heard your call. Watching the wind moaning through the trees, I felt your power. Seeing a warbler flitting around the bird feeder, I saw your love, your glory, your face. Lord, I know now that you were with me all week, right out in the open, but I was not with you. You were working on the big problems while I checked off items on my to-do list. The question wasn’t: Where were you, but where was I? I think you are telling me to write a new to-do list. Write: Pray constantly, even when doing the unpleasant tasks. Write: Remember to share my love with others. Feed your hungry neighbors and give poor children clothes. Write: Challenge racism, Call out cruelty. Write: Save my planet, save it now.
God, help me, with my new to-do list. Help us all to remember that you always touch our lives, that you are watching even when we forget to look. May we always be aware that we live in your heart and you live in us.
Amen
SONG – Leave It There (UM Hymnal # 522)
CHILDREN’S TIME
SONG – Good to Me
We are TRANSFORMED by the Word of Jesus Christ
1 Kings 19:1-10
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.”
GOOD NEWS – God Wants Us to Be Well – Part 1
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? For the next 3 weeks, 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 – Give Me Jesus (Worship & Song # 3140)
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.
CLOSING Song – Now We Remain (SS #158)