The Celebration of the Gospel
November 22, 2015 —Reign of Christ Sunday

______ We Gather as the Body of Christ________

GREETING
PRELUDE 8:15- We Praise You O God arr: Sondra Tucker
10:30- Chorale Prelude On: NUN DANKET ALLE GOT arr: Robert Lau

[As we listen to the music we quiet our minds and bodies,
listen for our hearts’ deepest desires,
and become present to the Holy One who is lovingly present for us.]

* CALL TO WORSHIP Philippians 2.5-11
[An ancient hymn extolling Christ’s complete self-emptying in choosing the humble life of a human, subject to an agonizing, humiliating death. For this God has exalted Christ and honors Christ above all other beings. ]

Leader: Beloved, be of the mind of Christ
All: who was divine
and yet who did not cling to equality with God,
but became utterly empty,
born a human,
choosing the place of a slave.
In complete humility
Christ was obedient to death,
even death on a cross.
Therefore God exalted Christ
with a name above every name
so that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bend
in heaven, on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Giver of Life.

* SONG All Praise to Thee Blue hymnal # 166

(10:30) CHILDREN’S TIME

________ We Attend to the Word ________

(10:30) THE WORD IN SONG My Eternal King Jane Marshall

My God, I love Thee; not because I hope for heav’n thereby,
Nor yet because who love Thee not must die eternally.

Thou, O my Jesus, Thou didst me upon the cross embrace;
For me didst bear the nails and spear, and manifold disgrace;

Why, then why, O blessed Jesus Christ, should I not love
Thee well?

Not for the hope of winning heav’n, or of escaping hell;
Not with the hope of gaining aught, not seeking a reward;
But as thyself hast loved me, O ever-loving Lord!

E’en so I love Thee, and will love, and in Thy praise will sing;
Solely because thou art my God, and my Eternal King.

PRAYER OF THE DAY
God of love, your Word is all about us, beside us, and within us. Therefore we look to Christ as our beloved friend, our savior and superior, and yet also our humble servant. We open our hearts now as you speak your Word to us, that your love may rule our lives; that Christ shall lead us and we will follow, by the grace of your Spirit. Amen.

OLD TESTAMENT Isaiah 52.13 – 53.12
[God’s faithful servant who is not powerful or attractive, but shares in humanity’s deepest miseries, and is honored by God.]

My servant, you will prosper.
You will be raised up and exalted.
As appalled as people were to see you—
so disfigured to hardly look human—
so you will shock them
and rulers will stand speechless before you
for they will see something they’ve never heard of
and witness something never described.
Who would have believed
what we have just heard?
In whom has the hand of God
so clearly appeared?
You grew up like a sapling before God,
like a plant springing out of dry ground.
You had no stately form or majesty
to make us want to look at you,
no beauty to attract us.
You were rejected and despised by all,
used to suffering
and accustomed to being weak.
When we saw you we looked away.
We despised you. We wrote you off.
But you bore our illnesses,
you carried our suffering.
We thought God was punishing you,
that God was striking you, taking you down.
But it was our offenses that wounded you,
our sins that crushed you.
In you who suffer is our wholeness;
in your wound is our healing.

All of us, like sheep, have gone astray.
Each of us goes our own way.
Yahweh allows you to bear
the guilt of us all.
You were oppressed, you were afflicted,
but you bore it silently.
Like a lamb led to slaughter,
like a sheep before its shearers,
you did not open your mouth.

By a perversion of justice you were taken away.
Who could imagine your real destiny?
You were taken from the land of the living,
suffering because of the people’s sin.
They buried you with evildoers,
buried you among the rich,
though you did no wrong
and spoke only the truth.

But Yahweh chose you,
crushed and afflicted.
When you offer yourself up in healing
you shall see your descendants;
you will live long,
and God’s delight will prevail through you.
Out of your suffering
you will see peace and light.
You my servant, you who are in harmony with me,
you will bring others into harmony as well,
you who bear the guilt of many.
Therefore I esteem you among the great.
You will reap a harvest of victory,
for you poured yourself out to death,
and allowed yourself to be thought a criminal,
while you bore other’s sins,
and sought reconciliation for us all.
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PSALTER Psalm 91
[God protects us against all dangers, with power greater than anything we fear.]

You who live in the shelter of the Most High,
who abide in the shadow of the Almighty,
will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress;
my God, in whom I trust.”
For God will deliver you from the snare of the fowler
and from the deadly pestilence;
God will cover you on strong wings,
and under sheltering wings you will find refuge;
God’s faithfulness is a shield and buckler.
You will not fear the terror of the night,
or the arrow that flies by day,
or the pestilence that stalks in darkness,
or the destruction that wastes at noonday.
A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand,
but it will not come near you.
You will only look with your eyes
and see the punishment of the wicked.
Because you have made the Lord your refuge,
the Most High your dwelling place,
no evil shall befall you,
no scourge come near your tent.
For God will command angels concerning you
to guard you in all your ways.
On their hands they will bear you up,
so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.
You will tread on the lion and the adder,
the young lion and the serpent you will trample under foot.
Those who love me, I will deliver;
I will protect those who know my name.
When they call to me, I will answer them;
I will be with them in trouble,
I will rescue them and honor them.
with long life I will satisfy them, and show them my salvation.
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GOSPEL John 18.33-37
[Pilate interrogates Jesus, trying to figure out whether Jesus really is—or at least claims to be—a king. Jesus says, “That’s your word. I am here to bear witness to the truth.”]

Pilate entered the headquarters again, summoned Jesus, and asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” Jesus answered, “Do you ask this on your own, or did others tell you about me?” Pilate replied, “I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests have handed you over to me. What have you done?” Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not from this world. If my kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here.” Pilate asked him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.”
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SERMON

SONG   O Sacred Head Now Wounded   Blue hymnal # 286

* AFFIRMATION OF FAITH
We trust in God, creator of all that is and that shall be, the One in whom all things exist, the Love who orders all of life.
We follow Jesus Christ, who fully embodies God’s love and grace. Jesus taught and healed, suffered and shared, and gathered a community of blessing, inclusion and transformation. He proclaimed a Realm of grace counter to the ways of the world. He was crucified by the powers of violence and Empire; but by the power of your grace you raised Christ from the dead, and Christ lives and reigns among us as our savior, our servant and our superior.
We live in the Holy Spirit, God’s presence within and among us, whose grace and power orders our lives. By that Spirit we devote ourselves to serve Christ as faithful subjects and companions, willingly foregoing power, security and esteem for the sake of enfleshing God’s love for the world, to the glory of God.

* SONG Sing, My Tongue, The Glorious Battle Blue hymnal # 296 vv. 1—4

THE PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE
[Anyone who wishes may share a prayer concern at the microphone.]
THE PRAYER OF JESUS
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 trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.

PASSING THE PEACE

____ We Are Sent in Ministry to the World___

OFFERING OUR GIFTS Blessed Assurance P. Knapp, arr: Mark Hayes

* OFFERING SONG Doxology Blue hymnal #95

* PRAYER
Gracious God, we give you these gifts as symbols of our lives. Receive them with love, bless them with grace and use them according to your will. Give us trust in the humility of your glory and the gentleness of your power; make us faithful servants and loyal subjects of your sovereign Love, and send us as your light, for the sake of the healing of the world, in the name of Christ. Amen.

THE LIFE OF THE CHURCH IN THE WORLD

* SONG You Alone Are Holy Black hymnal # 2077

* THE BLESSING AND SENDING FORTH
RESPONSE We stand and sing to our neighbors:
May the grace and peace of Christ be with you my friends.
Go and share the love of God, love that never ends.

POSTLUDE
Praise, My Soul, The King Of Heaven Tune: LAUDA ANIMA, arr: Matt Hyzer

Question of the week:

What do you need from St. Matthew’s to nourish your soul and help you on your faith journey?