WELCOME
On this sixth Sunday after Easter, the joy of resurrection remains and the Spirit of truth in-dwells continually and teaches and comforts the faithful. May your joy and wonder remain, just as the name of Jesus our Christ does. The Lord has risen! And you are warmly welcome to worship with us.
Announcements
PRELUDE Patty Bell
LITANY 1
One: “If any man is thirsty, let him come to me and drink”.
Many: He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said,’ from his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water.'”
One: Yet despite its accomodation, water holds a power unknown to hard and brittle things.”
Many: In a stream it follows the stones’ sharp edges only to turn them in the end into pebbles,
One: rounded to conform to its streamlined flow.
Many: It works its way past frontiers and under dividing walls,
One: Its gentle current melts rock and carries away the proud hills we call eternal.
All: “Behold, I am making all things new”.
*PRAISE MUSIC “For the Beauty of the Earth” UMH 92
INVOCATION PSALM 24:1-6
“The earth is Lord’s, and the fullness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein. For he hath founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the rivers. Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul to falsehood, and hath not sworn deceitfully.
He shall receive a blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation. This is the generation of those who seek him, who seek thy face — even Jacob. Selah
TIME WITH THE YOUTH
HYMN “O Spirit of the Living God” UMH 539
PRAYERS AND OFFERING
PRAYER OF CONFESSION
Lord, our faith is difficult because we live in our sciences and senses. Lord, we don’t see you because to we are mortal and you are Spirit. Lord, we don’t hear you because we are too noisy, and you speak in a quiet voice. Lord: we search for you but we look for you in all the wrong places. May we live our faith in such a way that we may trust our unknown and your mysteries. May we be silence that we may hear your voice in word and music. Amen
***
Prayers of the people: Joy and concerns
Pastoral prayer
I now pray for your people who have come to be blessed and instructed and strengthened. This I know, you love them deeply, even beyond words can tell. I pray for infants and children, for the youth and adults on life’s journey. Amen
.RECEIVING OUR OFFERING:
* PRESENTATION OF OUR OFFERING
Musical Response:
Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me. Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me. Melt me, mold me, fill me, use me, Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me.
PROCLAIMING GOD’S WORD
New Testament Lesson: Acts 17:16-31 PB, pg. 130
OLD TESTAMENT LESSON: Genesis 22:1-14 PB, pg. 17
THE MESSAGE: “TO THE UNKNOWN GOD”
Guest minister, John Jenkins
*HYMN RESPONSE: “Seek Ye First” UMH 405
SENDING FORTH CIRCLE
CIRCLE OF FRIENDS SONG: UMH 328
“Surely the presence of the Lord is in this place; I can feel His mighty power and His grace. I can hear the brush of angels’ wings, I see glory on each face; surely the presence of the Lord is in this place.
*BLESSING (holding hands)
POSTLUDE: Patty Bell
———————————————————————————————————-
Thought
“The most beautiful emotion we can experience is the mystical. It is the sower of all true art and science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger … is as good as dead. To know that what is impenetrable to us really exists, manifesting itself to us as the highest wisdom and the most radiant beauty, which our dull faculties can comprehend only in their most primitive forms — this knowledge, this feeling is at the centre of all true religiousness. In this sense, and in this sense only, I belong to the ranks of devoutly religious men.”
Albert Einstein
*Please stand as you are able.
1. Litany: Quotes from John 7:37b, 38; Religions of Man, Huston Smith, p.183; Revelation 21:5c