Revelation 21:9-22:7: Order of Worship

Landon: I just looked at your Ordo again, and noticed "My Country 'Tis of Thee." Considering the strong Armed Forces connection in your congregation, that's a nice move (especially since it's a King reference). Comforting yet able to be re-framed - like Blessed Assurance last week.

I've decided I'm going for brevity in my sermon this week. I'm gonna try and clock in at 8-12 minutes. We'll see...

Rocky: Nice work, Mr. Whitsitt. Here's my Ordo, as always less detailed. Our worship planning meeting on Monday had settled on "Lift Every Voice" as our anthem, but the choir revolted on Wednesday night because it's "too hard"; the choir director wasted about two seconds in replacing it with something else ("Shall We Gather At The River?").

As a pastor, what you want and what you get rarely match up. With that thought . . .

Introit Shall We Gather at The River?

*Call to Worship (responsive) Psalm 46

L: There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High.  

P: God is in the midst of the city; it shall not be moved; God will help it when the morning dawns.  

L: The nations are in an uproar, the kingdoms totter; he utters his voice, the earth melts.  

P: The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. 

* Hymn Just As I Am

*Singing Praise and Worship; Confession, Assurance, Glory**

__________

Old Testament Reading Isaiah 62:1-5

Children’s Time

Anthem SHALL WE GATHER AT THE RIVER?

New Testament Reading Revelation 21:10, 22-22:5

Sermon

*Response My Country ‘Tis of Thee

__________

Offering and Doxology**

Prayers

*Sending Song (see insert) Soon And Very Soon

Landon: What a week! Funerals, Session retreats, ah the joys of pastorate! Here's my Ordo (including the Black National Anthem at the end - I love that song!):

Order of Worship - January 14, 2007

Welcome and Announcements

Ringing of the Bell

Call to Worship

The earth is the Lord’s, for he made it:
Come, let us adore him.
Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness:
Come, let us adore him.
The mercy of the Lord is everlasting:
Come, let us adore him.
Lord, open our lips.
And our mouths shall proclaim your praise.

Hymn #315 - Every Time I Feel the Spirit

Prayer of Confession

O Lord, our hearts are heavy with the sufferings of the ages,
with the crusades and the holocausts of a thousand years.
The blood of the victims is still warm,
the cries of anguish still fill the night.
To you we lift our outspread hands.
Lord, have mercy.
O Lord, who loves us as a father, who cares for us as a mother,
who came to share our life as a brother,
we confess before you our failure to live as your children,
brothers and sisters bound together in love.
To you we lift our outspread hands.
Lord, have mercy.
We have squandered the gift of life.
The good life of some is built on the pain of many;
the pleasure of a few on the agony of millions.
To you we lift our outspread hands.
Lord, have mercy.
O Lord, forgive our life-denying pursuit of life,
and teach us anew what it means to be your children.
To you we lift our outspread hands.
Lord, have mercy
through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

Assurance of Pardon

The God who challenges us
is also the God who encourages us.
The God who confronts us
is also the God who accepts us.
Be assured that God is with us even now,
accepting, guiding, and forgiving.
Thanks be to God.

Congregational Response

The Peace

Conversation with Children

Prayer for Illumination

Lord God,
you have declared that your kingdom is among us.
Open our eyes to see it,
our ears to hear it,
our hearts to hold it,
our hands to serve it.
This we pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

First Reading - Isaiah 62:1-5

The Word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.

Anthem

Second Reading - Revelation 21:10, 22-22:5

The Word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.

Sermon

Confession of Faith

From The Confession of 1967 (Book of Confessions 9.54-.55)
Biblical visions and images of the rule of Christ, such as a heavenly city, a father’s house, a new heaven and earth, a marriage feast, and an unending day culminate in the image of the kingdom. The kingdom represents the triumph of God over all that resists God's will and disrupts God's creation. Already God’s reign is present as a ferment in the world, stirring hope in humanity and preparing the world to receive its ultimate judgment and redemption.

With an urgency born of this hope, the church applies itself to present tasks and strives for a better world. It does not identify limited progress with the kingdom of God on earth, nor does it despair in the face of disappointment and defeat. In steadfast hope, the church looks beyond all partial achievement to the final triumph of God.

Hymn #440 - In Christ There Is No East or West

Prayers of the People

Offering Invitation

Hear these words from Ephesians:

"As God’s dear children, then, take him as your pattern,
and follow Christ by loving as he loved you,
giving himself up for us as an offering
and a sweet-smelling sacrifice to God."

Will the ushers please come forward.

Offertory

Doxology

Prayer of Dedication

God of extravagant mercy,
with hands outstretched you have poured out
wonder and pleasure and delight,
goodness and beauty and bounty.
So take these offerings, we pray, as our protest against all
that is evil and ugly and impoverished,
trivial and wretched and tyrannical,
in our world and in ourselves—
and thus may we and others know
ourselves to be blessed. Amen.

Hymn #563 - Lift Every Voice and Sing

Charge and Benediction

Ringing of the Bell