Call to Worship

God calls us to move into the unknown, trusting in divine promises. God calls us to move into the unknown, trusting in divine promises.
We come with faith, like Abraham and Sarah, daring to follow where God leads.

God speaks, “I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.”
We gather to receive God’s blessing and to be a blessing in this world.

Let us worship the God who journeys with us.
We journey in faith, trusting the One who calls us by name.

Music Selections
Opening Hymn: O Worship the King (UMH 73)
Prayer Hymn: Spirit Song (UMH 347)
Closing Hymn: Sent Forth by God’s Blessing (UMH 664)

Scripture Readings

Psalm 33:1-12

Rejoice in the Lord, O you righteous! Delight and praise, O you upright!
Praise the Lord with the lyre, make melody to the Lord with the heart of 10 strings!

Sing to the Lord a new song, play skillfully on the strings, with loud shouts.
Upright is the word of the Lord, whose work is done in faithfulness.

The Lord loves righteousness and justice; The earth is full of the steadfast love of the Lord.
By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and all their host by the breath of God's mouth.

The Lord gathered the waters of the sea as in a bottle and put the deeps in storehouses.
Let all the earth fear the Lord, let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe!

For the Lord spoke, and it came to be; the Lord commanded, and it stood forth.
The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing and frustrates the plans of the peoples.

The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the thoughts of God's heart to all generations.
Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people whom the Lord has chosen as a heritage!

Genesis 12:1-9

The Lord said to Abram, “Leave your land, your family, and your father’s household for the land that I will show you. 2 I will make of you a great nation and will bless you. I will make your name respected, and you will be a blessing.

3 I will bless those who bless you,

those who curse you I will curse;

all the families of the earth

will be blessed because of you.”

4 Abram left just as the Lord told him, and Lot went with him. Now Abram was 75 years old when he left Haran. 5 Abram took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all of their possessions, and those who became members of their household in Haran; and they set out for the land of Canaan. When they arrived in Canaan, 6 Abram traveled through the land as far as the sacred place at Shechem, at the oak of Moreh. The Canaanites lived in the land at that time. 7 The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “I give this land to your descendants,” so Abram built an altar there to the Lord who appeared to him. 8 From there he traveled toward the mountains east of Bethel, and pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the Lord and worshipped in the Lord’s name. 9 Then Abram set out toward the arid southern plain, making and breaking camp as he went.

Sermon

Offering

The story of our Life-giving God's generosity is infinite, deep, and awesome. We want to reach toward others the way God reaches toward us. Since God's love is sacrificial, we want ours to be as well. May God remove whatever separates us from being generous and break our hearts open so we can hear and love the broken-hearted among us, just as Jesus did. 

Breakthrough Prayer

God of new beginnings and second chances. When your son, Jesus the Christ gave his life for us, the veil of separation was torn. Breakthrough all that would keep us separate from one another, from our neighbors, and from you that we may be one just as you and the Father are one. Lead us now into your beloved community where our identity is rooted in Christ alone. Amen.