March 12, 2017
For Meditation and Reflection “To clasp the hands in prayer is the beginning of an uprising against the disorder of the world”. – Karl Barth
Welcome and Announcements
Call to Worship
Opening Hymn: #506 – Sweet Hour of Prayer
Introduction of Worship Leader Rev. Ted Haas
Today’s Scripture Readings:
Psalm 92: 1-4
Philemon 1-7
Matthew 6: 5-15
Luke 5: 15-16
Sermon: Prayer Changes Things Within Us and for Others
Pastoral Prayer
Responsive Sharing
Reflective Hymn: # 290 – Spirit of God, Descend Upon My Soul
The Offerings and Offertory Music
The Doxology #780 – Praise God, From Whom All Blessings Flow
Prayers of Joys and Concerns
Lord’s Prayer
Closing Hymn: #506 – What a Friend We Have in Jesus
Benediction – Blessing and Sending
Sharing the Peace as we go…….And we hope you can join us for post-worship coffee and conversation in Fellowship Hall.
Thoughts for the Day/Week
Abraham Lincoln once recollected: “I have been driven many times upon my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go. My own wisdom and that of all about me seemed insufficient for the day.”
Little boy in Sunday School: “I wish God would talk to me out loud.”
You need to spend thirty minutes each day in prayer. As a basis for a true, ongoing relationship with God, there is just too much static coming over the “God channel” to be cleared in five minutes. As the Buddhists say, “there are too many monkeys shaking the trees,” The basic stance in prayer is that of deep listening, and there may not be a lot of action on God’s part that is immediately perceptible. It’s like the sound of falling snow; it is the change of acoustics in your surroundings. We perceive God’s voice by noticing how our perception of everything else changes in response. – Eric Elnes, “The Phoenix Affirmations”
Our Statement of Faith
We gather in worship as an inclusive community, an open & affirming community of faith that transcends any distinctions based on gender, sexual orientation, nationality, race, or religion…
Our formal worship flows into a living worship of love and support for one another as we pursue ways to reflect God’s reign of mercy, justice, and peace in our community and throughout the world…
….along with a continuing search for ways to celebrate the goodness of life together…
and always reaching out to draw others, with total inclusiveness, into this communal experience.
Announcements:
This Sunday, March 12th
Church Council Meeting has been cancelled.
Our Worship leader will be the Rev. Ted Haas, Pastor Emeritus of Grace United Church of Christ in Frederick, Maryland.
The Lovettsville Historical Society will have its meeting and speaker in the sanctuary at 2:00 p.m. The speaker will be historian Tim Snyder, and his topic will be “C.F.Wenner and C & O Canal Navigation” during the opening years of the Civil War.
Next Sunday, March 19th
Adult Sunday School will begin at 10:00 in Fellowship Hall, continuing our discussion of the book “Beyond Resistance: The Institutional Church Meets the Post-Modern World” by John Dorhauer, President and General Minister of the U.C.C.
Our Worship service this Sunday will be led by our lay leaders as a continuation and expansion of the Sunday School discussion around the future and the mission of St. James. Input and opinions from the congregation are encouraged and essential. Principles from the Dorhauer book and from “The Phoenix Affirmations” a book we used about ten years ago for our Lenten study, will be offered for thought and discussion. Copies of both books can be borrowed from Janell Kinzie or David Weintraub.
Jammim’ At James will be in the sanctuary this evening, led by Max Honn, from 6:30 – 8:30 p.m. All musicians are welcome to share the open mic, or just come to listen to the great tunes!
Sunday, March 26th
Our Worship leader this Sunday will be our own Rev. Mary Mason.
We are starting a project suggested by Alice Bagwell, to collect pill bottles, which are needed by organizations sending medicines overseas. A collection box is on the pew in the back of the Sanctuary. Please save your medicine containers (rinsed and with the labels removed, please) and donate them to this worthy cause.