CHRIST THE KING SUNDAY Order of Service
We will gather together for worship service on Zoom using the following information:
MEETING ID: 5977365682
MEETING PASSWORD: 204934
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ST. PETER’S CHURCH
CHRIST THE KING SUNDAY Order of Service Coronavirus
(Last Sunday of the Church Year) 11-22-2020 10:00AM Worship
(Welcome / Greeting by the Pastors)
OPENING SONG: “O WHEN THE SAINTS”
- O when the saints go marching in, O when the saints go marching in
O Lord, I want to be in that number when the saints go marching in! - O when they gather ‘round that throne…
- O when they crown him KING OF KINGS…
- And on that Hallelujah day…
THE OPENING RITE:
L It might just be a story, it might be make-believe, but it also might be true that, one day, Jesus the King will gather all the nations, all the peoples of the world, you and me, for a day of judging. Jesus will do the judging, and he will judge each and all of us based on whether and how we served him in “the least” of the human family.
C It’s an appointment we will each have to keep. No excuses, no absences, and no delays!
L Our world tempts us to focus especially on our own safety, comfort, success, and pleasure, but nevertheless –
C King Jesus will judge us for our faith active in love.
L It is easy to become numb to and immobilized by the magnitude of poverty and suffering in our world, but nevertheless –
C King Jesus will judge us for our faith active in love.
L Whether or not we are actually giving, sharing, caring, loving, and trying in our earthly interactions with others –
C King Jesus will judge us for our faith active in love.
L My friends, God knows us for who we are and who we aren’t… and yet loves us with an amazing grace.
The truth is, none of us will offer inclusion, love, and compassion all the time.
The truth is, before we can “be Christ” to our neighbor, we must “see Christ” in our neighbor.
The truth is, our discipleship is sometimes halfhearted and our sinning energetic.
So let us be grateful that it is King Jesus, the Son of God – living as our brother and dying like a slave on a cross for us –
who will someday do the judging of the world, judge the living and the dead, judge us. We know that Jesus is full of love!
C Thanks be to God for the One who was crucified and raised from the dead!
Thanks be to God for the One who meets us in the need of our fellow humans!
Thanks be to God for the One who works in us and through us in surprising and unexpected ways! Alleluia!
THE PRAYER OF THE DAY:
Almighty God, we worship you, we glorify you, and we give you thanks for your Son, Jesus Christ.
We pray that Christ, the King of heaven and earth, will also rule as the King of our daily lives.
And we pray that we will not fail to see and serve Christ among the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the sick, and the imprisoned.
We want to be ready when the trumpet sounds, when the saints go marching in. Amen.
FIRST READING: EZEKIEL 34:11-16, 20-24 [The result of “bad shepherd” kings has been scattered sheep, weak and wounded sheep, and also fat and greedy sheep. God will come as the good shepherd to gather, feed, and care for the people.]
34:11 For thus says the Lord GOD: I myself will search for my sheep, and will seek them out.
34:12 As shepherds seek out their flocks when they are among their scattered sheep, so I will seek out my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places to which they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness.
34:13 I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land; and I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the watercourses, and in all the inhabited parts of the land.
34:14 I will feed them with good pasture, and the mountain heights of Israel shall be their pasture; there they shall lie down in good grazing land, and they shall feed on rich pasture on the mountains of Israel.
34:15 I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I will make them lie down, says the Lord GOD.
34:16 I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, but the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them with justice.
34:20 Therefore, thus says the Lord GOD to them: I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep.
34:21 Because you pushed with flank and shoulder, and butted at all the weak animals with your horns until you scattered them far and wide,
34:22 I will save my flock, and they shall no longer be ravaged; and I will judge between sheep and sheep.
34:23 I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd.
34:24 And I, the LORD, will be their God, and my servant David shall be prince among them; I, the LORD, have spoken.
SONG SELECTION
SECOND READING: EPHESIANS 1:15-23 [God is praised for revealing ultimate divine power in raising Jesus from the dead. The resurrected and exalted Christ is Lord both of the church and of the entire universe, now and in the age to come.]
1:15 I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, and for this reason
1:16 I do not cease to give thanks for you as I remember you in my prayers.
1:17 I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him,
1:18 so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints,
1:19 and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe, according to the working of his great power.
1:20 God put this power to work in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places,
1:21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the age to come.
1:22 And he has put all things under his feet and has made him the head over all things for the church,
1:23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.
GOSPEL VERSE: “Victory is mine, victory is mine, victory today is mine!
I TOLD SATAN ‘GET THEE BEHIND!’… victory today is mine!
(2) Joy is mine…
(3) Peace is mine…”
HOLY GOSPEL: MATTHEW 25:31-46 [Jesus tells a story about sheep and goats, heaven and hell. In the last judgment, do you anticipate being “right” on or “left” out, a rewarded sheep or a condemned goat, facing a new beginning or a grim end?]
25:31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory.
25:32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats,
25:33 and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left.
25:34 Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world;
25:35 for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me,
25:36 I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’
25:37 Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink?
25:38 And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing?
25:39 And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’
25:40 And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.’
25:41 Then he will say to those at his left hand, ‘You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels;
25:42 for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink,
25:43 I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’
25:44 Then they also will answer, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?’
25:45 Then he will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’
25:46 And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
THE SERMON: The Rev. David Maddox II
SONG SELECTION:
THE APOSTLES’ CREED:
I believe in God the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord.
He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary.
He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried.
He descended into hell.
On the third day he rose again.
He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. Amen.
OFFERTORY SONG: “Thank you, Lord… thank you, Lord… thank you, Lord… I just want to thank you, Lord!
(2) Been so good…
(3) Love you, Lord…”
OFFERING PRAYER:
God of grace and glory, we thank you for the gift of creation and the gift of our lives,
for the gift of salvation and the gift of Jesus Christ,
for the gift of your Holy Spirit and the gift of your Church.
Take our attitude of gratitude and transform it into caring and sharing towards the least, the lost,
and the lonely all over the face of this earth.
Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an everflowing stream. Amen.
MUSIC SELECTION Dennis Fortune
THE PRAYERS… We pray for NEW LIFE in the Spirit and the MISSION of the Church to the world!
THE LORD’S PRAYER
SONG SELECTION
THE BENEDICTION by one of the Pastors.
“His Name Is Wonderful”
“Get All Excited”
“King of My Life”
“Soon I Will Be Done”
“Give Thanks”
Month of November… Give thanks, live thanks, share love.
Next Sunday… SEASON OF ADVENT — praying and preparing for Christ to come.