Pentecost One Worship Order of Service
St. Peter’s Evangelical Lutheran Church
PENTECOST 1 – Coronavirus
06-06-2021 10:00AM Zoom Worship
THE OPENING RITE OF CONFESSION AND FORGIVENESS: Beverly Morris + Judy Echols
L Holy, holy, holy is (+) God – creating, redeeming, and empowering us!
Let us stand in wonder before God’s majesty, let us bow our hearts in humble confession before God’s mercy.
Out of the depths we cry to you, O Lord!
C You have been faithful to us, but we are unfaithful to you – listening to sweet serpent whispers.
You offer us your love, but we use it and abuse it – treating it like nothing.
You show us your wisdom, but we prefer to go our own way – paying you no mind, chasing our own desire.
You give us second chances, then we demand a third and a fourth – thinking you are so easy.
You know and we confess that we have sinned against you – then tried to hide or shift the blame.
You know and we confess that we do not always love other people – quickly disagreeing and dividing.
O God, if you kept track of our sins, who really would stand a chance?
O God, have mercy on us. We ask you to forgive us, heal us, and refresh us, Amen.
L Rebellion is in the air. Sinful hearts have turned away.
God calls out, “Where are you?” – not to find us, but so that we might find ourselves before it is too late.
If you turn back to God, your sins are taken away, you are forgiven, you are made new.
Through the grace of (+) Jesus Christ you are set free to live on purpose with trusting faith and fervent loving. Amen.
OPENING SONG: “Amazing Grace” Trudi Wright
PRAYER OF THE DAY: Judy Echols
Almighty God, here we are, flesh and blood, spirit and life – created, redeemed, and empowered by your love.
In Jesus Christ, you have turned death into life and defeat into victory.
Increase our trust in him, so that we do not lose heart in hard times and surrender faith in tempting times.
Increase our obedience of him, so that we might create true communities of love, support, and forgiveness.
Amen.
FIRST READING: GENESIS 3:8-15 [We want to say, “It’s not my fault!” instead of “I’m sorry!” to God.] Armia Dennis
3:8 They heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.
3:9 But the LORD God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?”
3:10 He said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.”
3:11 He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?”
3:12 The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit from the tree, and I ate.”
3:13 Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent tricked me, and I ate.”
3:14 The LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you among all animals and among all wild creatures; upon your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life.
3:15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.”
SECOND READING: 2 CORINTHIANS 4:13 – 5:1 [We focus on present adversity and fail to see eternity’s hope.] Daren Waite
4:13 But just as we have the same spirit of faith that is in accordance with scripture–“I believed, and so I spoke” –we also believe, and so we speak,
4:14 because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus, and will bring us with you into his presence.
4:15 Yes, everything is for your sake, so that grace, as it extends to more and more people, may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.
4:16 So we do not lose heart. Even though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day.
4:17 For this slight momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all measure,
4:18 because we look not at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen; for what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal.
5:1 For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
GOSPEL VERSE: “Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me.
Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me.
Break me, melt me, mold me, fill me.
Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me.”
THE HOLY GOSPEL: MARK 3:20-35 [Jesus invites us into new family as a community of love, support, and forgiveness!] Regina Edwards
3:20 and the crowd came together again, so that they could not even eat.
3:21 When his family heard it, they went out to restrain him, for people were saying, “He has gone out of his mind.”
3:22 And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, “He has Beelzebul, and by the ruler of the demons he casts out demons.”
3:23 And he called them to him, and spoke to them in parables, “How can Satan cast out Satan?
3:24 If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.
3:25 And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand.
3:26 And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but his end has come.
3:27 But no one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his property without first tying up the strong man; then indeed the house can be plundered.
3:28 “Truly I tell you, people will be forgiven for their sins and whatever blasphemies they utter;
3:29 but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit can never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”–
3:30 for they had said, “He has an unclean spirit.”
3:31 Then his mother and his brothers came; and standing outside, they sent to him and called him.
3:32 A crowd was sitting around him; and they said to him, “Your mother and your brothers and sisters are outside, asking for you.”
3:33 And he replied, “Who are my mother and my brothers?”
3:34 And looking at those who sat around him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers!
3:35 Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.”
THE SERMON: Pastor Neil or Pastor Gwen
SONG SELECTION Donna Waite
AN AFFIRMATION OF OUR FAITH: Kathy Nelson
I trust in God who has given me life,
who has offered me forgiveness,
who has embraced me with steadfast love.
To God I am as precious as his own Son, Jesus, who lived and died in obedience to his Father’s will.
Jesus, God’s living Word in flesh and blood,
shared our pain,
showed us how to live and to love,
and suffered and died to bring us into forgiveness and fellowship with God.
I believe that nothing can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
I believe that God through the Holy Spirit will sustain and renew me as I face
the wear and tear of life,
its tragedies and its temptations,
its challenges and conflicts,
and even my long nights and my final moment.
I believe that God lives in the fellowship of those who trust him,
that God wants us to extend that grace to more and more people,
and that whoever does the will of God is my sister,
mother,
son,
or father.
I want to live faithfully and to love fervently in the name, the spirit, and the mission of Jesus. Amen.
OFFERING… Who are Christ’s brothers and sisters? Those who do the will of God. So let’s offer all that God has blessed us with – our time and energy, our abilities and actions, our possessions and prayers – to reach out with compassion and generosity.
OFFERING SONG: “Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine! O what a foretaste of glory divine!
Heir of salvation, purchase of God, born of his Spirit, washed in his blood.
THIS IS MY STORY, THIS IS MY SONG,
PRAISING MY SAVIOR ALL THE DAY LONG! [sing the chorus 2 times]
We are God’s people, we are Christ’s Church, called by God’s Spirit into the world.
We have God’s power from heaven above, we’ll share God’s justice, mercy and love!”
OFFERING PRAYER: David Johnson
Lord God, thank you for making a way out of no way in my life!
During this summer may I dedicate my leisure and my work, my rest and travel, my service and spending,
my health and my wealth, my worship and my witness to glorify You and to extend your Kingdom to others.
Someone somewhere is in need of your Good News. Amen.
MUSIC SELECTION: Dennis Fortune
THE PRAYERS… We pray for NEW LIFE in the Spirit and for the MISSION of the Church to the world! If we aren’t faithful in our daily living and fruitful in witnessing to others the good news of Jesus Christ, then we aren’t really the Body of Christ! Linda Crawford
THE LORD’S PRAYER
SONG SELECTION: “I’m So Glad Jesus Lifted Me” Veronica Britto
THE BENEDICTION