Liturgy for May 28, 2023
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Reflections
There once was in man a true happiness of which now remain to him only the mark and empty trace, which he in vain tries to fill from all his surroundings, seeking from the things absent the help he does not obtain in things present. But these are all inadequate, because the infinite abyss can only be filled by an infinite and immutable object, that is to say, only by God himself.
Blaise Pascal (1623-1662) from Pensées
There is no other way to the happiness for which we were made. Good things as well as bad are caught by a kind of infection. If you want to get warm you must stand near the fire: if you want to be wet you must get into the water. If you want joy, power, peace, eternal life, you must get close to, or even into, the thing that has them. They are not a sort of prize which God could, if he chose, just hand out to anyone. They are a great fountain of energy and beauty spurting up at the very center of reality. If you are close to it, the spray will wet you: if you are not, you will remain dry. Once a man is united to God, how could he not live forever? Once a man is separated from God, what can he do but wither and die?
C. S. Lewis from Mere Christianity
Here are two facts, two pieces of critical data. Both are equally solid. First, that no thing in this universe is solid, stable, absolute and unchanging, least of all ourselves. Second, that we scream for that solidity. We yearn, we demand, we act like babies deprived of milk, fish of water, birds of air. We act like land creatures sucked from their home by a tidal wave in a past so remote and forgotten that we seem to have been drifting always. But all driftwood originally came from a tree, with roots. The deep inner wisdom of our "inclinations," our innate desire for eternity and absoluteness, leads us back to God, our true home, "the fixed point of the turning world."
Peter Kreeft from *Christianity for Modern Pagans: Pascal's Pensées *
The Lord is the giver of our songs; he breathes the music into the hearts of his people; he is the creator of their joy.
Charles Spurgeon
Call to Worship
from Hebrews 12:28-29
Leader: Let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken.
People: And let us thus offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.
Leader: Come and worship!
Hymn of Praise: Jesus Where'er Your People Meet
Prayer of Praise and the Lord’s Prayer
Confession of Sin
Scripture Reading
Mark 9:33-37
And they came to Capernaum. And when he was in the house he asked them, “What were you discussing on the way?” But they kept silent, for on the way they had argued with one another about who was the greatest. And he sat down and called the twelve. And he said to them, “If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.” And he took a child and put him in the midst of them, and taking him in his arms, he said to them, Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me, receives not me but him who sent me.”
Corporate Confession of Sin
Father, in our sin we also seek to be first, to receive acclaim, to be the one among many. Not being first is odious to us and being last and serving is a fate we do not easily accept. We live in a sinful age, in an age where the individual is everything, an age in which our "rights" are paramount and in which "we deserve" is a common cry. In our sin, this detracts from our ability not only to love our neighbors, but even to tolerate them. We read the words of Jesus and sanctimoniously nod assent but our hearts are far from being a servant to our neighbor.
Forgive us, Lord. Bring us back to the reality of Jesus, who became a man and a servant and sacrificed himself for us. Teach us that His way is the true way and that everything else is empty. Cause our belief to increase and our love for God and for others to grow and flourish so that we may walk in His paths and be known as children of God. Amen.
Assurance of Pardon and the Peace of God
Isaiah 53:4-6
Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
Leader: Only through the death and resurrection of Jesus can we come before God. Christians, we come today in His name alone, knowing that we are redeemed and are at peace with God.
People: Blessed is the name of Jesus.
Leader: The peace of Christ be with you all.
People: And also with you.
Silent Confession and Reflection
Hymn: Jesus! What a Friend for Sinners!
Collection of Tithes and Offerings
Affirmation of Faith
Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapter X "Of Effectual Calling"
Leader: All those who God has predestinated unto life, and those only, He is pleased, in His appointed time, effectually to call, by His Word and Spirit,
People: out of that state of sin and death, in which they are by nature, to grace and salvation, by Jesus Christ; enlightening their minds to understand the things of God.
Leader: This effectual call is of God's free and special grace alone, not from anything at all foreseen in man, who is altogether passive, until, being quickened and renewed by the Holy Spirit,
People: he is enabled to answer this call, and to embrace the grace offered and conveyed in it.
Leader: What do the Scriptures say?
People: All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.
Hymn: Gloria Patri
Prayer of Intercession
Hymn: With Grateful Heart My Thanks I Bring
Preaching of the Word
Psalm 16 Part II: "Happy God, Happy Saints", Rev. Rich Lusk
Scripture: Psalm 16
Hymn: All Hail the King of Heaven
Benediction
Jude 24-25
Now unto him who is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Father, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever.
And God's people said:
All: Amen!