September 3,2023
WE GATHER IN AWE AND PRAISE
PRELUDE “This is My Father's World/As the Deer” arr. Sunghwan Kim
WELCOME Rev. Trip Porch
One: This is the day that the Lord has made
All: Let us rejoice and be glad in it
*CALL TO WORSHIP
One: Be still, for the presence of the Lord, the Holy One, is here.
All: We come before God with praise and thanksgiving, we stand on holy ground.
One: Be still, for the presence of the Lord is shining all around.
All: Holy fire, splendor, radiance are here, lighting our way and setting us on fire
with love as we stand on holy ground.
One: Be still, for the power of the Lord is moving in this place.
All: God comes to cleanse and heal, to fill us with grace overflowing, as we stand
on your holy ground…
*HYMN NO. 406 “We Are Standing on Holy Ground” HOLY GROUND
*PRAYER OF CONFESSION written by Rev. MaryAnn R. Rennie Rev. Rick Nutt
Redeeming God, out of the flames of your creation, your voice calls, marking us as your own. Yet there are times when we fail to hear your voice, or worse, ignore it all together. Instead we listen to our own needs and desires and those that challenge our faith from within the world. Forgive us for the times we have missed you in our midst when we have ignored the needs of others; when we have failed to place our feet upon your path; when we allow the earthly voice to distract us from your call…
Silence
Loving Lord, in your forgiveness you offer again your invitation to sink our feet into your holy ground. To know your love, to be loved, and to respond to your call. In hearing your voice may we find our place in you… restored. AMEN.
*ASSURANCE OF PARDON
*RESPONSE OF PRAISE “Glory to God, Whose Goodness Shines on Me GLORY TO GOD (Vasile)
*PASSING OF THE PEACE
One: The peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all,
All: And also with you.
WE LISTEN FOR GOD’S WORD
SPECIAL MUSIC "The King of Love My Shepherd Is" arr. Dan Forrest Mary Rebekah Fortman - soloist
PRAYER OF ILLUMINATION Scripture: Exodus 3:1-15
Moses was shepherding the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. He led the flock to the west end of the wilderness and came to the mountain of God, Horeb. The angel of God appeared to him in flames of fire blazing out of the middle of a bush. He looked. The bush was blazing away but it didn’t burn up.
Moses said, “What’s going on here? I can’t believe this! Amazing! Why doesn’t the bush burn up?”
God saw that he had stopped to look. God called to him from out of the bush, “Moses! Moses!”
He said, “Yes? I’m right here!”
God said, “Don’t come any closer. Remove your sandals from your feet. You’re standing on holy ground.”
Then he said, “I am the God of your father: The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob.”
Moses hid his face, afraid to look at God.
God said, “I’ve taken a good, long look at the affliction of my people in Egypt. I’ve heard their cries for deliverance from their slave masters; I know all about their pain. And now I have come down to help them, pry them loose from the grip of Egypt, get them out of that country and bring them to a good land with wide-open spaces, a land lush with milk and honey, the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite.
“The Israelite cry for help has come to me, and I’ve seen for myself how cruelly they’re being treated by the Egyptians. It’s time for you to go back: I’m sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the People of Israel, out of Egypt.”
Moses answered God, “But why me? What makes you think that I could ever go to Pharaoh and lead the children of Israel out of Egypt?”
“I’ll be with you,” God said. “And this will be the proof that I am the one who sent you: When you have brought my people out of Egypt, you will worship God right here at this very mountain.”
Then Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the People of Israel and I tell them, ‘The God of your fathers sent me to you’; and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ What do I tell them?”
God said to Moses, “I-AM-WHO-I-AM. Tell the People of Israel, ‘I-AM sent me to you.’”
God continued with Moses: “This is what you’re to say to the Israelites: ‘God, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob sent me to you.’ This has always been my name, and this is how I always will be known.
CHILDREN’S MESSAGE Dorothy Kyle
SERMON Rev. Trip Porch
*HYMN No. 833 “O Love That Wilt Not Let Me Go” ST. MARGARET
PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE with The Lord’s Prayer in the Original Aramaic
TIME OF OFFERING Der Müller und Der Bach Schubert/Lisz
*OFFERTORY RESPONSE #710 “We Lift Our Voices” OFFERING
*PRAYER OF DEDICATION adapted from Carol Penner
Great I-AM, You who know our inmost being, connect our hearts with our pockets. Set the pace for our lives with the steady rhythm of generosity, and a call to do what is right in the world, allowing our pockets and our hearts to open in love. We dedicate all we share to you. Amen.
*HYMN Amazing Grace/Higher Ground (on Screen)
TIME OF COMMUNITY SHARING
CHARGE AND BENEDICTION
POSTLUDE Fanfare Jacques-Nicholas Lemmens
Acknowledgments: Unless otherwise indicated, all texts and music are printed and broadcast under OneLicense.net license #A-702452