Online Worship – May 17, 2020

Trinity Presbyterian Church
Online Worship Service

for May 17, 2020 – Sixth Sunday of Easter

Welcome and Announcements

Welcome to Trinity Presbyterian Church’s worship service online!

This is the eighth online worship service for Trinity and our tenth worship service not held in the Trinity Presbyterian Sanctuary due to the COVID-19 crisis.

Briefly, a word concerning the technical presentation of this service. If you are having difficulty reading the words, look for your web browser’s “Zoom” settings. The keystrokes are typically ‘Ctrl-Shift-+’ to increase the zoom or ‘Ctrl-Shift-(minus)’ to decrease the zoom. Other devices may have a different mechanism (‘finger pinch’), but most support zoom.

Although the sanctuary doors will not be open, we hope you will have a meaningful Sunday worship experience!

This week’s bulletin is available at any time by clicking this link. The bulletin will open in a separate tab or window.

The bulletin is not needed to follow the order of the service (the order of service on this page matches the bulletin’s order of service), but there are additional items that may be of interest to you that are not included on this worship page.

We hope you healthy and well. For several weeks following Easter, we will be using the worship series “Unraveled” by A Sanctified Art on both Sunday Worship and Thursday Bible Study. This is meant to stand alone, as well as complement our weekly online worship, teachings and musical selections.

The service this day contains:

  • Preparation for Worship
  • Prelude “I Am Thine, O Lord, I Have Heard Thy Voice”
  • A Call to Worship
  • Hymn #65 “Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah”
  • Prayer of the Day
  • A Prayer of Confession
  • Declaration of Forgiveness
  • Passing of the Peace
  • Anthem “In Christ Alone” Jason Wheeler, tenor
  • The Children’s Sermon
  • Scripture readings for the Sixth Sunday of Easter
  • Meditation: “Just Leave it at High Noon”
  • Affirmation of Faith
  • Prayers of the People
  • The Lord’s Prayer
  • Offering to God
  • Doxology
  • Closing Hymn #438 “Rock of Ages, Cleft for Me”
  • Benediction and Congregational Response


Preparation for Worship

Let us join together now and prepare for worship.

Dear Family of God – these are trying days in God’s beloved world.

As Christ’s Church, sustained by the Holy Spirit, we have gifts and a call by which to care for one another and our neighbors. Worship in which we encounter our living God and know ourselves connected to the body continues. So this day we expand our worship into our homes, knowing that as we read the same Scriptures, and share in the same prayers, we are held together on this Sunday morning.

Let us prepare our hearts and minds to worship the living Lord.


Prelude “I Am Thine, O Lord, I Have Heard Thy Voice”

Heasuk Che offers the prelude today.

arr. D. Wood


Call to Worship

Please join in our Call to Worship.

We come here to draw water—
Thirsty for new life.
We come here to draw water—
Bringing our past and our present, our messy truths and our deepest scars.
We come here to draw water—
Carrying shame, and in need of grace.
Fortunately for us, God always meets us at the well.
So breathe deeply and drink up.
God is here. The water is clean.
Let us worship God.


Opening Hymn #65 “Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah”

1 Guide me, O thou great Jehovah,
pilgrim through this barren land.
I am weak, but thou art mighty.
Hold me with thy powerful hand.
Bread of heaven, bread of heaven,
feed me till I want no more;
feed me till I want no more.
2 Open now the crystal fountain,
whence the healing stream doth flow.
Let the fire and cloudy pillar
lead me all my journey through.
Strong deliverer, strong deliverer,
be thou still my strength and shield;
be thou still my strength and shield.
3 When I tread the verge of Jordan,
bid my anxious fears subside.
Death of death, and hell’s destruction,
land me safe on Canaan’s side.
Songs of praises, songs of praises
I will ever give to thee;
I will ever give to thee.

CWM RHONDER


Prayer of the Day

Our prayer for this day.

Living God, through Jesus Christ you emptied the power of death and gave us the gift of life in fullness. Now fill us with the breath of your Spirit to tell the good news of the gospel: Jesus Christ is risen from the dead.

Amen.


Prayer of Confession

Let us confess our sins before God.

Like the woman at the well, we so often are unraveled by shame.
We carry shame for broken relationships.
We carry shame for being unable to balance work and parenting,
tithing and bills, productivity and Sabbath.
We get stuck in a comparison game and in critical self-monologues,
Consumed with the nagging feeling that we should be able to do more.
Forgive us for forgetting that we are made in your image.
Forgive us for forgetting that you see us and love us as we are.
Unravel the shame that unravels us.
Gratefully we pray,

(Silence for Reflection)
Amen.


Declaration of Forgiveness

Hear the good news! Who is in a position to condemn?

Only Christ, and Christ died for us, Christ rose for us, Christ reigns in power for us, Christ prays for us. (Romans 8:34) Anyone who is in Christ is a new creation. The old life is gone and a new life is begun.

In Jesus Christ we are forgiven!


Passing of the Peace

May the peace of Christ be with you!

If you’d like to participate in the next Passing of the Peace video, read this how-to instruction page (a new window or tab will open).


Anthem “In Christ Alone”

Jason Wheeler offers a solo accompanied by Heasuk Che.

 


Children’s Sermon

Brooke Tucker has a special message for you on the Sixth Sunday of Easter.


Scripture Reading

For the readings, you may click on the links below. The links will take you to BibleGateway.com. A new window (or tab) will appear. After you finish the readings, you may close the window (or tab) to continue with the service. If you prefer, find your Bible and read the selections.

The Samaritan Woman at the Well: John 4:1-29

Today’s liturgist is David Tiernan reading from the the Gospel of John. Listen for God speaking to you today.


Meditation “Just Leave it at High Noon”

The message from Rev Dr Jeffrey Beebe on this Sixth Sunday of Easter.

The artwork below is this week’s theme in the Unraveled series from A Sanctified Art, LLC referred to by Rev Beebe in the meditation.


You Ask of Me? (The Samaritan Woman at the Well) by Hannah Garrity
Inspired by John 4:1-29 | acrylic & ink on canvas

Why are you asking me? As a woman in a patriarchal society, I have been faced with subordination throughout my life. I mostly do not feel it. I have learned self control from a young age and I have been taught to appreciate what I have. These skills are the reasons that I have the extensive happiness and comfort that I enjoy on a daily basis. However, the patriarchy still exists. Along with the external blocks, the glass ceilings, I am finding that I stand in my own way, too. Despite the tireless efforts of my parents to teach us of a world of equality and opportunity, I have still imbibed the societal belief that I, as a woman, am lesser; that my skills do not measure up, that my salary should not be equal or more, that I work too much, that I spend too little time with my children, or that I will not succeed at the next challenge. None of these things are true, and yet I throw the roadblocks of patriarchy before myself anyway. The woman at the well had multiple levels of societal oppression standing like a wall between Jesus and her. She was not of the same race or gender as he, and she was unwed, unprotected. I can understand why she questioned God’s call for water. Why would he address her as an equal? Are you asking me? Are you sure you meant to do that? Are you sure that I measure up?
— Hannah Garrity


Affirmation of Faith

Let us affirm our faith.

I believe in God, the Great Sewer—
Who weaves us together in community,
Collecting our loose ends and turning them into belonging.

I believe in the Holy Spirit—
Who hems us in before and behind,
Catching us when we fall and writing us into God’s holy narrative.

And I believe in Jesus Christ—
Who loved and claimed the people society had thrown out, refusing to disregard
Anyone as scrap.

I believe God has woven part of God’s self into the fiber of our being,
Making us inherently worthy of love and belonging.

I believe the fabric of my life is weak,
That I am prone to error and need God’s handiwork to remind me of love.

I believe in the Church, and that like a quilt of different fabrics,
She is designed to be as diverse and beautiful as God’s creation.

And I believe that when life unravels,
God is there to stitch my wounds together,
To hold me in the palm of God’s hand, to tell me of love,
And to invite me into a new journey.

Amen.

— Liturgy by Sara Are, A Sanctified Art


Prayers of the People

God of labyrinth journeys, thank you for walking with us through paths that lead to places that center us, not confusing and blocking our progress like mazes. Thank you for being present with us, even when we forget you are with us. Thank you for the witnesses we have to your faithfulness and love for generation after generation.
Thank you, God, for being with Sarai and Abraham as they traveled to places they did not choose, lands foreign to them and challenges they did not design. Thank you, God, for Shiprah and Puah, the midwives to the Hebrews, who risked their lives to make sure new life thrived, letting their commitment to you and to the community take priority. Thank you, God, for being with Naomi and Ruth as they return to Bethlehem after the death of loved ones, for their courage to stay steadfast to one another and to you, and the abundant harvest they found where there once was famine. Thank you, God, for the gift of Mary, who anointed Jesus with costly perfume, reminding us that caring for the body of Christ is primary for us all.
Finally, we give thanks for leaders in our midst throughout time who have showed us the way forward as prophets, preachers, pastors and shepherds. Journey with us, O God, in the tumult, twists and turns of this coronavirus crisis, and lead us to a place centered on your love, trust, promise and new life that conquers all. In the name of the one who created us, redeems us, and sustains us, our One God. Amen.

The Rev. Dr. Lee Hinson-Hasty, Senior Director of Theological Education Funds Development, Presbyterian Foundation


The Lord’s Prayer

Let us pray together.

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.


Offering

Please continue to give your offering.

God calls us to give all of who we are, and all of what we have to be used in and thru the Church. So let us present our lives. Let us present our gifts unto God. (Offerings can be received in the church by mail or you may utilize online banking options).

You can click the image to the right or this link to give online now. At the online Giving site, select “2020 Pledge” as the Fund to fulfill your 2020 pledge or use another fund if you’re directing your gift elsewhere. Note, the church must pay a small processing fee to receive your contribution via online giving. Increasing your gift would help cover the cost of processing and would be greatly appreciated.

If you’d like to see alternatives to online giving, please take a look at our Contribute page.


Doxology

Praise God, from whom all blessings flow;
praise him, all creatures here below;
praise him above, ye heavenly host;
praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.


Closing Hymn #438 “Rock of Ages”

Heasuk Che plays the closing hymn.

1 Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
let me hide myself in thee.
Let the water and the blood
from thy wounded side which flowed
be of sin the double cure,
cleanse from guilt and make me pure.
2 Not the labors of my hands
can fulfill thy law’s demands.
Could my zeal no respite know,
could my tears forever flow,
all for sin could not atone.
Thou must save, and thou alone.
3 Nothing in my hand I bring;
simply to thy cross I cling;
naked, come to thee for dress,
helpless, look to thee for grace;
foul, I to the fountain fly;
wash me, Savior, or I die.
4 While I draw this fleeting breath,
when my eyelids close in death,
when I soar to worlds unknown,
see thee on thy judgment throne,
Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
let me hide myself in thee.


Benediction


Congregational Response

1 Blest be the tie that binds our hearts in Christian love.
The fellowship of kindred minds is like to that above.


The Service has Ended

Thank you for joining us online! We hope you will join us again as long as we need to be apart. We pray for the day when we can all meet again and worship God in the sanctuary and Trinity Presbyterian Church.

ALL COPYRIGHTS ACKNOWLEDGED



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