Trinity Presbyterian Church
Online Worship Service
for May 3, 2020 – Fourth Sunday of Easter
Welcome and Announcements
Welcome to Trinity Presbyterian Church’s worship service online!
This is the sixth online worship service for Trinity.
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 “Christ, Be Our Light”
- A Call to Worship
- Opening hymn #418 “Softly and Tenderly Jesus is Calling”
- Prayer of the Day
- A Prayer of Confession
- Declaration of Forgiveness
- A Children’s Sermon from Brooke Tucker
- Scripture readings for the Fourth Sunday of Easter
- Meditation: “Veering off Course”
- Affirmation of Faith
- Offering to God
- Doxology
- Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper
- Closing Hymn #803 “My Shepherd Will Supply My Need”
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 “Christ, Be Our Light”
Judith Spurrell offers a solo accompanied by Heasuk Che.
Call to Worship
Please join in our Call to Worship.
All: For God longs to be in relationship with us.
One: God is in this house today,
All: For God loves the sinners and the saints.
One: God is in this house today.
All: For God sees all, claims all, and loves all.
One: God is in this house today.
All: So let us worship Holy God.
Opening Hymn #418 “Softly and Tenderly Jesus is Calling”
calling for you and for me.
See, on the portals he’s waiting and watching,
watching for you and for me.
You who are weary, come home.”
Earnestly, tenderly, Jesus is calling,
calling, “O sinner, come home!”
pleading for you and for me?
Why should we linger and heed not his mercies,
mercies for you and for me? [Refrain]
promised for you and for me!
Though we have sinned, he has mercy and pardon,
pardon for you and for me. [Refrain]
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.
Gracious God,
Zacchaeus valued money over people and power over equality.
He was a sinner, but so are we.
Like Zacchaeus, we are quick to prioritize the wrong things—
Valuing our to do lists over family time,
Our own success over a relationship with you,
And wealth over generosity.
We lose sight over what really matters.
We lose sight of love.
Forgive us for our ignorance and impatience.
Call us back to the life you long for us to lead.
With humility and gratitude we pray, Amen. (Silence for Reflection)
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!
Children’s Sermon
Brooke Tucker has a special message for you on the Fourth Sunday of Easter.
Scripture Reading
For the readings, you may click on the links below. The link 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.
Today’s reading is from the Gospel of Luke. Listen for God speaking to you today.
Jesus and Zacchaeus: Luke 19:1-10
Meditation “Veering off Course”
The message from Rev Dr Jeffrey Beebe on this Fourth Sunday of Easter.
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
Offering
Please continue to give your offering.
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
Judith Spurrell, Lillian Werner, and Jason Wheeler sing with accompaniment by Jillian Koenig on flute, and Heasuk Che on piano.
Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper
Welcome to the bountiful feast of the Lord!
Closing Hymn #803 “My Shepherd Will Supply My Need”
Jehovah is his name.
In pastures fresh he makes me feed,
beside the living stream.
He brings my wandering spirit back
when I forsake his ways,
and leads me, for his mercy’s sake,
in paths of truth and grace.
your presence is my stay;
one word of your supporting breath
drives all my fears away.
Your hand, in sight of all my foes,
does still my table spread;
my cup with blessings overflows;
your oil anoints my head.
attend me all my days;
O may your house be my abode,
and all my work be praise.
There would I find a settled rest,
while others go and come;
no more a stranger, or a guest,
but like a child at home.
Benediction
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.
The fellowship of kindred minds is like to that above.
ALL COPYRIGHTS ACKNOWLEDGED