GATHERING TO PRAISE GOD Sunday, October 17, 2021

Prelude

Praise Song

Welcome

The People Gather
L: We come joyfully to the house of the Lord.
P: We bring our praise and offer our lives to God.
L: This is our gift and our sacrifice - an act of devotion to God.
P: Let us celebrate God’s love with our voices and our lives.
*Hymn* Holy, Holy, Holy UMH 369 vs,1,2,4

The People Pray
Jesus, you came to us in humility, serving those who did not know how to serve you. You could have come to us in power and glory, yet you came to us as a simple man. You treated each person with dignity and showed us the path upon which to walk. Align our vision with yours, so that we may be more faithful disciples who demonstrate our love for you and our love of neighbor. Amen.

Special Music

The People Confess Their Sin
*We can get caught up in own lives and miss the path you have called us to walk, O God. We are weak and easily trapped into attitudes of indifference or destructive behavior. You have called us to lives marked by love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Forgive our failure to demonstrate a life worthy of your calling. Help us to let go of the petty desires for wealth, position, and power, and bring us into a ministry which proclaims your love and justice for all your people. These things we pray in the name of the Master Servant, Jesus Christ, our Lord. AMEN.*

God’s Words of Assurance
The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. He will not accuse or keep his anger forever… as far as the east is from the west, so far he removes our transgression from us. Psalm 103:8-12

The Word of God for the People of God

*Scripture *
Mark 1:1-6
Look, I am sending my messenger before you.
He will prepare your way,
3 a voice shouting in the wilderness:
“Prepare the way for the Lord;
make his paths straight.”[a]
4 John the Baptist was in the wilderness calling for people to be baptized to show that they were changing their hearts and lives and wanted God to forgive their sins. 5 Everyone in Judea and all the people of Jerusalem went out to the Jordan River and were being baptized by John as they confessed their sins. 6 John wore clothes made of camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist. He ate locusts and wild honey.
Malachi 4:5-6
*Look, I am sending Elijah the prophet to you,
before the great and terrifying day of the Lord arrives.
6 Turn the hearts of the parents to the children
and the hearts of the children to their parents.
Otherwise, I will come and strike the land with a curse. *

Message Just the Beginning

Pastoral Prayer

The People Bring Their Gifts
There are baskets in the back or use your online app

The People Go into The World

Praise Song

Benediction

Organ Postlude