Worship for Sunday, March 15, 2020

Below is the liturgy for our online “gathered” worship.

There are several audio segments throughout. They should start to play when you point and click your computer mouse on the arrow in the box. There are also embedded videos to all the songs in this service. They should start to play when you point and click your computer mouse on the arrow within the video.

Here is our first audio:

GOD IS HOLY

DOXOLOGY: All Creatures of Our God and King

All creatures of our God and King, 

lift up your voice and with us sing 

alleluia, alleluia! 

Thou burning sun with golden beam, 

thou silver moon with softer gleam, 

O praise him, O praise him, 

alleluia, alleluia, alleluia! 

Thou rushing wind that art so strong, 

ye clouds that sail in heav'n along, 

O praise him, alleluia! 

Thou rising morn, in praise rejoice, 

ye lights of evening, find a voice, 

O praise him, O praise him, 

alleluia, alleluia, alleluia! 

Thou flowing water, pure and clear, 

make music for thy Lord to hear, 

alleluia, alleluia!

Thou fire so masterful and bright, 

that givest man both warmth and light, 

O praise him, O praise him, 

alleluia, alleluia, alleluia! 

And all ye men of tender heart,

forgiving others, take your part, 

O sing ye, alleluia! 

Ye who long pain and sorrow bear,

praise God and on him cast your care,

O praise him, O praise him, 

alleluia, alleluia, alleluia! 

Let all things their Creator bless,

and worship him in humbleness,

O praise him, alleluia!

Praise, praise the Father, praise the Son,

and praise the Spirit, three in one, 

O praise him, O praise him, 

alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!

PRAYER OF PREPARATION: O Eternal God, grant unto us that your holy name may always be magnified among us; and that your mighty and holy Word be so imprinted in our hearts, that we undertake nothing against your godly will; to the intent that we continually depend on your good providence, and be replenished with that joy that shall uphold our hope of all those good things which you have promised to us through Jesus Christ. Amen. (from Prayers on the Psalms, from the Scottish Psalter of 1595) 

CALL TO WORSHIP: Psalm 20:7; 124:8; 95:6-7

Some trust in chariots and some in horses,

    but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.

Our help is in the name of the Lord,

    who made heaven and earth.

Oh come, let us worship and bow down;

    let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker!

For he is our God,

   and we are the people of his pasture,

    and the sheep of his hand.

PRAYER OF ADORATION AND THE LORD’S PRAYER

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed by 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 sins, as we forgive those who sin against us.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.

OPENING HYMN: This Is My Father’s World

This is my Father's world,

And to my list'ning ears,

All nature sings, and round me rings

The music of the spheres.

This is my Father's world:

I rest me in the thought

Of rocks and trees, of skies and seas;

His hand the wonders wrought.

This is my Father's world,

The birds their carols raise,

The morning light, the lily white,

Declare their Maker's praise.

This is my Father's world:

He shines in all that's fair;

In the rustling grass I hear him pass,

He speaks to me everywhere.

This is my Father's world,

O let me ne'er forget

That though the wrong seems oft so strong,

God is the ruler yet.

This is my Father's world:

The battle is not done;

Jesus who died shall be satisfied,

And earth and heav'n be one.

WE HAVE SINNED

CORPORATE PRAYER OF CONFESSION (adapted from The Worship Sourcebook)

Help us, O God of our salvation,

for the glory of your name;

deliver us, and forgive our sins,

for your name’s sake.

Lamb of God, you take away the sin of the world, have mercy on us.

O God, in your goodness you “defend the weak” and “uphold the cause of the poor.”

In our unholy carelessness, we let the poor struggle on their own,

not seeing them, not caring about them, seldom asking about them.

O God, friend of the helpless, you sent your Son to “proclaim good news to the poor.”

But we care much more about those who already have enough

and ignore those who lack even the simplest essentials of life.

Holy judge of all, forgive us and correct us, we pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.

PERSONAL PRAYER OF CONFESSION

JESUS RECONCILES US

Gospel of Christ: Psalm 103:1-5

Bless the Lord, O my soul,

    and all that is within me,

    bless his holy name!

Bless the Lord, O my soul,

    and forget not all his benefits,

who forgives all your iniquity,

    who heals all your diseases,

who redeems your life from the pit,

    who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,

who satisfies you with good

    so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

Believe in Jesus Christ, you are free from the guilt and power of sin and death.

People: Thanks be to God.

ASSURANCE HYMN: Grace 

THE PEACE OF GOD

John 14:27

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. 

The peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.

And also with you.

You can click here to give online if you so desire. It will say: for Debruin, Troy - Proclamation PC, Mount Joy, PA. All giving online is tithe to Proclamation (not to Troy!). His name is listed simply to distinguish and clarify the giving (there is another church in the PCA with same church name).

Please take a moment to pray for those in need:

From the 1928 Book of Common Prayer

In Time of Great Sickness and Mortality:

O MOST mighty and merciful God, in this time of grievous sickness, we flee unto you for comfort and help. Deliver us, we pray, from our peril; give strength and skill to all those who minister to the sick; prosper the means made use of for their cure; and grant that, perceiving how frail and uncertain our life is, we may apply our hearts unto that heavenly wisdom which leads to eternal life; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

JESUS SENDS US WITH HIS SPIRIT

Confession of Faith: Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 1, 26-28 

What is your only comfort in life and in death? 

That I am not my own, but belong—body and soul, in life and in death—

to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ.

He has fully paid for all my sins with his precious blood, and has set me free from the tyranny of the devil.

He also watches over me in such a way that not a hair can fall from my head

without the will of my Father in heaven; in fact, all things must work together for my salvation.

Because I belong to him, Christ, by his Holy Spirit, assures me of eternal life

and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready from now on to live for him.

What do you believe when you say: I believe in God the Father almighty, Creator of heaven and earth?

That the eternal Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who out of nothing created heaven and earth

and all that is in them, and who still upholds and governs them by His eternal counsel and providence,

is, for the sake of Christ His Son, my God and my Father.

In Him I trust so completely as to have no doubt that He will provide me with all things necessary

for body and soul, and will also turn to my good whatever adversity He sends me in this life of sorrow.

He is able to do so as almighty God, and willing also as a faithful Father.

What do you understand by the providence of God?

God's providence is His almighty and ever present power, whereby, as with His hand,

He still upholds heaven and earth and all creatures, and so governs them

that leaf and blade, rain and drought, fruitful and barren years, food and drink, health and sickness,

riches and poverty, indeed, all things, come not by chance but by His fatherly hand.

What does it benefit us to know that God has created all things and still upholds them by His providence?

We can be patient in adversity, thankful in prosperity, and with a view to the future

we can have a firm confidence in our faithful God and Father that no creature shall separate us from His love;

for all creatures are so completely in His hand that without His will they cannot so much as move.

THANKSGIVING HYMN: GIVE PRAISE TO GOD

Give praise to God who reigns above

for perfect knowledge, wisdom, love;

His judgments are divine, devout,

His paths beyond all tracing out.

Refrain:

Come, lift our voice to heav'n's high throne,

and glory give to God alone!

No one can counsel God all-wise

or truths unveil to His sharp eyes;

He marks our paths behind, before;

He is our steadfast Counselor. [Refrain]

Nothing exists that God might need,

for all things good from Him proceed.

We praise Him as our Lord, and yet

we never place God in our debt. [Refrain]

Creation, life, salvation too,

and all things else both good and true,

come from and through our God always,

and fill our hearts with grateful praise. [Refrain]

SENDING

Let us prayerfully go forth as one body, empowered by the Spirit, to praise God, love people, and proclaim the risen Christ until he comes.

People Thanks be to God.

Benediction: Numbers 6:24-26

The Lord bless you and keep you;

the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you;

the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.