Seventh Sunday After Pentecost
SUPPLEMENTAL ORDER OF WORSHIP
(for those unable to join us at the church building for masked, socially distanced, congregational worship)
PRELUDE:
As Jacob With Travel Was Weary One Day (JACOB’S LADDER – Carol)
(This anonymous Christmas carol set to an English folk melody was first published in England in a collection of old and new carols in 1871 with the title ‘Jacob’s Ladder’, but the words date back at least a century earlier. Its Christmas associations come from its strongly Christological interpretation of Jacob’s vision in Genesis 28.)
CALL TO WORSHIP:
Leader: Welcome, strangers and sojourners, to God’s realm, where there are no aliens or unwanted visitors.
People: When we are with Christ, we know we belong and our lives have a sense of direction.
Leader: All who are led by the Spirit are God’s children, heirs through Christ of life with God.
People: Christ, who was raised from the dead, dwells in us and enlivens our spirits.
All: When we are in Christ, we still live in the world but we are no longer limited by its narrow understanding of life. Let us worship God together.
OPENING HYMN:
(#488 in The Presbyterian Hymnal)
(Shaped by its traditional Jewish tune, this selection of English stanzas conveys the essence of the Yigdal, a canticle based on a medieval Hebrew statement of faith about the nature of God and often used in synagogue worship, alternately chanted by cantor and congregation. The hymn is sung here by the choir of Trinity College, Oxford.)
CALL TO CONFESSION:
If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the Truth is not in us. But if we confess our sins before God, we know that through Jesus Christ we already have forgiveness. Therefore, let us confess honestly and seek God’s forgiveness together.
PRAYER OF CONFESSION:
O God of dream ladders and burning bushes, we have chosen to live with dulled eyes and spirits, forgetting your gifts and ignoring your challenges. In our insensitivity we fail to realize that you are in this place, speaking to us, calling us to repentance and a new hope.
We do not ask for escape from life’s difficulties, but for awareness and courage to seek you in the stony places of our lives and to use our gifts in your service. Forgive us, and help us today to produce fruits of the Spirit, in Jesus’ name. Amen.
ASSURANCE OF PARDON:
Hear the good news!
God does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. As far as the east is from the west, so far does God remove our transgressions from us. Forgiveness and healing are God’s gifts to the truly contrite who enter into God’s presence. We hope in what we have not seen and trust in the promises of Christ.
Friends, believe the good news of the Gospel. In Jesus Christ, we are forgiven!
SCRIPTURES:
(“’…Know that I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.’ Then Jacob woke from his sleep and said, ‘Surely the LORD is in this place—and I did not know it!’ And he was afraid, and said, ‘How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.’” Gen. 28:15-17)
(“The kingdom of heaven may be compared to someone who sowed good seed in his field; but while everybody was asleep, an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and then went away. So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared as well….’Let both of them grow together until the harvest; and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Collect the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.’” Matt. 13:24-26, 30)
SERMON:
ANTHEM:
We Are Climbing Jacob’s Ladder (JACOB’S LADDER – Spiritual)
(This anonymous African-American spiritual was based on Genesis 28:10-17, which tells of Jacob’s dream at Bethel. However, the biblical story is only the starting point for the song, which becomes one of persevering in faith and the ascending hope of a slave people, rung by rung and stanza by stanza. The equally anonymous tune is beautifully suited for these words, as the rhythmic pattern suggests climbing a rung on a ladder and then pausing for breath before taking the next step.)
PRAYER OF INTERCESSION:
God of mercy and healing,
you who hear the cries of those in need,
receive these petitions of your people
that all who are troubled
may know peace, comfort, and courage.
Individual Prayers of the People, concluding with:
Life-giving God,
heal our lives,
that we may acknowledge your wonderful deeds
and offer you thanks from generation to generation
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
THE LORD’S PRAYER:
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, for ever. Amen.
CLOSING HYMN:
(#339 in The Presbyterian Hymnal)
(These stanzas are selected from a 20th-century English poetic version of an Irish monastic prayer dating to the 10th century or before. The poem was translated into English in the early 20th century by Mary Elizabeth Byrne, and in 1912, Eleanor Hull versified the text into what is now a well-loved hymn and prayer that at every moment of our lives, God would be our vision above all else. They are set to an Irish folk melody that has proved popular and easily sung despite its lack of repetition and its wide range.)
CHARGE AND BENEDICTION:
Let us go out into the world in peace, returning no one evil for evil, but overcoming evil with good.
And may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with us all, both now and forever. Amen.
POSTLUDE:
Nearer, My God, to Thee (BETHANY)
(This 1841 text by Sarah Flower Adams, performed here by the Londonderry Choir, is about the joy and comfort found in being close to God. The first stanza introduces the theme of the hymn, with the repeated phrase “Nearer, my God, to thee.” The second through fourth stanzas are based on the story of Jacob and the ladder to heaven, found in Genesis 28:10-22. God’s close connection to Jacob in this story is seen as a way of relief from the darkness and “stony griefs” of his human journey in stanzas 2 and 4. The last stanza looks forward to the time when we will come to stand before God in eternal song.)
Bethesda Presbyterian Church 