Grace Presbyterian Church
Seeking to equip people to live as Christian disciples wherever God has placed them.
Welcome And Opening Prayer
Prelude French Suite no. 6 in E: Allemande J. S. Bach
Responsive Call to Worship
One: Gracious is the Lord, and righteous; our God is merciful. The Lord protects the simple; when each of us is brought low, he saves us. Our souls can be at rest for the Lord has deals bountifully with us.
All: I love the Lord, because he has heard my voice and my pitiable cries for help. Because he has heard and listened, therefore I will call on him as long as I live.
One: What shall we return to the Lord for all his graciousness to us?
All: We will call on the name of the Lord. We will lay at his feet a sacrifice of gratitude. We will make our vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people.
One: Praise the Lord! Let us worship God!
All: Praise the Lord! Let us worship God!
Hymn Red 642 I Want Jesus to Walk with Me
I want Jesus to walk with me;
I want Jesus to walk with me;
all along my pilgrim journey,
Lord, I want Jesus to walk with me.
In my trials, Lord, walk with me;
in my trials, Lord, walk with me;
when my heart is almost breaking,
Lord, I want Jesus to walk with me.
When I’m in trouble, Lord, walk with me;
when I’m in trouble, Lord, walk with me;
when my head is bowed in sorrow,
Lord, I want Jesus to walk with me.
Call to Confession
Confession of Sin
Lord, we confess that we do not always follow you in thought or word or deed. We are inconsistent. We choose, at times, willfully to go in another direction; other times, we just get lost. Not to mention, some of us will never ask for directions or admit that we don’t know where we are. Some of us are swallowing hard saying that out loud. Forgive us our pride, our foolishness, and our rebellions. Help others to forgive us and help us to forgive others as well as ourselves. May we greet each new day with renewed hope and zeal to follow where you lead! (Let us continue, personalizing this prayer for ourselves, in silent prayer.)
Assurance of Pardon
Gloria Patri
Passing of the Peace
Prayer for Illumination in Unison
Your Word is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. May we approach your Word today, Holy God, with the reverence and respect it deserves. Let us be intentional in our listening and focused in our minds as we hear your Word read and proclaimed today. Amen.
Scripture Reading (In Unison) Mark 8:27-38
Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi; and on the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” And they answered him, “John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.” He asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Messiah.” And he sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about him.
Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”
He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”
Sermon “Following Jesus…Where?” Rev. Robin Miller Currás
Hymn Red 229 Lift High the Cross
Lift high the cross, the love of Christ proclaim
till all the world adore his sacred name.
Come, Christians, follow where our Savior trod,
our King victorious, Christ, the Son of God.
All newborn servants of the Crucified
bear on their brows the seal of him who died.
O Lord, once lifted on the tree of pain,
draw all the world to seek you once again.
Let every race and every language tell
of him who saves our souls from death and hell.
So shall our song of triumph ever be:
praise to the Crucified for victory!
Affirmation of Faith from A Brief Statement of Faith
The same Spirit who inspired the prophets and apostles rules our faith and life in Christ through Scripture, engages us through the Word proclaimed, claims us in the waters of baptism, feeds us with the bread of life and the cup of salvation, and calls women and men to all ministries of the Church. In a broken and fearful world the Spirit gives us courage to pray without ceasing, to witness among all peoples to Christ as Lord and Savior, to unmask idolatries in Church and culture, to hear the voices of peoples long silenced, and to work with others for justice, freedom, and peace. In gratitude to God, empowered by the Spirit, we strive to serve Christ in our daily tasks and to live holy and joyful lives, even as we watch for God’s new heaven and new earth, praying, “Come, Lord Jesus!” With believers in every time and place, we rejoice that nothing in life or in death can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Offertory French Suite no. 6 in E: Sarabande J. S. Bach
Doxology
Pastoral Prayer/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 forever. Amen.
Hymn Green 267 Will You Come and Follow Me
Will you come and follow me
If I but call your name?
Will you go where you don’t know
And never be the same?
Will you let my love be shown,
Will you let my name be known,
Will you let my life be grown
In you and you in me?
Will you leave yourself behind
If I but call your name?
Will you care for cruel and kind
And never be the same?
Will you risk the hostile stare
Should your life attract or scare?
Will you let me answer prayer
In you and you in me?
Will you let the blinded see
If I but call your name?
Will you set the prisoners free
And never be the same?
Will you kiss the leper clean,
And do such as this unseen,
And admit to what I mean
In you and you in me?
Will you love the ‘you’ you hide
If I but call your name?
Will you quell the fear inside
And never be the same?
Will you use the faith you’ve found
To reshape the world around,
Through my sight and touch and sound
In you and you in me?
Lord, your summons echoes true
When you but call my name.
Let me turn and follow you
And never be the same.
In your company I’ll go
Where your love and footsteps show.
Thus I’ll move and live and grow
In you and you in me.
Benediction
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