Grace Presbyterian Church
Seeking to equip people to live as Christian disciples wherever God has placed them.
Welcome And Opening Prayer
Responsive Call to Worship
One: Whom do you seek?
All: Jesus.
One: Then call on his name!
All: Lord, Lord!
One: (Listen)…Sometimes he will speak through words or through music. Sometimes he will speak through others and seemingly casual conversation. There is no limit to how God can touch our souls. Sometimes God whispers in the silence.
All: We would be blessed to hear a word from our Savior, but we come to offer our words of praise and thanksgiving!
One: Yes, this is how to enter worship—with joy for all that God has done and, we trust, will continue to do!
All: Yes! Let us worship the living God!
Prelude Musica Sine Nomine Herbert Howells
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.
Gloria Patri
Passing of the Peace
Prayer for Illumination in Unison
Holy God, Word made flesh, let us come to this word open to being surprised. Silence all other voices but your own. Speak to us a word of truth, born of love, that anticipates change. Amen.
First Scripture Reading Psalm 146
Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord, my soul. I will praise the Lord all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live. Do not put your trust in princes, in human beings, who cannot save. When their spirit departs, they return to the ground; on that very day their plans come to nothing. Blessed are those whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord their God. He is the Maker of heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them— he remains faithful forever. He upholds the cause of the oppressed and gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets prisoners free, the Lord gives sight to the blind, the Lord lifts up those who are bowed down, the Lord loves the righteous. The Lord watches over the foreigner and sustains the fatherless and the widow, but he frustrates the ways of the wicked. The Lord reigns forever, your God, O Zion, for all generations. Praise the Lord.
Second Scripture Reading Matthew 15:21-28
Jesus left that place and went away to the district of Tyre and Sidon. Just then a Canaanite woman from that region came out and started shouting, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is tormented by a demon.” But he did not answer her at all. And his disciples came and urged him, saying, “Send her away, for she keeps shouting after us.” He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.” He answered, “It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” Then Jesus answered her, “Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed instantly.
Sermon “Dogs and Crumbs and Grace” Rev. Robin Miller Currás
Hymn There’s a Wideness in God’s Mercy
There’s a wideness in God’s mercy
like the wideness of the sea;
there’s a kindness in his justice
which is more than liberty.
There is welcome for the sinner
and more graces for the good;
there is mercy with the Savior;
there is healing in his blood.
For the love of God is broader
than the measure of our mind;
and the heart of the Eternal
is most wonderfully kind.
If our love were but more simple,
we would take him at his word,
and our lives would be illumined
by the presence of our Lord.
Affirmation of Faith from A Brief Statement of Faith
We trust in God, whom Jesus called Abba, Father. In sovereign love God created the world good and makes everyone equally in God’s image male and female, of every race and people, to live as one community. But we rebel against God; we hide from our Creator. Ignoring God’s commandments, we violate the image of God in others and ourselves, accept lies as truth, exploit neighbor and nature, and threaten death to the planet entrusted to our care. We deserve God’s condemnation. Yet God acts with justice and mercy to redeem creation. In everlasting love, the God of Abraham and Sarah chose a covenant people to bless all families of the earth. Hearing their cry, God delivered the children of Israel from the house of bondage. Loving us still, God makes us heirs with Christ of the covenant. Like a mother who will not forsake her nursing child, like a father who runs to welcome the prodigal home, God is faithful still.
Offertory Aria Alessandro Stradella
Richard Hagen, horn
Doxology
Prayer over the Offering
Hymn Red 537, v. 1 “Lord, Be Glorified”
In my life, Lord, be glorified, be glorified.
In my life, Lord, be glorified today.
Benediction
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