Below you’ll find the words that we’ll be using in worship this week as we continue our series, “When It Feels Like God is Not Enough.” You can also download and print a copy here.

PRELUDE – You Are My All In All

CALL TO WORSHIP – I Samuel 2:1-10

‘My heart exults in the Lord; my strength is exalted in my God.

My mouth derides my enemies; because I rejoice in my victory.

‘There is no Holy One like the Lord,

   no one besides you;

   there is no Rock like our God.

Talk no more so very proudly, let not arrogance come from your mouth;

for the Lord is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed.

The bows of the mighty are broken,

   but the feeble gird on strength.

Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread,

   but those who were hungry are fat with spoil.

The barren has borne seven, but she who has many children is forlorn.

The Lord kills and brings to life; he brings down to Sheol and raises up.

The Lord makes poor and makes rich;

   he brings low, he also exalts.

He raises up the poor from the dust;

   he lifts the needy from the ash heap,

to make them sit with princes

   and inherit a seat of honour.

For the pillars of the earth are the Lord’s,

   and on them he has set the world.

‘He will guard the feet of his faithful ones, but the wicked shall be cut off in darkness;

   for not by might does one prevail.

The Lord! His adversaries shall be shattered;

   the Most High will thunder in heaven.

The Lord will judge the ends of the earth;

   he will give strength to his king,

   and exalt the power of his anointed.’

SONG – Joyful, Joyful  #581

PRAYER OF CONFESSION

Most High and holy God, we were made in your image, created in your likeness. We are told that faith, working through love, is all that matters. But, we confess that your good news gets lost in the noise and the news of the world around us. Too many of us are enticed by wealth or power. Too many of us are more concerned with being right than finding ways to reconcile. Too many of us devote all we have to avoiding suffering rather than relieving it. There is too much that matters to us and we are confused. Do not withhold your Spirit from us. Renew our minds and transform our lives. Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayers.

ANTHEM – Waymaker

WORDS OF ASSURANCE

‘My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour,

for he has looked with favour on the lowliness of his servant.

 Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name.

His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. Brothers and sisters, believe this good news and live in its peace.

SONG – What the Lord Has Done In Me

SCRIPTURE – I Samuel 1:3-18

              Now this man used to go up year by year from his town to worship and to sacrifice to the Lord of hosts at Shiloh, where the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were priests of the Lord. On the day when Elkanah sacrificed, he would give portions to his wife Peninnah and to all her sons and daughters; but to Hannah he gave a double portion, because he loved her, though the Lord had closed her womb. Her rival used to provoke her severely, to irritate her, because the Lord had closed her womb. So it went on year after year; as often as she went up to the house of the Lord, she used to provoke her. Therefore Hannah wept and would not eat. Her husband Elkanah said to her, ‘Hannah, why do you weep? Why do you not eat? Why is your heart sad? Am I not more to you than ten sons?’

              After they had eaten and drunk at Shiloh, Hannah rose and presented herself before the Lord. Now Eli the priest was sitting on the seat beside the doorpost of the temple of the Lord. She was deeply distressed and prayed to the Lord, and wept bitterly. She made this vow: ‘O Lord of hosts, if only you will look on the misery of your servant, and remember me, and not forget your servant, but will give to your servant a male child, then I will set him before you as a nazirite until the day of his death. He shall drink neither wine nor intoxicants, and no razor shall touch his head.’

              As she continued praying before the Lord, Eli observed her mouth. Hannah was praying silently; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard; therefore Eli thought she was drunk. So Eli said to her, ‘How long will you make a drunken spectacle of yourself? Put away your wine.’ But Hannah answered, ‘No, my lord, I am a woman deeply troubled; I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but I have been pouring out my soul before the Lord. Do not regard your servant as a worthless woman, for I have been speaking out of my great anxiety and vexation all this time.’ Then Eli answered, ‘Go in peace; the God of Israel grant the petition you have made to him.’ And she said, ‘Let your servant find favour in your sight.’ Then the woman went to her quarters, ate and drank with her husband, and her countenance was sad no longer. They rose early in the morning and worshipped before the Lord; then they went back to their house at Ramah. Elkanah knew his wife Hannah, and the Lord remembered her. In due time Hannah conceived and bore a son. She named him Samuel, for she said, ‘I have asked him of the Lord.’

SERMON

SONG – Speak, O Lord  #755

PRAYERS

OFFERTORY – David Crowther

BENEDICTION

SONG – Praise God, from Whom All Blessings Flow  #964

Below are the words and songs we’ll be using for worship this week. You can also download and print a copy from Google Docs here.

PRELUDE – Let My People Go

CALL TO WORSHIP – Psalm 146

Praise the Lord!

Praise the Lord, O my soul!

I will praise the Lord as long as I live;

   I will sing praises to my God all my life long.

Do not put your trust in princes,

   in mortals, in whom there is no help.

When their breath departs, they return to the earth;

   on that very day their plans perish.

Happy are those whose help is the God of Jacob,

   whose hope is in the Lord their God,

who made heaven and earth,

   the sea, and all that is in them;

who keeps faith for ever;

   who executes justice for the oppressed;

   who gives food to the hungry.

The Lord sets the prisoners free;

   the Lord opens the eyes of the blind.

The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down;

   the Lord loves the righteous.

The Lord watches over the strangers;

   he upholds the orphan and the widow,

   but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.

The Lord will reign for ever,

   your God, O Zion, for all generations.

Praise the Lord!

SONG – Here I Am to Worship  #567

PRAYER OF CONFESSION

Our Lord and our God, we worship you in spirit and in truth. We know that those who have not seen, yet believe, are blessed. Help our unbelief. When I can’t seem to get my act together, help my unbelief. When I can’t seem to hold my tongue, help my unbelief. When I feel overwhelmed by the circumstances around me, help my unbelief. When I feel weighed down by the work and overwhelmed by the uncertainty, help my unbelief. If we can’t see your Spirit, let us feel the presence. If we can’t see the hands and feet of Jesus, let us see it in his body, the church. Remember your mercy and your promise so that we can follow you more faithfully.

SONG – Give Us Clean Hands  #628

WORDS OF ASSURANCE

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Indeed, by faith our ancestors received approval. By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are not visible…Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us.

ANTHEM – A Million Years

SCRIPTURE – Exodus 32:1-14

When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered around Aaron and said to him, ‘Come, make gods for us, who shall go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ Aaron said to them, ‘Take off the gold rings that are on the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.’ So all the people took off the gold rings from their ears, and brought them to Aaron. He took the gold from them, formed it in a mould, and cast an image of a calf; and they said, ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!’ When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation and said, ‘Tomorrow shall be a festival to the Lord.’ They rose early the next day, and offered burnt-offerings and brought sacrifices of well-being; and the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to revel.

The Lord said to Moses, ‘Go down at once! Your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have acted perversely; they have been quick to turn aside from the way that I commanded them; they have cast for themselves an image of a calf, and have worshipped it and sacrificed to it, and said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!” ’ The Lord said to Moses, ‘I have seen this people, how stiff-necked they are. Now let me alone, so that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them; and of you I will make a great nation.’

But Moses implored the Lord his God, and said, ‘O Lord, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians say, “It was with evil intent that he brought them out to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth”? Turn from your fierce wrath; change your mind and do not bring disaster on your people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, how you swore to them by your own self, saying to them, “I will multiply your descendants like the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it for ever.” ’ And the Lord changed his mind about the disaster that he planned to bring on his people.

SERMON

SONG – I Lift My Eyes up  #652

PRAYERS

OFFERTORY – Go Down, Moses

BENEDICTION

SONG – Praise God, from Whom All Blessings Flow  #964

Pastor Peter used a lot of Scripture in Sunday’s sermon. They are listed below.

“Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness…” – Genesis 1:26

“God has taken his place in the divine council; in the midst of the gods he holds judgment…I say, ‘You are gods, children of the Most High, all of you.'” – Psalm 82:1, 6

“When the Most High apportioned the nations, when he divided humankind, he fixed the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of gods; the Lord’s own portion was his people, Jacob his allotted share.” – Deuteronomy 32:8-9

“on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord” – Exodus 12:12

“How long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked? Give justice to the weak and the orphans; maintain the right of the lowly and the destitute. Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.” – Psalm 82:3-4

“For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who is not partial and takes no bribe, who executes justice for the orphan and the widow, and who loves the strangers, providing them food and clothing.” – Deuteronomy 10:17-18

“Jesus said, ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.'” – Luke 4:18-19

“Jesus is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; for in him all things in heaven and one earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers – all things have been created through him and for him. He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together. He is the head of the body, the church…and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the cross.” – Colossians 1:17-20

“so that through the church the wisdom of God in its rich variety might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.” – Ephesians 3:10

“For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against rulers, against the authorities, against cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” – Ephesians 6:12

“Rise up, O God, judge the earth; for all the nations belong to you!” – Psalm 82:8

“From one ancestor God made all the nations to inhabit the whole earth, and he allotted the times of their existence and the boundaries of the places where they would live, so that they would search for God and perhaps grope for him and find him – though indeed he is not far from each one of us…’for we too are his offspring.'” – Acts. 17:26-28

“because God has fixed a day on which he will have the world judged in righteousness by a man who he has appointed, and of this God has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.” – Acts 17:31

“Go therefore and teach the nations…” – Matthew 28:19

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We will be celebrating Communion this Sunday. You can join us in the sanctuary for an in person celebration. Or, have your own bread and juice from the vine ready at home. We would love to see you but we want everyone to be safe.

Adam and Eve were found reaching in the wrong direction. Yet, God showed them mercy. This week we find Abram questioning God. Something is missing. How will God respond? We’ll come together for worship on Facebook Live or in person (bring your mask!) at 9:30am.