THE SERVICE FOR THE LORD’S DAY
Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost
September 6, 2020
First Presbyterian Church, Fargo
September 6, 2020
First Presbyterian Church, Fargo
The Session and members of First Presbyterian Church, extend a sincere welcome to you! We welcome all persons regardless of race, nationality, disability, gender, or sexual orientation. This includes an open invitation to membership, the sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s Supper, marriage, funerals, memorial services, and to serve as an officer of the church.
Prelude and Preparation for Worship
Prayer of the Day
Almighty God, whose ways are far beyond our understanding, help us to trust your judgments so that we may do your will by loving you and one another. In the name of Jesus we pray. Amen.
Almighty God, whose ways are far beyond our understanding, help us to trust your judgments so that we may do your will by loving you and one another. In the name of Jesus we pray. Amen.
Gathering in Christ’s Presence
Welcome and Concerns of the Church
Opening Sentences
Praise the Lord!
Sing God’s praise in the assembly of the faithful,
for the Lord takes pleasure in the people.
Let the faithful sing for joy.
Praise the Lord!
Sing God’s praise in the assembly of the faithful,
for the Lord takes pleasure in the people.
Let the faithful sing for joy.
Hymn — Holy God, We Praise Your Name
Singers: Penny Andrist, Pam Burns, Jack Lawrence, Paul Lang, and Erynn Millard. Accompanist: Sally Harmon
1 Holy God, we praise your name;
Lord of all, we bow before you.
All on earth your scepter claim;
all in heaven above adore you.
Infinite your vast domain,
everlasting is your reign.
2 Hark! The glad celestial hymn
angel choirs above are raising;
cherubim and seraphim,
in unceasing chorus praising,
fill the heavens with sweet accord:
“Holy, holy, holy Lord!”
3 All apostles join the strain
as your sacred name they hallow;
prophets swell the glad refrain,
and the blessed martyrs follow,
and from morn to set of sun,
through the church the song goes on.
4 Holy Father, Holy Son,
Holy Spirit: three we name you,
while in essence only one;
undivided God we claim you,
and adoring, bend the knee
while we own the mystery.
Lord of all, we bow before you.
All on earth your scepter claim;
all in heaven above adore you.
Infinite your vast domain,
everlasting is your reign.
2 Hark! The glad celestial hymn
angel choirs above are raising;
cherubim and seraphim,
in unceasing chorus praising,
fill the heavens with sweet accord:
“Holy, holy, holy Lord!”
3 All apostles join the strain
as your sacred name they hallow;
prophets swell the glad refrain,
and the blessed martyrs follow,
and from morn to set of sun,
through the church the song goes on.
4 Holy Father, Holy Son,
Holy Spirit: three we name you,
while in essence only one;
undivided God we claim you,
and adoring, bend the knee
while we own the mystery.
Call to Confession
Amid the countless things that human beings cannot fully comprehend about God, there stands this: God so loves us as to bathe us with grace and feed us with mercy and forgive us our sins. Confident in the love of God, let us pray together.
Prayer of Confession
Lord God, while we were still slaves to sin, you died for our salvation. Yet we still worship the false gods of the world, forgetting that you are Lord. Loving worldly wealth, we have not loved you with our whole heart nor loved our neighbors as ourselves. Trusting worldly strength, we have not trusted your word nor followed the Word-made-flesh. Forgiving by worldly norms, we have not shown mercy to others as you have shown mercy to us. Forgive us yet again, we pray in Christ’s name. Amen.
Assurance of God’s Forgiveness
Amid the countless things that human beings cannot fully comprehend about God, there stands this: God so loves us as to bathe us with grace and feed us with mercy and forgive us our sins. Confident in the love of God, let us pray together.
Prayer of Confession
Lord God, while we were still slaves to sin, you died for our salvation. Yet we still worship the false gods of the world, forgetting that you are Lord. Loving worldly wealth, we have not loved you with our whole heart nor loved our neighbors as ourselves. Trusting worldly strength, we have not trusted your word nor followed the Word-made-flesh. Forgiving by worldly norms, we have not shown mercy to others as you have shown mercy to us. Forgive us yet again, we pray in Christ’s name. Amen.
Assurance of God’s Forgiveness
Hearing God’s Word
Prayer for Illumination
Lesson Ezekiel 33:7-11
So you, mortal, I have made a sentinel for the house of Israel; whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me. If I say to the wicked, ‘O wicked ones, you shall surely die’, and you do not speak to warn the wicked to turn from their ways, the wicked shall die in their iniquity, but their blood I will require at your hand. But if you warn the wicked to turn from their ways, and they do not turn from their ways, the wicked shall die in their iniquity, but you will have saved your life.
Now you, mortal, say to the house of Israel, Thus you have said: ‘Our transgressions and our sins weigh upon us, and we waste away because of them; how then can we live?’ Say to them, As I live, says the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from their ways and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways; for why will you die, O house of Israel?
Lesson Matthew 18:15-20
‘If another member of the church sins against you, go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone. If the member listens to you, you have regained that one. But if you are not listened to, take one or two others along with you, so that every word may be confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If the member refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if the offender refuses to listen even to the church, let such a one be to you as a Gentile and a tax-collector. Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Again, truly I tell you, if two of you agree on earth about anything you ask, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.’
Sermon Where Two or Three Are Gathered
Lesson Ezekiel 33:7-11
So you, mortal, I have made a sentinel for the house of Israel; whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me. If I say to the wicked, ‘O wicked ones, you shall surely die’, and you do not speak to warn the wicked to turn from their ways, the wicked shall die in their iniquity, but their blood I will require at your hand. But if you warn the wicked to turn from their ways, and they do not turn from their ways, the wicked shall die in their iniquity, but you will have saved your life.
Now you, mortal, say to the house of Israel, Thus you have said: ‘Our transgressions and our sins weigh upon us, and we waste away because of them; how then can we live?’ Say to them, As I live, says the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from their ways and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways; for why will you die, O house of Israel?
Lesson Matthew 18:15-20
‘If another member of the church sins against you, go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone. If the member listens to you, you have regained that one. But if you are not listened to, take one or two others along with you, so that every word may be confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If the member refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if the offender refuses to listen even to the church, let such a one be to you as a Gentile and a tax-collector. Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Again, truly I tell you, if two of you agree on earth about anything you ask, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.’
Sermon Where Two or Three Are Gathered
Hymn — Though I May Speak
1
Though I may speak with bravest fire,
and have the gift to all inspire,
and have not love, my words are vain,
as sounding brass, and hopeless gain.
2 Though I may give all I possess,
and striving so my love profess,
but not be given by love within,
the profit soon turns strangely thin.
3 Come, Spirit, come, our hearts control;
our spirits long to be made whole.
Let inward love guide every deed;
by this we worship, and are freed.
and have the gift to all inspire,
and have not love, my words are vain,
as sounding brass, and hopeless gain.
2 Though I may give all I possess,
and striving so my love profess,
but not be given by love within,
the profit soon turns strangely thin.
3 Come, Spirit, come, our hearts control;
our spirits long to be made whole.
Let inward love guide every deed;
by this we worship, and are freed.
Responding to God’s Word
Statement of Faith The Apostle's Creed
I believe in God, the Father almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried;
he descended to the dead.
On the third day he rose again;
he ascended into heaven,
he is seated at the right hand of the Father,
and he will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. Amen.
Prayers of the People, ending with 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.
Call for the Offering, ending with the Prayer of Dedication
I believe in God, the Father almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried;
he descended to the dead.
On the third day he rose again;
he ascended into heaven,
he is seated at the right hand of the Father,
and he will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. Amen.
Prayers of the People, ending with 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.
Call for the Offering, ending with the Prayer of Dedication
Bearing the Word into the World
Hymn — I Want to Walk as a Child of the Light
1 I want to walk as a child of the light.
I want to follow Jesus.
God set the start to give light to the world.
The star of my life is Jesus.
Refrain:
In him there is not darkness at all.
The night and the day are both alike.
The Lamb is the light of the city of God.
Shine in my heart, Lord Jesus.
2 I want to see the brightness of God.
I want to look at Jesus.
Clear Sun of righteousness, shine on my path,
And show me the way to the Father. [Refrain]
3 I’m looking for the coming of Christ.
I want to be with Jesus.
When we have run with patience the race,
We shall know the joy of Jesus. [Refrain]
I want to follow Jesus.
God set the start to give light to the world.
The star of my life is Jesus.
Refrain:
In him there is not darkness at all.
The night and the day are both alike.
The Lamb is the light of the city of God.
Shine in my heart, Lord Jesus.
2 I want to see the brightness of God.
I want to look at Jesus.
Clear Sun of righteousness, shine on my path,
And show me the way to the Father. [Refrain]
3 I’m looking for the coming of Christ.
I want to be with Jesus.
When we have run with patience the race,
We shall know the joy of Jesus. [Refrain]
POSTLUDE