Sunday August 17, 2025 Worship Service
Livestream at 10:00 a.m.

Gathering in God’s Name

Prelude — East of Eden — Lee Holdridge; transcr. Mark Kanitz    
As the prelude begins, you are invited to begin your personal preparation for worship.

Silent Meditation
It seems to me that if you or I must choose between two courses of thought or action, we should remember our dying and try so to live that our death may bring no pleasure to the world. — East of Eden, John Steinbeck

 Call to Worship — The Sursum Corda
The Lord be with you!
       And also with you!
Lift up your hearts!
       We lift them up to the Lord!
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God!
       It is right to give our thanks and praise – let us worship God!

Praise and Adoration

*Hymn #30 — O God, in a Mysterious Way — DUNDEE
(*Please stand, if you are able)

Confession and Pardon

Call to Confession 

Prayer of Confession
Gracious and Loving God, we acknowledge that You are always near, and always with us. Yet even while this is True, time and again, we fail to see You. We fail to see You, even when You are standing right in front of us. Forgive us, Lord. Forgive us for the moments when You are moving in our lives and we fail to recognize You. Forgive us for the moments when You call to us and we do not answer. Help us instead to welcome You, to set a table before You, just as Your Son did for us. Help us to invite You into our lives; help us to serve You all of the time, and not just when we’ve made a mess of things. Not just when we’re in trouble. For You are good to us all the time, help us be good for You all the time too. Amen.

Silent Prayers of Confession

Kyrie Eleison — Lord, Have Mercy — Schubert

Assurance of Pardon

*Congregational Response (#581) — Glory Be to the Father — GLORIA PATRI (Greatorex)

Welcome                                     
During the Welcome, children are invited to come forward.

Announcements

Moment for Mission — Rob Bailey, for Femi’s Heart

Fellowship of Prayer

Joys and Concerns

Anthem — Psalm 139 — Allen Pote

Prayers of the People
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.

Proclamation of God’s Word

Scripture Lesson — Genesis 18: 1-15 — page 12 of the pew Bible                                                           

Sermon — “Abraham’s Hospitality” — Rev. Joshua Garry                                                                                                          

Our Response to God’s Word

*Affirmation of Faith —  F-1.0304, The Great Ends of the Church, The Book of Order
We believe in the great ends of the church: in the proclamation of the gospel for the salvation of humankind; in the shelter, nurture, and spiritual fellowship of the children of God; the maintenance of divine worship; the preservation of the Truth; the promotion of social righteousness; and the exhibition of the Kingdom of Heaven to the world. Amen.

*Sanctus (#562) — Holy, Holy, Holy — SANCTUS (Schubert)

Presentation of Tithes and Offerings

 Offertory — What a Fellowship — Showalter; arr. Gilber M. Martin

*Doxology (#607) — Praise God, from Whom All Blessings Flow — OLD HUNDREDTH
Praise God, from whom all blessings flow; praise Christ, all people here below; praise Holy Spirit evermore; praise Triune God, whom we adore. Amen.

*Prayer of Dedication                                                                                                                                           
Almighty God, we bring these tithes and offerings before You just as Abraham and Sarah did: they gave their bread, calf, curds, and milk; and so we give our time, talents, effort, and resources. We ask that just as You have blessed us, so would what we give bless others. Amen.

*Hymn #728 — Somebody’s Knocking at Your Door —  SOMEBODY’S KNOCKIN’

*Charge and Benediction

*Choral Response — Amen from “The Lord Bless You and Keep You” — Peter Lutkin

Postlude — Psalm XIX — Benedetto Marcello