Sunday June 22, 2025 Worship Service
Livestream at 10:00 a.m.

Gathering in God’s Name

Prelude — We Shall Overcome — arr. Carl Haywood
As the prelude begins, you are invited to begin your personal preparation for worship.

Silent Meditation
“If you enter into the suffering of people, you enter into darkness.  Such darkness would lead to despair were there not a treasure there.  The treasure in the darkness is the Crucified Christ.  He who can sympathize is there.  He who knows anguish is there. He who has felt tormented, abandoned, unheard, and crushed, waits there in the darkness.  To enter into the fellowship of his sufferings is to find Him.” — Diane Langberg, Suffering and the Heart of God

Call to Worship — based on Psalm 42
As a deer longs for flowing streams, our souls long for you, O God.
       Our souls thirst for God, for the living God.
Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you disquieted within me?
       Hope in God, for we shall again praise the Lord, our help and our God.                                      

Praise and Adoration

*Hymn #805 — Come Sing to God — ELLACOMBE
(*Please stand, if you are able)

Confession and Pardon

Call to Confession 

Prayer of Confession
Gracious God, we ask your forgiveness for when we let fear rule our lives instead of trusting in you. We pray for the times that we judge other persons because they are different than us, for when we remain silent instead of championing your values of justice and radical acceptance, and for when we run away from your call on our lives to bring hope and comfort to others.  God have mercy on us and give us the strength to live as your disciples in word and deed, accepting those we encounter with courage and love.

Silent Prayers of Confession

Kyrie Eleison — Lord, Have Mercy — Schubert

Assurance of Pardon

*Gloria Patri (#581) — Glory Be to the Father — GLORIA PATRI (Greatorex)

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

Time for Young Disciples

Announcements

Moment for Mission — Voices for Children Executive Director, Juliet Summers, JD

Anthem — “You Who Dwell in the Shelter of the Lord” — ON EAGLE’S WINGS
The congregation is invited to sing the refrain:     arr. Douglas Wagner

And he will raise you up on eagle’s wings,
Bear you on the breath of dawn,
Make you to shine like the sun,
And hold you in the palm of his hand.

Fellowship of Prayer

Joys and Concerns
Report from the Young Adult Mission Trip  — Libby Whitlow

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.

Anthem — The Call — Ralph Vaughan Williams                               

Proclamation of God’s Word

Scripture Lesson — Luke 8: 26-39 — page 841 of the pew Bible

Sermon — “No Forsaken Places” — Dr. Zieman                                      

Our Response to God’s Word

*Affirmation of Faith — from A Brief Statement of Faith, 1991
In life and in death we belong to God. Through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit, we trust in the one triune God, the Holy One of Israel, whom alone we worship and serve. We trust in Jesus Christ, fully human, fully God. We trust in God, whom Jesus called Abba, Father. We trust in God the Holy Spirit, everywhere the giver and renewer of life. 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.

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

Presentation of Tithes and Offerings

Offertory — Great Is Thy Faithfulness — arr. Dan Forrest

*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                                                                                                                                           
Blessed are you, God of all creation. Through your goodness, we have these gifts to share.  Accept and use our offerings for your glory and for the service of your kingdom. Blessed be God forever.  Amen.

Commissioning of Junior High Mission Trip to Sioux Falls, South Dakota

*Hymn #69 — I, the Lord of Sea and Sky — HERE I AM

*Charge and Benediction

Postlude — Let All Things Now Living — John Behnke