Weekly Bulletin

Liturgy – Announcements – Prayer List

ST. PAUL UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST
101 South Perry Street
Wapakoneta, Ohio 45895

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Liturgy for Sunday August 14th, 2022

10th Sunday After Pentecost

WELCOME AND ANNOUNCEMENTS

PASSING THE PEACE

LIGHTING THE ALTAR CANDLES

PRELUDE On Christ the Solid Rock I Stand Adam Mason

Martha Hefner

*CALL TO WORSHIP(Unison)(UCC Worship Ways): Liturgist: Tammy Nuesmeyer

One: In a world uprooted at every turn, come beloved of God for replanting.

All: Our hope and weariness are mixed together, yet we come, trusting ancient promises.

One: Come to honor our still-speaking God and give thanks, seek to learn and follow in God’s way.

All: God will not rest until all are re-rooted, restored, and renewed for rejoicing.

One: Let us be joined to God’s song of justice, bearing beauty into the life of the world.
All: May our lives be formed for faithfulness by the One who is always faithful.

*HYMN “All Are Welcome” (Verse 1&2) INSERT

*OPENING PRAYER(Unison) (UCC Worship Ways):

Loving and Gracious God, form a new song of soul within us. Take every fragment of our lives and fashion a new creation. Plant us deep in the soil of Your love, that your living water might rise in us, forming a fruit of possibility unimaginable on our own. Grant us grace to trust your promised presence already meeting us here, now, and always. By this, gift us with a new strength of heart for whatever Your love demands. Amen.

*WE GIVE PRAISE TO GOD GLORIA PATRI #734

♪Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;

as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen. Amen. ♫

WE PRAY FOR TRANSFORMATION AND NEW LIFE (Unison))

Gracious God, you have created a world of abundance and flourishing. Every resource, every gift, every product originates from the generosity of your creation and the creativity you have bestowed upon us. Forgive us for misuse and overuse of your gifts. Reveal our miserly attitudes toward the plentiful trove of resources you have entrusted to our care. Sow generosity in us, reveal abundance to us, and enable flourishing through us. Amen.

CHILDREN’S MESSAGE Linda Bryan

THE SHARING OF TITHES AND OFFERINGS

Benevolence giving for August: OCWM

*WE GIVE GLORY TO GOD “Doxology” #34

♪Praise God from whom all blessings flow; praise him, all creatures here below;

praise him above, ye heavenly host: praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Amen.♫

*PRAYER OF DEDICATION

We thank you, Loving God, that sourness gives way to sweetness when we answer Your call to be generous. Multiply these gifts and Your spirit in us, that the world may know your life-giving will and way.

FIRST SCRIPTURE READING: 1 Thessalonians 5:12-15

¹²But we appeal to you, brothers and sisters, to respect those who labor among you and have charge of you in the Lord and admonish you; ¹³esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves. ¹⁴And we urge you, brothers and sisters, to admonish the idlers, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with all of them. ¹⁵See that none of you repays evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to all.

SECOND SCRIPTURE READING: 1 Peter 3:8-22

⁸Finally, all of you, have unity of spirit, sympathy, love for one another, a tender heart, and a humble mind. ⁹Do not repay evil for evil or abuse for abuse, but, on the contrary, repay with a blessing. It is for this that you were called—that you might inherit a blessing. ¹⁰For “Those who desire to love life and to see good days, let them keep their tongues from evil and their lips from speaking deceit; ¹¹let them turn away from evil and do good; let them seek peace and pursue it. ¹²For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.” ¹³Now who will harm you if you are eager to do what is good? ¹⁴But even if you do suffer for doing what is right, you are blessed. Do not fear what they fear, and do not be intimidated, ¹⁵but in your hearts sanctify Christ as Lord. Always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you, ¹⁶yet do it with gentleness and respect. Maintain a good conscience so that, when you are maligned, those who abuse you for your good conduct in Christ may be put to shame. ¹⁷For it is better to suffer for doing good, if suffering should be God’s will, than to suffer for doing evil. ¹⁸For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, ¹⁹in which also he went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison, ²⁰who in former times did not obey, when God waited patiently in the days of Noah, during the building of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight lives, were saved through water. ²¹And baptism, which this prefigured, now saves you—not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for^] a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, ²²who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers made subject to him.

SERMON “Render to no one Evil for Evil” Kevin Frische

PASTORAL PRAYER & THE LORD’S PRAYER

*HYMN #595 “They’ll Know We Are Christians”

♪We are one in the Spirit; we are one in the Lord.

We are one in the Spirit; we are one in the Lord.

And we pray that all unity may one day be restored. ♫

Refrain: ♪And they’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love.

Yes, they’ll know we are Christians by our love. ♫

♪We will walk with each other; we will walk hand in hand.

We will walk with each other; we will walk hand in hand.

And together we’ll spread the news that God is in our land. ♫ Refrain

♪We will work with each other; we will work side by side.

We will work with each other; we will work side by side.

And we’ll guard each one’s dignity and save each one’s pride. ♫ Refrain

*WE PREPARE OUR HEARTS (Unison)

O God of provision, Thank you for our coming interim pastor. We thank you for the shepherd he will be to all he meets, gently yet boldly guiding and caring for us. Thank you for his wisdom, for the words of truth that he will reveal. Thank you for his faith, for the exuberance of his praise and the passion in his prayers. Lord we pray for this man of God. Please come and be his shepherd now. Protect him, guard his mind and minister to his heart. Come be his anchor. May he know that his feet rest secure on your foundations. Come fill his vision. Please lift his eyes to see the beauty of your kingdom. Come renew his hope. We ask that you would fill the sails of his heart with your goodness and eternal truth. As we await his arrival, prepare our hearts O God, and soften our strongholds, make us ready to receive. As this season arrives where his journey partners with our journey may we grow into what you want us to become in this new season in the life of our church. In the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

*OUR COMMON CALLING

*BENEDICTION

*BENEDICTION RESPONSE: “The Trees of the Field” #710

You shall go out with joy and be led forth with peace;

The mountains and the hills will break forth before you;

There’ll be shouts of joy, and all the trees of the field will clap,

will clap their hands.

And all the trees of the field will clap their hands,**

The trees of the field will clap their hands, **

While you go out with joy! (repeat) CCLI # 503639390

* = clap your hands

POSTLUDE Shine, Jesus, Shine Peggy Bettcher

THIS WEEK AT ST. PAUL CHURCH

SUNDAY, AUGUST 14, 2022

10:15AM Worship Service w/Kevin Frische

MONDAY, AUGUST 15^th