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Hello Salem Church, I look forward to joining you in Bible Study and worship today. Remember that Bible Study is offered through zoom at 9:00am this morning. Mark Wilson will lead us through a discussion of Acts 6:1-15. There is more information about how to connect via zoom at the very bottom of this email.
For those who are able to join me for outdoor worship today, please review the guidelines we have established:
– You are encourage to bring all you need to be comfortable for the duration of the service. i.e. lawn chairs, sun protection, water.
– The lawn has indicators for where family should consider gathering. We are mindful of the healthy distances necessary to keep people safe.
– Face coverings must be properly worn at all times throughout the service.
– We will refrain from singing as a congregation
– The church buildings will be closed. This includes the restrooms.
Thank you for your understanding and willingness to go the extra mile in these ways to ensure that we all stay safe.
Below is brief order of worship for your personal worship. Thank you for allowing me to share in your day in this way. Remember the blue links will redirect you to YouTube. You may have to watch an advertisement prior to the hymns.
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Order of Worship for Sunday, June 7, 2020
Call to Worship Psalm 71
Your righteousness reaches to the skies. O God, you who has done great things; who, O God, is like you?
My lips will shout for joy when I sing praise to you. I, whom you redeemed.
For you have been my hope, O Sovereign Lord, my confidence since my youth.
Since my youth, O God, you have taught me, and to this day I declare your marvelous deeds. I will always have hope; I will praise you more and more.
Hymn: Blessed Assurance
Opening Prayer:
Holy God, you are more than we can know or name and you surround us with your steadfast love. By faith in Jesus Christ we have been invited into your presence. Today we stand in that grace and seek to worship you with our whole hearts. By your Word, may your Spirit guide us into all truth and our lives glorify your holy name. Amen.
Scripture Lesson: Galatians 6:7-10
Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith. — Ga 6:7-10
Pastoral Prayer:
Almighty God, we bend our heart to you now. Full of humility and hope we lift our prayers toward heaven, grateful that you hear every word and know every heart. We celebrate and rejoice over your watch and care, especially as we honor our graduates and your faithfulness to them and their families.
Continue to sustain with your love. Cultivate the hope you have infused within us that our faith may bloom as we continue to place our trust in you.
Tenderize our heart that we to may look upon your world with compassion. Heal our brokenness; bodies with illness and disease, hearts riddled with grief and loss, communities and countries wrought with strife and turmoil. Equip and empower your church to be agents of healing, ambassadors of your grace, and conducts of your peace for you know that you long to see your kingdom flourish within and all around us.
Hear our prayer todays as we unite through the prayer Christ taught, saying . . . Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed by thy name. Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the Kingdom, and the power, and glory, forever. Amen.
Scripture Lesson: Romans 5:1-11
Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. — Ro 5:1-11
Message: Hope does not Disappoint
Hymn: Standing on the Promises
Benediction:
May the grace of Jesus Christ grant you peace; may the Holy Spirit guide you into all truth; and may the love of God fill your heart so that you find hope in every circumstance of life, and give glory to God. God bless you all. Amen.
Kent Smith, Pastor
Salem United Methodist Church
Weaverville, NC
(828) 645-6014
