Dear Salem Church Family,
This is the day the Lord has made. I invite you to join me in rejoicing over it. For those who are able to gather together, our in-person worship begins at 10:00am this morning. As you prepare for morning worship, you are invited review the following guidelines we have adopted and incorporated for in-person gatherings. Thank you for continued commitment to care for one another through this measures.
– Please keep walkways, isles, and natural pathways clear both inside the sanctuary and outdoors to allow others to move about comfortable.
– Consider taking you conversations outdoors to the lawn or parking lot after the worship service concludes.
– Seats are identified by a worship bulletin. Seating arrangement can accommodate family groups of 2 or 3. If your family group includes more
than three people all over 2yrs old, please separate into appropriate groups of 2 or 3.
– Please don’t rearrange the seating options in the sanctuary. Spacing has been designed to maximize our capacity while giving each family
the necessary space to be safe.
– Face coverings must be properly worn the entire you are inside the building.
– Music will be offered as part of our worship. We will continue to refrain from singing together as a whole congregation
– The restrooms in the fellowship hall are open and available for you to use.Below you will find a brief order of worship designed to be a guide for those who would like to join in personal, online worship. There are blue links embedded into the order of worship that will redirect you to hymns and the message. The hymns are offered through YouTube and you may be asked to watch a brief advertisement before the hymn will play.
I look forward to worshipping with you today.
Blessings,
-Pastor Kent
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Order of Worship for Sunday, January 10th
Call to Worship: Psalm 66
Make a joyful noise to God, all the earth; sing the glory of his name; give to him glorious praise.
All the earth worships you; they sing praises to you, sing praise to your name.
Come and see what God has done: he is awesome in his deeds among mortals.
Bless our God, O peoples, let the sounds of his praise be heard.
Hymn: God of Grace and God of Glory
Opening Prayer:
Merciful God we seek presence today for in you we discover mercy, joy, and peace. Our hearts cry out with gratitude for your sustaining grace and our soul yearn to worship you in spirit and truth. May the praise on our lips rise to the heavens in declaration of your goodness. Shape us into vessel hope so that your love may enrich all those around us. All this ask through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Lesson: James 3:6-12 (NSRV)
6 And the tongue is a fire. The tongue is placed among our members as a world of iniquity; it stains the whole body, sets on fire the cycle of nature,[a] and is itself set on fire by hell.[b] 7 For every species of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by the human species, 8 but no one can tame the tongue—a restless evil, full of deadly poison. 9 With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse those who are made in the likeness of God. 10 From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers and sisters,[c] this ought not to be so. 11 Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and brackish water? 12 Can a fig tree, my brothers and sisters,[d] yield olives, or a grapevine figs? No more can salt water yield fresh.
Pastoral Prayer:
We bow in your presence O Lord, humbled by your love and in need our your great grace. Heal our brokenness. Differing opinions, differing perspectives, differing understandings and world-views have created tension that seeks to divided us.
Our demands to be heard have blocked us from listening for understanding. Our quests for being right have caused us to step on or step over one another without regard for who gets hurt. Guide us in a better way.
Continue to protect and infuse you peace into our first responders, fire-fighters, police offers, our soldiers called to respond to crisis and conflict.
Instill your wisdom on those we lead us, at every level, both religiously and civilly. Allow our focus to fall on your love and see the ways you are at work in all of us.
O Lord, heal our brokenness. Our bodies struggle against sickness, cancer, coronavirus, and Alzheimer’s. Bless the effort of your healing agents- the doctors, nurses, health care works that would be renewed with your compassion for all your people.
O Lord, heal our brokenness. Grief, loneliness, limitations, and physical distance attempt to rob us of joy. Unite our heart and inspire with creative to tend to the bonds that unite us a community of faith – with one another and our sisters and brothers around the world.
Equip us with your Holy Spirit, that we become ambassadors of your kingdom, invite those around us to walk in your light and live in your love.
O Lord you are our Great Physician and through your Son you bring salvation, healing, and wholeness. Thank you sending us your son. In Jesus we live and move and have our being. Amen.
Lesson: Matthew 12:33-37
A Tree and Its Fruit
33 “Either make the tree good, and its fruit good; or make the tree bad, and its fruit bad; for the tree is known by its fruit. 34 You brood of vipers! How can you speak good things, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. 35 The good person brings good things out of a good treasure, and the evil person brings evil things out of an evil treasure. 36 I tell you, on the day of judgment you will have to give an account for every careless word you utter; 37 for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”
Message: Speak from the Heart (on Zoom)
https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/play/7QVvTx2WUFT1wlCPGwg-IIz1clhkuQnTCPHGWQDjrma1iP8TfnltuyRowCXJu2YSdoOlE5DcBLOn0j1N.3H0yTj1UjBt7C3nt
Hymn: Blessed be the Tie that Binds
Benediction:
Now, may the God of all grace, who has called us to eternal glory in Christ, establish and strengthen you by the power of the Spirit, that you may walk in his grace and abide in his peace today and always. Amen.
Kent Smith, Pastor
Salem United Methodist Church
Weaverville, NC
(828) 645-6014
(828) 803-3597-mobile
