January 16, 2022 Worship

 PIONEER PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

Worship via Blog    Second Sunday After Epiphany     January 16, 2022

 

 WELCOME AND ANNOUNCEMENTS

Welcome to Pioneer’s blog worship service. Though we are accessing this remotely and unable to look each other in the eye, we are still the Pioneer faith community, gathered as children of God to worship, to be spiritually fed, and to be equipped to go out to serve in Christ’s name—though we do it differently during this pandemic.

 

Pioneer offers worship in several modes:

a)    The blog.

b)   The blog service mailed through US Postal service.

c)    Sermons only, mailed to those who so request.

d)   Zoom services at 10:00 Sunday mornings.

e)    Live worship with masks and social distancing has plenty of room for additional worshipers.

 

-         Worship & Music meets following worship

-         Women’s Spirituality meets Tuesday at 10:30

-         Deacons meet next Sunday following worship

 

Now allow yourself a brief time of silence as you open your hearts and feel God’s presence with you, right where you are.

 

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BAPTISM:         Friends, remember your baptism … and be thankful.

 

CALL TO WORSHIP

With steadfast love, God calls our names.

Come to find refuge in the shelter of God’s ways.

We long to be recognized and affirmed.

We are eager for a place of shelter and security.

Feast on the abundance of God’s house.

Come to drink deeply from the fountain of life.

We are ready to hear the Word of God.

We want to be guided by eternal truth.

Reach out to claim the gifts God pours out on us.

The Spirit is eager to inspire and empower each one.

When God calls us, we cannot remain silent.

When Christ is real to us, we accept our discipleship.

 

PRAYER OF THE DAY

How awesome it is that you care for us, God of all life! Your delight in us brings out our best. When you rejoice in us, we come to believe in our capacity for goodness. When your light and salvation dawn in our lives, we want to share the joy. Remind us now of the gifts you so freely bestow. Help us to recognize them in ourselves and in one another, that we may use them to serve people in need and give glory to your name. Amen.

 

OPENING HYMN:     “God the Creator”                                  LU #27

           

                                

CALL TO CONFESSION

Despite our best intentions, there is much in life that separates us from God. We find ourselves living for things and being ruled by our appetites. Our possessions become for us dumb idols that keep us from taking risks and making sacrifices of faithfulness.

 

PRAYER OF CONFESSION

 God, we confess that we have moved away from our commitment to Christ. We have denied your gifts, ignored your inspiration, and wandered from your healing presence. Yet we cannot escape your claim on us, for wherever we go, you are there. How precious is your steadfast love that saves us from our selfish desires to live for higher values! Strengthen us to do as you tell us, as Christ demonstrated among us. (continue with personal prayers………..) Amen.

 

ASSURANCE OF PARDON

Anyone who is in Christ is a new creation.

          The old life has gone; the new life has begun.

Friends, believe the Good News!

          In Jesus Christ we are forgiven and restored to new life!

 

PASSING THE PEACE

          May the peace of Christ be with you.

                   And also with you.

Let us extend the peace of Christ in heart and prayer to one another.

 

GLORY BE TO THE FATHER

 

SCRIPTURE 1: Psalm 36:5-10

Your steadfast love, O Lord, extends to the heavens, your faithfulness to the clouds. Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains, your judgments are like the great deep; you save humans and animals alike, O Lord. How precious is your steadfast love, O God! All people may take refuge in the shadow of your wings. They feast on the abundance of your house, and you give them drink from the river of your delights. For with you is the fountain of life; in your light we see light. O continue your steadfast love to those who know you, and your salvation to the upright of heart!

 

SCRIPTURE 2:  John 2:1-11

On the third day there was a marriage at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there; Jesus also was invited to the marriage, with his disciples. When the wine failed, the mother of Jesus said to him, "They have no wine." And Jesus said to her, "O woman, what have you to do with me? My hour has not yet come." His mother said to the servants, "Do whatever he tells you." Now six stone jars were standing there, for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. Jesus said to them, "Fill the jars with water." And they filled them up to the brim. He said to them, "Now draw some out, and take it to the steward of the feast." So they took it. When the steward of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward of the feast called the bridegroom and said to him, "Every man serves the good wine first; and when men have drunk freely, then the poor wine; but you have kept the good wine until now." This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory; and his disciples believed in him.

 

SERMON                              Rev. Jean Hurst

 

HYMN:     “I Sing the Mighty Power of God”                        Glory #32

 

PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE AND THE LORD’S PRAYER

          God who delights in our laughter, thank you for all you bring into our lives that brings us joy. Thank you for the unexpected ways that you answer prayer and satisfy our hearts’ desires. Open our eyes to see and our hearts to know the many ways you are active in our lives. Lord in your grace …. hear our prayers.

          So often, we doubt not only your willingness to answer our prayers, but we doubt your very presence in our lives. There are times we pray and we feel nothing. We think that you have abandoned us or that we have lost our faith. Walk with us through those lonely times, O Lord. Grant us strength to persevere and help us to hold onto our trust in you. God in your grace … hear our prayers.

          We pray for our community, our families, our friends. We ask on their behalf for your loving presence and your healing touch, for guidance and assistance according to each one’s needs. We lift up ……….    God in your grace … hear our prayers.

          We pray for peace in the world, for wisdom for world leaders, for justice for all your people. Bring comfort and healing and security for your people who suffer. Let your light shine into the darkened hearts of your children who have forgotten who you are and who you call them to be. Guide us and use us as instruments of your work in the world. God in your grace … hear our prayers.

          These prayers, those still within our hearts, those prayers uttered long ago that seem as yet unanswered, we trust to your care and mercy. Together we pray as Jesus taught his disciples:

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.

 

CALL TO OFFERING

What will we give in gratitude for God’s forgiveness and healing grace? Who can repay the many gifts we have received with the miracle of life? Let us rejoice in the mission God entrusts to us.

 

DOXOLOGY

 

PRAYER OF DEDICATION

God of our baptism, whose Holy Spirit fires our imagination and fills our lives with purpose, we rejoice to commit ourselves anew with our gifts. May what we share strengthen your children spiritually, inspiring each person to invest fully in the work you set before us. The varieties of gifts you entrust to us can be realized only if they are used. Thank you for granting us this joy. Amen.

CLOSING HYMN:  “Praise Ye the Lord”                             Glory #633

 

CHARGE AND BENEDICTION

          Jesus wants us to live lives of joy, to have abundant life, to experience the generosity of God. So during this next week, challenge yourself to discover the many ways God is putting an abundant life in your path.

          As you do the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit is with you now and always. Amen.

 

CHORAL RESPONSE

May the Lord, Mighty God, bless and keep you forever. Grant you peace, perfect peace, courage in every endeavor. Lift up your eyes and see his face and his grace forever. May the Lord, Mighty God, bless and keep you forever.

 

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LOOKING AHEAD

 

PRAYER CARE:

 Linda Kaesemeyer (multiple health issues), Tina Bossuot (Alzheimer’s), Verna’s sisters (Covid recovery),(one who passed away), Mary and Ray Swarthout, Sandy Cargill (breast cancer), Somer Bauer (breast cancer), Tasha Sizemore (Crohn’s), Jacob Cunningham, Trisha Cagley (health problems), Dave Clark (recovery from brain surgery, kidney cancer), Virginia DesIlets (age 100!), Margaret Dunbar (Ashley Manor), George and Joyce Sahlberg (health issues), Chuck VanHise (leg/walking rehab), Darlene Wingfield (pulmonary fibrosis, breast cancer), Courtney Ziegler (Huntington’s), and the passing of Pastor Jean Hurst).

LECTIONARY FOR 1/23/22

Nehemiah 8:1-3, 5-6, 8-10; Psalm 19; 1 Corinthians 12:12-31a;

Luke 4:14-21