Please see the announcements section of this Sunday's bulletin (in the main text area of this page) for our church calendar.
THE ORDER OF WORSHIP
32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time
November 9, 2008 10:45 o’clock
WE OFFER PRAISE TO THE GLORY OF GOD
THE PRELUDE J. S. Bach
Prelude in F minor, BMV 881
Pastor: The joys and concerns have been shared.
People: Let us prepare our hearts for worship.
First Loss, Op. 16 No. 16 Robert Schumann
THE CALL TO WORSHIP
Leader: Where charity and love prevail,
Congregation: There God is ever found.
Leader: Brought here together by Christ’s love,
Congregation: By love are we thus bound.
* THE HYMN OF PRAISE 472 BRAZILIAN FOLK MELODY
O Sing to the Lord
* THE CALL TO CONFESSION
Friends, our sins may seem slight to us, but unconfessed, they are a barrier between ourselves and God. Let us confess our sins and be forgiven and renewed.
* THE PRAYER OF CONFESSION (in unison)
O God, you are merciful and full of grace, ready to give more than we could possibly ever hope to ask or receive. Hear our prayer and hear beneath our prayer, in the secret places of our heart, shut off even from ourselves. Let not the blindness of our spirit deny us the vision of your binding love. We confess that we have taken back roads and short cuts. We have gone off course. We have hurt and harmed other people, ourselves and your created world. O God, be merciful to us and in your mercy bring peace to our troubled souls. Amen.
* THE TIME FOR SILENT CONFESSION
* THE ASSURANCE OF PARDON
God knows the depths of our sorrow, guilt and fear. God feels our loneliness, our despair and sense of helplessness. God stands beside us in our struggle and says to us, “This you can manage. I am with you. With sighs too deep for words, I embrace you. Be still. I am with you. You will live to love again.”
* THE SHARING OF CHRIST’S PEACE
Leader: The peace of Christ be with you.
Congregation: And also with you.
Leader: Let us share Christ’s peace.
THE TIME WITH THE CHILDREN
THE OLD TESTAMENT LESSON Joshua 24: 1 – 3a, 14 - 25 [p. 187]
THE NEW TESTAMENT LESSON Matthew 25: 1 – 13 [p. 806]
Leader: The Word of the Lord.
People: Thanks be to God.
THE SERMON Rev. Virginia Birks
“Be Prepared”
THE HYMN OF MEDITATION 15 (please remain seated) LLANGLOFFAN
Rejoice! Rejoice, Believers‡
THE PRAYERS OF PRAISE AND INTERCESSION
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 sins, as we forgive those who sin against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever. Amen.
THE CHURCH IN MISSION Doug Drushal
THE OFFERTORY Jeffrey David Hoover
Cambria
* THE DOXOLOGY (in unison)
Praise God from whom all blessings flow;
Praise God all creatures here below;
Praise God above, ye choirs in song;
Rejoice, be grateful, all life long. Amen.
* THE PRAYER OF DEDICATION
* THE HYMN OF COMMITMENT 425 ABBOT’S LEIGH
Lord of Light, Your Name Outshining
* THE CHARGE AND BENEDICTION
THE POSTLUDE Claude Debussy
Clair de Lune
*Those who are able are invited to stand.
Leading in worship are The Rev. Virginia Birks, Preacher of the Day; Frances Whited, Liturgist; and Charles J. Briggs, Organist.
Greeter is Jeanne Bruce.
Child Care is provided in the Nursery Room.
Church Partnership Committee – will meet in the Church House Lounge following this morning’s worship service.
BorderLinks will have a brief meeting in Mackey Sanctuary following worship. Our meeting time was changed because of our October celebration. We will discuss our movie night last week, our BorderLinks necklace sales for Alternative Christmas, and our lunch box program during Advent to help the children of Nogales. All are welcome to join us.
Next Sunday, November 16, The Rev. Charles Cureton will be the Preacher of the Day.
Westminster Presbyterian Church
353 East Pine Street 330-263-2398
Email: sbrown@wooster.edu
Website: www.wooster.edu/westminster
Church Notes
There will be a Called Congregational Meeting on Sunday, November 23,
for the purpose of electing Church officers and other reports.
TONIGHT, November 9, at 7:00 p.m. a screening of the documentary film "Long Nights Journey Into Day" will be shown in The Meeting Place. This is a follow up to the Sunday series on "justice" and is a study of four amnesty hearings during the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission's work in the late 1990s. This is an exceptional documentary. All are Welcome.
Sr. Highs - will meet tonight at 7:00 p.m. in the Church House Lounge.
Dance Group – Wednesday, November 12, at 7:00 p.m. in Mackey Hall.
Choir Rehearsal – Wednesday, November 12, at 7:00 p.m. in the Choir Room.
PEACE BY PEACE is sponsoring a visit to the campus by a team from the Fellowship of Reconciliation on Friday, November 14, and our congregation is invited to attend and participate. Intern Chris Marino has announced that the event is titled, “Drop Beats Not Bombs,” and will feature an appearance by Hip Hop performer Invincible. Workshops are planned for the afternoon and a public event will be held from 7:30 to 9:00 p.m. in McGaw Chapel. The speaker of the evening will be Paula Galeano, a 28-year-old conscientious objector from Colombia. This weekend visit is a major effort of Peace by Peace and they would like as many members as possible to support their efforts.
Westminster’s Salvation Army Bell Ringing will be Friday, November 28, 5:00- 9:00 p.m., Buehler’s Towne Market (downtown). See Linda Barbu to sign up.
Community Peace Initiative Notes – There are updates and additions to our web site. These include: video and audio recordings of Carroll’s final Sunday of preaching before retiring from the ministry; the catalog of the Peace & Justice Library; updated “events” page; a new page for Sunday School and Adult Ed information; a beginning of updating to the “people” page. Note: Don’t forget to press the “F5” key to update pages if you’ve visited them recently.
PEOPLE TO PEOPLE COLLECTIONS DURING NOVEMBER - Your mission committee is accepting weekly food contributions and/or new toy items for People to People during the month of November. If each of us could contribute one new toy for the Christmas Toy Project, we would make a significant contribution. Please check the display case and/or bulletin board for suggestions if you don't receive a monthly news letter from People to People.
Amahl & the Night Visitors, Menotti’s magical Christmas opera – Sunday, November 23, at 5:00 p.m. at Akron’s Westminster Church, 1250 W. Exchange St., Akron. Admission is free. (Info: 330-836-2226 or www.westminsterakron.com)
Advent and the Hanging of the Greens - Please mark your calendar for Saturday, November 29, at 4:00 p.m., to help decorate the Church House for the Advent Season. We need at least a dozen or more people to complete this seasonal activity. Pizza and a salad will be provided.
The Westminster Tea Society is having one of its periodic meetings on Sunday, November 30 (Thanksgiving weekend) at 1:00 p.m. at the historic Octagon House on route 57 near route 585. We will have a High Victorian Tea buffet with sandwiches, tea and trifle at a cost of $20 per person. A $10 deposit is required. Please make your reservation with Linda Barbu before November 19. We need a minimum of 10 people, but can accommodate up to 30. Car pooling is expected, leaving from the Church House after worship. Family and friends are welcome.
Olive oil soap will be available for sale in the narthex following worship.
‡ The text was written by Laurentius Laurenti and appears in his Evangelia Melodica (1700). This hymn, considered his finest, had ten stanzas and was originally titled “For the 27th Sunday after Trinity.” It is based on the parable of the ten maidens in Matthew 25 and images from Revelation 20 and 21.
Lorenz Lorenzen (1660-1722) was born in Schleswig, Germany, and education at the University of Rostock (1681), then Kiel (1683), where he studied music. While there, Lorenzen Latinized his name to Laurentius Laurenti. In 1684 he became cantor and director of music in Bremen, where he died in 1722. A product of the Pietistic movement, he was one its best hymn writers.