Image: https://www.cartoonstock.com/cartoon?searchID=CC66652J.B. Handelsman New Yorker Magazine 5/5/2003
©Order of Worship for Sunday February 23, 2025
Seventh Sunday after Epiphany
For the Avent Ferry UMC Worship Video Click Here (Link opens in a new window)
The worship video will be available live at 11:00 am
Prelude……………..……………………………….Greg D.
Coming of the Light
Greetings……………………………………Pastor Steven
Announcements…………………………………Lorri B.
African American History Moment……Pauli Murray
Call to Worship……………………………..…………Ally L.
Jesus teaches us, “Do to others as you would have them do to you.” But who are the others?
Our enemies and friends, family and strangers.
Jesus teaches us, “Be merciful as your Father is merciful.” But what is mercy?
To act with compassion, to help without expecting anything in return.
Jesus teaches us, “Forgive, and you will be forgiven.” But how do we forgive?
By recognizing enemies, friends, family, strangers, and ourselves as people in need of compassion.
Let us worship God, who loves us and empowers us to love one another with mercy and compassion.
Come, let us worship! Thanks be to God! Amen.
Written by Dr. Lisa Hancock, Discipleship Ministries, August 2024.
Opening Prayer……………………………………Ally L.
Holy Jesus,
You call us into a life that others have told us is easy, but it is not.
You challenge us to forgive, to love our enemies,
to bless those who curse us.
We want the easy way,
but You have given us the hard path.
Grant us the patience and endurance to journey with You,
to allow ourselves at times to stumble,
to live into the hard way
so that we might fully experience
Your love, grace, and peace in this world,
by becoming a people full of love and grace
and forgiving others.
In Your name, we pray. Amen.
Opening Hymns…..…Lift Every Voice and Sing….#519 UMH
Words: James Weldon Johnson, 1921
Music by J. Rosamond Johnson, 1921
1. Lift every voice and sing, till earth and heaven ring,
ring with the harmonies of liberty;
let our rejoicing rise high as the listening skies,
let it resound loud as the rolling sea.
Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us;
sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us;
facing the rising sun of our new day begun,
let us march on till victory is won.
2. Stony the road we trod, bitter the chastening rod,
felt in the days when hope unborn had died;
yet with a steady beat, have not our weary feet
come to the place for which our fathers sighed?
We have come over a way that with tears has been watered;
we have come, treading our path thru the blood of the slaughtered,
out from the gloomy past, till now we stand at last
where the white gleam of our bright star is cast.
3. God of our weary years, God of our silent tears,
thou who has brought us thus far on the way;
thou who hast by thy might led us into the light,
Keep us forever in the path, we pray.
Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met thee,
lest our hearts drunk with the wine of the world, we forget thee;
shadowed beneath thy hand, may we forever stand,
true to our God, true to our native land.
“For the Healing of the Nations” #428 UMH
Words: Fred Kaan, 1965 Music: John Hughes, 1907
Words © 1968 Hope Publishing Co.
1. For the healing of the nations, Lord, we pray with
one accord; for a just and equal sharing of the things
that earth affords; to a life of love in action help us
rise and pledge our word, help us rise and pledge our word.
2. Lead us forward into freedom; from despair your
world release, that, redeemed from war and hatred, all may
come and go in peace. Show us how through care and goodness
fear will die and hope increase, fear will die and hope increase.
3. All that kills abundant living; let it from the earth be
banned; pride of status, race, or schooling, dogmas that
obscure your plan. In our common quest for justice may we
hallow life’s brief span, may we hallow life’s brief span.
4. You, Creator God, have written your great name on
humankind; for our growing in your likeness bring the life
of Christ to mind, that by our response and service earth
its destiny many find, earth its destiny may find.
Passing of the Peace………………………….Pastor Steven
Let us offer signs of reconciliation and peace to one another.
Gloria Patri………Glory Be to the Father………#71 UMH
Words: Lesser Doxology, 3rd-4th century
Music: Henry W. Greatorex, 1851
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.
Giving of our tithes and offerings……………………………..Pastor Steven
AFUMC Giving Link: https://afumc.com/give/
Offertory……………………………………Rhonda B.
Offertory Response:
“Praise God, from Whom All Blessings Flow” (The Doxology) #95 UMH
Words by Thomas Ken, 1674
Music attributed to Louis Bourgeois, 1551
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 After Receiving……………………….Pastor Steven
Prayers of the People……………………….Pastor Steven
Anthem:………………………………………………Rhonda B.
Hymn of Preparation…..“Lord, I Want to Be a Christian”……#402 UMH
Words and Music: Afro-American spiritual adapt. and arr.
By William Farley Smith, 1986 © 1989 The United
Methodist Publishing House
1. Lord, I want to be a Christian in my heart,
in my heart; Lord, I want to be a Christian
in my heart. In my heart, in my heart, Lord,
I want to be a Christian in my heart.
2. Lord, I want to be more loving in my heart,
in my heart; Lord, I want to be more loving
in my heart. In my heart, in my heart, Lord,
I want to be more loving in my heart.
3. Lord, I want to be more holy in my heart,
in my heart; Lord, I want to be more holy
in my heart. in my heart, in my heart, Lord,
I want to be more holy in my heart.
4. Lord, I want to be like Jesus in my heart,
in my heart; Lord, I want to be like Jesus
in my heart. In my heart, in my heart, Lord,
I want to be like Jesus in my heart.
Gospel Lesson:……Luke 6: 27 – 38………………….Ally L.
“But I say to you who are listening: Love your enemies; do good to those who hate you; bless those who curse you; pray for those who mistreat you. If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also, and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt. Give to everyone who asks of you, and if anyone takes away what is yours, do not ask for it back again. Do to others as you would have them do to you.
“If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. If you lend to those from whom you expect to receive payment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to receive as much again. Instead, love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return.[e] Your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, for he himself is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.
“Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap, for the measure you give will be the measure you get back.”
Sermon:……Why measure for Measure?………..Pastor Steven
Closing Hymn….“Do, Lord, Remember Me”………..#527 UMH
African American Spiritual
Do, Lord, do, Lord, Lord, remember me;
do, Lord, do, Lord, Lord, remember me;
do, Lord, do, Lord, Lord, remember me;
Do, Lord, remember me.
When I’m in trouble, Lord, remember me.
When I’m in trouble, Lord, remember me.
When I’m in trouble, Lord, remember me.
Do, Lord, remember me.
Dismissal with Blessing…………………Pastor Steven
Postlude………………………………………….Greg D.
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Sunday February 23rd Worship Service