Sunday August 20th Worship Service In Person and Online

(Image: “Joseph Recognized by His Brothers”, Bourgeois, Leon Pierre Urbain)

©Order of Worship for Sunday August 20, 2023
12th Sunday after Pentecost

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:………………“Mighty to Save”……………..Greg D.
Words and Music: B. Fielding and R. Morgan © 2020, Integrity Music.
 
Coming of the Light:…………………………………Michael C.
 
Greetings:……………………………………………Pastor Steven
 
Opening Prayer:………………..…………………Robin C.
Let us pray together

Eternal God,
you are present with us throughout our lives,
even when others plot to do us harm.
May we learn to live together in unity,
that in all we do,
we may sing your praises now and forever. Amen.
 
Opening Hymns:…“Rock of Ages” #361 UMH
Words: Augustus M. Toplady, 1776 Music: Thomas Hastings, 1830
 
1. Rock of Ages, cleft for me, let me hide myself in thee;
let the water and the blood, from thy wounded side which
flowed, be of sin the double cure; save from wrath and
make me pure.
 
2. Not the labors of my hands can fulfill thy law’s demands;
could my zeal no respite know, could my tears forever flow,
all for sin could not atone; thou must save, and thou alone.
 
3. Nothing in my hand I bring, simply to the cross I cling;
naked, come to thee for dress; helpless, look to thee for grace;
foul, I to the fountain fly; wash me, Savior, or I die.
 
4. While I draw this fleeting breath, when mine eyes shall close
in death, when I soar to worlds unknown, see thee on thy
judgment throne, Rock of Ages, cleft for me, let me hide
myself in thee.
 
“Help Us Accept Each Other” #560 UMH
Words: Fred Kaan, 1974 Music: John Ness Beck, 1977
© Hope Publishing Co., 1975, 1977

1. Help us accept each other as Christ accepted us;
teach us as sister, brother, each person to embrace.
Be present, Lord, among us, and bring us to believe
we are ourselves accepted and meant to love and live.
 
2. Teach us, O Lord, your lessons, as in our daily life
we struggle to be human and search for hope and faith.
Teach us to care for people, for all, not just for some,
to love them as we find them, or as they may become.
 
3. Let your acceptance change us, so that we may be
moved in living situations to do the truth in love;
to practice your acceptance, until we know by heart
the table of  forgiveness and laughter’s healing art.
 
4. Lord, for today’s encounters with all who are in need,
who hunger for acceptance, for righteousness and bread,
we need new eyes for seeing, new hands for holding on;
renew us with your Spirit; Lord, free us, make us one!
 
Passing of the Peace:…………………………….Pastor Steven
Let us show signs of reconciliation and peace to one another.
 
Gloria Patri: “Glory Be to the Father” #71
The United Methodist Hymnal
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.
 
Announcements:……………………………………………Lorri B.

Giving of our tithes and offerings:………………………
You can do this with no ok fee through your bank’s online bill pay option. It is easy to set up for automatic monthly giving. Or, you can use this link: Online Giving
 
Offertory:.……“Wayfaring Stranger”…………Lusi R.
 
Offertory Response:  
Praise God, from Whom All Blessings Flow (The Doxology) #94
The United Methodist Hymnal 
Adapted © 1989 The United Methodist Publishing House
Words by Thomas Ken, 1674, adapted by Gilbert Vieira, 1978
Music: Geistliche Kirchengesänge, 1623; harmony by Ralph Vaughan Williams, 1906

Praise God, from whom all blessings flow;
praise God, all creatures here below:
Alleluia! Alleluia!
Praise God, the source of all our gifts!
Praise Jesus Christ, whose power uplifts!
Praise the Spirit, Holy Spirit!
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
 
Prayer After Receiving:………………………….Pastor Steven
 
Prayers of the People:……………………………Pastor Steven

Hymn of Preparation:………“Something Beautiful”  #394 UMH
Words: Gloria Gaither, 1971, Music: William J. Gaither, 1971
© 1971 William J. Gaither
 
Something beautiful, something good; all my confusion
he understood; all I had to offer him was brokenness
and strife, but he made something beautiful of my life.
 
Old Testament Lesson:…….Genesis 45:1-15….Robin C.
 
Then Joseph could no longer control himself before all those who stood by him, and he cried out, “Send everyone away from me.” So no one stayed with him when Joseph made himself known to his brothers. And he wept so loudly that the Egyptians heard it, and the household of Pharaoh heard it.
 
Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph. Is my father still alive?” But his brothers could not answer him, so dismayed were they at his presence. Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Come closer to me.” And they came closer. He said, “I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt.  And now do not be distressed, or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life.
 
For the famine has been in the land these two years; and there are five more years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest.  God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors. So it was not you who sent me here, but God; he has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt.
 
Hurry and go up to my father and say to him, ‘Thus says your son Joseph, God has made me lord of all Egypt; come down to me, do not delay. You shall settle in the land of Goshen, and you shall be near me, you and your children and your children’s children, as well as your flocks, your herds, and all that you have.  I will provide for you there–since there are five more years of famine to come–so that you and your household, and all that you have, will not come to poverty.
 
And now your eyes and the eyes of my brother Benjamin see that it is my own mouth that speaks to you.  You must tell my father how greatly I am honored in Egypt, and all that you have seen. Hurry and bring my father down here.”
 
Then he fell upon his brother Benjamin’s neck and wept, while Benjamin wept upon his neck. And he kissed all his brothers and wept upon them; and after that his brothers talked with him.
 
Sermon:…………“Lead Like Joseph”………Pastor Steven
 
Anthem:………..“I Sing Praises”……….Choir and Congregation
Words and Music: Terry Mac Almon © 1989, arr. © Integrity’s Hosanna! Music
 
1. I sing praises to Your name, O Lord,
Praises  to Your name, O Lord,
For Your name is great and greatly to be praised;
I sing praises to Your name, O Lord,
Praises to Your name, O Lord,
For Your name is great and greatly to be praised.
 
2. I give glory to Your name, O Lord,
Glory to Your name, O Lord,
For Your name is great and greatly to be praised;
I give glory to Your name, O Lord,
Glory to Your name, O Lord,
For Your name is great and greatly to be praised.
For Your name is great and greatly to be praised.
 
Closing Hymn: “Bind Us Together” #2226 TFWS
Words and Music by Bob Gillman (Col 3:14)
© 1977 Kingsway’s Thank You Music
 
Bind us together, Lord, bind us together
with cords that cannot be broken.
Bind us together, Lord, bind us together, Lord,
bind us together in love.
 
There is only one God,
There is only one King;
There is only one body, that is why we sing.
 
Bind us together, Lord, bind us together
with cords that cannot be broken.
Bind us together, Lord, bind us together, Lord,
bind us together in love.
 
Dismissal with Blessing: …………………..Pastor Steven
 
Postlude:……“A  Wilderness Wandering People”..…Greg D.
Words and Music: Jim Strathdee ©1996 Desert Flower Music
 

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