Sunday Worship Bulletin - Fourth Church

Bulletins are posted on the day prior.

Sunday, November 9
9:30 a.m. Worship Service

View mobile-device version of the back (announcements) half of the weekly bulletin

PRELUDE

Two Quiet Pieces
Percy Whitlock
I. French Air
II. Dolcezza

INTROIT
Sing Alleluia to the Lord
Terry D. Taylor
Sing alleluia to the Lord above. Lift up your songs of praise; give God your best always. God’s love is strong and true and fills all the earth. We trust God’s holy name; God’s love will never change Our hearts are filled with joy; our hope is in God.

DOXOLOGY
Praise God, from whom all blessings flow; praise God, all creatures here below; praise God above, ye heavenly host; Creator, Christ, and Holy Ghost. Amen.

CALL TO WORSHIP

One: O come, let us sing to the Lord;
All: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!
One: Let us come into God’s presence with thanksgiving;
All: let us lift up our voices in praise!

HYMN
“The Church’s One Foundation”

The church’s one foundation is Jesus Christ her Lord. She is his new creation by water and the word. From heaven he came and sought her to be his holy bride. With his own blood he bought her, and for her life he died.

Elect from every nation, yet one o’er all the earth, her charter of salvation: one Lord, one faith, one birth. One holy name she blesses, partakes one holy food, and to one hope she presses, with every grace endued.

Though with a scornful wonder this world sees her oppressed, by schisms rent asunder, by heresies distressed, yet saints their watch are keeping; their cry goes up: “How long?” And soon the night of weeping shall be the morn of song.

Mid toil and tribulation, and tumult of her war, she waits the consummation of peace forevermore: till with the vision glorious her longing eyes are blest, and the great church victorious shall be the church at rest.

Yet she on earth has union with God, the Three in One, and mystic sweet communion with those whose rest is won: O happy ones and holy! Lord, give us grace that we, like them, the meek and lowly, may live eternally.

PRAYER OF CONFESSION

You offer us your very image, O Lord. You sow within us the gift of faith. And yet we find ourselves in soil that lacks nourishment. Consuming masters and false gods sap our time and energies. Wealth and selfish desires offer little in crisis. Instead they shield us from the cries of the poor, and trample on the hopes of our neighbors. There are times we wonder if your image can still live within us. In those moments, send us your mercy. Restore us so that we may reflect your way and your love. Amen.

DECLARATION OF PARDON
One: Friends, believe the good news.
All: In Jesus Christ, we are forgiven.

SHARING THE PEACE OF CHRIST
Leader: The peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.
People: And also with you.

We encourage those online to take a few seconds to share your presence with us, using the online form.

TIME WITH CHILDREN

SACRAMENT OF BAPTISM

WELCOME AND ANNOUNCEMENTS

ANTHEM
“Mothering God, You Gave Me Birth”
Percy Smith/arr. Tom Trenney
Mothering God, you gave me birth in the bright morning of this world. Creator, source of every breath, you are my rain, my wind, my sun. Mothering Christ, you took my form, offering me your food of light, grain of life and grape of love, your very body for my peace. Mothering Spirit, nurturing one, in arms of patience hold me close, so that in faith I root and grow until I flow’r, until I know.

FIRST LESSON
Genesis 1:26–31

Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.” So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.” God said, “See, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

One: The Word of God for the people of God.
All: Thanks be to God.

GLORIA PATRI
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.

SECOND LESSON
Mark 4:1–9
Again he began to teach beside the sea. Such a very large crowd gathered around him that he got into a boat on the sea and sat there, while the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land. He began to teach them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them: “Listen! A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and it sprang up quickly, since it had no depth of soil. And when the sun rose, it was scorched; and since it had no root, it withered away. Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. Other seed fell into good soil and brought forth grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.” And he said, “Let anyone with ears to hear listen!”

One: The grass withers, and the flower fades,
All: but the word of our God shall stand forever.

SERMON
Camille Cook Howe

HYMN
“Take My Life”

Take my life and let it be consecrated, Lord, to thee; take my moments and my days; let them flow in ceaseless praise; let them flow in ceaseless praise.

Take my hands and let them move at the impulse of thy love; take my feet and let them be swift and beautiful for thee, swift and beautiful for thee.

Take my voice and let me sing always, only, for my King; take my lips and let them be filled with messages from thee, filled with messages from thee.

Take my silver and my gold; not a mite would I withhold; take my intellect and use every power as thou shalt choose, every power as thou shalt choose.

Take my will and make it thine; it shall be no longer mine. Take my heart, it is thine own; it shall be thy royal throne, it shall be thy royal throne.

Take my love; my Lord, I pour at thy feet its treasure store; take myself and I will be ever, only, all for thee, ever, only, all for thee.

PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE

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 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.

OFFERING

Gifts supporting the ministry and mission of Fourth Church can be made online

OFFERTORY ANTHEM
“My Shepherd Will Supply My Need”
Isaac Watts; American folk hymn/arr. Mack Wilberg
My Shepherd will supply my need; Jehovah is his name. In pastures fresh he makes me feed beside the living stream. He brings my wand’ring spirit back, when I foresake his ways, and leads me, for his mercies’ sake, in paths of truth and grace. When I walk through the shades of death, thy presence is my stay; one word of thy supporting breath drives all my fears away. Thy hand, in sight of all my foes, doth still my table spread; my cup with blessings overflows; thine oil anoints my head. The sure provisions of my God attend me all my days; O may thy house be mine abode and all my work be praise! There would I find a settled rest while others go and come, no more stranger nor a guest but like a child at home.

OFFERTORY RESPONSE
A grateful heart is what I bring, a song of praise, my offering.
Among the saints I lift my voice: in you, O God, I will rejoice.

PRAYER OF DEDICATION
God of promise, we dedicate these offerings to you. May the gifts we give and the pledges we make please you, and may they bring good news to all who need it today, tomorrow, and for many generations to come. Through Christ, the promise and pledge of our salvation. Amen.

HYMN
“The Lord’s My Shepherd, I’ll Not Want”

The Lord’s my shepherd, I’ll not want; he makes me down to lie in pastures green; he leadeth me the quiet waters by.

My soul he doth restore again; and me to walk doth make Within the paths of righteousness, ev’n for his own name’s sake.

Yea, though I walk in death’s dark vale, yet will I fear none ill: For thou art with me; and thy rod and staff me comfort still.

My table thou hast furnished in presence of my foes; My head thou dost with oil anoint, and my cup overflows.

Goodness and mercy all my life shall surely follow me, And in God’s house forevermore my dwelling place shall be.

CHARGE AND BENEDICTION

CHORAL BENEDICTION

God Be with You Till We Meet Again
Ralph Vaughan Williams

POSTLUDE
Fanfare
John Cook

View mobile-device version of the back (announcements) half of the weekly bulletin

Back to top