Sunday Worship Bulletin - Fourth Church

Bulletins are posted on the day prior.

Sunday, January 18
9:30 a.m. Worship Service

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

PRELUDE

We Shall Overcome
Charles Tindley

Prelude on “Houston”
Rebecca Groom te Velde

Adoration
Florence Price

Offertory
Florence Price

There is a Balm in Gilead
Traditional, arr. Bob Walters

INTROIT
"This Little Light of Mine"
Spiritual
This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine. Let it shine, let it shine!

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: From the world’s weariness
All: You lift us
One: To the summit of hope
All: You carry us
One: Now let us worship you
All: with ears ready to listen.
One: minds ready to be awakened
All: and hearts ready to receive your grace.

HYMN
“Holy God, We Praise Your Name”

1. Holy God, we praise your name; Lord of all, we bow before you. All on earth your scepter claim; all in heaven above adore you. Infinite your vast domain, everlasting is your reign.

2. Hark! The glad celestial hymn angel choirs above are raising; cherubim and seraphim, in unceasing chorus praising, fill the heavens with sweet accord: “Holy, holy, holy Lord!”

3. All apostles join the strain as your sacred name they hallow; prophets swell the glad refrain, and the blessed martyrs follow, and from morn to set of sun, through the church the song goes on.

4. Holy Father, Holy Son, Holy Spirit: three we name you, while in essence only one; undivided God we claim you,
and adoring, bend the knee while we own the mystery.

PRAYER OF CONFESSION

(Adapted from Martin Luther King Jr’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail”)
Holy God, in our baptisms you have promised us forgiveness and new life and have made us part of the wider body of Christ. But we confess we remain focused primarily on ourselves, denying that we are tied to one another in a single garment of destiny, ignoring that injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We have seen peace as an absence of tension rather than the presence of your justice. May we aspire to something greater than the status quo.May your church meet the challenge of this decisive hour so that, together, we may rise to new life and live in your grace. 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.

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TIME WITH CHILDREN

WELCOME AND ANNOUNCEMENTS

ANTHEM
“How Lovely Are the Messengers”
Felix Mendelssohn

How lovely are the messengers who preach us the gospel of peace! To all the nations is gone forth the sound of their words; Throughout all the land their glad tidings. How lovely are the messengers who preach us the gospel of peace!

FIRST LESSON
Psalm 40:1–11

I waited patiently for the Lord; he inclined to me and heard my cry.
He drew me up from the desolate pit, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure.
He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear, and put their trust in the Lord.
Happy are those who make the Lord their trust, who do not turn to the proud, to those who go astray after false gods.
You have multiplied, O Lord my God, your wondrous deeds and your thoughts toward us; none can compare with you. Were I to proclaim and tell of them, they would be more than can be counted.
Sacrifice and offering you do not desire, but you have given me an open ear. Burnt offering and sin offering you have not required.
Then I said, “Here I am; in the scroll of the book it is written of me.
I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart.”
I have told the glad news of deliverance in the great congregation; see, I have not restrained my lips, as you know, O Lord.
I have not hidden your saving help within my heart, I have spoken of your faithfulness and your salvation; I have not concealed your steadfast love and your faithfulness from the great congregation.
Do not, O Lord, withhold your mercy from me; let your steadfast love and your faithfulness keep me safe forever. (NRSV)

One: The Word of the Lord.
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
Luke 18:1–8

Then Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart. He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor had respect for people. In that city there was a widow who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Grant me justice against my opponent.’ For a while he refused; but later he said to himself, ‘Though I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out by continually coming.’” And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long in helping them? I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them. And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” (NRSV)

SERMON
Camille Cook Howe

HYMN
“Lift Every Voice and Sing”

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 parents sighed? We have come over a way that with tears has been watered; we have come, treading our path through 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 hast 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.

AFFIRMATION OF FAITH

(Excerpts from the Confession of 1967)
God has created the peoples of the earth to be one universal family. In God’s reconciling love, God overcomes the barriers between siblings and breaks down every form of discrimination based on racial or ethnic difference, real or imaginary. The church is called to bring all humanity to receive and uphold one another as persons in all relationships of life: in employment, housing, education, leisure, marriage, family, church, and the exercise of political rights. Therefore, the church labors for the abolition of all racial discrimination and ministers to those injured by it. Congregations, individuals, or groups of Christians who exclude, dominate, or patronize their fellowmen, however subtly, resist the Spirit of God and bring contempt on the faith which they profess. The power of God’s love in Christ to transform the world discloses that the Redeemer is the Lord and Creator who made all things to serve the purpose of his love. Amen.

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
“Christ Whose Glory Fills the Skies”
T. F. H. Candlyn

Christ, whose glory fills the skies, Christ, the true, the only Light, Sun of Righteousness, arise, Triumph o’er the shades of night; Dayspring from on high, be near, Daystar, in my heart appear. Dark and cheerless is the morn Unaccompanied by Thee; Joyless is the day’s return Till Thy mercy’s beams I see, Till Thou inward light impart, Glad my eyes, and warm my heart. Visit then this soul of mine, Pierce the gloom of sin and grief; Fill me, Radiancy divine, Scatter all my unbelief; More and more Thyself display, Shining to the perfect day.

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.

LITANY OF THANKSGIVING AND COMMITMENT
One: God of all races and nations, we praise you for all your faithful servants who have done justice, loved mercy, and walked humbly with you. For apostles, martyrs, leaders, and saints and for humble folks whose names never made the news but are recorded in your book of life,
All: we give you thanks, O God.
One: Especially this day we thank you for our brother, the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., for his courage and conviction, his passion for peace and justice, and his tireless quest of a nation that keeps faith with its promises,
All: we give you thanks, O God.
One: For the countless saints who stood in the front lines and marches, integrated schools, restaurants, and churches, or sat in buses and at lunch counters and refused to move, and for those who continue to work for justice,
All: we give you thanks, O God.
One: As we seek to be the body of Christ in a world brimming with tension, fear and violence, we affirm that all people are created with holiness, in the image of God. For our siblings of every race and nation who long for safety, freedom, and hope in our community and land,
All: we promise to work for justice, O God.
One: Receive our offerings of time, treasure, and talent, that we may follow the way of Jesus Christ, working to build the beloved community, where everyone is welcomed, all are valued, power is shared, and all your children know wholeness and well-being.
All: we promise to work for love, O God.
One: In the name of Christ, we pray.
All: Amen.

HYMN
“Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee”

1. Joyful, joyful, we adore thee, God of glory, Lord of love! Hearts unfold like flowers before thee, opening to the sun above. Melt the clouds of sin and sadness; drive the dark of doubt away. Giver of immortal gladness, fill us with the light of day.

2. All thy works with joy surround thee; earth and heaven reflect thy rays; stars and angels sing around thee, center of unbroken praise. Field and forest, vale and mountain, flowery meadow, flashing sea, chanting bird and flowing fountain, call us to rejoice in thee.

3. Mortals, join the happy chorus which the morning stars began. Love divine is reigning o’er us, joining all in heaven’s plan. Ever singing, march we onward, victors in the midst of strife. Joyful music leads us sunward in the triumph song of life.

CHARGE AND BENEDICTION

CHORAL BENEDICTION

“Go Now in Peace”
Robert Lau

POSTLUDE
“Oh, Freedom”
Traditional, arr. Charles Schuchat

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