Digital Liturgy 1/17/21
Invitation to Worship
To all who are weary and need rest
To all who mourn and long for comfort
To all those who wander and are looking for a story
To all who feel isolated and miss community
To all who are broken and want healing
To all who feel worthless and wonder if God cares
To all who are oppressed and yearn for justice
To all who fail and desire strength
To all who sin and need a Savior
To all who hunger and thirst for righteousness
And to whomever will come–
This church opens wide her arms and offers welcome
In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ
Call to Worship
Make a joyful noise to God,
all the earth; sing the glory of his name;
give to him glorious praise.
All the earth worships you;
they sing praises to you,
sing praises to your name.
Songs
A Time of Prayer
You can pray this prayer or use it as a starting point for your own time of prayer.
We who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly…Romans 8:23
Lord Jesus, we live with a relentless ache for peace. In the past several months, this ache has been fertilized with the “messes” in this world and the Spirit of hope. As Paul said, we “groan eagerly.”
Though we’ve found eternal peace in the Gospel, the DNA we carry from the Garden of Eden, and the promises you have made about our coming life in the new heaven and new earth, make it hard to wait. We’re not good at waiting, Jesus.
We’re like children demanding 3 o’clock snacks before a 5 o’clock-supper. We don’t want celery, we want chocolate. Cravings and aches take over. Longings morph into a sense of entitlement, and entitlement becomes angry demands. When we want relief more than we want you, we make bad choices. Help us, Jesus.
As we move into this pandemic-marred, post-impeachment, pre-inauguration week… on this Sunday, January 17th, in this very moment, you are the Prince of Peace, the King of calm, the Lord of serenity. You’re not the anxious one, we are.
Until the Day of all things new and beautiful, fill and free our hearts with your peace, Jesus. Replace our demands with gratefulness. Don’t decrease our good groaning, but increase our trust-filled waiting. We pray these things in Jesus’ tender and triumphant name. Amen.
Sermon “God is Glorious
A sermon preached by Pastor Nate Downey. The sermon will premiere at 10:30 AM on January 17 and will be available to stream anytime after that.
Response
In response to God’s goodness and faithfulness, let’s respond through giving and singing.
Give
If you are part of the Town Church family, you can give online or text any dollar amount to 84321 to give.
Sing
Benediction
Say this together:
Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling
and to present you blameless
before his glorious presence with great joy
to the only God, our Savior,
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority,
before all time and now and forever.
Amen