Returning to the Burning City: Re-Imagining Lot’s Wife

Order of Worship Service—June 7, 11am      Pentecost Sunday#2 (Printable PDF link)
(Video will be posted LIVE on the church’s FB page at 11am.  Livestream will be cross-posted here ASAP once the livestream starts)

PRELUDE: Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child—arr. Teresa Wilhelmi
CALL TO WORSHIP
HYMN: Glory to God#291   Spirit, Spirit of Gentleness
(Begin by singing the refrain, but return to refrain only after final stanza)
CONFESSION OF SIN: (repeat as in wedding vows)

There is something basically wrong with our world,
We don’t have to look too far to see that.
Look in the hearts and souls of human beings.
The great danger facing us today
is not the atomic bomb, created by physical science
that you can drop on the heads of millions of people,
as dangerous as that is.
The real danger is that atomic bomb
which lies in the hearts and souls of humans
capable of exploding into the vilest of hate
and the most damaging selfishness.
That’s the atomic bomb we must fear today.
And that is the basis of our confession
And our commitment
To go beyond the mind that we now have. Amen.
-—adapted from “Recovering Lost Values” by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr 

HYMN: Glory to God#750      Goodness is Stronger Than Evil
SCRIPTURE: Genesis 19:15-26      2 Corinthians 13:5-14     -Jennifer Weiman
HYMN: Glory to God#351   All Who Love and Serve Your City    (Written during uprisings against police brutality and racial segregation in the US, Routley said, “The contrast between the peacefulness of the Scottish country town where I was at the time, and the conditions of the cities in America, evoked this text.”
SERMON: Returning to the Burning City: Re-Imagining Lot’s Wife
CHORAL ANTHEM: Joy in the Morning     Natalie Sleeth

There’ll be joy in the morning on that day,
There’ll be joy in the morning on that day,
For the daylight will dawn when the darkness is gone,
There’ll be joy in the morning on that day.
There’ll be peace and contentment evermore,
There’ll be peace and contentment evermore,
Every heart, every voice on that day will rejoice,
There’ll be peace and contentment evermore.
There’ll be love and forgiveness everywhere,
There’ll be love and forgiveness everywhere,
and the way of the Lord will that day be restored,
There’ll be love and forgiveness everywhere.

WELCOMING
INTERCESSORY PRAYER: with comments by people on FB
(read by Deanna.  You can also email prayer requests to info.westportpresbyterian.org during Deanna’s office hours)
The Lord’s Prayer
SUNG RESPONSE:  Glory to God#792 There is a Balm in Gilead -Modified as follows:

Sing revised refrain first: “There is a Balm in Gilead, to make the wounded whole. There is a Balm in Gilead to heal the suffering soul.
Then sing stanza 1…
Then sing revised refrain once again…

OFFERTORY SOLO: You Raise Me Up—Lovland/Graham, sung by Joshua Stark, bass
                 Offering link
PRAYER OF DEDICATION (repeated as in wedding vows)

O God, grant me the capacity of true self surrender,
That I may experience true self realization.
May I be given singleness of mind
And clear sight of the inward path,
That I might find strength so say “Yes!”
to every demand my neighbors make me face,
and every fate Life has in store for me
And “No!” to that which diminishes my soul.
O Creator of Love—
Let me love with an overflowing of that strength
With which I have felt myself filled
When my life
the dark and the light
is an open book to You,
ready for You to show me
the way to turn the page. Amen.
—Dag Hammarskjold, global leader, one time Secretary General of the United Nations

HYMN: Glory to God#728 Somebody’s Knockin’ at Your Door
FINAL BLESSING
SUNG RESPONSE: #740 Lead Me, Guide Me  (Sing Twice)
POSTLUDE: Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing—arr. Joel Raney

Participants:
Pastor- Reverend Scott
Piano- Emily Davidson
Quartet- Jennifer Weiman, Josh Stark, Megan Dobbs, Neil Long
Camera and Facebook- Deanna Capps
Webpage- Martine Roesel