Be Blessed

Sunday, January 29, 2023
10:30 AM 11:30 AM 10:30 11:30

Union Presbyterian Church 200 E Main St Endicott, NY, 13760 United States (map)

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This morning we find Jesus preaching on the side of a mountain, and begin to watch as one of the most remarkable moments in his ministry unfolds. The Sermon on the Mount has been called Christianity’s “Magna Carta,” a teaching that has for us the weight of law. We can assume Jesus wants to tell his followers the most important things he knows. Where does he start?

Join us for worship this morning in our beautiful sanctuary or here, online, if you are at home or on the road. You are invited! We will listen alongside those who gathered on the mountain to receive Jesus’ teachings for us.

Be Blessed

Micah 6:6-8; Matthew 5:1-12

4th Sunday After Epiphany 

January 29, 2023  

Union Presbyterian Church  

Sharing the Light of Christ, Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow  

Liturgist: Sue Troy Preacher: Rev. Pat Raube   

Prelude Colin DeLap  

 “Blessings,” Philip Keveren

Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE.

Welcome Rev. Pat Raube

Call to Worship    Sue Troy

With what shall we come before the Lord our God?

How shall we worship God, in spirit and in truth?

Is God hoping for offerings? Sacrifices?

What is precious to our God?

God has told us what is good:

We come before God in lovingkindness, as lovers of justice.

Let us walk humbly with our God.

* Hymn #68 W & R

“Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing”

(Public Domain)

Come, thou Fount of every blessing,
Tune my heart to sing thy grace;
Streams of mercy, never ceasing,
Call for songs of loudest praise.
Teach me some melodious sonnet,
Sung by flaming tongues above;
Praise his name—I'm fixed upon it—
Name of God's redeeming love.

Here I raise to thee an altar,
Hither by thy help I've come;
And I hope, by thy good pleasure,
Safely to arrive at home.
Jesus sought me when a stranger,
Wand'ring from the fold of God;
He, to rescue me from danger,
Bought me with his precious blood.

O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I'm constrained to be!
Let thy goodness, like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to thee;
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here's my heart, O, take and seal it;
Seal it for thy courts above.

* Call to New Life  

* Prayer for Wholeness and Peace (unison)  

You have told us what is good, O God. Your hopes for us are clear. And yet we live as though it is unclear what you would have us do. We live as though were not the recipients of grace upon grace. We have withheld what is not our own. We have judged where it was not our place. We have shown our brokenness in what we have done and what we have failed to do. We seek your healing and your reconciliation and strength that we may follow in the way you would have us go. Give us your wholeness and guide us. We make this and all our prayers in the name of our brother and Lord, Jesus Christ. Amen.

* Words of Assurance  

Let our spirits be content, 

Let our mouths praise God with joyful lips: 

For the love of God is from everlasting to everlasting. 

The Lord is kind and merciful, slow to anger,  

and abounding in steadfast love. 

We will bless the Lord as long as we live. 

We will rest in the knowledge that God loves us,  

claims us, and never leaves us. 

Thanks be to God! Amen. 

Sharing of the Peace 

May the peace of God be with you. 

And also with you. 

Let us offer one another a sign of peace. 

Scripture Reading Micah 6:6-8

“With what shall I come before the Lord
    and bow myself before God on high?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,
    with calves a year old?
Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,
    with ten thousands of rivers of oil?
Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,
    the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?”
He has told you, O mortal, what is good,
    and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice and to love kindness
    and to walk humbly with your God?  

Time for Young Disciples Rev. Pat Raube 

Music: “Blessed Assurance” (Public Domain)

Scripture Reading Matthew 5:1-12 

When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain, and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. And he began to speak and taught them, saying:

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

“Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

“Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

“Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

“Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Response Holy Wisdom, Holy Word 

Thanks be to God! 

Sermon Rev. Pat Raube  

Affirmation of Faith From “A Brief Statement of Faith,” PCUSA  

In life and in death we belong to God. Through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit, we trust in the one triune God, the Holy One of Israel, whom alone we worship and serve. 

We trust in God the Holy Spirit, everywhere the giver and renewer of life. The Spirit justifies us by grace through faith, sets us free to accept ourselves and to love God and neighbor, and binds us together with all believers in the one body of Christ, the Church. The same Spirit who inspired the prophets and apostles rules our faith and life in Christ through Scripture, engages us through the Word proclaimed, claims us in the waters of baptism, feeds us with the bread of life and the cup of salvation, and calls women and men to all ministries of the Church. In a broken and fearful world the Spirit gives us courage to pray without ceasing, to witness among all peoples to Christ as Lord and Savior, to unmask idolatries in Church and culture, to hear the voices of peoples long silenced, and to work with others for justice, freedom, and peace.

Anthem 

“You Have Shown Us,” Graham Kendrick, et al.

Used by Permission. CCLI License #CSPL068847

You have shown us O God, what is good.

You have shown us O Lord, what you require.

You have heard all our songs.

How we love to worship you.

Yet, you’ve told us the offering you desire.

To do justly, and to love mercy,

And to walk humbly with you, God.

You said, to do justly, and to love mercy,

And to walk humbly with you, God.

You have shown us the riches of your love.

And you have shown us your heart for those in need.

Lord, you’re opening our ears to the cries of the poor.

You have called us to be your hands and feet.

To do justly, and to love mercy,

And to walk humbly with you, God.

You said, to do justly, and to love mercy,

And to walk humbly with you, God.

To the oppressed and the broken,

To the widow and the orphan,

Let the river of your justice flow through us.

To the oppressed and the broken,

To the widow and the orphan,

Let the river of your justice flow through us.

Let your river flow, let your river flow.

Let the river of your justice flow through us.

To do justly, and to love mercy,

And to walk humbly with you, God.

You said, to do justly, and to love mercy,

And to walk humbly with you, God.

To do justly, and to love mercy,

And to walk humbly with you, God.

Prayers of the People 

The Lord’s Prayer (Traditional Version) 

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.  

Prayer Response  #475 W & R      

“Eternal Spirit of the Living Christ,” Frank von Christierson   

Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE.       

Eternal Spirit of the living Christ,   
We know not how to ask or what to say;   
We only know our need, as deep as life,   
And only you can teach us how to pray.   

Call for Offering 

Doxology     

“Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow,” Brian Wren    

 Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE.      

Praise God from whom all blessings flow;   

Praise God, all creatures high and low.   

Praise God, in Jesus fully known:   

Creator, Word, and Spirit one.   

Prayer of Dedication 

* Hymn

”What Does the Lord Require of You?”  Jim Strathdee

Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE.      

What does the Lord require of you?

Justice, kindness, walk humbly with your God.

To seek justice and love kindness

And walk humbly with your God.

* Benediction From Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals,  

by Shane Claiborne, Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove, and Enuma Okoro 

May the peace of Christ go with you: wherever he will send you. 

May he guide you through the wilderness: protect you through the storm. 

May he bring you home rejoicing: at the wonders he has shown you. 

May he bring you home rejoicing: once again into our doors. 

Postlude Colin DeLap   

 “Come, Thou Fount!,” Bethany K. Smith.

Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE.      

Where an * is indicated, please rise in body and/or in spirit.      

“W & R” ~ the red Worship and Rejoice hymnal.     

“PH” ~ the blue Presbyterian Hymnal  

Portions of today’s liturgy were adapted from the Presbyterian Outlook’s weekly resource, Order of Worship, January 29, 2023. 