This morning we welcome guest preacher the Rev. Jeff Kellam to our pulpit! Jeff will be preaching on a passage that offers hope to those who are grieving, reminding us of the resurrection and our participation in it as followers of Jesus.
Join us for worship in our beautiful sanctuary, or right here online. Worship videos are available here or on Youtube following the service. You are invited!
About Those Who Have Died
Matthew 25:1-13; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
Union Presbyterian Church
November 12, 2023
Sharing the Light of Christ, Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow
Liturgist: Kevin Kelley Preacher: Rev. Jeff Kellam
Welcome
Announcements Kevin Kelley
Prelude Colin DeLap
“I Will Rise,” Chris Tomlin.
© 2008, Worshiptogether.com Songs.
Used by permission, CCLI license #CSPL068847
* Call to Worship (responsive) Kevin Kelley
God is like the gentle shepherd,
Leading us beyond our wants,
Leading us beyond our fears,
Leading us to a place of rest,
Where we sing the music of God's love
And feel new strength to walk through the valleys and shadows of life.
* Hymn #24 W & R
“God, You Spin the Whirling Planets,” Jane Parker Huber
©1978, Westminster John Knox Press, All rights reserved.
Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE.
License #A-728112. All rights reserved.
God, you spin the whirling planets,
Fill the seas and spread the plain,
Mold the mountains, fashion blossoms,
Call forth sunshine, wind, and rain.
We, created in your image,
Would a true reflection be
Of your justice, grace, and mercy,
And the truth that makes us free.
You have called us to be faithful
In our life and ministry.
We respond in grateful worship,
Joined in one community.
When we blur your gracious image,
Focus us and make us whole,
Healed and strengthened as your people,
We move onward toward your goal.
God, your will is still creating,
Calling us to life made new,
Now reveal to us fresh vistas
Where there’s work to dare and do.
Keep us clear of all distortion,
Fashion us with loving care,
Thus, new creatures in your image,
We’ll proclaim Christ everywhere.
* Call to New Life Kevin Kelley
We place this time of discomforting openness early in our worship, so that we can celebrate our new life as people with burdens lifted and hearts lightened. Accepting God’s power to make us new persons in Christ, let us confess our sin before God and one another.
Prayer for Wholeness and Peace
Generous God, like the cautious servant, we have hoarded what we possess and failed to venture into your abundance. You have given us minds to think and create, and we have settled for mindless tasks and dreary work. You have given us skills and abilities, and we have harnessed them to projects that wreck the environment, cripple the poor and stockpile destruction. You have given us compassion and concern, yet we wriggle out of ethical questions when profits rise.
Trusting God, forgive our misuse and under-use of your gifts. Restore our place in your family that we may hear again, “Well done, faithful servant, enter into my joy.” In the name of Christ Jesus, our Redeemer. Amen.
Words of Assurance
Take comfort in the assurance that even those things that are hidden from memory, or are too deep for our words, are not beyond God’s forgiving love. God, who knows us completely, bestows pardon and peace.
Sharing of the Peace
May the peace of God be with you.
And also with you.
Let us share God’s peace with one another
offering words as well as gestures of grace.
Scripture Matthew 25:1-13
The 25th chapter of Matthew’s Gospel contains three major parables Jesus told his followers. This is the first one, about bridesmaids, lamps, and the oil supply.
“Then the kingdom of heaven will be like this. Ten young women took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. When the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. As the bridegroom was delayed, all of them became drowsy and slept. But at midnight there was a shout, ‘Look! Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’ Then all those young women got up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ But the wise replied, ‘No! there will not be enough for you and for us; you had better go to the dealers and buy some for yourselves.’ And while they went to buy it, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went with him into the wedding banquet, and the door was shut. Later the other young women came also, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open to us.’ But he replied, ‘Truly I tell you, I do not know you.’ Keep awake, therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.
Time for Young Disciples Rev. Jeff Kellam
Music: “In The Garden” (W&R 300)
Anthem Choir
“Steal Away,” Lloyd Larson
©2009, Hope Publishing Company, All rights reserved.
Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE.
License #A-728112. All rights reserved.
(2x:)
Steal away, steal away,
Steal away to Jesus!
Steal away, steal away home,
I ain’t got long to stay here.
My Lord, he calls me,
He calls me by the thunder;
The trumpet sounds within my soul;
I ain’t got long to stay here.
Steal away, steal away,
Steal away to Jesus!
Steal away, steal away home,
I ain’t got long to stay here.
My Lord, he calls me,
He calls me by the lightning;
The trumpet sounds within my soul;
I ain’t got long to stay here.
Steal away, steal away,
Steal away to Jesus!
Steal away, steal away home,
I ain’t got long to stay here.
Steal away, steal away home,
I ain’t got long to stay here.
Scripture 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
A reading from the first letter of Paul to the church at Thessalonica, beginning at chapter 4, verse 13.
But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about those who have died, so that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have died. For this we declare to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will by no means precede those who have died. For the Lord himself, with a cry of command, with the archangel’s call and with the sound of God’s trumpet, will descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up in the clouds together with them to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage one another with these words.
Response Holy Wisdom, Holy Word:
Thanks be to God!
Sermon “About Those Who Have Died” Rev. Jeff Kellam
* Hymn [to the tune of #575 W & R]
“Listen, Sisters! Listen, Brothers!” Carolyn Winfrey Gillette
©2006, Carolyn Winfrey Gillette, All rights reserved.
Used with permission.
Listen, sisters! Listen, brothers
To the news that we proclaim;
Spread the word and tell your neighbors:
We have life in Jesus' name.
All because God loves us dearly,
Jesus died for all our sin.
On the third day, God showed clearly:
Love has conquered, death can't win.
What could be our proclamation
If our Lord had not been raised,
For without his resurrection,
What could give hope to our days?
But in fact, our Christ is living —
First to live, of those who've died;
For as all are lost through Adam,
So in Christ, we're made alive.
What is sown will surely perish;
What is raised will still endure.
What is sown, is sown in weakness;
What is raised will die no more.
Flesh and blood cannot inherit
That great kingdom God will bring.
God will change us — never fear it!
Death, defeated, has no sting.
* Affirmation of Faith (Excerpt, “A Declaration of Faith”)
In the death of Jesus Christ
God’s way in the world seemed finally defeated.
But death was no match for God.
The resurrection of Jesus was God’s victory over death.
Death often seems to prove that life is not worth living,
that our best efforts and deepest affections go for nothing.
We do not yet see the end of death.
But Christ has been raised from the dead,
transformed and yet the same person.
In his resurrection is the promise of ours.
We are convinced the life God wills for each of us
is stronger than the death that destroys us.
The glory of that life exceeds our imagination
but we know we shall be with Christ.
So we treat death as a broken power.
Its ultimate defeat is certain.
In the face of death we grieve.
Yet in hope we celebrate life.
No life ends so tragically
that its meaning and value are destroyed.
Nothing, not even death, can separate us
from the love of God in Jesus Christ our Lord.
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.
Prayer Response #475 W & R
“Eternal Spirit of the Living Christ,” Frank von Christierson
©1974, Hope Publishing Company, All rights reserved.
Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE.
License #A-728112. All rights reserved.
Come with the vision and the strength I need
To serve my God, and all humanity;
Fulfillment of my life in love outpoured—
My life in you, O Christ, your love in me.
Call for Offering
* Doxology
“Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow,” Brian Wren
©1989, Hope Publishing Company, All rights reserved.
Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE.
License #A-728112. All rights reserved.
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 #312 W & R
“Christ is Alive!” Brian Wren
©1995, Hope Publishing Company, All rights reserved.
Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE.
License #A-728112. All rights reserved.
Christ is alive! Let Christians sing.
The cross stands empty to the sky.
Let streets and homes with praises ring.
Love, drowned in death, shall never die.
Christ is alive! No longer bound
To distant years in Palestine,
But saving, healing, here and now,
And touching every place and time.
In every insult, rift, and war,
Where color, scorn, or wealth divide,
Christ suffers still, yet loves the more,
And lives, where even hope has died.
Women and men, in age and youth,
Can feel the Spirit, hear the call,
And find the way, the life, the truth,
Revealed in Jesus, freed for all.
Christ is alive and comes to bring
Good news to this and every age;
Till earth and sky and ocean ring
With joy, with justice, love, and praise.
Benediction
Postlude Colin DeLap
“Thine Is the Glory” (W&R 310)
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