Early in Jacob’s journey, he finds himself on the run, fearing the wrath of his brother Esau. (Jacob had tricked Easau out of a blessing from their father, Isaac.) Weary, Jacob takes rest, his head on a stone, and is given an unforgettable dream.
This morning we welcome Rev. Dr. Cheryl Ann Elfond to the UPC pulpit! Cheryl Ann served the Susquehanna Presbytery as our Executive Presbyter, and subsequently has served many churches of many denominations in an interim capacity, as well as providing Spiritual Direction and coaching.
Join us for worship in our beautiful (air conditioned!) sanctuary, or right here online. Worship videos are available here or on Youtube following the service. You are invited!
August 20, 2023
Union Presbyterian Church
Sharing the Light of Christ, Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow
Liturgist: Cathie Makowka Preacher: Rev. Dr. Cheryl Ann Elfond
Welcome
Announcements Cathie Makowka
Prelude Chris Bartlette
“Holy Ground,” Mark Hayes
©1983, Meadowgreen Music Company
Used by permission, CCLI License #CSPL068847
Call to Worship (responsive) Cathie Makowka
O Lord, you have searched us and known us.
Before we move or think or speak, you know our actions and words.
You breathed life into us, and shaped us in human form to serve your purpose and sing your praise.
We praise you for the gifts of substance and spirit, of acceptance and expectancy, of lineage and legacy.
How wonderful are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the expanse of your grace and love!
Praise the Lord!
The Lord’s name be praised!
Hymn #642 W & R
“Earth and All Stars,” Herbert F. Brokering, David N. Johnson
©1968, Augsburg Fortress, All rights reserved.
Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE.
License #A-728112. All rights reserved.
Earth and all stars, loud rushing planets
Sing to the Lord a new song!
Hail, wind, and rain, loud blowing snowstorm
Sing to the Lord a new song!
God has done marvelous things.
We will sing praises with a new song!
Trumpet and pipes, loud clashing cymbals
Sing to the Lord a new song!
Harp, lute and lyre, loud humming cellos
Sing to the Lord a new song!
God has done marvelous things.
We will sing praises with a new song!
Steel and machines, loud pounding hammers
Sing to the Lord a new song!
Limestone and beams, loud building workers
Sing to the Lord a new song!
God has done marvelous things.
We will sing praises with a new song!
Classrooms and labs, loud boiling test tubes
Sing to the Lord a new song!
Athlete and band, loud cheering people
Sing to the Lord a new song!
God has done marvelous things.
We will sing praises with a new song!
Knowledge and truth, loud sounding wisdom
Sing to the Lord a new song!
Daughter and son, loud praying members
Sing to the Lord a new song!
God has done marvelous things.
We will sing praises with a new song!
Call to New Life
God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the gift of the Holy Spirit.
The proof of God’s awesome love is this:
While we were sinners Christ died for us.
Because we have faith in him, we dare to approach God in confidence.
Prayer for Wholeness and Peace
O Lord,
You have searched me and known me.
You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from far away.
You see me when I walk or lie down,
you know every detail of my conduct.
Even before a word is on my tongue,
O Lord, You know it completely.
So examine me, and know my heart, O God;
test me and know my thoughts.
See if there is any wicked way in me,
and lead me in the way that leads to eternal life.
Words of Assurance
Hear the good news! The God who created us in love, loves us with an everlasting love. Nothing we do can separate us from that love. As high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is God’s love for us; as far as the east is from the west, so far has God removed our transgressions from us. Believe the good news! In Jesus Christ, we are loved and forgiven.
Sharing of the Peace
O God, teach us to be still, and to know that you are God.
Teach us to be still, and to rest in your presence.
May the peace of God be with you.
And also with you.
Let us share a sign of God’s peace with one another.
A responsive reading of Psalm 139, selected verses.
O Lord, you have searched me out;
O Lord, you have known me.
You know my sitting down and my rising up;
you discern my thoughts from afar.
You trace my journeys and my resting places,
and are acquainted with all my ways.
Indeed, there is not a word on my lips,
But you, O Lord, know it altogether.
You encompass me, behind and before,
and lay your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is so high that I cannot attain to it.
For you yourself created my inward parts;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I will thank you, because I am marvelously made.
Your works are wonderful are your works, and I know it well.
My body was not hidden from you,
while I was being made in secret,
and woven in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes beheld my limbs, yet unfinished in the womb;
all of them were written in your book;
my days were fashioned before they came to be.
How deep I find your thoughts, O God!
How great is the sum of them!
If I were to count them, they would be more in number than the sand;
I come to the end—I am still with you.
Time for Young Disciples
Music: “There’s a Spirit in the Air,” Brian Wren, John W. Wilson
©1995, Hope Publishing Company, All rights reserved.
Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE.
License #A-728112. All rights reserved.
Scripture Genesis 28:10-19a
Jacob left Beer-sheba and went toward Haran. He came to a certain place and stayed there for the night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place. And he dreamed that there was a stairway set up on the earth, the top of it reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. And the Lord stood beside him and said, “I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring, and your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and all the families of the earth shall be blessed in you and in your offspring. Know that I am with you and will keep you wherever you go and will bring you back to this land, for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” Then Jacob woke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place—and I did not know it!” And he was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.”
So Jacob rose early in the morning, and he took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up for a pillar and poured oil on the top of it. He called that place Bethel.
Response Holy Wisdom, Holy Word:
Thanks be to God!
Sermon “Awestruck” Rev. Dr. Cheryl Ann Elfond
STATEMENT OF FAITH FROM A BRIEF STATEMENT OF FAITH, PC(USA)
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, whom Jesus called Abba, Father. In sovereign love God created the world good and makes everyone equally in God’s image, male and female, of every race and people, to live as one community. But we rebel against God; we hide from our Creator. Ignoring God’s commandments, we violate the image of God in others and ourselves, accept lies as truth, exploit neighbor and nature, and threaten death to the planet entrusted to our care. We deserve God’s condemnation. Yet God acts with justice and mercy to redeem creation. In everlasting love, the God of Abraham and Sarah chose a covenant people to bless all families of the earth. Hearing their cry, God delivered the children of Israel from the house of bondage. Loving us still, God makes us heirs with Christ of the covenant. Like a mother who will not forsake her nursing child, like a father who runs to welcome the prodigal home, God is faithful still.
With believers in every time and place, we rejoice that nothing in life or in death can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Anthem
“On Holy Ground,” Donna Peña
©2000, GIA Publications, All rights reserved.
Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE.
License #A-728112. All rights reserved.
The heavens embrace the earth,
Then they sing of the new birth.
The earth echoes and resounds
That we are on holy ground.
Do you believe in freedom? Yes, we do Lord!
Do you believe in justice? Justice for all!
¿Y en la nueva vida? ¡En su espíritu!
(And in new life? In His Spirit!)
¿Quien es su liberación? ¡Tú, Señor!
(Who is your salvation? You are, Lord!)
¡Arriba! ¡Proclamen! ¡Santa Tierra!
We are on holy ground!
Let heaven and earth sing praise
To the one who from death was raised.
Let hearts utter words profound
In proclaiming this holy ground.
Do you believe in freedom? Yes, we do Lord!
Do you believe in justice? Justice for all!
¿Y en la nueva vida? ¡En su espíritu!
(And in new life? In His Spirit!)
¿Quien es su liberación? ¡Tú, Señor!
(Who is your salvation? You are, Lord!)
¡Arriba! ¡Proclamen! ¡Santa Tierra!
We are on holy ground!
Bless earth, water, fire, and wind.
Bless your people without, within.
Let beauty and birth surround
In reclaiming this holy ground.
Do you believe in freedom? Yes, we do Lord!
Do you believe in justice? Justice for all!
¿Y en la nueva vida? ¡En su espíritu!
(And in new life? In His Spirit!)
¿Quien es su liberación? ¡Tú, Señor!
(Who is your salvation? You are, Lord!)
¡Arriba! ¡Proclamen! ¡Santa Tierra!
We are on holy ground!
United we join the light.
We are born of the same right.
We’ve come to release what’s bound,
For we are on holy ground.
Do you believe in freedom? Yes, we do Lord!
Do you believe in justice? Justice for all!
¿Y en la nueva vida? ¡En su espíritu!
(And in new life? In His Spirit!)
¿Quien es su liberación? ¡Tú, Señor!
(Who is your salvation? You are, Lord!)
¡Arriba! ¡Proclamen! ¡Santa Tierra!
We are on holy ground!
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 #553 W & R
“Go to the World!” Sylvia G. Dunstan
©1991, GIA Publications, All rights reserved.
Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE.
License #A-728112. All rights reserved.
Go to the world! Go into all the earth.
Go preach the cross where Christ renews life's worth,
Baptizing as the sign of our rebirth.
Alleluia! Alleluia!
Go to the world! Go into ev'ry place.
Go live the Word of God's redeeming grace.
Go seek God's presence in each time and space.
Alleluia! Alleluia!
Go to the world! Go struggle, bless and pray.
The nights of tears give way to joyous day.
As servant Church, you follow Christ's own way.
Alleluia! Alleluia!
Go to the world! Go as the ones I send,
For I am with you till the age shall end,
When all the hosts of glory cry “Amen!”
Alleluia! Alleluia!
Benediction
Postlude Chris Bartlette
“Praise Him! Praise Him!” Lee Dengler
©2012, Hal Leonard Corporation, All rights reserved.
Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE.
License #A-728112. All rights reserved.
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