Jesus asks his friends a question. What are people saying about me? Who do they say I am? After he hears the responses he asks for his friends’ input. After they give it, he makes an odd request. Then he paints of picture of the future no one wants to hear.
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Who Do They Say I Am?
Wisdom of Solomon 7:26-8:1; Mark 8:27-38
Union Presbyterian Church
September 15, 2024
Sharing the Light of Christ, Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow
Liturgist: Doug Moore Preacher: Rev. Pat Raube
Welcome
Announcements Doug Moore
Prelude Chris Bartlette
“Jesus, Name Above All Names,” John F. Wilson
©1992, Integrity Music
Used by permission, CCLI License #CSPL068847
* Call to Worship
“Who do they say I am?” Jesus asks his disciples.
They have many answers in their hearts:
Friend. Rabbi. Brother.
The crowds have their own ideas:
Prophet. John the Baptist. Elijah himself!
But Peter knows:
Christ. Messiah. Anointed One.
Let us worship God!
* Hymn # 28 W & R
“For Beauty of Meadows,” Walter H. Farquharson
©1971, Hope Publishing Company, All rights reserved.
Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE.
License #A-728112. All rights reserved.
For beauty of meadows, for grandeur of trees,
For flowers of woodlands, for creatures of seas,
For all you created and gave us to share,
We praise you, Creator, extolling your care.
As stewards of beauty received at your hand,
As creatures who hear your most urgent command,
We turn from our wasteful destruction of life,
Confessing our failures, confessing our strife.
Teach us once again to be gardeners in peace;
All nature around us is ours but on lease;
Your name we would hallow in all that we do,
Fulfilling our calling, creating with you.
* Call to New Life
Our great God came to be among us in Jesus Christ. God knows. God knows what it is to be human. We can trust God with the inner workings of our hearts. Let us open our hearts to God for healing and hope.
* Prayer for Wholeness and Peace
Almighty God, you know us, heart and soul, mind and strength—every inch of who we are. You know our struggles and our situations, our frustrations and our failings. You know that we have not loved you with our whole heart and soul, mind and strength. You know that we have not loved one another as you have loved us. And yet you do love us, for your heart is deeper than the ocean, vaster than the heavens. Heal us, we pray. Forgive our waywardness. Help us to abide in you, so that all we do reflects your love and grace. We pray in the name of Jesus—our friend, brother, and messiah. Amen.
* Words of Assurance
The Lord is kind and merciful.
God overflows with steadfast love.
By the love and mercy of God, we are forgiven and made whole!
Thank be to God! Amen!
* Sharing of the Peace
Our world is so badly in need of peace.
It begins with God, who is longing to share it with us.
May the peace of God be with you.
And also with you.
Let us offer one another a sign of God’s peace.
Scripture Wisdom of Solomon 7:26-8:1 (NRSVUE)
A responsive reading from the Wisdom of Solomon, beginning at chapter 7, verse 26.
For [Wisdom] is a reflection of eternal light,
a spotless mirror of the working of God,
and an image of his goodness.
Although she is but one, she can do all things,
and while remaining in herself, she renews all things;
in every generation she passes into holy souls
and makes them friends of God and prophets,
for God loves nothing so much
as the person who lives with Wisdom.
She is more beautiful than the sun
and excels every constellation of the stars.
Compared with the light she is found to be more radiant,
for it is succeeded by the night,
but against wisdom evil does not prevail.
She reaches mightily from one end of the earth to the other,
and she orders all things well.
Time for Young Disciples Rev. Pat Raube
Music: “God is One, Unique and Holy,” Peter Cutts
©1983, Hope Publishing Company, All rights reserved.
Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE.
License #A-728112. All rights reserved.
Anthem Choir
“Make Me an Instrument of Thy Peace,” Mary McDonald
©1989, Lorenz Publishing Company, All rights reserved.
Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE.
License #A-728112. All rights reserved.
Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love,
Where there is injury, pardon.
Where there is doubt, faith.
Wherever there’s despair, hope.
Where there’s darkness, light.
Where there is sadness, joy.
Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace.
O Lord, grant that I may not so much seek
To be consoled as to console,
To be understood as to understand;
To be loved as to love.
Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace.
For it is in giving that we receive.
For it is by faith that we believe.
For in forgiving, we are forgiven.
It is in dying that we are born to eternal life!
Make me an instrument of Thy peace.
Scripture Mark 8:27-38 (NRSVUE)
A reading from the Gospel according to Mark, beginning at chapter 8, verse 27.
Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi, and on the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” And they answered him, “John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.” He asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Messiah.” And he sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about him.
Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes and be killed and after three days rise again. He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”
He called the crowd with his disciples and said to them, “If any wish to come after me, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”
Response Holy Wisdom, Holy Word:
Thanks be to God!
Sermon “Who Do They Say I Am?”
* Statement of Faith from the Confession of Belhar, South Africa
We believe that this unity of the people of God must be manifested and be active in a variety of ways: in that we together come to know the height and the breadth and the depth of the love of Christ; in that we together are built up to the stature of Christ, to the new humanity; in that we together know and bear one another’s burdens, thereby fulfilling the law of Christ; in that we need one another and upbuild one another, admonishing and comforting one another; in that we suffer with one another for the sake of righteousness; pray together; together serve God in this world; and together fight against all which may threaten or hinder this unity.
* Hymn #124 W & R
“Open Your Hearts”
(Public Domain)
Open your hearts, all you who hear this,
Open your hearts to know God's love,
Open your hearts to hear his message:
Jesus makes us one.
Praise the Lord for he has loved us, alleluia,
And his love is come to free us. Alleluia!
We have come to greet the Savior,
We have come to worship him,
We have come to sing God's praises;
Worthy is his name.
Praise the Lord for he has loved us, alleluia,
And his love is come to free us. Alleluia!
Jesus is here, we bow before him,
Jesus is here within this place.
Jesus is here among his people,
Children of his grace.
Praise the Lord for he has loved us, alleluia,
And his love is come to free us. Alleluia!
Prayers of the People
who taught us to pray together saying,
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 #489 W & R
“Lord, Listen to Your Children Praying” Ken Medema
©1973, Hope Publishing Company, All rights reserved.
Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE.
License #A-728112. All rights reserved.
Lord, listen to your children praying,
Lord, send your Spirit in this place;
Lord, listen to your children praying,
Send us love, send us power, send us grace.
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 # 717 W & R
“Go Now in Peace,” Brian Wren
©1993, Hope Publishing Company, All rights reserved.
Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE.
License #A-728112. All rights reserved.
Go now in peace; though friends must part,
Your presence lives in every heart.
Your gifts to us no words can tell:
Go now in peace, in Christ go well.
Go now in hope, and hopeful stay,
Though shadowed valleys hide your way;
Through good and evil, joy and pain,
With God, in Spirit, you remain.
Go now in faith, through time and chance,
Until we join the wedding dance
As partners of the Three-in-One,
Where all is ended and begun.
* Benediction
May God bless us. May God keep us in the Spirit’s care,
and lead our lives with love.
May Christ’s warm welcome shine from our hearts,
and Christ’s own peace prevail through this and every day,
till greater life shall call. Amen.
Postlude Chris Bartlette
“Partita on ‘Blessed Name’,” Ralph E. Hudson
©2015, Lorenz Publishing Company, 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
Liturgy taken and/ or adapted from