Loving God,
you call us to turn away from our own selfish interests,
to take up our cross, and to follow you.
To find our lives,
may we live them in service of your mission.
As we come before you this morning, give us open hearts and open hands. Make us eager to hear your voice and seek your guidance.
Open our minds to your ever-present spirit
that is always moving within and around us
Open our spirits to your nudging and open our lives to your love.
God of love and life, let our souls rise to meet you, as the day rises to meet the sun.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.
Before the Throne of God Above
Call to Confession We are connecting to a God who is always present. In his infinite holiness, he is also infinite in love. We do not need to hide our brokenness or pain from him for he loves us as we are. Say these words with me:
You call us to be your voices in this world and we stay silent.
You call us to be your hands in this world and we keep them hidden.
You call us to be your feet in this world and we go our own way.
When we meet those who are doubting and say nothing, forgive us.
When we meet those who need your touch and do nothing, forgive us.
When we are called to take up your cross and carry nothing, forgive us.
Breathe life into these bones
bring freedom to these lives
that we might declare
with heart and soul and voice
that you are our Lord and our God. Amen.
Assurance of Pardon Friends, God loves us as we are but he does not leave us as we are.
For nothing is impossible with God.
There is no place you can go,
no end of the earth you can run,
where God cannot find you.
There is nothing on earth or beyond death
that can separate you from the love of God
in Christ Jesus our Lord.
You are forgiven.
You are loved.
You are reconciled to God.
Go and live with the love of God.
Friends, may the Lord be with you. And also with you. Amen.
Living the Way of Jesus As we live the way of Jesus in the world, our lives are shaped by the grace, peace, and love we have received from him. Hear these words from Jesus in Matthew 6.
Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life…33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.
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. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
Sermon Text: Ecclesiastes 3:1-11 Sermon Title: Eternity In Our Hearts
A Time for Everything
3 There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens:
2 a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot, 3 a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build, 4 a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance, 5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing, 6 a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away, 7 a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak, 8 a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.
9 What do workers gain from their toil? 10 I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race. 11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet[a] no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. 12