Category: Past News

Worship Service (at home)

June 28, 2020 (during the season of COVID-19 Virus Quarantine)

Faxon-Kenmar United Methodist Church, Williamsport, PA

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June 28, 2020 Order of Worship
Fourth Sunday After Pentecost

(Prepare for worship. Open your heart to the presence of God. Collect your bible so that you can read the scripture passage.)

PRELUDE “It is Well with My Soul” – Bliss/Hayes

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CALL TO WORSHIP
L: Discipleship is never easy.
P: People don’t understand when you say you want to serve the Lord.
L: They think you are peculiar, and they are fearful.
P: But the Lord is with us, giving us courage and strength.
L: There is much work that needs to be done, and we cannot be slowed down by those who don’t understand or are fearful of serving the Lord.
P: Come, Lord, inspire us with your power and presence. Be with us as we prepare to be your disciples. AMEN.

OPENING PRAYER
Gracious and loving God, come to us in our fears and frustrations. We feel unable to serve and often beaten down by life. Give us courage and strength and help us joyfully serve you by serving others. In Jesus’ Name, we pray. AMEN.

PRAYER OF CONFESSION
Lord, we are so beaten down by life. We see the shadows all around us and shrink away from your light in our fears. We turn our backs on others because we don’t believe that we have anything to offer. Our attitudes and our actions often reflect anger and hostility rather than compassion and hope. Please forgive us, Lord. Please heal and restore us to wholeness and hope. Give us courage to be your disciples. We ask this in Jesus’ Name.

WORDS OF ASSURANCE
Jesus does not say that discipleship is easy. He says that we are called to serve and that he will be with us. That is truly good news. Our service will be supported and encouraged by our Lord who has healed and restored us. Rejoice! For you have been called and made whole by the love of God. AMEN.

PASTORAL PRAYER
Patient Lord, how trying we must be to you sometimes. We whine about our inabilities and our lack of trust. Yet when we want something from you, we shout from the rooftops and demand your attention. You quietly call us into service, not offering the road of easy service and cheap discipleship, but rather sharing with us the needs of the world and proclaiming that you will be with us always. Our ministries of faithful service are based in the knowledge of your powerful, healing presence and mercy. Give us courage, Lord, to be your disciples. Let us be bold in our proclamation of your healing mercy in our attitudes and our actions. For it is in Jesus’ Name, that we pray. AMEN.

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 trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

SCRIPTURE Matthew 10:24-39 (Read this passage aloud)

MESSAGE “Shout Out or Shout Down”

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GIVING OF TITHES AND OFFERING (Please send your envelope to the church office at 1301 Clayton Avenue, Williamsport PA 17701

MEDITATION “Since Jesus Came into My Heart” – Gabriel/Bennett

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PRAYER
God, we ask for your blessing on all that we give to you. May it be used to heal people and bring people to you. Amen.

BENEDICTION
Go now in peace, in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.

POSTLUDE “The Upward Way”-Smith

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Rev Susan Halverstadt, Pastor
David Koskey, Director of Music

Faxon-Kenmar UMC is using CCLI Streaming License 3356248 Exp. 3.31.21.

Worship Service (at home)

June 14, 2020 (during the season of COVID-19 Virus Quarantine)

Faxon-Kenmar United Methodist Church, Williamsport, PA

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June 14, 2020 Order of Worship

Our June Worship theme is Marching Orders of a Disciple — Following the Call of Jesus
Questions can be asked: How do we do church in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic? Does our ministry look differently as we hear thousands across our country and world seek peace and justice in face of racist actions and practices? How can the Holy Spirit fill us with courage and conviction as we follow the call of Jesus? Does my voice make a difference in our big world? Our time of worship during June will offer us challenges and questions to help guide us in our path as we follow Jesus.

(Prepare for worship. We welcome you as you join our congregation in a time of praising God today, of hearing God’s Word, and reflecting on God’s call on our lives. Bring your bible to be able to follow along as scripture is read. Please contact our church office at 570-323-7272, to take an active part in our ministry or if you have a special need.)

PRELUDE “Fairest Lord Jesus” – Smith

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CALL TO WORSHIP
L: The Lord bore you on eagles’ wings to enter into a covenant with you. Now therefore, if you will obey the Lord and keep the covenant, you shall be the Lord’s own possession among all peoples.
P: We will obey the Lord’s voice and keep the covenant.
L: The Lord bore you on eagles’ wings to establish a colony of heaven on earth. Now therefore, if you will obey the Lord and keep the covenant, you shall be the Lord’s ambassadors to all peoples.
P: We will obey the Lord’s voice and keep the covenant.
A: All that the Lord has spoken we will do.

SPECIAL MUSIC “We Have Wandered Away from the Cross” – Schell (Performed by Scott Schell)

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PRAYER FOR ONE VOICE
O God of grace abounding and love unlimited, we thank you for your infinite mercy. It has been the source of our life and faith through all our days, and before that, through the days of our ancestors. When the whip of Pharaoh held Israel in bondage, you broke the yoke of the tyrant, and the prisoners escaped. When the exiles in Babylon trembled before their captors, you raised up a deliverer, and the refugees returned. And when their descendants believed their sin had doomed them to life without hope, you sent your Son, and the hopeless rejoiced. Not only did you redeem them from their sin, but you reconciled them in the midst of their sin. We thank you, dear Lord, that where sin abounds, grace much more abounds.

You call us to be a priestly people and a holy nation, but we, like lost sheep, go astray. We know that peace comes through openness to our neighbors, but we make little effort to crash the walls between us. We know that the soft answer turns away wrath, but we greet our enemies with hard words and even harder looks. We know that self-giving breeds self-givers, but we refuse others the grace with which you treat us. We criticize fellow believers for not patterning their lives after Jesus, yet we do not mirror his life. Forgive us, O God, for our betrayal of your call. Let us take our place at the foot of the mountain of revelation. Open our ears that we might hear your commandments and transform our hearts that we might keep your covenant. Let us now, as when we first believed, exclaim, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient.”

As we think of your other sheep who have gone astray, we think of ourselves as your instruments for bringing them home. If they tarry for a sympathizing tear, let us shed it without shame. If they wait for a soothing word, let us speak it without hesitation. If they desire a cup of water, let us offer it without delay. If they hunger for a decent meal, let us provide it without suspicion. Remembering that you are not impressed by gracious words unaccompanied by generous deeds, make us the instruments of your grace in speech and in action.

We are your people, O God; grant us the wisdom to affirm your claim upon us. We await your revealing word; grant us the sensitivity to hear your demands in clear and compelling language. We long to do your will on earth as in heaven, our Heavenly Father; grant us the courage to fail neither you nor your children.

SCRIPTURE Matthew 9:35-10:8 (Please use your Bible to read the passage.)

MESSAGE How to Proclaim God’s Word

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TITHES AND OFFERING (What is it you give? How do you decide? At this time commit to God your tithes/offering. Please send your envelope to the church office at 1301 Clayton Avenue, Williamsport PA 17701)

PRAYER Holy God, we give you thanks for life itself and the way you bless us in our life of faith. Bless now these gifts to you that they may make a difference in our world, touching lives-healing lives, and that each one may be transformed for you. Amen.

MEDITATION “Jesus Loves Even Me” – Bliss/Hayes

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BENEDICTION
The fields of peace and justice and love are not ripe unto harvest. They have been plowed and planted, but they have yet to be cultivated with care and diligence. Send us forth into those fields, O God, as laborers in your service. Let them be made ready for the harvest. Let us and our neighbors around the globe live in love and peace, with justice for all.

POSTLUDE “Recessional on To God Be the Glory” – Doane/Wagner

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Rev Susan Halverstadt, Pastor
David Koskey, Director of Music
Scott Schell, Special Music

Faxon-Kenmar UMC is using CCLI Streaming License 3356248 Exp. 3.31.21.