Hello Union Church Presbyterians,
Worship this Sunday, October 23 will be in-person and streamed on YouTube to view at home. We will share prayers, songs, and reflections.
YouTube broadcast will begin at 10:25 AM, https://www.youtube.com/user/NewburghPresby
ORDER OF WORSHIP
October 23, 2022 10:30 AM
TENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST
FLOWERS today are given to the glory of God and in loving memory of “my Guy” who passed away October 24, 2010, from Alana Gervais.
USHERS today are Sue Sloat and Theresa Cotanche. If you would like to usher in November or December, contact Dan Olson.
FELLOWSHIP HOSTS today are Alana, Sue Sloat, and Jane Miller. Thank you to everyone who signed up to host.
CHRISTIAN ED: NEXT SUNDAY, October 30, children are welcome to wear their costumes and will enjoy decorating harvest festival cookies.
HOLIDAY PIES! $15 for your choice of apple, pumpkin, blueberry, lemon, Black Forest cake, or cheesecake. To place an order, complete the form in the Narthex and return it to the office with payment. Orders are due Fri, Nov 11. Pickup is Wed, Nov 23.
OUTREACH meeting TODAY after service, in the parlor. We are planning the 2023 Photo Directory of our church family with individual pictures taken during fellowship time after services, starting Sun, Nov 20.
LOAVES & FISHES THANKSGIVING: Last year, over 650 food baskets and turkeys were distributed, providing Thanksgiving for more than 2800 people in the community. We, as a church family, are blessed in so many ways and can help those less fortunate. Please sign-up in the Narthex and take a bag and/or food list. Tip: Walmart and Aldi's have the best prices. Bags are due Sun, Nov 13 so the Deacons can bring them to the distribution site.
SAVE THE DATES:
Sun, Nov 13: Interfaith Thanksgiving Service at 4 pm at Calvary Church. Join us for music from the combined choirs and bell choir, and a look at their newly refurbished building. Refreshments available afterwards.
Sun, Dec 11: Holiday Luncheon after worship, sponsored by the Board of Deacons. Afterwards join us for a special musical program by Jonathan Hall of Goshen Presbyterian church, concluding with a Carol Sing.
FOOD PANTRY: NEXT OPEN Monday, Oct 24 and Wednesday, Oct 26 from 9:30-11:30 AM. Serving LOTS of people! If you would like to help, contact Kathy or Debby.
ORDER OF WORSHIP
If you have individual prayer requests, please write them on prayer cards in the pews and bring them up or give them to an usher during the prelude.
**Kindly stand if you are able
PRELUDE “Fairest lord Jesus” arr. Flor Peeters
WELCOME and ANNOUNCEMENTS
PRAYER OF PREPARATION
The world is and always will be in a constant state of flux, challenging our faith and belief in you on a daily basis. This may be frustrating and difficult at times, but whatever the outcome, there remains one thing and that is to know that wherever the future leads us, the Lord will help guide us down that path. Amen.
CALL TO WORSHIP (Adapted from Psalm 9:1-2, 9-10) Libby Szymanowicz
Leader: I will give thanks to the LORD with my whole heart; I will recount all of your wonderful deeds.
ALL: I will be glad and exult in you; I will sing praise to your name, O Most High.
Leader: The LORD is a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble.
ALL: And those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O LORD, have not forsaken those who seek you.
**OPENING HYMN “Trust and Obey” Red #523
MESSAGE FOR CHILDREN OF ALL AGES Brittany Hannon
CALL TO CONFESSION Libby Szymanowicz
Today, let us ask forgiveness for all the people throughout the world. We find that although we may be from different regions on this earth, we all still share the same shortcomings. Together let us now say the prayer of confession together.
PRAYER OF CONFESSION Libby Szymanowicz
Lord, we ask your forgiveness for the way we have taken for granted the environment( the air, water, flora ,fauna, and land) that you have given us and we have enjoyed over the years. We ask your forgiveness on how people judge one another because of their different ethnic, political, and religious backgrounds. We ask your forgiveness for all who live within the same country and are so intolerant toward one another instead of working together for the common good of each other. We ask for your guidance in showing us the way to approach these differences that is acceptable in your eyes. Let us embrace these differences, for we are all one family in the eyes of God.
(Let us now take a moment for our silent confessions)
ASSURANCE OF FORGIVENESS
As stated in John1 verse 9. When we confess our sins, we have the assurance that God promises to forgive us. In the name of Jesus Christ, we are forgiven.
**GLORIA PATRI Traditional, Red #805
**HYMN OF PRAISE “Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus” Red #520
PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION
Lord, as we listen to the scriptures read during the sermon, let us be mindful of their message and contemplate about which path applies to our daily lives. Amen.
SCRIPTURE READINGS Jim Alber, Elder
OLD TESTAMENT Genesis 28: 10-22
which talks of Jacobs dream at Bethel, in which he will Trust God but with conditions.
NEW TESTAMENT Mark 1: 16-20
the message is Follow (obey) me, (unconditionally) and I will make you fish for people.
SERMON Trust and Obey Jim Alber, Elder
PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE & THE LORD’S PRAYER
And Lord we pray for those in our own hearts whose names you already know, for their own healing and comfort, in your name and that of our redeemer Jesus Christ, who taught to pray, saying:
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.
OUR TITHES AND OFFERINGS
Let our offerings today be a reflection of how we can help meet the needs of our facility and those within and outside our congregation .
OFFERTORY “Be Thou My Vision” arr. Dale Wood
**DOXOLOGY Traditional, Red #808
PRAYER OF THANKS
Bless these gifts and guide us to use them wisely. In your name, Amen.
**HYMN OF PARTING “Be Thou My Vision” Red #532
BENEDICTION (from Romans 15:5)
May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
POSTLUDE “Voluntary in B flat” Johnathan Battishill
SERMON TEXT
Trust and Obey
How many times have we sung the hymn, “Trust and Obey” and the chorus, “ Trust and Obey for there is no other way . To be happy in Jesus, but to Trust and Obey?”
These words are what the Bible in many verses is trying to teach us. But how many of us are able or willing to follow that songs message?
Let me ask you, has God made a difference in your life?
Where there things that happened in your life that made you grow to trust and follow the Lord or did some things actually retract your trust and willingness to obey? If you are like me my willingness to trust and obey in Jesus has been somewhat like a yoyo. Over my life I have gone through many ups and downs so to speak and wondered where he was at times? I think many of us can relate to that and in todays society it seems that we are even more skeptical about what we hear and question what to believe and who we can trust and follow !
During your lifetime did a person, circumstance, experience, or epiphany occur that you felt Jesus had a hand in? How did the Israelites feel when Moses parted the Red Sea ? I bet you if anyone of us witnessed something like that we would have a much different view about whether we should trust and obey !
I would like to share a personal experience about trust and how it truly changed my life. I was in the process of trying to land a job after I graduated from my fourth and final college. For various reasons that I won’t go into, I was on the 5 year plan, and for many of us, we didn’t have a job lined up in our field of study after graduation and we just kept getting return letters saying, “We thank you for your interest in applying to our company, but at this time there are no jobs available and we will keep your application on file!” Now of course today, you probably get a text or email saying we will keep you in our database and we all know what that means! So, for some reason I went back to one of my science professors, Gus Tillman from Dutchess Community College. I told him my story and that I couldn’t get my foot in the door with any place I applied to. Well, he gave me a phone number, a fellow to contact, and the name of a small company in Nyack, N.Y. that was just getting into the biological studies of the Hudson River. Long story short, I went for the interview and the manager without caring much about my resume or grades said,” If Gus Tillman recommended you, “your hired !” I was in awe when I heard that!
This manager put unconditional trust in another person! Can you put unconditional trust in God or are we more like Jacob in this passage from Genesis 28 verses 10-22, in which we put conditions on our trust in the Lord? Hear now this reading.
10 Meanwhile, Jacob left Beersheba and traveled toward Haran. 11 At sundown he arrived at a good place to set up camp and stopped there for the night. Jacob found a stone to rest his head against and lay down to sleep. 12 As he slept, he dreamed of a stairway that reached from the earth up to heaven. And he saw the angels of God going up and down the stairway.
13 At the top of the stairway stood the Lord, and he said, “I am the Lord, the God of your grandfather Abraham, and the God of your father, Isaac. The ground you are lying on belongs to you. I am giving it to you and your descendants. 14 Your descendants will be as numerous as the dust of the earth! They will spread out in all directions—to the west and the east, to the north and the south. And all the families of the earth will be blessed through you and your descendants. 15 What’s more, I am with you, and I will protect you wherever you go. One day I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have finished giving you everything I have promised you.”
16 Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I wasn’t even aware of it!” 17 But he was also afraid and said, “What an awesome place this is! It is none other than the house of God, the very gateway to heaven!”
18 The next morning Jacob got up very early. He took the stone he had rested his head against, and he set it upright as a memorial pillar. Then he poured olive oil over it. 19 He named that place Bethel (which means “house of God”), although it was previously called Luz.
20 Then Jacob made this vow: “If God will indeed be with me and protect me on this journey, and if he will provide me with food and clothing, 21 and if I return safely to my father’s home, then the Lord will certainly be my God. 22 And this memorial pillar I have set up will become a place for worshiping God, and I will present to God a tenth of everything he gives me.”(within this reading you also now see where churches got the idea of tithing one tenth of your earnings )
Jacob's response to God's declaration in the dream is indicative of the "mini-faith" he had at this time and how probably many of us tend to be like today.
Do you find yourself asking God’s help with conditions, let me give you a few examples?
God if you get us through this financial difficulty just this one time , I promise to be more trusting of you and follow your ways or God if you help heal my friend or person in my family, I will come to church more often, give more generously, and become more involved in helping others. How many times have you said to your spouse or a friend, “just trust me”. Trust in someone or something can relieve a lot of anxiety, and put your minds at rest. Trusting in the Lord can do the same thing.
When it comes to following or obeying , it is just as difficult to follow someone blindly., but Simon, Andrew, James and John left their business to follow Jesus. This was told in Mark 1 verses 16-20!
Hear now this reading:
One day as Jesus was walking along the shore of the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon(Peter) and his brother Andrew throwing a net into the water, for they fished for a living. Jesus called out to them, "Come, follow me, and I will show you how to fish for people!" And they left their nets at once and followed him. A little farther up the shore Jesus saw Zebedee's sons, James and John, in a boat repairing their nets. He called them at once, and they also followed him, leaving their father, Zebedee, in the boat with the hired men.
Obedience in simple terms is to comply to an order, request, or law from that someone. In todays society their seems to be a lot of doubting and skepticism on who and what to follow ! If we can’t find that trust amongst ourselves , why would we be willing to obey or follow Jesus?
To do this ,in my opinion I feel we need to transfer the trust in ourselves and amongst each other and place it into the hands of the Lord.
Two passages come to mind:
Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.
Deuteronomy 12:28
Observe and obey all these words which I command you, that it may go well with you and your children after you forever, when you do what is good and right in the sight of the Lord your God.
So I ask you:
As in the Old Testament reading; Will you Trust and Obey like Jacob ,where Trust and Obey comes with conditions?
OR
Will you be as stated in the New Testament reading, more like Simon ,Andrew, James , and John. In this commentary entitled “Follow Me” by John Gilbert , he talks about the New testament in Mark that we listened to today. In these verses Jesus is asking these four disciples to give up a very lucrative business, (which was being a fisherman) back in those days to Trust and Obey in him instead! Listen to his commentary entitled Follow Me.
“FOLLOW ME”
The invitation Jesus put forth to those fishermen at the Sea of Galilee is exactly the same invitation he extends to us today. The invitation is brief, direct, precise: “Follow Me.”
“Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.” The invitation is not to follow Christ and rest on our laurels or to follow him into a life of ease. The invitation is to follow him and do the work that he does, to participate fully in his ministry. It is to follow him not knowing where he is going or what he is going to do or when — or if ! — we will return. It is to follow him in obedience and faith.
“Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.” Did Peter and Andrew, James and John, hear that last word the way we hear it? (Or do we hear it?) That last word is “people’. It is not “people just like us.” It is not “nice people” or “people who will repay you.” “It is not even “people who will listen to you or appreciate you” “Jesus word says that if we choose to follow him, we will bring into the boat with us, we will be willing to share our lives with all kinds and sorts and natures of people; for all people are the children of God and therefore, all people are our sisters and brothers in Christ.
“Follow me,” but to do so , you must take up the cross. “The invitation that Jesus extends to us is not an invitation to the proverbial rose garden or the primrose path. It is an invitation to self-sacrificial service, to voluntarily and of our own desire to serve with him and, if need be, to suffer with him.
“Follow me,” is the invitation Jesus makes to us as he did to those fishermen. Will we in trust and in obedience respond? — John P. Gilbert
So, when we leave today, think about which path you will follow, and the chorus line , “Trust and obey for there is no other way. To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey!” Amen
Blessings!
Jim Alber, Elder
Union Church
44 Balmville Rd, Newburgh NY 12550
Phone: (845) 562-0954 Fax: (845) 562-0955
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