ORDER OF WORSHIP - JUNE 8TH, 2025

Union Church
Jun 4
4 min read

ORDER OF WORSHIP

JUNE 8TH, 2025 10:30 AM

DAY OF PENTECOST

**Kindly stand if you are able

PRELUDE Mary Lee Farris, Organ

WELCOME AND ANNOUNCEMENTS

CALL TO WORSHIP (Adapted from Psalm 104)

Leader: O LORD, how manifold are your works! In wisdom you have made them all; the earth is full of your creatures.

PEOPLE: When you send forth your spirit, they are created; and you renew the face of the ground.

Leader: May the glory of the LORD endure forever; may the LORD rejoice in his works--

PEOPLE: who looks on the earth and it trembles, who touches the mountains and they smoke.

Leader: I will sing to the LORD as long as I live; I will sing praise to my God while I have being.

PEOPLE: May my meditation be pleasing to him, for I rejoice in the LORD.

ALL: Bless the LORD, O my soul. Praise the LORD!

INVOCATION

God of power and might, who inspired a rag-tag group of apostles on that very first Day of Pentecost, fill us with your Spirit today; so that like them, we too may depart from this room refreshed and rekindled for our own journeys of faith and hope. This we pray in Jesus’ name Amen.

**OPENING HYMN “Spirit of the Living God” Red # 297

CALL TO CONFESSION

We aren’t mere followers of Christ; we are called to be apostles of his message of mission and grace. Let us pray together.

PRAYER FOR UNDERSTANDING

God of comfort, we confess to you our tendency to feel alone and helpless, as though we’ve been forsaken. Forgive us, O God, and touch us with your Spirit that we receive not only a sense of direction, but also strength for the journey along the mission path of the faith where Christ calls to us. In his holy name we pray. Amen.

(a moment for silent personal confession)

ASSURANCE OF FORGIVENESS

The Prophets point us, the Gospels inspire us, and the epistles assure us of our continued forgiveness through the infinite love of our gracious God. Amen.

**GLORIA PATRI (Avery & Marsh, back cover of the Red Hymnal)

**HYMN OF PRAISE “Holy Spirit, Light Divine” Red # 302

**PASSING OF THE PEACE

**AFFIRMATION OF FAITH - (adapted by John Redman)

I Believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord, who was born of a young peasant woman, trained as a carpenter, and baptized by His cousin John. He taught many, He healed many, and He angered many. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried. He defeated death and He offers us grace and love in the name of God the Father Almighty; from that time through all time to come. I believe in the power of the Holy Spirit; the universal Church of Christ; the Communion of sharing our gifts with others; the forgiveness of our sins; the Grace of God’s love, and that each soul may have life everlasting. Amen.

PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION

Holy God, Word made flesh, let us come to this word open to being surprised. Silence our agendas; banish our assumptions; cast out our casual detachment. Confound our expectations; clear the cobwebs from our ears; penetrate the corners of our hearts with this word. We know that you can, we pray that you will, and we wait with great anticipation. Amen.

SCRIPTURE READINGS

OLD TESTAMENT READING Genesis 11: 1-9 Paul & Debby Hill

NEW TESTAMENT READING Acts 2:1-21

GOSPEL READING John 14:8-17, 25-27

SERMON MESSAGE “The Father Who Dwells in Me” John Redman, CRE

PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE AND THE CHURCH

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 us all consider what we have been blessed with and how we can best share it with those in greater need, even as we gift our church for its greater work to the Glory of God and the undying love of Jesus. Amen.

OFFERTORY “Where the Spirit of the Lord Is”

**DOXOLOGY Avery & Marsh (Back of the Red hymnal)

** PRAYER OF THANKS

We thank you, our Lord for those gifts to us that we send to you for your work and ours in congregation, community, and culture. Guide us in good use as we ask in Jesus’ name. Amen

HYMN OF PARTING “God Be in My Head” Red #837

BENEDICTION From the Rev. Gini Norris-Lane, Pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Uvalde, Texas on the night of May 25, 2022:

No matter where you go this night or who you are with,

know that you are not alone.

No matter whether you have the words to pray or you struggle to find them,

know that you are heard.

And know beyond the shadow of a doubt that you are held in God’s

love and wrapped in God’s care and given God’s grace for the

moment ahead

— and for every single moment beyond. Amen.

POSTLUDE “Fire of God, Undying Flame” Mary Lee Farris, Piano