CCLI license #1913561
Lakeview Presbyterian Church
Service of Word and Sacrament July 3, 2022
Welcome Grace and peace to you in the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ.
What does ‘freedom’ mean to you? Freedom from? or Freedom for?
Prelude
Gathering
God, who rules the universe, calls us;
Christ, who took up his cross, calls us;
Holy Spirit, who frees us body and soul, calls us.
Let us faithfully answer by worshiping the triune God
Gathering Prayer
Holy and gracious God, you call us to ventures that cannot be foretold, to paths we do not know. Be our guide, through your word, and feed us with your assurance that your way is truly the path of love, joy, and peace. Amen
*Hymn “God of the Ages, Whose Almighty Hand” Glory to God #331
God of the Ages, whose almighty hand
leads forth in beauty all the starry band
of shining worlds in splendor through the skies:
our grateful songs before thy throne arise.
Thy love divine hath led us in the past;
In this free land by Thee our lot is cast;
Be thou our ruler, guardian, guide, and stay;
Thy word our law, thy paths our chosen way.
From war’s alarms, from deadly pestilence
be thy strong arm our ever sure defense.
Thy true religion in our hearts increase;
Thy bounteous goodness nourish us in peace.
Refresh thy people on their toilsome way;
Lead us from night to never ending day;
Fill all our lives with love and grace divine
and glory, laud, and praise be ever thine
Call to Confession
We are meant to live in harmony with God and God’s creation, but instead we live as broken people, in a world of broken promises and
dreams. When we sincerely acknowledge that we are less than perfect people, we
open ourselves up to God’s forgiveness, bringing healing and new life. Let us, therefore, confess our sin before God
and one another, using hymn #345 in the Glory to God hymnal.
Hymn of Confession “In an Age of Twisted Values” Glory to God #345
(Lyrics by Martin Leutebusch,1995)
In an age of twisted values, we have lost the truth we need.
In sophisticated language, we have justified our greed.
By our struggle for possessions, we have robbed the poor and weak.
Hear our cry and heal our nation; your forgiveness, Lord, we seek.
We have built discrimination on our prejudice and fear.
Hatred swiftly turns to cruelty, if we hold resentments dear.
For communities divided by the walls of class and race,
hear our cry and heal our nation; show us, Lord, your love and grace.
When our families are broken, when our homes are full of strife,
when our children are bewildered, when they lose their way in life,
when we fail to give the aged all the care we know they need,
hear our cry and heal our nation; help us show more love, we plead.
We who hear your word so often choose so rarely to obey.
Turn us from our willful blindness; give us truth to light our way.
In the power of your Spirit come to cleanse us, make us new;
hear our cry and heal our nation till our nation honors you.
Assurance of Pardon
The God of Grace is constantly renewing and restoring those who seek him; in Jesus Christ we are reconciled to God and to one another.
Prayer for Understanding
Holy God, grant us wisdom today as we listen to your Word, read and proclaimed, and guide us to understand how it applies to our lives in this day and time. Amen
A Reading from the Hebrew Scriptures Deuteronomy 8:1-11 NRS
This entire commandment that I command you today you must diligently observe, so that you may live and increase, and go in and occupy the land that the LORD promised on oath to your ancestors.Remember the long way that the LORD your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, in order to humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commandments.He humbled you by letting you hunger, then by feeding you with manna, with which neither you nor your ancestors were acquainted, in order to make you understand that one does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.The clothes on your back did not wear out and your feet did not swell these forty years.Know then in your heart that as a parent disciplines a child so the LORD your God disciplines you.Therefore keep the commandments of the LORD your God, by walking in his ways and by fearing him.For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land, a land with flowing streams, with springs and underground waters welling up in valleys and hills, a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey,a land where you may eat bread without scarcity, where you will lack nothing, a land whose stones are iron and from whose hills you may mine copper.You shall eat your fill and bless the LORD your God for the good land that he has given you.Take care that you do not forget the LORD your God, by failing to keep his commandments, his ordinances, and his statutes, which I am commanding you today.
Hymn: “This is My Song” Glory to God # 340
*To the melody of Finlandia *Lyrics by Lloyd Stone
This is my song, O God of all the nations,
A song of peace for lands afar and mine.
This is my home, the country where my heart is;
Here are my hopes, my dreams, my holy shrine;
But other hearts in other lands are beating
With hopes and dreams as true and high as mine.
My country's skies are bluer than the ocean,
And sunlight beams on cloverleaf and pine.
But other lands have sunlight too and clover,
And skies are everywhere as blue as mine.
So hear my song, O God of all the nations
A song of peace for their land and for mine.
This is my prayer, O Lord of all earth’s kingdoms:
Thy kingdom come, on earth thy will be done
Let Christ be lifted up till all shall serve him,
And hearts united learn to live as one:
Myself I give thee; let thy will be done.
A Reading from the Epistles Galatians 5:1, 13-15 NRS
For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love become slaves to one another.For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."If, however, you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another.Live by the Spirit, I say, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh.For what the flesh desires is opposed to the Spirit, and what the Spirit desires is opposed to the flesh; for these are opposed to each other, to prevent you from doing what you want.But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not subject to the law.Now the works of the flesh are obvious: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions,envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these. I am warning you, as I warned you before: those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness,gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit.
Sermon “For Freedom Christ Has Set us Free” Rev. Lois R Lehman
*Affirmation of Faith from A Brief Statement of Faith (pcusa, 1983)
We trust in God the Holy Spirit everywhere the giver and renewer of life. The Spirit justifies us by grace through faith, sets us free to accept ourselves and to love God and neighbor, and binds us together with all believers in the one body of Christ, the Church.
In a broken and fearful world the Spirit gives us courage to pray without ceasing, to witness among all peoples to Christ as Lord and Savior, to unmask idolatries in Church and culture, to hear the voices of peoples long silenced, and to work with others for justice, freedom, and peace.
In gratitude to God, empowered by the Spirit, we strive to serve Christ in our daily tasks and to live holy and joyful lives, even as we watch for God’s new heaven and new earth, praying, “Come, Lord Jesus!”
With believers in every time and place, we rejoice that nothing in life or in death can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. Amen
Sharing of Joys and Concerns
Invitation to the Offering God has given us healing, word, forgiveness. God has given us so much! Let us now take the time to respond in gratitude, by giving of what has been given to us.
Donations can be placed in the offering plate near the baptismal font or mailed to Lakeview Presbyterian Church at 1310 22nd Av S, St Petersburg, FL, 33705 or given online through our website @lakeviewpresbyterianchurch.org
Offertory
Special Music
Prayer of Dedication
Gracious God, you give us your creation for our home and fill it with the necessities of life.
You give us yourself as Jesus, our teacher, friend, and savior whose life, death, resurrection, and ascension show us daily your love for your people. You give us your Holy Spirit, who fills our hearts with prayer and by whose light we hear your word. Bless these gifts which we offer with gratitude. All glory and honor is yours, now and forever. Amen.
Sacrament of Hoy Communion
The Invitation
The Words of Institution
The Great Thanksgiving
The Lord be with you. And also with you.
Lift up your hearts. We lift them to the Lord.
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God. It is right to give our thanks and praise.
The Prayer of Thanksgiving
Almighty and Eternal God, it is truly right and our greatest joy to give you thanks and praise…
Therefore we praise you, joining our voices with the faithful of every time and place who forever sing to the glory of your name.
Holy, holy, holy Lord, the Lord God Almighty, who was and is, and is to come.
Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever!
Remembering all your mighty and merciful acts we take this bread and cup from the gifts you have given us…According to Christ’s commandment: We remember his death, we proclaim his resurrection,
we await his coming in glory.
Gracious God, pour out your Holy Spirit on us…As our Savior Christ has taught us, we are bold to pray,
The Lord’s Prayer (sung)
The Distribution of the Elements
The Prayer after Communion
Holy God, we thank you for this feast of grace and life. As we have been served, help us to serve our neighbors. As we have been fed, help us to feed all who are hungry. As we have been loved, help us to love the world – because in Christ Jesus you have loved us.
Announcements
*Closing Hymn “O Beautiful for Spacious Skies” Glory to God # 338
Katherine Lee Bates (1893) Samuel A Ward (1882)
O beautiful for spacious skies, For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties Above the fruited plain!
America! America! God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood From sea to shining sea!
O beautiful for heroes proved In liberating strife,
Who more than self their country loved
And mercy more than life!
America! America! May God thy gold refine
Till all success be nobleness, And every gain divine!
O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years,
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America! God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood From sea to shining sea!
Charge and Benediction
May the spark of God ignite you, May the love of Christ renew you May the Holy Spirit fill you, on this day and the days to come. Amen
Postlude