CCLI license #1913561
Lakeview Presbyterian Church
Service of the Word for June 19, 2022
Father’s Day
Welcome Grace and peace to you in the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ.
Questions for Reflection: What do you know about Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation? What about Juneteenth? Reflect on the speed of cross-country and international communications now, compared to 1863; pros? Cons?
Prelude
A Psalm of Preparation: from Psalm 42
As a deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul longs for you, O God.
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God
Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my help and my God.
By day the LORD commands his steadfast love,
and at night his song is with me, a prayer to the God of my life.
Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my help and my God.
Gathering Prayer
We come into your presence with thanks, Creator God, for all that fills our lives with joy: the love of family and friends, the comfort of our homes, the challenge of work, and the delight of leisure. Forgive us that too often we have taken all these for granted, failing to see them as your gifts. In this time of worship, stretch our understanding, that we may know our lives in the perspective of your sovereign authority. Teach us to live in the world with faithfulness to your intention for the world, and to be at home wherever your Spirit leads us, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
*Hymn “Great is Thy Faithfulness” G#39
Prayer for Understanding
God who has called us and opened our minds to the good news, open our hearts to your word proclaimed anew that we may show forth your righteousness in all the earth. Amen.
Readings from the Hebrew Scriptures: 1 Kings 19:1-15aNRS
Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword.Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, "So may the gods do to me, and more also, if I do not make your life like the life of one of them by this time tomorrow." Then he was afraid; he got up and fled for his life, and came to Beer-sheba, which belongs to Judah; he left his servant there. But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a solitary broom tree. He asked that he might die: "It is enough; now, O LORD, take away my life, for I am no better than my ancestors."Then he lay down under the broom tree and fell asleep. Suddenly an angel touched him and said to him, "Get up and eat." He looked, and there at his head was a cake baked on hot stones, and a jar of water. He ate and drank, and lay down again.The angel of the LORD came a second time, touched him, and said, "Get up and eat, otherwise the journey will be too much for you." He got up, and ate and drank; then he went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb the mount of God.At that place he came to a cave, and spent the night there. Then the word of the LORD came to him, saying, "What are you doing here, Elijah?"He answered, "I have been very zealous for the LORD, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away."He said, "Go out and stand on the mountain before the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by." Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake;and after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence.When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. Then there came a voice to him that said, "What are you doing here, Elijah?" He answered, "I have been very zealous for the LORD, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away."Then the LORD said to him, "Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus; when you arrive, you shall anoint Hazael as king over Aram.
Hymn: (please remain seated) “Dear Lord and father of Mankind” G#169
Reading from the Epistles Galatians 3:23-29NRS
Now before faith came, we were imprisoned and guarded under the law until faith would be revealed. Therefore the law was our disciplinarian until Christ came, so that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer subject to a disciplinarian, for in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith.As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to the promise.
Sermon “What are You Doing Here?” Rev. Russell Lehman
*Affirmation of Faith from A Brief Statement of Faith (pcusa, 1990), p 37, #3, G
Sharing of Joys and Concerns
Pastoral Prayer and a time of silent prayer…
Lord’s Prayer (This is the Ecumenical Version; feel free to use the words of your choice)
Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as in heaven
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.
Save us from the time of trial and deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours now and forever. Amen
A Statement about Offering our Gifts
As we remember those who have given of themselves to nurture us, let us give of our abundance to nurture others
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
Special Music
Prayer of Thanksgiving and Dedication
God
who first loved and called us, accept our offering for the good of the world as
we joyfully give thanks for our life in
you. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
*Hymn “For the Beauty of the Earth” G #14
Announcements
Charge and Blessing
Created by God, surrounded and upheld with grace and love, go out into the world to share the Good News of God’s love
Postlude