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November 7

CCLI license #1913561

Lakeview Presbyterian Church
Service of the Word for November 7, 2021
Season of Gratitude, Stewardship, Thanksgiving

Welcome: Greetings in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ!
Questions for Reflection: The song lyric goes, ‘Count your blessings, name them one by one.’  How might your life be changed if you started out each day with this simple exercise?

Prelude:  “O What Shall I Render?”   TPH #557 sung by Keisha Prime

Call to Worship

It is good to give thanks to the Lord,
   to sing praises to God's name.
God visits the earth and waters it;
   God enriches it greatly and provides the people with grain.
Bless our God, O peoples, let the sound of His praise be heard,
   We will give thanks to the Lord with our whole heart!
The earth has yielded its increase;
   God, our God, has blessed us.
May God continue to bless us;
   let all the ends of the earth revere him.

Opening Hymn  God of the Sparrow”                      TPH #272

Call to Confession (Pastor/People)

In spite of our best intentions to live faithfully, we fall short of what God intends for us. Because God has promised to be merciful, we dare to tell the truth about ourselves.   Let us confess our sin before God and one another.

Prayer Of Confession
We come before you, Lord God, in humility, acknowledging that we take the gifts you have bestowed upon us for granted.  We fool ourselves into thinking that ‘we have earned them,’ ‘we deserve them,’ that they are simply ours to do with as we wish. We forget that all that we have, all that we are, comes from you, our Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer.  Confront us with our responsibilities and fill us with the conviction which compels us to do your will. We ask in the name of Jesus, our Lord. Amen

Declaration of Forgiveness
When we follow where God will lead us, we are given the possibility of living lives of gratitude. The steadfast love of God meets us with grace and restores us into right relationship with God and with others.

Thanks be to God!  Staying in place, turn to your neighbors and give signs of God’s love and peace.

Prayer for Illumination
God of peace, bind us together around your Word and send us out to do your justice, show your mercy, and embody your redeeming love, glorifying you in all we say and do. Amen.

Reading from the Gospels           Mark 4:1-9, 24-32NRS

Again he began to teach beside the sea. Such a very large crowd gathered around him that he got into a boat on the sea and sat there, while the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land. He began to teach them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them: "Listen! A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and it sprang up quickly, since it had no depth of soil. And when the sun rose, it was scorched; and since it had no root, it withered away. Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. Other seed fell into good soil and brought forth grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirty and sixty and a hundredfold." And he said, "Let anyone with ears to hear listen!"  And he said to them, "Pay attention to what you hear; the measure you give will be the measure you get, and still more will be given you. For to those who have, more will be given; and from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away." He also said, "The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground, and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how. The earth produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head.But when the grain is ripe, at once he goes in with his sickle, because the harvest has come." He also said, "With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for it? It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade."

Hymn (please remain seated) “All People that on Earth Do Dwell” TPH #220

Sermon:    “Grateful Living”     The Rev. Lois Lehman

Sermon by The Rev. Lois Lehman

Litany of Faith     from The Constitution of the PCUSA*
The Church is the body of Christ.
Christ gives to the Church all the gifts necessary to be his body. The Church strives to demonstrate these gifts in its life as a community in the world**:
The Church is to be a community of faith,
entrusting itself to God alone, even at the risk of losing its life.
The Church is to be a community of hope,
rejoicing in the sure and certain knowledge that, in Christ, God is making a new creation. This new creation is a new beginning for human life and for all things.
The Church lives in the present on the strength of that promised new creation.
The Church is to be a community of love, where sin is forgiven, reconciliation is accomplished, and the dividing walls of hostility are torn down.
The Church is to be a community of witness,
pointing beyond itself through word and work to the good news of God’s transforming grace in Christ Jesus its Lord.

Sharing of Joys and Concerns

Statement about Offering our Gifts 
Christian life is an offering of one’s self to God.  As those who have been claimed and set free by the grace of God, we respond with gratitude, offering Christ our lives, our spiritual gifts and our material goods.

      Donations can be mailed to Lakeview Presbyterian Church at 1310 22 nd Av S,  St Petersburg, FL, 33705 or given online through our website  lakeviewpresbyterianchurch.org

Special Music  “Here I Am to Worship” Redman sung by Keisha Prime

Prayer of Thanksgiving and Dedication
Holy God, we thank you for your sustaining love and grace. We present offerings to praise you and to help in the service of the church. Accept them as outward signs of our joyful discipleship in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Amen.

THE SACRAMENT OF HOLY COMMUNION

The Invitation

This is the joyful feast of the people of God. People will come from north and south, from east and west to share in this feast in the kingdom of God.  This is the table of the Lord, who invites us, and welcomes us, to share in this feast which he has prepared.

Come, when you are fearful, to be made new in love.
Come, when you are doubtful, to be made strong in faith.
Come, when you are regretful, and be made whole.
Come, old and young, there is room for all.

*Communion Hymn                    “I Come with Joy”                           TPC #507

The Words of Institution

On the night before he died, Jesus came to the table with those he loved. He took bread, and gave thanks to God.  He broke the bread among his disciples and said: ‘Take this, all of you, and eat it.  This is my body, given for you.’ When the supper was ended, he took a cup of wine and gave thanks to God.  He passed the cup among his disciples and said, ‘Take this, all of you, and drink from it. This is the cup of the new covenant sealed in my blood for the forgiveness of sin. Do this in remembrance of me.’ 
Now, whenever we eat and drink at this table, we celebrate Christ’s death and resurrection until he comes again.

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.
Holy God, you alone are holy, you alone are God. With joy we praise you and give you thanks. You brought light from darkness and drew land from the sea. You made us in your image to live with one another in love.  You promised yourself in covenant with us, you told us your purpose in your law, and called for justice through the prophets. Through long generations you have been faithful to your people.
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!
In the fullness of time, you sent your Son, Jesus Christ, to preach good news to the afflicted, to break bread with the outcast and despised, and to ransom those in bondage to prejudice and sin. Remembering his love for us we proclaim the mystery of faith.

Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again.

Pour out your Holy Spirit on us and on these gifts of bread and wine. Reveal yourself to us in the breaking of the bread. Raise us up as the body of Christ for the world. Breathe new life into us. Send us forth, burning with justice, peace and love. With all your holy ones of all times and places, we praise you, O God, blessed and holy Trinity, now and forever. Amen. 

Prayer after Communion

Holy God, we thank you for this feast of grace and life. Send us out to answer the summons of our Lord Jesus Christ to a new life, and to follow him with joy and gladness.  Set our feet in his holy way, that our lives may be signs of his life and all we do may show forth his love.  AMEN

The Lord’s Prayer (sung)

CHARGE
Be open to the Holy Spirit’s leading and grow as a member of Christ’s body. Love with God’s love, be at peace within yourself, make peace with others, prepare for the coming kingdom. Worship God and God alone, Holy Three, Holy One, forever and always.

BLESSING 
May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you, now and always.  Amen

Postlude                        “Count Your Blessings”          AAHH #533