Denomination Sunday
VISUAL ARTS (PARAMENTS, GENERAL DECORATIONS, SPECIFIC DECORATIONS)
Brim: Creative Overflow in Worship Design
Banner Designs for the Church Year
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CALL TO WORSHIP
—Psalm 71:1-6
Leader: Two hundred and three years ago, the Cumberland Presbyterian Church was born out of the prayers of our forebears.
People: Be to us a rock of refuge, a strong fortress, to save us, for you are our rock and our fortress.
Leader: Since the birth of this, your Church, O God, we have looked to you to light our way.
People: For you, O Lord are our hope, our trust, O Lord, from our youth.
Leader: We are your people, O God, ready to share your Good News with all.
People: Our praise is continually of you. Meet us in this place, so we may worship you all of our days.
—Elinor Swindle Brown
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—based on Psalm 112
Leader: Praise the Lord!
Happy are the Cumberland Presbyterians who fear the Lord,
who greatly delight in God’s commandments.
People: We know we are rich;
we strive to be gracious, merciful, and righteous.
Leader: God reminds us to conduct our affairs with justice,
for then our hearts will be steady and we will not be afraid.
People: The teachings and beliefs of our spiritual ancestors
are still making a mighty impact in our churches.
We remember them with great reverence!
—Dwayne Tyus
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—based on Psalm 29
Leader: Come let us sing for joy to the Lord. Let us shout praises to the rock who saves us.
People: Let’s come with thanksgiving and sing praises, because God is great.
Leader: Come let’s worship and bow down.
People: Let’s kneel before God who made us, whose people we are.
—Andy McClung
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One: For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son,
Many: that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.
One: God so loved the world that God reconciles the world without condemnation,
Many: we are loved, we are not condemned, we will not perish,
we will be with God forever.
One: We come in faith to worship together as a church called to claim our heritage. A legacy of ministry that was birthed by passion for telling the gospel message and nurtured by the Spirit who continues to lead and guide us.
Many: Our faith brings us together in faithfulness to worship.
We gather together in many congregations to listen to the scriptures
and to study together seeking to discern God’s will.
One: We are Cumberland Presbyterians―a diverse community of faith that celebrates our common confession of faith in Jesus Christ. We are Cumberland Presbyterians who continue to participate in the creation of a new Heaven and a new Earth.
Many: We are Cumberland Presbyterians:
a people who have followed God to frontiers of need,
frontiers on the edge of new adventure and frontiers of new vision.
One: Cumberland Presbyterians are missionary people, spreading the good news that God calls men and women, young and old, rich and poor to ministries of mercy and justice.
Many: We remember and celebrate our heritage giving thanks for the courage
and perseverance of our mothers and fathers.
They listened to God’s voice and said yes to a new direction.
We want to listen again and say yes today.
We want to spread the good news on the frontier
that is always just outside our doors.
All: For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.
—Lisa Hall Anderson
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Leader: God so loves the world!
People: We come from the world as a people called to worship.
Leader: God welcomes us, no matter who we are,
People: As we praise our loving God!
—Mary Kathryn Kirkpatrick
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INVOCATION
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MUSIC (HYMNS, SONGS, ANTHEMS)
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CALL TO CONFESSION
God calls us always to share faith, hope, and love, but as sinners we often put our own needs first. In mercy, God asks that we confess our sins, turn from them and receive God’s forgiveness. As the people of God, let us confess our sins.
—Elinor Swindle Brown
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God, through the prophet Isaiah, tells us what God expects of us: to loose the bonds of injustice, to let the oppressed free, to cover the naked and more. God asks us the same questions that Isaiah asks: Will we see? Will we humble ourselves? Let us pray.
—Dwayne Tyus
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Through the work of the Holy Spirit, God calls us to humbly admit our sinfulness and honestly confess our sins. Let us respond to this call so that we may seek and receive God’s forgiveness.
—Andy McClung
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God has been faithful in proving to us God’s desire to restore the relationship initiated at our creation. We feel unworthy and yet God comes to us to listen to our painful regret and need for forgiveness. Let us together, as a community of believers, offer up to God our prayers for the restoration of that relationship without which we are lost. Let us worship through our prayers of confession.
—Lisa Hall Anderson
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My friends, even as a people called to be Cumberland Presbyterians, we are not without sin. We often struggle with what God requires of us; there are many things that we cannot release, even for God. We are eager to offer God chains of platinum and gold, expensive things that have no personal meaning to us. Later, when we discover that God simply requires us to be just, kind and humble, we find that it is easier for us to give God the expensive material things.
—Mary Kathryn Kirkpatrick
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PRAYER OF CONFESSION
O God of our lives, we ask for your mercy today. On this day when we celebrate the birth of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, we are aware of our short comings, both as a community and as individuals. We know that many times we speak without love and our words are simply noise to your ears. We proclaim our faith in you and yet have denied our love of one another. We boast of what we give away, but hoard the best of ourselves, living lives of selfishness and greed. And most of all, we have not been patient and kind, but rather arrogant and rude, irritable and resentful. For all these transgressions, we humbly ask your forgiveness. Give us the love and passion of Ewing, McAdow, King and Woosley, to love you and love others so much that we would sacrifice ourselves to share your love, grace and mercy with those around us. Open our eyes and ears to the blessings you give, so we might live each day with grateful hearts. Amen.
—Elinor Swindle Brown
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—based on Isaiah 58
God, in Isaiah 58 you condemned Israel’s fasting because they were not truly worshipping you through it. It isn’t a big deal for us to fast or not, because Christ brought us salvation that doesn’t command us to do so. But God, you also asked the Israelites to do some things that are so relevant for us today. And we know we fall short. You expect us to right injustices, to free the oppressed, to share our bread with the hungry, to be kind to the homeless poor, to cover them when they are naked. These actions are what Jesus asked of his disciples. And these actions are what Jesus asks of us today. We Cumberland Presbyterians can point to many achievements of our denomination, but we also know that we can point to our failures to fulfill the basic teachings of Christ. Bless us. Forgive us where we fail you. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
—Dwayne Tyus
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God, you see how we live our lives. We adjust everything possible to meet our desires and preferences, and we try to do the same with our faith: we assume that what we think is what you think, and what we value is what you value; we pick and choose which Bible passages to believe; we interpret difficult scriptures according to what we already believe, rather than listening for your word in them; we condemn those different from us; we resist spiritual growth and abandon spiritual disciplines when they become uncomfortable; we convince ourselves that whatever we’re already giving you is enough. Forgive us, God of mercy. Strengthen our faith so that we may try less to make you fit what we believe, and try more to discern and follow your will for our lives and this world that you love. Amen.
—Andy McClung
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Gracious God,
we are often more willing to celebrate our past
than to acknowledge our current need for forgiveness.
We want to enjoy the fruits of our founders and past leaders without the reminders
that even that past has come with very real, very flawed realities.
So we come to you now acknowledging that without forgiveness as a church
we are useless to you.
Restore our relationships with you and with each other
that we have so carelessly neglected and rejected.
Heal the brokenness that we deny exists in our personal lives and in our communities of faith.
Bring us into a life that seeks to have empathy for each other
even as we remain passionate about our understanding of who you are.
Help us to listen and really hear each other.
Teach us that you are a God of all people
and that it is we who limit the message of your acceptance and love.
We are a church in need of tolerance.
We are a church in need of revival.
We are a church in need of forgiveness.
We cry out to our Redeemer who is Christ. Amen.
—Lisa Hall Anderson
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Holy God, we come together this day to admit that we have sinned. We find ourselves wanting to be right. We want to be in control. We forget all that you have done for us. Help us to be grateful. Help us to love justice and to be kind to each other, striving to listen for your guidance. We humbly ask your forgiveness through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Amen.
—Mary Kathryn Kirkpatrick
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ASSURANCE OF PARDON
Friends believe this. God has heard our confession, our cry for freedom from our wrongs and graciously forgives our sins. In Christ Jesus, our sins are forgiven, and we have been set free. Thanks be to God!
—Elinor Swindle Brown
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We are told to follow God’s commands. We are told that when we call, God will answer, when we cry for help, God will say “Here I Am.” Praise God that through the Son, Jesus Christ, we have been saved from all sin. We are forgiven and can believe the good news. Thanks be to God.
—Dwayne Tyus
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By the grace of God and through the work of Jesus Christ be assured of forgiveness and reconciliation, and be at peace.
—Andy McClung
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It is not because of anything that we have done or said that fulfills promises of our forgiveness. It is the grace and mercy of a loving God that we experience together in this moment. Our past is reclaimed and our present renewed. If our God forgives and restores our relationship with God then we are empowered through God’s graciousness to forgive each other, how could we do less in response to a gift so freely given? Thanks be to God we are forgiven in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
—Lisa Hall Anderson
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Here is good news! Although we will never be perfect, God works in ways that we do not always understand. As God’s love and grace enter our lives, we should grow in faith, hope, love, discernment, and other gifts of the Spirit. For God did not send Jesus Christ into the world to condemn us but to save us. Thanks be to God!
—Mary Kathryn Kirkpatrick
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CHILDREN’S SERMON
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PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION
O God, as the founders of our Church prayed to discern your path, we ask that you open our eyes and light our path so we may see your truth and understand your word for us today. Amen.
—Elinor Swindle Brown
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Open my ears, that I may hear voices of truth thou sendest clear, and while the wave notes fall on my ear, everything false will disappear. Silently now I wait for thee, ready, my God, your will to see; open my ears, illumine me, Spirit divine! Amen.
—Dwayne Tyus
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Your holy scriptures, O God, are the infallible rule of faith and practice, the authoritative guide for Christian living. By the power of your Spirit, speak to us now through your scriptures as we listen for your word to us.
—Andy McClung
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Shine your light upon the words of life to us in this moment. You have spoken through your servants in history and service. You have spoken through the ministry we have witnessed through two centuries as Cumberland Presbyterians. Focus us once again on the scriptures that give our history perspective and our future a calling. May the message we hear together open us to the prophetic proclamation of the holy. Let us respond with willing hearts and inspiration to live our lives as a reflection of your revelation. In the name of the Word made flesh. Amen.
—Lisa Hall Anderson
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God of us all, open our eyes and ears that we might better see and hear your word. Send your Spirit among us, that the word we receive will point us toward you. Be with your servant as he/she preaches your word in conviction and humility. Amen.
—Mary Kathryn Kirkpatrick
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SCRIPTURE TEXTS/SERMON IDEAS
- Jeremiah 1:4-10—Parallel the call of Jeremiah to the call of the Cumberland Presbyterian forebears
- Luke 4:21-30—Parallel the struggle of Jesus to be a prophet in his hometown with the struggle of the CPC forebears in the early days of the Church
- Isaiah 51:1-6—Parallel the early CPC on the frontier with today’s CPC being hewn from the rock of the pioneer spirit
—Elinor Swindle Brown
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- Psalm 112
- Isaiah 58
- 1 Corinthians 2
- Especially Matthew 5:13-20
—Dwayne Tyus
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- 1 Corinthians 13:1-13
- John 3:16-17 (John 3:16 is called “the gospel in miniature in our 1984 Confession of Faith. 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 is the epistle reading for January 31 in the Revised Common Lectionary. These two passages work well together.)
—Andy McClung
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- Deuteronomy 18:15-20
- Psalm 111
- 1 Corinthians 8:1-13
- Mark 1:21-28
—Lisa Hall Anderson
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- Micah 6:1-8
- Matthew 5:1-12
- John 3:16-17
—Mary Kathryn Kirkpatrick
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SOCIAL MEDIA HELPS (VIDEOS, TAPED SONGS)
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PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE
God of the Past, we praise your Holy Name for you have been the God of Abraham and Sarah, the God of Ewing and McAdow, the God of Woosley and King, the God of Pepper and Davis, the God of Gonzalez and Roa, the God of Quah and Stott, the God of all who have served before today in the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. We thank you for the example of all the saints who have gone before us and know, through them, your kingdom has come closer here on earth.
God of the Present, we know that you are still calling people into your service every day. We pray for our moderator, our Stated Clerk, our Director of Ministry, all the executives of our institutions, and staff who work in denominational roles, and the pastors, staff and laity whose ministries in local communities are sure signs of your ever-present grace.
God of the Future, we ask that you bless those who will come after us to work in your name. Bless those who are now being educated for ministry both professionally and as volunteers for the Church. Bless the young people and children of our churches that they may be nurtured by their congregations and families to be the future leaders of the church. Bless future ministries. Give us insight to see the paths to which you are calling us to and the courage to choose them when the time comes.
In our past, in our present, in our future, we know you are with us. Keep us in the sunlight of your love always. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
—Elinor Swindle Brown
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God, here we are, Cumberland Presbyterians celebrating another Denomination Day. On these yearly commemorations, we probably spend too much time looking back, and remembering. Perhaps we remember when our church was new and the congregation filled what are now empty spaces. Maybe we remember the pastor who meant so much to us personally, with his or her sermons, and participation in some of the great events in our lives: like a wedding, or a baptism. Or, perhaps we remember the great things that were done for God through the sainted persons who have worshipped where we now sit and give praise to you.
On this Denomination Day, steer our hearts and minds today. We know from the many sermons that we have heard here, that you are still working through us, still attempting to reach the unsaved, still insisting that we feed the hungry and clothe the naked, and, in general you are telling to be the church to those outside our walls, as well as to those who sit next to us on the pews. Help us to remember that, like our spiritual ancestors, we too are called to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world. Remind us that, like them, we, too, are called to go into the world with the strength of your Spirit, and with the truth of your word.
On this Denomination Day, God, tell us that what we know of you today is the same knowledge that our spiritual descendants will acknowledge in the future. More than that, we ask you to shape our Church’s future by helping it be faithful to you. Bless our efforts to be your people in all things we do. Amen.
—Dwayne Tyus
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Eternal God, you are wise, powerful, holy, just, good, true, and unchangeable; and we praise you. We also thank you, God, for the blessings you so freely pour over our lives, blessings we don’t deserve. (Enumerate here, or ask the congregation to voice, both general blessings to the world—sunshine and rain, the laughter of a child—and specific blessings within your congregation.)
We especially thank you for loving us enough to invite us to lay before you those persons and situations that weigh heavily upon our hearts. (Enumerate here, or ask the congregation to voice, both general concerns in the world—disease, violence, poverty, oppression, persecution—and specific concerns within your congregation.)
We also thank you, God, for calling us to be your church and equipping us to do ministry in this world. You created the church for mission, to reach out, to glorify you by all we do in Christ’s name. You have made us the Body of Christ in the world today. So, calling, equipping, sending God, for the sake of Jesus Christ, call us, equip us, and send us out to share the blessings, meet the needs, and address the concerns we have voiced before you today. Amen.
—Andy McClung
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One: Loving God, we come to you with hearts full of thanksgiving for the opportunity to experience your presence in the life of our denomination. You have been faithful to the Cumberland Presbyterian Church in all of the ways that we have needed you and for this,
Many: We offer you thanks and praise.
One: Inspiring God, long years ago Samuel King, Samuel McAdow and Finis Ewing and their families sought your will in their lives. Through them you spoke a new message for the people they preached to as they pushed the boundaries of their land. For these founders, their families and that message,
Many: We offer you thanks and praise.
One: Surprising God, you used that spirit of broadening boundaries to call our mother in ministry, Louisa Woosley to answer you and to preach. Her ministry was a beacon to all that God calls, women called to preach and challenging a system of inequality and for this,
Many: We offer you thanks and praise.
One: Creative God, through ordinary men and women, boys and girls you have faithfully shared your energy through this denomination. Out of a prayer meeting to find clarity in the midst of frustrations a new branch of your church was born that has uniquely lived out your call, no longer out of frustration but with a burning passion for sharing the good news. Because of this,
Many: We offer you thanks and praise.
One: We pray together as a church for pastors and congregations. For pastors who serve faithfully regardless of limited income. For congregations who struggle to survive but do not give up because of God’s call. For sacrifices that both pastors and congregations make to support ministry in small towns and urban areas,
Many: We thank you and lift them up to you.
One: We pray for church leaders, ministry teams and global ministry partners. Give wisdom where it is needed and guide those that you call to continue to lead the church into the future,
Many: We thank you and lift them up to you.
One: We pray for unity in the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. Help us to avoid divisions that restrict the work of building your kingdom. Help us to work toward understanding and reconciliation which is necessary to realize your realm among us.
Many: We offer our thanks and praise for a rich heritage of ministry
in difficult times and in times of ease.
We offer our thanks and praise for a present
that is filled with new life and new possibilities around the globe.
We offer our thanks and praise for the future that we now lift up to you God.
Fill us with your passionate Spirit as we seek to live the Christ life in our world.
All: Amen.
—Lisa Hall Anderson
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Creator God, just as you made us, you also offer us comfort and healing.
You do not cause our mistakes and our illnesses.
We know that you do not wish upon us lives of pain and suffering.
You desire for us to know you in a deep relationship.
You want us to show others who you are through our words and actions.
Be with the leaders in our world, our nation, and our community—
that they might seek your guidance.
Be with our family members and friends as they struggle with daily life.
Be with the caregivers as they struggle to provide peace and comfort in difficult situations.
Help us to be aware of the needs of others,
and give us the wisdom and strength to do your will in all situations.
We ask these things in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
—Mary Kathryn Kirkpatrick
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LITANY
Our denomination turns 206 years old on February 4. Cumberland Presbyterians come from a long line of God’s faithful servants. So, for Ulrich Zwingli and John Calvin, who were not content to accept religious teachings as truth simply because of who was doing the teaching,
We give thanks to God.
For John Knox, who founded Presbyterianism in Scotland,
We give thanks to God.
For Reynolds, Gillespie, Rutherford, and others who gathered in 1643 to formulate the Westminster Confession of Faith,
We give thanks to God.
For Francis Makemie, who answered the call to bring Presbyterianism to the colonies that would soon become the United States,
We give thanks to God.
For James McGready, whose Spirit-filled preaching gave birth to the Second Great Awakening in that young country,
We give thanks to God.
For the spiritually starving men and women who flocked to camp meetings to hear the gospel preached in a new way,
We give thanks to God.
For Ewing, King, and McAdoo, who were so passionate about spreading the gospel on the American frontier
that they took drastic steps, and accidentally began a new denomination,
We give thanks to God.
For Fussell, Hudgins, Padgett and the many others who refused to let the Cumber Presbyterian Church die in 1906,
We give thanks to God.
For Hail, Weir, and Gonzalez, who spread Cumberland Presbyterianism across the world; for Beard, Blake, and Reagin
whose lives and work dispel the falsehood that Cumberland Presbyterians are shallow thinkers opposed to education,
We give thanks to God.
For Louisa Woosley and Bessie Morris, for Nolin and Dallas-Bonham Presbyteries,
whose actions revealed that the gospel will not be bound by gender,
We give thanks to God.
For dedicated laypersons, elders, and ministers through the years who have sustained the resolve of our ancestors
and continually moved our church forward,
We give thanks to God.
For this congregation, its founders, its history, its people, its leaders, and its ministries to this community and this world,
We give thanks to God and pray for many more years of ministry.
For this opportunity to celebrate Cumberland Presbyterian heritage, to remember the work that has gone before,
and to look toward the future with hope,
We give thanks to God and pray that our resolve will be as strong and our efforts as effective as those we have remembered today.
—Andy McClung
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INVITATION TO THE OFFERING
As Cumberland Presbyterians, we believe that we are all called by God—all called to serve, all called to minister, all called to give. The Cumberland Presbyterian Church, both locally and globally, is able to fulfill the Great Commission in the world preaching the gospel, teaching and baptizing in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit only because we as individuals recognize our great opportunity to give. Let us give of ourselves through our tithes and offerings.
—Elinor Swindle Brown
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Paul reminds us in1 Corinthians 2:12 that we have received “the Spirit that is from God, so that we may understand the gifts bestowed on us by God.” In this Spirit, let continue to worship God by giving to God our tithes and offerings.
—Dwayne Tyus
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Everything belongs to God. God is generous, blessing us richly and entrusting much to our care and use. Let us now return to God a portion of those gifts, bearing in mind that our Confession of Faith calls tithing “an adventure of faith and a rich and rewarding practice.”
—Andy McClung
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We are invited by God to share our blessings. We are inspired by the sharing of all of those who have gone before us to be givers. Let us worship together in community to give with supportive joy in order to continue God’s work through the church.
—Lisa Hall Anderson
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Just as we are in need of God, others are in need of God through us. Jesus teaches us how to respond to people in need. When we put God first, God provides opportunities for us to be used for evangelism. With loving spirits, let us now worship God with our tithes and offerings.
—Mary Kathryn Kirkpatrick
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OFFERTORY PRAYER
God, just as you gave to the saints of the Church before us, you have given to us. Through these gifts, we are saying that we recognize these blessings and return a portion of them to your work here and abroad. Take our gifts, consecrate them and use them to do your work. Amen.
—Elinor Swindle Brown
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Gracious God, for all the gifts you have given to us, we can only say thanks. And we can also respond by giving back some of what has been entrusted to us. Bless these gifts, and may they be used for your purposes. Amen.
—Dwayne Tyus
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We thank you, God, for blessing us with so much. We thank you, God, for expecting so much of us. May the tithes and offerings we return to you now please you, and may they be but a fragment of all of the time, talents, and resources that we joyfully return to you in our daily lives. May how we use the blessing from you that we retain bring you joy as well. Amen.
—Andy McClung
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God of all gifts, we are often in awe of the provisions you make for us in our personal lives and in the life of our church. Bless our memories of the sacrifices of saints and bless these offerings that represent a belief in the future of your work through the Cumberland Presbyterian witness in the world.
—Lisa Hall Anderson
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We bring these gifts to you, O God, as a grateful people. We cannot give back enough to fully thank you for all that you do for us, but we pray that you will multiply these gifts. We pray for the direction of the Holy Spirit to meet many needs. We dedicate these gifts to you in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
—Mary Kathryn Kirkpatrick
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CHARGE AND BENEDICTION
God is calling us as surely as God called Cumberland Presbyterians in the past. God is asking us to respond in love to a world that is hurting. Go now and do and be that to which God is calling you.
And as you go, may the God who brought us into being, the Son who saved us from sin and the Holy Spirit who guides us through our lives, be with us all. Now and forever. Amen.
—Elinor Swindle Brown
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You are the salt of the earth
and the light of the world.
Since you have been blessed,
go into the world to offer your blessing to others. Amen.
—Dwayne Tyus
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We have praised God. We have thanked God. We have confessed our sins to God. We have listened for God’s word. Now, in the name of Jesus Christ and by the power of the Holy Spirit, let us go from this place to share God’s love with the world. Amen.
—Andy McClung
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Go from this place filled with the knowledge that God calls us into the world, having equipped us through words of scripture, supported us by an ever present cloud of witnesses and sustained us through grace which continues to be realized with each generation to serve with loving mercy, to work for justice and to walk in humility with our Lord.
Experience each day in the sunlight of God’s love. In the name of God who is the Creator, our parent, God who is the Christ, our sibling and God who is the Spirit, our friend. Amen.
—Lisa Hall Anderson
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What does God require of us? To do justice, to love kindness, to walk humbly, and to be people of grace.
As you leave this place, go in peace. May God’s love and infinite grace live in you. May the saving light of Jesus Christ shine through you. And may the Holy Spirit guide and protect you now and forever. Alleluia! Amen!
—Mary Kathryn Kirkpatrick