PRELUDE, Kathryn Schneider
WELCOME
* CELEBRATION OF FRIENDSHIP
* Gloria Patri (pew card)
* CALL TO WORSHIP AND SALUTATION Vivian Sclafani
Leader: How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts!
All: My soul longs for the courts of the Lord, my flesh sings for joy to the living God.
Leader: Happy are those who live in the house of the Lord, ever singing your praise O God.
All: Happy are those whose strength is in you, in whose heart are the highways to Zion!
Leader: Grace and peace to you from God our Creator, our Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Adapted from Psalm 84
* HYMN No. 20: Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee
* PRAY ER OF CONFESSION (unison)
Merciful God, hope of our people in every age, we confess that we have sinned against you. We have wandered from your pathways, turned towards idols, lived without compassion, and disregarded the well being of your creation. Do not turn away from us O Lord, but renew your covenant, for only in you will our lives be healed. Guide us and lead us in your ways, for happy are those who live in your house. Amen.
* KYRIE (pew card)
* ASSURANCE OF PARDON
* SUMMARY OF THE LAW
JUNIOR SERMON
ANTHEM: The Gift of Love, Hal H. Hopson
Though I may speak with bravest fire, and have the gift to all inspire, and have not love; my words are vain, as sounding brass, and hopeless gain.
Though I may give all I possess, and striving so my love profess, but not be given by love within, the profit soon turns strangely thin.
Come, spirit, come, our hearts control, our spirits long to be made whole, let inward love guide every deed. By this we worship and are freed. Amen.
SCRIPTURE LESSONS
Psalm 32:1-7, Pew Bible, page 440
Happy are those whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.
Happy are those to whom the Lord imputes no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.
While I kept silence, my body wasted away through my groaning all day long.
For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. Selah
Then I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not hide my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,” and you forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah
Therefore let all who are faithful offer prayer to you; at a time of distress, the rush of mighty waters shall not reach them.
You are a hiding place for me; you preserve me from trouble; you surround me with glad cries of deliverance. Selah
Luke 19: 1-10, Pew Bible, page 854
He entered Jericho and was passing through it. A man was there named Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was rich. He was trying to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was short in stature. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to see him, because he was going to pass that way. When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today.” So he hurried down and was happy to welcome him. All who saw it began to grumble and said, “He has gone to be the guest of one who is a sinner.” Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, “Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much.” Then Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.”
THE SERMON: Selah, Donna M. Field
WORSHIP OF TITHES AND OFFERINGS
Offering
Offertory: Sine Nomine, Ralph Vaughan-Williams
For all the saints who from their labors rest, who Thee by faith before the world confessed, Thy name, O Jesus, be forever blest. Alleluia! Alleluia!
Thou wast their Rock, their fortress and their might, Thou, Lord, their Captain in the well fought fight, Thou in the darkness drear their one true Light. Alleluia! Alleluia!
O may Thy soldiers, faithful, true and bold, fight as the saints who nobly fought of old, and win with them the victor's crown of gold. Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
And when the strife is fierce, the warfare long, steals on the ear the distant triumph song, and hearts are brave again, and arms are strong. Alleluia! Alleluia!
From earth's wide bounds, from ocean's farthest coast, through gates of pearl streams in the countless host, singing to Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, Alleluia! Alleluia!
* The Doxology (pew card)
* Prayer of Dedication
* AFFIRMATION OF FAITH
* Apostles’ Creed (pew card)
SACRAMENT OF HOLY COMMUNION
Remembering with Love and Hope (pew card)
Invitation
Communion Prayer
Sanctus (pew card)
Mystery of the Faith (unison)
Christ has Died, Christ is Risen, Christ will come again.
Words of Institution
PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING & INTERCESSION
Lord’s Prayer (pew card)
Prayer response, John Yarrington
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer.
*HYMN No. 648: Jesus, I Have Promised
* BENEDICTION
Response, John Yarrington
The peace of God which passeth all understanding, be with you now and evermore. Amen.
POSTLUDE
ANNOUNCEMENTS
WE WELCOME DONNA MARIE FIELD to the pulpit. Donna graduated from the New Brunswick Theological Seminary with a Masters in Divinity degree. She will be leading our worship services until a permanent minister is in place.
OUR APPRECIATION FOR TODAY’S VOLUNTEERS:
Van Drivers: Gina Lombardo
Coffee Hour Host: Rhoda Jabbour
Greeters: Nina and Bill Proschel, Dorothea Zelnick
Ushers: Ginny and Hong Chan, Nancy Gessner, Irma Karle, Buck Kellaway, Rhoda Jabbour, Jeanne and Steve Sarran and Jerry Good
Children and Worship: Sharon Rivilli and Sarah White
Childcare: Jayne Halley
VAN SERVICE is available for Sunday worship and grocery shopping every other Monday. If you need a ride to church on Sunday or would like to join them for grocery shopping, speak with Gina Lombardo at (917) 767-2923.
COFFEE HOUR VOLUNTEERS NEEDED – Please pick a date on the Sign-up sheet on the bulletin board in Gessner Hall or see Rhoda Jabbour.
YEAR-ROUND COLLECTIONS –
· Donations for the Food for Kids Ministry should be brought to the Church office. This food will be given to families in need in Jamaica, New York.
· Christmas cards (with Forever Stamps on the envelopes) are collected in a basket in Gessner Hall. These cards will enable inmates at the Nassau County Correction Center to correspond with their loved ones.
PRAYER REQUESTS: Ruth Bailey, Letty Delgado, Ed Diercks, Dombrowski Family, Edythe Durney, Alfred Gessner, Lisa Gessner, Robert Keller, Fritz Kunisch, Ann Martin, John Molino, Ed Moores, Josephine Rivera, Gloria Scrivano, Janice Serra, Mary Wainwright, Joan Werbel.