PRELUDE:
Choral, Josef Jongen
Solemn Melody, H. Walford Davies
WELCOME
* CELEBRATION OF FRIENDSHIP
* SANCTUS (pew card)
* CALL TO WORSHIP AND SALUTATION, Patrick Mahowald
Leader: I will call upon you, for you will answer me, O God;
People: Incline your ear to me; hear my words.
Leader: Wondrously show your steadfast love,
People: O Savior of those who seek refuge from their adversaries at your right hand.
Leader: Guard me as the apple of your eye;
People: Hide me in the shadow of your wings.
Leader: Grace and peace to you from God our Creator, our Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. Amen
--Psalm 17: 6-8
* HYMN No. 26: Praise, My Soul, the King of Heaven
* PRAYER OF CONFESSION (unison)
Eternal God, in whom we live and move and have our being, whose face is hidden from us by our sins, and whose mercy we forget in the blindness of our hearts: cleanse us from all our offenses, and deliver us from proud thoughts and vain desires, that with reverent and humble hearts we may draw near to you, confessing our faults, confiding in your grace, and finding in you our refuge and strength; through Jesus Christ your Son. Amen.
* KYRIE (pew card)
* ASSURANCE OF PARDON
* SUMMARY OF THE LAW
* Gloria Patri (pew card)
ANTHEM: I Love Thee, arr. Benjamin Harlan
I love thee, I love thee, I love thee, my Lord; I love thee, my Savior, I love thee, my God: I love thee, I love thee, and that thou dost know; but how much I love thee my actions will show. O Jesus, my Savior, with thee I am blest, my life and salvation, my joy and my rest: Thy name be my theme, and thy love be my song; Thy grace shall inspire both my heart and my tongue. Oh, who's like my Savior? He's Salem's bright King; He smiles and He loves me and helps me to sing: I'll praise Him, I'll praise Him with notes loud and clear, while rivers of pleasure my spirit shall cheer.
JUNIOR SERMON
MORNING PRAYER AND LORD’S PRAYER
Lord’s Prayer (pew card)
Prayer response, arr. Robert Shaw
I will arise and go to Jesus, He will embrace me in His arms, In the arms of my dear Saviour, Oh! There are ten thousand charms.
Teach me some melodious sonnet Sung by flaming tongues above; Praise the mount, I'm fixed upon it, Mount of Thy redeeming love.
Come thou fount of ev'ry blessing, Tune my heart to sing Thy grace. Streams of mercy never ceasing, Call for songs of loudest praise.
* HYMN No. 477: O the Deep, Deep Love of Jesus
SCRIPTURE LESSONS
Job 19:23-27, Pew Bible, page 405
“O that my words were written down! O that they were inscribed in a book! O that with an iron pen and with lead they were engraved on a rock forever! For I know that my Redeemer lives, and that at the last he will stand upon the earth; and after my skin has been thus destroyed, then in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see on my side, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. My heart faints within me!
Luke 20:27-38, Pew Bible, page 855
Some Sadducees, those who say there is no resurrection, came to him and asked him a question, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies, leaving a wife but no children, the man shall marry the widow and raise up children for his brother. Now there were seven brothers; the first married, and died childless; then the second and the third married her, and so in the same way all seven died childless. Finally the woman also died. In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had married her.” Jesus said to them, “Those who belong to this age marry and are given in marriage; but those who are considered worthy of a place in that age and in the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. Indeed they cannot die anymore, because they are like angels and are children of God, being children of the resurrection. And the fact that the dead are raised Moses himself showed, in the story about the bush, where he speaks of the Lord as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Now he is God not of the dead, but of the living; for to him all of them are alive.”
The Word of God for the people of God. Let the people of God say - AMEN!
THE SERMON: An Embodied Hope, Rev. Douglas Estella
WORSHIP OF TITHES AND OFFERINGS
Offering
Offertory: Behold Now, Praise the Lord, Everett Titcomb
Behold now, praise the Lord, all ye servants of the Lord. Ye that by night stand in the house of the Lord, even in the courts of the house of our God. Lift up your hands in the sanctuary, and praise the Lord.
* The Doxology (pew card)
* Prayer of Dedication
* AFFIRMATION OF FAITH
* Apostles’ Creed (pew card)
* HYMN No. 710: We Are Called to Be God's People
* BENEDICTION
Response, Martin Shaw
And the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost be among you and go with you forever and ever. Amen.
POSTLUDE: Prelude in Classic Style Gordon Young
ANNOUNCEMENTS
WE WELCOME back the Rev. Douglas Estella to the pulpit.
Rev. Estella, an Elmhurst, native, is an ordained minister in the RCA. He served as pastor of the Sunnyside Reformed Church from 2000 to 2006. For the past seven years, Doug has served as a teacher at the Academy of Urban Planning, a public high school in the Bushwick section of Brooklyn where he teaches English as Second Language. During that period, he continues to assist churches with regular pulpit supply. Doug and his wife, Janet, live in Sunnyside with their daughter, Renee.
THE FLOWERS are given by the Heckel and Krsnak families in honor of Elaine Good’s birthday.
OUR APPRECIATION FOR TODAY’S VOLUNTEERS:
Van Driver: Gerry Mendler
Coffee Hour Host: Rhoda Jabbour
Greeters: Barbara Andrade and Angela Edward
Ushers: Cindy and Joe Macaluso, Jean and Gerry Mendler and Jerry Good
Children and Worship: Judie Kellaway and Michael Iovale
Childcare: Marie Mark
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.
· Donations for pets brought to the church office will be given to Worthy Pause to be distributed to local animal shelters.
· 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.