PRELUDE: Suite for Organ, Seth Bingham
SALUTATION AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
* PASSING OF THE PEACE
* SANCTUS (pew card)
* CALL TO WORSHIP, Emerson Chen
Leader: Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.
People: What did God do to help us?
Leader: God gives us a family when we are widowed and a people when we are alone.
People: God gives a home to the homeless and a hope to the hopeless.
Leader: Let us worship the God of all people.
* HYMN No. 17: Praise the Lord! O Heavens Adore Him
* PRAYER OF CONFESSION(unison)
Lord God, we have given more weight to our successes and our happiness than to your will. We have eaten without a thought for the hungry. We have spoken without an effort to understand others. We have kept silence instead of telling the truth. We have judged others, forgetful that you alone are the Judge. Within your church we have been slow to practice love of our neighbors. And in the world we have not been your faithful servants. Forgive us and help us to live as disciples of Jesus Christ, your Son, our Savior. Amen.
* KYRIE (pew card)
* ASSURANCE OF PARDON
* SUMMARY OF THE LAW
Herein is wisdom.
Glory be to God.
* Gloria Patri(pew card)
ANTHEM: Feed My Lambs, Natalie Sleeth
The Junior Choir
JUNIOR SERMON
ANTHEM: Jesus, Grant Me This I Pray, C. H. Kitson
Jesu, grant me this, I pray, Ever in Thy heart to stay: Let me evermore abide Hidden in Thy wounded side. If the evil one prepare, Or the world, a tempting snare, I am safe when I abide In Thy heart and wounded side. If the flesh, more dangerous still, Tempt my soul to deeds of ill, Naught I fear when I abide In Thy heart and wounded side. Death will come one day to me; Jesu, cast me not from Thee: Dying let me still abide In Thy heart and wounded side.
PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE
Lord’s Prayer (pew card)
Prayer Response, George Whelpton
Hear our prayer, O Lord; incline thine ear to us, and grant us thy peace.
* HYMN No. 289: Holy Spirit, Ever Dwelling
SCRIPTURE READINGS
Ruth 1:1-17, Pew Bible, page 210
In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land, and a certain man of Bethlehem in Judah went to live in the country of Moab, he and his wife and two sons. The name of the man was Elimelech and the name of his wife Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion; they were Ephrathites from Bethlehem in Judah. They went into the country of Moab and remained there. But Elimelech, the husband of Naomi, died, and she was left with her two sons. These took Moabite wives; the name of the one was Orpah and the name of the other Ruth. When they had lived there about ten years, both Mahlon and Chilion also died, so that the woman was left without her two sons and her husband.
Then she started to return with her daughters-in-law from the country of Moab, for she had heard in the country of Moab that the Lord had considered his people and given them food. So she set out from the place where she had been living, she and her two daughters-in-law, and they went on their way to go back to the land of Judah. But Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go back each of you to your mother’s house. May the Lord deal kindly with you, as you have dealt with the dead and with me. The Lord grant that you may find security, each of you in the house of your husband.” Then she kissed them, and they wept aloud. They said to her, “No, we will return with you to your people.” But Naomi said, “Turn back, my daughters, why will you go with me? Do I still have sons in my womb that they may become your husbands? Turn back, my daughters, go your way, for I am too old to have a husband. Even if I thought there was hope for me, even if I should have a husband tonight and bear sons, would you then wait until they were grown? Would you then refrain from marrying? No, my daughters, it has been far more bitter for me than for you, because the hand of the Lord has turned against me.” Then they wept aloud again. Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her. So she said, “See, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods; return after your sister-in-law.” But Ruth said, “Do not press me to leave you or to turn back from following you! Where you go, I will go; Where you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God. Where you die, I will die — there will I be buried. May the Lord do thus and so to me, and more as well, if even death parts me from you!”
Mark 3:33-35, Pew Bible, page 815
And he replied, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” And looking at those who sat around him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.”
This is the Word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
SERMON: Finding Belonging in God’s People, Rev. Blaine Crawford
* CONFESSION OF FAITH, Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 55
Q. What do you understand by “the communion of saints”?
A. First, that believers one and all, as members of this community, share in Christ and in all his treasures and gifts. Second, that each member should consider it a duty to use these gifts readily and joyfully for the service and enrichment of the other members.
OFFERING OURSELVES AND OUR GIFTS
Offertory: The Majesty and Glory of Your Name, Tom Fettke
When I gaze into the night skies and see the work of Your fingers; the moon and stars suspended in space. Oh, what is man, that You are mindful of him?
You have given man a crown of glory and honor, and have made him a little lower than the angels. You have put him in charge of all creation: the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, the fish of the sea.
But what is man that You are mindful of him?
O Lord, our God, the majesty and glory of Your name transcends the earth and fills the heavens.
O Lord, our God, little children praise You perfectly, and so would we. Alleluia!
* The Doxology(pew card)
* Prayer of Dedication
* HYMN No. 661: Be Strong in the Lord
* BENEDICTION
Response, John Newton
May the grace of Christ our Savior and the Father's boundless love, with the Holy Spirit's favor, rest upon us from above. Thus may we abide in union with each other and the Lord, and possess in sweet communion joys which earth cannot afford.
POSTLUDE: Voluntary, Seth Bingham
ANNOUNCEMENTS
OUR APPRECIATION FOR TODAY’S VOLUNTEERS:
Van Drivers: Gary LiBert (AM), Gerry Mendler (PM)
Coffee Hour Host: Rhoda Jabbour
Greeters: Linda Diez and Angela Edward
Children and Worship: Kathleen Bracken, Monique Jethwani-Keyser
BIBLE STUDY will not meet this Tuesday, October 20 and will resume October27 at 7:30 PM in the Folensbee Lounge.
MEN’S COMMUNION BREAKFAST: Next Sunday, October 25 at 9:30 AM in Gessner Hall. Pastor Blaine will be the speaker. All men and boys are invited to attend. Cost $5 per person, no charge for Sunday School students and staff.
SYNODICAL ASSESSMENT (Pink Offering Envelope)
Last installment was due on October 5th. If you have not given a special offering for your assessment ($101.00 per member), please help us by making the payment. The assessment is the amount we owe RCA for your membership.
CONGREGATIONAL CARE MAILBOX
If you have any concerns regarding a church member, please drop us a note in the special mailbox in the back of the church. It will be checked regularly.
VAN MINISTRY: Volunteers are needed to assist with driving members to worship services. If you can help, speak with Gerry Mendler after church or call (917) 362-6284 (day) or (718) 464-3464 (evening).
Also, if you need a ride to church on Sunday, speak with Gerry Mendler.
COFFEE HOUR VOLUNTEERS NEEDED – Please pick a date on the sign-up sheet on the bulletin board in Gessner Hall or speak with Rhoda Jabbour.
PRAYER REQUESTS: Jorel Andaluz, Grace Attanasio, Donald Calfa, Allegra DeMelo, Ed Diercks, Dombrowski Family, Edythe Durney, Lucy Leung-Eng, Rob Gessner, Jenny Hampton, Richard Holm, Robert Keller, Karen Krieg, Fritz Kunisch, Ann McCaffrey-Amalfitano, Rev. John H. Meyer, John Molino, Keith Pearson, Dorothy Rama, Dorothy Reid, Josephine Rivera, Matthew Schulman, Peter Schumacher, Janice Serra, Carmela Stocchia, Emily Testut