PRELUDE: Suite Gothique, Léon Boëllmann
SALUTATION AND WELCOME
* CELEBRATION OF FRIENDSHIP
* SANCTUS (pew card)
* CALL TO WORSHIP, Emerson Chen
Leader: Sing a new song to the Lord,
People: Who has worked wonders, whose right hand has brought salvation.
Leader: The Lord has made known salvation;
People: God has shown justice to the nations and has remembered with love the people of God.
Leader: All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.
People: Shout to the Lord, all the earth, sing out your joy.
* HYMN No. 250: Jesus Christ is Risen Today
* PRAYER OF CONFESSION
Leader: If, at times, we deny you, God forgive. When the risks of discipleship are high, and we are nowhere to be found:
People: God forgive.
Leader: When we wash our hands of responsibility:
People: God forgive.
Leader: When fear keeps us from witnessing to your truth, or prejudice keeps us from believing it:
People: God forgive.
Leader: In the bright light of the resurrection, O God, our sin is exposed, and your grace is revealed.
People: Tender God, raise us in your love so that, with joy, we may witness to your salvation, in the name of Jesus, the risen one. Amen.
* KYRIE (pew card)
* ASSURANCE OF PARDON
* SUMMARY OF THE LAW
* Gloria Patri (pew card)
JUNIOR SERMON
ANTHEM: Ah, Jesus Lord, Thy Love to Me, arr. David N. Johnson
Ah, Jesus Lord, thy love to me no thought can reach, no tongue declare; O bind my thankful heart to thee, and reign without a rival there. Thine wholly, thine alone, I'd live, myself to thee entirely give.
O grant that nothing in my soul may dwell, but thy pure love alone; Ah, may thy love possess me whole, my joy, my treasure, and my crown. All coldness from my heart remove: may every act, word, thought, be love.
O Lord, how gracious is thy way! All fear before thy presence flies; care, anguish, sorrow, melt away, where'er thy healing hands arise. O Jesus, nothing may I see, and nothing seek, desire, but thee.
MORNING PRAYER AND LORD’S PRAYER
Lord’s Prayer (pew card)
Prayer Response, Georg Friedrich Handel
Thine is the glory, risen, conquering Son; endless is the victory thou o'er death hast won. Angels in bright raiment rolled the stone away, kept the folded grave clothes where thy body lay. Thine is the glory, risen, conquering Son; endless is the victory thou o'er death hast won.
* HYMN No. 248: He Lives
SCRIPTURE READINGS
Psalm 40:4-12, Pew Bible, page 446
Happy are those who make the Lord their trust, who do not turn to the proud, to those who go astray after false gods.
You have multiplied, O Lord my God, your wondrous deeds and your thoughts toward us; none can compare with you. Were I to proclaim and tell of them, they would be more than can be counted.
Sacrifice and offering you do not desire, but you have given me an open ear. Burnt offering and sin offering you have not required.
Then I said, “Here I am; in the scroll of the book it is written of me.
I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart.”
I have told the glad news of deliverance in the great congregation; see, I have not restrained my lips, as you know, O Lord.
I have not hidden your saving help within my heart, I have spoken of your faithfulness and your salvation; I have not concealed your steadfast love and your faithfulness from the great congregation.
Do not, O Lord, withhold your mercy from me; let your steadfast love and your faithfulness keep me safe forever.
For evils have encompassed me without number; my iniquities have overtaken me, until I cannot see; they are more than the hairs of my head, and my heart fails me.
Matthew 28:16-20, Pew Bible, page 812
Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
THE SERMON: God’s Mission to the World, Rev. Blaine Crawford
WORSHIP OF TITHES AND OFFERINGS
Offering
Offertory: Lift High the Cross, arr. Carl Schalk
Lift high the cross, the love of Christ proclaim Till all the world adore his sacred name. Come, Christians, follow where our captain trod, our king victorious, Christ, the Son of God. Led on their way by this triumphant sign, the hosts of God in conqu'ring ranks combine. All newborn soldiers of the Crucified bear on their brows the seal of him who died. O Lord, once lifted on the glorious tree, as thou hast promised, draw us all to thee. So shall our song of triumph ever be: praise to the Crucified for victory! Amen.
* The Doxology (pew card)
* Prayer of Dedication
* AFFIRMATION OF FAITH: Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 45
Leader: How does Christ’s resurrection benefit us?
People: First, by his resurrection he has overcome death, so that he might make us share in the righteousness he obtained for us by his death.
Second, by his power we too are already raised to a new life. Third, Christ’s resurrection is a sure pledge to us of our blessed resurrection.
* HYMN No. 569: Living for Jesus a Life That Is True
* BENEDICTION
Response: Alleluia, Amen!, Charles Villers Stanford
POSTLUDE: Toccata (Suite Gothique), Léon Boëllmann
ANNOUNCEMENTS
THE COTH SCHOLARSHIP FUND provides assistance to students who are part of our church community. Scholarships are available to graduating high school students and students enrolled in post high school studies. Applications are available in the church office and must be returned by May 1st.
ON SATURDAY, April 18, Women’s Christian Circle - Luncheon & Program
Bring your own sandwich, dessert to be provided. After the luncheon, the program is a story of Esther, written and portrayed by our Thespian Group.
ON SUNDAY, April 26, the Rev. Dr. Gregg Mast, president of New Brunswick Theological Seminary (one of the seminaries of the Reformed Church in America), will be our guest preacher. During the coffee hour that day, he will speak about the mission and vision of the seminary. Sally Ann Castle, an elder at COTH and a student at New Brunswick, will also share about her experience at the seminary. All are invited to come and learn about God's work in and through the seminary during the coffee hour that day.
OUR APPRECIATION FOR TODAY’S VOLUNTEERS:
Van Driver: Jorge Alamilla
Coffee Hour Host: Dorien Day
Greeters: Carol Stark, Debra Rossi
Ushers: Joanne McCleary, Stacy Muller, Joan Wagner, Dorothea Zelnick
Children and Worship: Sharon Rivilli, Wai Chu
PRAYER REQUESTS: Jorel Andaluz, Grace Attanasio, Helga Brenner-Khan, Marilyn Cooney, Ed Dawson, Letty Delgardo, Allegra DeMelo, Ed Diercks, Dombrowski Family, Edythe Durney, Jackie Fraser, Elaine Good, Jenny Hampton, Richard Holm, Robert Keller, Karen Krieg, Fritz Kunisch, Ann McCaffrey-Amalfitano, Rev. John H. Meyer, John Molino, Michael Patras, Keith Pearson, Josephine Rivera, Frank Rivilli, Matthew Schulman, Janice Serra, Emily Testu