June 18 @ St. Paul's UMC: Worship

Flowers from Sandra Jordan

Rebecca Glancy offers the anthem

Sandy Bainbridge offers fellowship treats

We love fellowshipping together!

 Third Sunday after Pentecost

(YouTube link of today's worship)

Today’s Meditation Verse: “Return home and tell the story of what God has done for you.” —Luke 8:39a

Welcome... Pastor Charles

Prelude... Lorie Courier / “Give Me Jesus,” arranged by Lloyd Larsen

*Call to Worship... Rebecca Glancy

Our relationships with our fathers are complicated.

For some of us, our father’s love is like God’s love -- too deep, too long, too wide, too strong to measure. 

Some of our dads are here; some were never here.

For some of us, God’s love fills in the empty spaces our fathers left 

All of us are shaped by the relationship or lack of relationship with our fathers.

On this day when we remember what it means to have a father or be a father, we recognize the importance of fathers in our communities. We

pledge as a congregation to love and nurture the fathers among us so that they will manifest the love of God in all that they do.

*Hymn... “Faith of Our Fathers” (UMH #710)

Litany of Peace for Father’s Day... Rebecca Glancy

Loving God, we lift this day our gratitude for the loving men who have brought us the precious heart of Your Father Love. We give thanks to You this day.

For those who have shown us kindness,

For those who have shown us courage,

For those who have shown us generosity,

For those who have shown us truth,

For those who have shown us compassion,

For those who have shown us faith,

For those who have shown us love.

Blessed be the name of all sons and brothers and fathers who reveal a glimpse of Your loving presence on earth. O God, You inspire Your people in the ways of kindness that lift our world from its disgrace.

Lord, in Your mercy, hear our prayer for every son, brother, father, and grandfather, who has suffered and endured.

We lift a stone from the streambed of Living Waters to the forehead of the men and boys in our lives, touching each forehead with the sign of Your healing...

For every broken heart hidden from view, for every secret shame buried in darkness, for every untold story of regret and alienation.

We touch with this stone the brow of every man who has suffered for those he loved; we touch with this stone the forehead of our ancestral fathers who sacrificed their very lives...

Inviting You to heal the wars and woes and wickedness within, inviting Your everlasting peace, that the world might know Your peace.

Hear our prayer, O God, for this broken world. We pray for peace this Father’s Day.

For wisdom and equity in the hearts and minds of those who lead us. For justice with mercy that seeks equitable access to the earth’s resources. For passion and power in our churches to influence public policy for good. For a new day when justice will roll down like waters across this land. For the revelation of Father Love that never leaves nor forsakes. 

And we lift Your hope of healing for all sons, brothers, fathers, and grandfathers who live in mystery as Your creation, who are entrusted with the life and struggles of manhood. 

May they grow in Father Love to Your glory.

Hear our prayer, O God, for this broken world. We pray for peace this Father’s Day.

Amen.

Community prayer requests, concerns, and celebrations

Pastoral Prayer / The Lord’s Prayer... Pastor Charles

Epistle Lesson: Romans 5:1-8... Rebecca Glancy

Special Music... Rebecca Glancy / Adapted from “The Rose,” by Bette Midler, inspired by the carol “Lo, How A Rose Ere’ Blooming”

Second Lesson: Genesis 18:1-15... Pastor Charles

This is the Word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God.

Sermon... Pastor Charles / “Laughter as prayer”

*Hymn... “God, Whose Love is Reigning O’er Us” (UMH #100)

*Words for the Journey... Pastor Charles

Postlude... Lorie Courier / “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands,” arranged by Mark Hayes

“Call to Worship” by the Rev. Dr. LaGretta Bjorn (UMC of Spring Valley, Spring Valley, New York). “Litany of Peace for Father’s Day” © 2009 The Rev. Jane Sommers (Wesley UMC, Sheboygan, Wisconsin). Posted with permission on the Discipleship Ministries website.