Song

Prayer

A Song of Creation (Benedicite)

All you works of the Lord: bless the Lord.
Angels and all heavenly hosts: bless the Lord.
Sun, moon, and stars: bless the Lord.
Rain and dew, wind and cloud: bless the Lord.
Fire and ice, summer and winter: bless the Lord.
Night and day, light and darkness: bless the Lord.
Mountains and hills, all that grows in the ground: bless the Lord.
Rivers and seas, all that has life in the water: bless the Lord.
Birds of the air, wild beasts, and tame animals: bless the Lord.
People on earth, you servants of the Lord: bless the Lord.
Give thanks to the Lord for he is good, for his mercy endures forever. 

Text: from the Prayer of Azariah, compiled, Faith Alive Christian Resources © 2013 Creative Commons 

Greeting

The Lord be with you.
And also with you.
Our help is in the Lord,
the maker of heaven and earth.

May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ,
and the love of God,
and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all.
Amen.

Song

Confession and Assurance

Call to Confession

Here is what the apostle Paul says in Romans 3—his charge and indictment of us and of all human society just before he announces the “But now” of the gospel.

For we have already charged that all are under sin, as it is written:
“None is righteous, no, not one;
no one understands; no one seeks God.
All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;
no one does good, not even one.”
—Romans 3:10-12

Knowing that the good news exposes and heals the darkness,
let us confess our sin before God and one another.

Prayer of Confession

Merciful God,
in your gracious presence
we confess our sin and the sin of this world.
Although Christ is among us as our peace,
we are a people divided against ourselves
as we cling to the values of a broken world.
The profit and pleasures we pursue
lay waste the land and pollute the seas.
The fears and jealousies that we harbor
set neighbor against neighbor
and nation against nation.
We abuse your good gifts of imagination and freedom,
of intellect and reason,
and turn them into bonds of oppression.
Lord, have mercy upon us;
heal and forgive us.
Set us free to serve you in the world
as agents of your reconciling love in Jesus Christ. Amen.

Assurance of Pardon

Hear the good news of the gospel:

But now the righteousness of God 
has been manifested apart from law, 
although the law and the prophets bear witness to it—
the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ 
for all who believe.

You are justified by his grace as a gift, 
through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.
—Romans 3:21-22, 24

The Peace

The peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.
And also with you.

Psalm 8

If you have multiple readers in your home, have various readers read the different paragraphs of Psalm 8 below.

O Lord, our Sovereign,
    how majestic is your name in all the earth!

You have set your glory above the heavens.
    Out of the mouths of babes and infants
you have founded a bulwark because of your foes,
    to silence the enemy and the avenger.

When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
    the moon and the stars that you have established;
what are human beings that you are mindful of them,
    mortals that you care for them?

Yet you have made them a little lower than God,
    and crowned them with glory and honor.
You have given them dominion over the works of your hands;
    you have put all things under their feet,all sheep and oxen,
    and also the beasts of the field,
the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea,
    whatever passes along the paths of the seas.

O Lord, our Sovereign,
    how majestic is your name in all the earth!

Time with Children: The Biggest Story

Prayer of Illumination

Gracious God,
as we turn to your Word for us,
may the Spirit of God rest upon us.
Help us to be steadfast in our hearing,
in our speaking, in our believing, and in our living.
Amen.

Scripture Reading

Genesis 1:26-29; 2:4-17

1 26 Then God said, “Let us make humankind (ʾādām) in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.”

27  So God created humankind (hāʾādām) in his image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.

28 God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.” 29 God said, “See, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food.

2 4 These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created. 

In the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, 5 when no plant of the field was yet in the earth and no herb of the field had yet sprung up—for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was no one (ʾādām) to till the ground (hāʾādāmāh); 6 but a stream would rise from the earth, and water the whole face of the ground— 7 then the Lord God formed man (hāʾādām) from the dust of the ground (hāʾādāmāh), and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man (hāʾādām) became a living being. 8 And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east; and there he put the man (hāʾādām) whom he had formed. 9 Out of the ground the Lord God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food, the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

10 A river flows out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it divides and becomes four branches. 11 The name of the first is Pishon; it is the one that flows around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold; 12 and the gold of that land is good; bdellium and onyx stone are there. 13 The name of the second river is Gihon; it is the one that flows around the whole land of Cush. 14 The name of the third river is Tigris, which flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.

15 The Lord God took the man (hāʾādām) and put him in the garden of Eden to till it (ʿābad) and keep (shāmar) it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man (hāʾādām), “You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die.”

This is the word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.

Sermon

The Image & The Priest

God’s Invitation and Promises

Here at the Lord’s Table, we meet Christ afresh—the one who is both Image and Priest. This is his table. He invites us. Christ is the host, and we are his guests. It is here that our humanity is joined to his humanity. It is here that all our deepest needs are met. It is here that we become truly human. It is here that our hunger is satisfied, and our thirst quenched.

As Jesus says,

“I am the bread of life.
Whoever comes to me will never be hungry,
and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”
—John 6:35

The Great Prayer of Thanksgiving

The Lord be with you.
And also with you.
Lift up your hearts.
We lift them up to the Lord.
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God
It is right for us to give thanks and praise.

We lift up our hearts and give thanks
because here we see, in a focused way,
the extravagant generosity of God’s gifts in all of creation,
but most of all for the inestimable gift of Jesus Christ, our Lord,
who reconciles us to God.

And so we say, “Holy, holy, holy.”

We lift up our hearts and give thanks
because here we meet, experience, eat and drink
an icon of the gospel, and so proclaim the mystery of our faith:

Christ has died.
Christ is risen.
Christ will come again.

And we lift up our hearts and give thanks
because here the Holy Spirit descends,
blesses broken bread and poured out cup,
and raises us into our head, Jesus Christ,
and gathers us, like scattered grain and crushed grapes,
into one loaf and one cup.
Here Christ binds us to each other,
makes us Christ’s body, and establishes our unity.

Together we pray the prayer that Jesus taught us until he comes again.

Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come,
Your will be done,
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our debts,
As we forgive our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation 
But deliver us from evil.
For yours is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever.
Amen.

Spiritual Communion

For those worshiping with us online, and not able to partake of the sacrament, we invite you to pray the following prayer of Spiritual Communion and listen to the following song, knowing that God himself is with you, and that your union with Christ remains unbroken.

O Christ, we love you above all things,
and we desire, at all times and in all ways, to be fed by you.
And since we cannot now come to your Table,
we ask you to come by your Spirit into our hearts.
Unite us to you, together with all your faithful people,
and help us to embrace you with all our affections, body and soul.
Never permit us to be separated from you.
By your goodness we pray,
Amen.

Song

Praise & Prayer

Praise the Lord, O my soul;
all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
Praise the Lord, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits—who forgives all your sins
and heals all your diseases,
who redeems your life from the pit
and crowns you with love and compassion.
          —Psalm 103:1-4

Lord Jesus Christ, you stretched out your arms of love on the hard wood of the Cross that everyone might come within the reach of your saving embrace: so clothe us in your Spirit that we, reaching forth our hands in love, may bring those who do not know you to the knowledge and love of you; for the honor of your Name. Amen.

Offering

In addition to our various funds (General, Building, Mission, Benevolence, Christian Education), online giving is also now available for today’s special offerings (Brothers House 3, World Renew, & Lakeshore Little Peoples Place) through the Give button below.

The Doxology

Praise God, from whom all blessings flow;
praise him, all creatures here below;
praise him above, ye heavenly host;
praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

Text Words: Thomas Ken, 1709, P.D. Tune: (OLD HUNDREDTH 8.8.8.8): Louis Bourgeois, 1551, P.D.

God’s Parting Words

The Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make his face to shine upon you
and be gracious unto you;
the Lord lift up the light of his countenance upon you
and give you peace. Amen.

Go in peace, to love and serve the Lord.