For Sunday, March 22, 2020, we will be having “virtual church” instead of in-person church at 10 a.m. The Order of Service is as follows:
1. Sermon: “Living Faithfully in a Pandemic”
To watch Pastor Zack’s sermon, click on the following link (or paste it in the address bar on your browser):
2. Worship:
Jack has put together the following songs for us to sing this morning; as with the sermon, click on the link or paste into the address bar on your browser:
Never Let Go: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iE6koFfXSk
Rescue: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PugD11k3JU
Lord I Need You: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuvfMDhTyMA
King of My Heart: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbBQ94PZEkE
Solid Rock: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GswGE6rQhmE
Oh the Deep Love of Jesus: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLTu1xv2-Us
Remembrance : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNgsO53alTs
3. Prayer:
For this week, I wanted to provide a topic for prayer and two specific prayers for you to use.
The topic is healing and mercy for our world in this time of pandemic—for protection for those that are not sick, for healing for those that are sick, for peace for those who have lost a loved one or are living in fear, for greater faith, wisdom, discernment, boldness, and love for the Church.
The specific prayers are as follows:
For Strength
O creator and mighty God,
You have promised strength for the weak,
Rest for the laborers, light for the way,
Grace for the trials, help from above,
Unfailing sympathy, undying love.
O creator and mighty God,
Help us to continue in your promise. Amen.
(Traditional prayer, Pakistan, alt. from The United Methodist Book of Worship [26th printing; Nashville: The United Methodist Publishing House, 2018]: p. 524)
The Infinite and the Finite
Thou Great I Am,
Fill my mind with elevation and grandeur at
the thought of a Being
with whom one day is as a thousand years,
and a thousand years as one day,
A mighty God, who, amidst the lapse of worlds,
and the revolutions of empires,
feels no variableness,
but is glorious in immorality.
May I rejoice that, while men die, the Lord lives;
that, while all creatures are broken reeds,
empty cisterns,
fading flowers,
withering grass,
he is the Rock of Ages, the Fountain
of living waters.
Turn my heart from vanity,
from dissatisfactions,
from uncertainties of the present state,
to an eternal interest in Christ.
Let me remember that life is short and
unforeseen,
and is only an opportunity for usefulness;
Give me a holy avarice to redeem the time,
to awake at every call to charity and piety,
so that I may feed the hungry,
clothe the naked,
instruct the ignorant,
reclaim the vicious,
forgive the offender,
diffuse the gospel,
show neighbourly love to all.
Let me live a life of self-distrust,
dependence on thyself,
mortification,
crucifixion,
prayer.
(from The Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers & Devotions [ed. Arthur Bennett; Carlisle, PA: The Banner of Truth Trust]: p. 190-91)