Thanksgiving Eve: Not to Worry

We welcome you to our joint Thanksgiving Eve Service with Upper Buffalo. Our guest speaker is Rev. Dave Mason.

Gathering  Around  the  Word
Prelude                  
ANNOUNCEMENTS                                                                
CALL TO WORSHIP    
​Leader: Winds blow, rains fall, storms rage,
People: God is our strength and sanctuary.
Leader: Floods rise, waves batter, wars ravage,
People: God is our strength and sanctuary.
Leader: Violence threatens, hunger abounds, diseases flourish,
People: God is our strength and sanctuary.
All: We are safe here in this Spirit place, for God’s sustaining and 
       nourishing Spirit surrounds and affirms us.

INVOCATION                                                                               Rev. Mason
HYMN                              Come, Ye Thankful People, Come                              392

CALL TO CONFESSION
We turn to God in prayer. In that spirit, we offer this prayer of confession:
 
PRAYER OF CONFESSION
Dear Lord, you call us to live faithfully, to act justly and to bring peace to the earth. Instead, our lives and your church reflect much of the time our needs and worries and less of the needs and worries of all peoples. Move us beyond ourselves to hear the cry of the world and to respond with acts and deeds of kindness, mercy and justice. May your grace shine through a church that, even with its shortcomings, accepts the call of Christ to serve and care and love and bring peace. May we feel your forgiving Spirit now. Amen.
 
ASSURANCE OF PARDON
In the name of Jesus Christ, we are forgiven. In our forgiveness, may we blossom fully with purpose and resolve, so that the world will know us by our love.
*Time of silent prayer.
*Passing the Peace
L: The peace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you. 
P: And also, with you. 
    
*Response – Gloria Patri  

CHILDREN’S MOMENT 
                    The Word of God
Prayer for Illumination
Scripture reading                                                                      MATTHEW 6: 25-33 

Do Not Worry
25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?
​
28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

L: The Word of the Lord
P: Thanks be to God ! 

Sermon                                  “ NOT TO WORRY “

                             Responding to the Word

HYMN                                       We Gather Together                                           387      

*Apostles Creed (found inside the back cover of the hymnal) 

Presentation of our tithes and offering

Offertory                                                      Doxology 
Prayer of dedication                      
Concerns and Celebrations         ​

Prayers of the People                                                                            Rev. Mason
The Lord’s Prayer
               
HYMN                                   Now Thank We All Our God                                  525
     
Benediction
May God’s great Spirit empower us, to teach like Christ, to heal like Christ, to love like Christ, to forgive like Christ and to serve like Christ. May the Lord Jesus Christ go before us, equipping, empowering and supporting us, as we live out our faith each and every day. Amen.
 
Postlude            ​