Seventh Sunday after Epiphany
February 23, 2025 | 10:00am
Rev. Jeremy Campbell, Temporary Pastor| Larry J. Carey, Director of Music
Thought for Worship: “What you are is God's gift to you, what you become is your gift to God.” -Hans Urs von Balthasar
GATHERING
Welcome
Prelude Canzona |Young
Call to Worship
Votum
Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.
Amen
Opening Sentences
The way of Christ turns the world upside down.
God’s ways are not our ways.
It moves us beyond retribution and cycles of violence.
God’s ways are not our ways.
It leads us to enemy-love and scandalous forgiveness.
God’s ways are not our ways.
It calls us beyond reciprocity into radical giving.
God’s ways are not our ways.
So let us commit our way to the Lord together
until our righteousness shines like the dawn
and our justice like high noon.
Salutation
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ
Amen.
Prayer of the Day
God of resurrection, throughout the generations you have been forging a path to new life. Though the death-dealing ways of Empire constantly beckon, you call us forth to a different way, reminding us of the power of resurrection. Free us this day from what tries to steal, kill, and destroy, and restore the joy of our salvation, that we might live secure with you. Amen.
*Hymn of Praise A Hymn of Glory Let Us Sing!
Call to Confession
We wander and stray, but God continues to reach out to us with mercy and love.
Let us make our confession and receive God’s welcome.
Prayer of Confession
O Christ,
the economy of your love is beautiful, expending goodness
and extending lines of forgiveness beyond our imagining.
The economy of our love is stingy and crooked.
We invest love where it can be repaid.
We spend mercy where it yields gain.
We advance blessing we can bank on.
We hold grudges with interest.
We do all of this with no recognition of how deeply indebted we are to you.
Forgive us our debts,
as we forgive our debtors,
we pray with our whole hearts.
Assurance of Pardon
The Law of God:
*Gloria Patri | #579
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen. Amen.
*Commitment to Peace Keeping and Peace Seeking
One: May the peace of Christ be with you!
All: And also with you!
Share a sign of peace with one another. After sharing the peace, let us all sing together:
Together, by grace, we witness and work, remembering Jesus, in whom we grow strong. Together we serve in Spirit and truth, remembering love is the strength of our song.
THE WORD OF GOD
Anthem A Winter Carol | Gramann
Prayer for Illumination
Saving God, source of our calling, your Word is full of power and glory. Pour out your Holy Spirit upon us so that we may receive your grace and live as your beloved children; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Listen for the Word of God,
shaking the wilderness.
First Reading: Genesis 45:3-11, 15
Powerful and full of majesty is the voice of the Lord.
Thanks be to God
*Hymn: Make Me a Channel of Your Peace
Listen for the Word of God,
shaking the wilderness.
Second Reading: Luke 6:27-38
Powerful and full of majesty is the voice of the Lord.
Thanks be to God
Sermon: “Give, and it will be given to you...pressed down, shaken together... but given to you” | Rev. Campbell
Silent Reflection
THE RESPONSE TO GOD
*Affirmation of Faith (Apostles’ Creed)
I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth. I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried; He descended to hell. The third day he rose again from the dead. He ascended to heaven and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty. From there He will come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.
Offering Now We All the New Year Sharing |Welsh Carol
Doxology
Praise God from whom all blessings flow;
Praise him all creatures here below;
Praise him above ye heavenly hosts;
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
Amen!
Prayer of Thanksgiving and Intercession (ending with the Lord’s Prayer)
Our Father, Who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy Kingdom come, Thy Will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory forever. Amen.
SENDING
*Hymn Help Us Accept Each Other
Benediction
Congregational Response
Live into hope of captives freed,
Of sight regained, the end of greed.
Removing shades of pride and fear-
A vision of our God brought near.
Live into hope of liberty,
The right to speak the right to be,
The right to have one's daily bread,
To hear God's word and thus be fed.
Postlude Allegro moderato | Cooke
DEAR FRIENDS
Welcome to worship here at Peapack Reformed Church! If you are visiting with us, welcome! If you are a member, welcome back! Our mission is to be a congregation called by God, inspired by the Holy Spirit, and committed to being the very presence of Jesus Christ in the world. This mission is the catalyst for all that we do, and is our aim for who we want to be.
If you are visiting with us via Facebook Live and would like more information about our church, send us a message on Facebook or email office@peapackreformed.org and we will be in touch with you. Even under these odd and anxious circumstances, we would love to be your church home. Our virtual doors are always open wide and our hearts are always ready to welcome new faces into our fellowship.
FOOD PANTRY NEWS
Many thanks for all those who have shared their abundance with neighbors in need.
Our church refrigerators have plenty of space to hold even more!
Please consider making a weekly donation of eggs or milk to the P-G Food Pantry.
Peapack Reformed Church is a congregation called by God, empowered by the Holy Spirit and committed to being the very presence of Jesus Christ in the world.
CALLED • EMPOWERED • COMMITTED