Dear all,
This week we are going with the Old Testament reading about the prophet Elijah. His public triumph over the prophets of Baal has been short-lived. Queen Jezebel vows revenge and he flees for his life. He also sinks into depression. Exhausted and despairing of the future, he just wants to die. He travels into the desert where he mostly sleeps under a broom tree, waiting for death. Instead, he is awakened by an angel who provides the bread and water to sustain life – nourishment that he is too weary to make for himself. Again he falls asleep, but is awakened and fed and second time. This time he is sent on a journey to Mt. Sinai, where he encounters God and is given specific instructions about what to do. The antidote to overwhelming fears about a future – a future we cannot control – is focusing on specific and manageable instructions that are within our power.
Order of Service
Prelude
Call to Worship
Hymn 26: “As pants the hart”
Prayer of Adoration
Prayer of Confession and Declaration of Grace
Responsive reading: Psalm 42
1 Kings 19: 1-18
Anthem: Psaume 42
Ephesians 6: 1-4
Matthew 28: 16-20
Hymn 64: “Be still and know that I am God”
Sermon: “Transitions”
Hymn 451: “Dear Father, Lord of humankind”
Offertory
Prayer of Thanksgiving and Intercession
Hymn 328 – “This is my Father’s world”
Benediction
Go now in Peace
Postlude