SERVICE FOR THE LORD'S DAY First Presbyterian Church

Tallahassee, Florida

The Seventh Sunday of Easter

The Sunday after the Ascension

May 24, 2020

You are Invited to print this bulletin, or view it in a split screen on your computer.

Use it to help you take part in this “virtual” service of Lord’s Day worship.

The video of this service will be posted on our YouTube site: FPCTallahassee.

A link will also be posted on our website: www.oldirstchurch.org.

GATHERING

Voluntary Prayer of Christ Ascending to His Father Olivier Messiaen

*Prayer of the Day: A Litany for the Ascension of the Lord

Clap your hands, all you peoples;

shout to God with songs of joy.

Lift up your hearts.

We lift them to the Lord.

God has gone up with a shout,

the Lord with the sound of a trumpet.

Lift up your hearts.

We lift them to the Lord.

God is ruler over all the earth;

the Lord reigns on a holy throne.

Lift up your hearts.

We lift them to the Lord.

God put this power to work in Christ,

raising him from the dead.

Lift up your hearts.

We lift them to the Lord.

God has highly exalted him,

giving him the name above all names.

Lift up your hearts.

We lift them to the Lord.

Jesus Christ is Lord!

Glory to God in the highest.

Lift up your hearts.

We lift them to the Lord.

Concluding Prayer

*Hymn 662 bulletin, p. 5 Christ, Whose Glory Fills the Skies RATISBON

Congregational responses are in bold print.

The inscription above the

final movement of

L’Ascension, 1934: “Father . . .

I have revealed Your name

to humanity. . . . Now I am

no longer in the world, but

they are in the world and I

come to you.”

(John 17:1, 6, 11)

*Prayer of Confession

Almighty God,

you have raised Jesus from death to life, and crowned him Lord of all.

We confess that we have not bowed before him, or acknowledged his rule

in our lives. We have gone along with the ways of the world, and failed

to give him glory.

Forgive us, and raise us from sin, that we may be your faithful people,

obeying the commands of our Lord Jesus Christ, who rules the world

and is head of the church, his body.

Silence is kept.

*Kyrie Eleison John Weaver

*Declaration of Forgiveness

*Gloria in Excelsis 583 sung twice in Latin Jacques Berthier

*The Peace

The peace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.

And also with you.

THE WORD

Prayer for Illumination

First Lesson Acts 1:1-14

Psalm 47, No. 261 bulletin, p. 6 Peoples, Clap Your Hands! GENEVAN 47

Second Lesson 1 Peter 4:12–14; 5:6–11

*Gradual Hymn 492 bulletin, p. 7 You Belong to Christ YOU BELONG TO CHRIST

*Gospel Lesson John 17:1-11

Sermon

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The Prayer of

Confession and

Declaration of

Forgiveness are offered

from the baptismal font.

We believe that baptism

enacts and seals God’s

grace, offered freely to

all people.

Music: John Weaver ©

1990. All rights reserved;

used by permission of

the composer.

Gloria in Excelsis Deo

(“Glory to God in the

Highest”) is a hymn of

praise developed from

Luke 2:14 (sung by the

angels to the shepherds

announcing Christ’s

birth).

Music: © 1979, 1981 Les

Presses de Taizé (admin.

GIA Publications, Inc.)

Reprinted under

OneLicense.net #A-

711109

The reader offers a

phrase to mark the end

of each reading, such as,

The Word of the Lord, or

Holy Wisdom, Holy Word.

The assembly responds,

Thanks be to God.

The hymn sung

immediately before the

reading of the Gospel is

called the Gradual, or

Gradual Hymn, which

refers to the step

(Latin gradus) from which

it was chanted in

medieval church practice.

After the reading of the

Gospel the reader says,

The Gospel of the Lord.

The assembly responds,

Praise be to you, O

Christ.

*Affirmation of Faith: The Apostles’ Creed Hymnal, Page 35 (front)

I believe in God, the Father almighty,

Maker of heaven and earth,

and in Jesus Christ his only Son, our Lord;

who was conceived by the Holy Ghost,

born of the Virgin Mary,

suffered under Pontius Pilate,

was crucified, dead, and buried;

he descended into hell;

the third day he rose again from the dead;

he ascended into heaven,

and sitteth on the right hand

of God the Father Almighty;

from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Ghost;

the holy catholic church;

the communion of saints;

the forgiveness of sins;

the resurrection of the body;

and the life everlasting. Amen. Announcements

Prayers of the People

THE EUCHARIST

Offertory

Anthem Most Glorious Lord of Life William H. Harris

Most glorious Lord of life, that on this day didst make thy triumph over death and sin,

And having harrowed hell, didst bring away captivity thence captive, us to win.

This joyous day, dear Lord, with joy begin, and grant that we for whom thou diddest die,

being with thy dear blood clean washed from sin, may live forever in felicity;

And that thy love we weighing worthily, may likewise love thee for the same again;

And for thy sake, that all like dear didst buy, with love may one another entertain.

So let us love, dear Love, like as we ought; Love is the lesson which the Lord us taught.

*Prayer of Thanksgiving

The Lord be with you.

And also with you.

Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.

It is right to give our thanks and praise . . .

*The Lord’s Prayer Hymnal, p. 35 (front)

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, and the power,

and the glory, forever. Amen.

Various forms of the

Apostles’ Creed were

used from the second

century onward.

Eucharist means

“Thanksgiving.”

Text: “Most glorious

Lord... “ begins the

sonnet “Easter”

by Edmund Spenser

(c. 1552-99), which is the

68th poem in his sonnet

sequence Amoretti.

Music: Harris (1883-

1973), 1932

The Prayer of

Thanksgiving begins

with an exchange

between the minister and

people, called the Sursum

Corda, meaning “hearts

lifted.” This dialogue

dates to the 3rd century

or earlier.

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Brant S. Copeland, Pastor

Michael Corzine, Organist & Choirmaster

Christy Williams, Director of Christian Education

Dolores Ingraham, Emory Hingst, Leo Sandon, and Mary Vance, Parish Associates

First Presbyterian Church Phone 222-4504

110 North Adams Street Fax 222-2215

Tallahassee, FL 32301 www.facebook.com/oldfirstchurch

E-mail: office@oldfirstchurch.org website: www.oldfirstchurch.org

SENDING

*Blessing

*Hymn 826 bulletin, p. 8 Lift High the Cross CRUCIFER

*Charge

Go in peace to love and serve the Lord.

Thanks be to God. Alleluia, Alleluia!

*Voluntary HERR JESU CHRIST, DICH ZU UND WEND, BWV 632 J. S. Bach

Lord Christ, reveal Thy holy face, and send the Spirit of Thy grace,

To fill our hearts with fervent zeal, to learn Thy truth, and do Thy will.

SERVING IN THE LITURGY

Presider and Preacher Brant S. Copeland

Readers Donnie Watts

Jamie Van Pelt

Monique Ellsworth

Cantor Allison Stokes

Choral Scholars Levi Gerke

Rachel Hillman

Jon Mathes

Allison Stokes

Organist & Choirmaster Michael Corzine

Videographer Carl Morse

Giving the Charge Celeste Diaz-Atkinson

Announcements

The anthem and closing hymn were sung and recorded by the four choral scholars, each from his/her own home, via the Apple

Acapella application. We are grateful to Marissa Hall for technical guidance/assistance in these projects.

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-5-

Text: Charles Wesley

(1707-1788), 1740

Music: RATISBON

Text and music public

domain

The candle by the

baptismal font is the

Paschal Candle.

It was lit from the new

fire kindled at the Easter

Vigil, and will burn for all

seven Sundays of

Eastertide, for baptisms,

and for funerals.

-6-

Text: Joy F. Patterson (b. 1931) © 1990

Music: GENEVAN 47, attr.

Louis Bourgeois (c. 1510

-c. 1561); first pub. 1551

in the Genevan psalter;

harm. Claude Goudimel

(c. 1505-1572)

-7-

Text: Anon., Evangelical Lutheran Worship, 2002 Music: YOU BELONG TO

CHRIST, Robert A. Hobby

(b. 1962) © 2003

Augsburg Fortress;

Reprinted under

OneLicense.net #A-

711109

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Text: George William Kitchin (1827-1912), rev. Michael Robert Newbolt (1874-1956); © 1974 Hope Publishing Co. Reprinted under OneLicense.net #A-711109. Music: CRUCIFER, Sydney Hugo Nicholson(1875-1947), 1916; Intro. by Roy H. Johnson (1934-2014)