Virtual Worship – August 2, 2020

The Service For The Lord’s Day THE NINTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

AUGUST 2, 2020 WHENEVER “God exists beyond all reckoning and God’s wonder is beyond all earthly marvel”

… Rabbi David Wolpe

Video Prelude “10,000 Reasons” (Ocean’s Edge School of Worship)

Piano Prelude, Lighting of the Candles Welcome and Announcements

Call to Worship Are any among us weary? Do we carry heavy burdens? Here is a place of rest. Here we can encounter Christ’s healing and grace.

Come to us Lord, as we gather to praise you. Are any among us frantic and scattered, breathless in our busy-ness? Here is a place of deep peace. In our worship, we can meet the unhurried God..

Slow us down Lord, that we may savor this time spent in worship. Are any among us feeling brittle and broken, thirsty for the gospel? Here we can encounter Jesus, the living water — tranquil and ever-present.

We are hungry and thirsty Lord. Feed us again with the Bread of Life and give us nourishment for the journey ahead. Amen.

* Hymn # 487 “When Morning Gilds the Skies”

* Praise Song “Come Just as You Are” Come just as you are; hear the Spirit call. Come just as you are; Come and see, come, receive; Come and live forever.

Life everlasting, and strength for today; Taste the Living Water, and never thirst again.

Come just as you are; hear the Spirit call. Come just as you are; Come, receive Christ, the King; Come and live forevermore.

Prayer of Confession (unison prayer) Remind us Lord, that we gather together to be in your presence. You are the great healer who has called us to be aware of your Holy Spirit who is with us wherever we might be. Touch and heal our brokenness, and lift us out of despair and doubt. Dry our tears of pain and sorrow. Comfort and nourish us with the many blessings of your great love. May we flourish and blossom in the warmth and compassion of your healing love and grace. Amen.

Assurance of Pardon

* Response “Surely It is God” Surely it is God who saves me; I will trust in him and not be afraid. For the Lord is my stronghold and my sure defense, and he will be my Savior.

(Repeat)

* Sharing the Peace of Christ May the Peace of Christ be with you. And also with you.

(Perhaps given the current strife we all cannot help but notice all around us, today we should think – not just of HOW we might share the peace of Christ with another – but specifically of WHOM we might be called to share God’s peace with today. The invitation is to think of, find, and seek out someone that you might well NEED to share the peace of Christ with.)

Offering Our Gifts and Ourselves to God Video Offertory “Come to the Table” (Sidewalk Prophets)

* Response # 592 “Doxology” * Prayer of Dedication

Scripture Reading: Matthew 14: 13 – 21

Communion Meditation: “Beyond the Miracle Cliché” Rev. Sellers

Communion Hymn “Behold the Lamb” (insert)

The Great Thanksgiving The Lord be with you. And also with you. Lift up your hearts. We lift them up to the Lord. Let us give thanks to the Lord, our God. It is right to give our thanks and praise.

(Pastoral prayer follows)… Therefore, we praise you, joining our voices with all the faithful of every time and place, who forever sing to the glory of your name.

Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might. Heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest.

The Words of Institution Sharing of the Bread and the Cup

(When we partake of the elements today, there will be instrumental music playing and the camera will be centered on the communion table. When invited to, please share the bread and cup you have at home with all who are with you. After the music ends and all have been served, we will then move on to the closing prayer)

Prayer after Communion and 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, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.

* Affirmation of Faith (from A Brief Statement of Faith) In life and in death we belong to God. Through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit, we trust in the one triune God, the Holy One of Israel, whom alone we worship and serve. We trust in God, whom Jesus called Abba Father. We trust in Jesus Christ, fully human, fully God. We trust in God the Holy Spirit, everywhere the giver and renewer of life. Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. Amen.

* Hymn # 273 “O God the Creator” * Charge and Benediction * Postlude * Video Postlude “Is He Worthy” (Andrew Peterson)

(Italic words are spoken by the leader; Bold words are spoken by everyone.)

FOOD FOR THOUGHT:

“If a miracle means that which must simply be accepted, the unanswerable actuality which gives no account of itself but simply is, then the universe is one great miracle. To direct us to that great miracle is one main object of the earthly acts of Christ that are, a He himself says, Signs.... These Signs do not take us away from reality; they recall us to it — recall us from our dream world of ‘ifs’ and ‘ands’ to the stunning actuality of everything that is real. They are focal points at which more reality becomes visible than we ordinarily see at once.”

… C.S. Lewis “The temptation is always to reduce it to size. A bowl of cherries. A rat race. Amino acids. Even to call it a mystery smacks of reductionism. It is the mystery. As far as anybody seems to know, the vast majority of things in the universe do not have whatever life is. Sticks, stones, stars, space — they simply are. A few things are and are somehow alive to it. They have broken through into Something, or Something has broken through into them. Even a jellyfish, a butternut squash. They're in it with us. We're all in it together, or it in us. Life is it. Life is with. After lecturing learnedly on miracles, a great theologian was asked to give a specific example of one. ‘There is only one miracle,’ he answered. ‘It is life.’”

… Frederick Buechner

SERVICE NOTES: Today’s Video Prelude, “10,000 Reasons (Bless the Lord,” written by singer-songwriter Matt Redman, was recorded by the Ocean’s Edge School of Worship in Fort Lauderdale, Fl. Ocean’s Edge University began in 2006 to train a new generation of worship leaders, songwriters and musicians.

Today’s Video Offertory, “Come to the Table,” is an original song by the band Sidewalk Prophets. This group, founded by Dave Frey and Ben McDonald when they were students at Anderson University in Anderson, Indiana, has been recording Christian music since 2003.

Today’s Video Postlude, “Is He Worthy,” was written by Keith and Kristyn Getty. This version was recorded at the 2019 Sing! Conference at the Gaylord Opryland Convention Center. All participants took part as a massed choir, led and accompanied by author / song-writer / musician Andrew Peterson on the piano. Matthew 14: 13 – 21: 14 Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a deserted place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. 14 When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them and cured their sick. 15 When it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a deserted place, and the hour is now late; send the crowds away so that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves.” 16 Jesus said to them, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.” 17 They replied, “We have nothing here but five loaves and two fish.” 18 And he said, “Bring them here to me.” 19 Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. 20 And all ate and were filled; and they took up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve baskets full. 21 And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.

MULBERRY CONTACT INFORMATION www.mulberrypc.org

Christ Contact Information www.christpccharlotte.org

Pastor: Rev. Rodger Sellers rpsellers@gmail.com 704-796-3117

Admin: Tina Emmons tinaemmons@ymail.com

Music Dir: Brandon Cook kbrandco@aol.com 704-941-9400

Behold the Lamb (Communion Hymn)

Behold the Lamb who bears our sins away, slain for us… and we remember. The promise made that all who come in faith, find forgiveness at the cross.

Refrain: So we share in this bread of life, and we drink of his sacrifice, As a sign of our bonds of peace, around the table of the King.

The body of our Savior Jesus Christ, torn for you… eat and remember. The wounds that heal, the death that brings us life, paid the price to make us one. (Refrain)

The blood that cleanses every stain of sin, shed for you… drink and remember. He drained death's cup that all may enter in, to receive the life of God. (Refrain)

Announcements and Notes

DRIVE IN / SOCIAL DISTANCE FELLOWSHIP: Join us at Christ this afternoon, at 5 PM. We’ll meet on the patio by the Arty Ave. door. There’s no agenda other than seeing each other’s faces and catching up with everyone from the socially distanced safety of 6 feet apart! Bring your own lawn chair if you want to sit a spell, or just stop by and visit from your car.

REOPENING PLANS: This week’s update is just like last week’s update. “Next verse, same as the first.” We still await a change in the state’s guidelines and the infection “curve” to go down before we can make any concrete plans. Stay tuned, and keep praying.

THURSDAY NIGHT WORSHIP TAPING SESSIONs: In the interest of safety, we are limiting attendance at worship taping sessions to only those leading. With so much happening with infection numbers, we want to err on the side of caution.

ZOOM WORSHIP ELEMENTS: We are planning to include more people and faces leading worship like you saw in the sharing of the peace today. If you are willing to read, pray, share the peace via Zoom for worship, please send Rodger an email.

The WEEKLY “ZOOM IN” CATCH UP: After trying 7:30 PM for a while, the weekly “regulars” have decided to move the Zoom call back to 6 PM. It seems that 7:30 had more problems than 6 does. Make a note and join us next Wednesday!

OFFERING UPDATES: Both treasurers want to remind everyone that summer is usually the time for a reminder to keep offerings up to date. With the current situation, this reminder is doubly important. If you can, please try to keep your offering current to help our with the current financial shortfall both CPC and MPC are experiencing due to lost user group income.

Happy Birthdays to: Carey Wood, Tuesday, August 11th Laura Phillips, Sunday, August 16th Lee West, Monday, August 17th Mary Bass, Thursday, August 10th Wesley Phillips, Saturday, August 22nd

Happy 47th anniversary to Phil & Marilyn Egel tomorrow, August 3rd.

Christ and Mulberry Prayer Concerns –August 2, 2020 (Updated as of Friday, July 31st)

Pray for: Chuck Sadler (Henry and Linda’s son): Lung tests yesterday. July 30th. Bill Thomason, recovering from an emergency cornea transplant this past Thursday.

Friday Bill was able to see fingers! Pray for a continued recovery of sight. Barbara Whitley (Jeff’s mother): Skin cancer removal, August 12th. Jane Guy, recovering at home from successful shoulder surgery. Laura Phillips, at home now; more tests upcoming. Kaitlyn Whitley: Her upcoming move from Boone to Charleston and new job. Pray for all people represented by the ever increasing numbers of positive COVID-19

tests. Pray for Keith Bigham and Deborah Ray for health concerns Pray for both our churches finances as we continue to lose income from our various

user groups who are not meeting in either facility. Pray in thanks for those who are helping us make ends meet; pray also for those who have had difficulty in meeting their offering commitments.

Pray for Gayl Wilshire’s (Judy Sellers co-worker) continued recovery from Achilles tendon surgery.

Pray for our friends in the SDA congregation as they are away from Mulberry’s sanctuary that is their home as well as ours.

Everyone who is experiencing anxiety and depression due to the ongoing limitations and restrictions in our daily lives.

Those out of work and struggling to make ends meet financially. Our friends and family in assisted living or nursing homes who can’t have visitors, like

Maggie Thrower, Lillian Williamson, Louise Carter, Lorraine Smith, Lorenzo Conyers. All those who do not have a church family to love and support them in difficult times. The Lorien Academy of the Arts and the Creative Player Foundation, as the continued

crisis affects their plans for summer camp and future programs. All our church leaders who are prayerfully looking at how we continue to safely and

responsibly move forward in our plans for reopening.