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Second Presbyterian Church Oil City

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Order of Service April 28, 2024@11am Eastern
Second Presbyterian Church Oil City, Pennsylvania
April 28, 2024 Fifth Sunday of Easter

Prelude Tech Crew
Welcome and Announcements

Call to Worship (based on Psalm 22:25-31)
L/ Alleluia. Christ is risen.
P/ He is risen indeed. Alleluia
L/ God brings us into the Great Assembly to praise God and fulfill our vows.
P/ Together we will work with God to renew creation. We will see the poor eat and be satisfied. May all who seek the Lord have praise in their hearts.
L/ Together we will work with God to renew creation. All the peoples of the earth will turn to the Lord. Dominion and power belong to our Lord.
P/ Together we will work with God to renew creation. All will feast at God’s Table and Life will be the rule. All generations will see God’s salvation.
L/ Let all who have lived, who are alive today, and those yet unborn join their voices in te Great Assembly—Our God has won salvation for all of creation, renewing the face of the earth! Alleluia!

Hymn of Praise: # 4 How Great Thou Art

Assurance and Confession
L/ Christ Himself bore our sins on the cross so that, free from sin, we might live for righteousness. (1 Peter 2:24) Let us now silently confess our sins and our need for the Salvation won by Christ Jesus.
<silent confession>
P/ Risen and Loving Lord, we confess that we resist thinking about being a part of your church. We think about ourselves and our own individual actions. We resist the call to community that is at the heart of your Word. Forgive us and renew us to be together. By your Spirit teach us what unity in your Kingdom really is. Teach us to be the Body of Jesus.

L/ Hear these words of scripture: “I have given the ones you gave to me Father the glory that you gave to me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they have complete unity so the world would know that you sent me and love them as you have loved me.” (John 17: 22-23) You and I are set free from sin in the death of Jesus and made a New Creation in His resurrection. Alleluia! Amen!

Special Music Pam Keverline

Passing of the Peace
Children’s Chat Tammy Botts
Reading Scripture
Prayer for Illumination
Old Testament: Nehemiah 8: 7-10
New Testament: Acts 8: 26-40
Sermon “Understanding is a group effort” Rev. Dr. Tim Harmon

Affirmation of Faith (Early Creed from Scripture: 1 Corinthians 15: 1-6 and Matthew 16:16)
All/ This is the Good News which we have received, in which we stand, and by which we are saved if we hold fast: that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, that He was buried, and that He was raised up on the third day. He appeared first to the women, then to Peter and the Twelve, then to many other faithful witnesses and finally to me. So we believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Christ, the Son of the Living God.

We Offer Our Tithes of Time, Talent, and Resources
Special Music Pam Keverline
Praise God From Whom All Blessing Flow

Prayers of the People
Lord’s Prayer (using debts)

Antiphon: #64 All Creatures of our God and King (verse 1 only)

Prayer of Thanksgiving (from our Reformed Tradition)
L/Thank you for calling us your people to unity in Christ. Thank you for recuing us and remaking us. Form the minds of your people to be one, making us love what you command and desire what you promise. Make our hearts, adrift in this ever changing world, firmly affix to you, the only source of true joy. (PCUSA Book of Common Worship, 2018)

Benediction

Closing Hymn: #287 Our God Has Made Us One ... See MoreSee Less