Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost
October 15, 2006

Unity, Reconciliation and Justice
A worship series based upon the Belhar Confession
From the Uniting Reformed Churches in Southern Africa
The Approach to God
The Prelude
The Church Bell
The Introit: “Come All You Servants of the Lord”
The Call to Worship
L: In Christ, the God of heaven has made his home on earth.
P: Christ dwells among us and is one with us.
L: Highest of all creation, he lives among the least.
P: He journeys with the rejected and welcomes the weary.
L: Come now, all who thirst,
P: and drink the water of life.
L: Come now, all who hunger,
P: and be filled with good things.
L: Come now, all who seek,
P: and be warmed by the fire of love.
* The Hymn: No. 434 “Today We All Are Called to Be Disciples”
* The Salutation -- from Isaiah 42:6-8
L: I am the Lord, I have called you in righteousness,
I have taken you by the hand and kept you;
I have given you as a covenant to the people;
a light to the nations,
to open the eyes that are blind,
to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon,
from the prison those who sit in darkness.
I am the Lord, that is my name;
my glory I give to no other,
nor my praise to idols.
U: AMEN!
The Prayer of Confession
O God of shalom,
we have built up walls to protect ourselves from our enemies,
but those walls also shut us off from receiving your love.
Break down those walls.
Help us to see that the way to your heart
is through the reconciliation of our own hearts with our enemies.
Bless them and us,
that we may come to grow in love for each other and for you,
through Jesus Christ. Amen.
(Let the worshippers consider their lives in silence.)






The Words of Assurance -- from Psalm 145:13-14
L: The Lord is faithful in all his words,
and gracious in all his deeds.
The Lord upholds all who are falling,
and raises up all who are bowed down.
P: Thanks be to God.
The Law of God -- from Micah 6:8
He has told you, O mortal, what is good;
and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?

The Word of God
The Sacrament of Baptism -- Please see insert.
The Children’s Sermon
* The Hymn: No. 405 “What Does the Lord Require?”
The Lesson
Luke 4:14-21 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 62
L: The Word of the Lord.
P: Thanks be to God.
The Sermon: “And Justice For All”
* The Affirmation of Faith
North: We believe that God has revealed himself as the One who wishes to bring about justice and true peace among men;
South: that in a world full of injustice and enmity He is in a special way the God of the destitute, the poor and the wronged and that He calls his Church to follow Him in this;
North: that He brings justice to the oppressed and gives bread to the hungry;
South: that He frees the prisoner and restores sight to the blind;
North: that He supports the downtrodden, protects the stranger, helps orphans and widows and blocks the path of the ungodly;
South: that for Him pure and undefiled religion is to visit the orphans and the widows in their suffering;
North: that He wishes to teach His people to do what is good and to seek the right;
South: that the Church must therefore stand by people in any form of suffering and need, which implies, among other things, that the Church must witness against and strive against any form of injustice, so that justice may roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream;
Unison: that the Church as the possession of God must stand where He stands, namely against injustice and with the wronged; that in following Christ the Church must witness against all the powerful and privileged who selfishly seek their own interests and thus control and harm others.
(paragraph 4 – The Belhar Confession)
The Anthem: “Pillar and Ground of Truth” . . . . . . . . . . . M. Hayes
The Response to God
Presentation of Tithes and Offerings
* The Doxology -- Tune: Nun Danket
All praise and thanks to God
the Father now be given,
the Son, and him who reigns
with them in highest heaven,
the one eternal God,
whom heav'n and earth adore;
for thus it was, is now,
and shall be evermore.
* The Prayer of Dedication
O God, most merciful and gracious,
of whose bounty we have all received,
accept this offering of your people.
Remember in your love those who have brought it
and those for whom it is given,
and so follow it with your blessing
that it may promote peace and goodwill among all peoples,
and advance the kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Amen.
The Life of the Church
Our Gratitude Expressed
Our Concerns Raised Up
The Church’s Prayer and the Lord’s Prayer
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . using ‘debts’ and ‘debtors’
* The Hymn: No. 423 “Canto de Esperanza/Song of Hope”
* The Benediction
* The Choral Response: “Come All You Servants of the Lord”
* The Postlude


Pultneyville Reformed Church
7784 Hamilton Street
P.O. Box 94
Pultneyville, NY 14538
315-589-2703
prc@pultneyville.orgwww.pultneyville.org