ORDER OF WORSHIP
22nd Sunday after Pentecost
Reformation Sunday
October 29, 2023
PRELUDE
WELCOME AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
-TUESDAY MORNING COFFEE GROUP meets at First Lutheran Mission Coffee House at 9:30ish.
-THURSDAY MORNING BIBLE STUDY AND PRAYER TIME meets in the Center Meeting Room 9:30-11:30. Come visit and see what we are about!
-CHOIR PRACTICE will be held on Sunday mornings at 9:30 AM. Please meet in the North Meeting Room. Let’s make a joyful noise to the Lord!
-DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME ENDS on November 5th, at 2:00 AM. Fall back one hour.
-A CONGREGATION MEETING will be held on November 5th following worship service for the purpose of electing officers. Please plan to attend.
-THE BUFFALO RIDGE CHORALE FAREWELL CONCERT is November 5th at 7:00 PM at the Christ Lutheran Church, Hendricks, MN. Anna DeGraff (former choir director at First Presbyterian Church) will be directing and Rozanne M is a member of the choir. Admittance is $8.
FEEDING BROOKINGS: First Presbyterian Church will be participating in the Feeding Brookings holiday distribution by supplying 250 packages of instant potatoes. For ease of collection, we are asking for monetary donations. Please make your donation during the month of November by using the envelopes provided by the offering plates or including on your check ‘Feeding Brookings’ on the memo line. Thank you for your generosity!
CALL TO WORSHIP
God speaks to us: You shall be holy,
for I am holy.
You shall not hate,
but love your neighbor as yourself.
*HYMN #476 (Blue) ‘O Worship the King, All Glorious Above’
O worship the King all glorious above!
O gratefully sing God’s power and God’s love;
Our shield and defender, the Ancient of Days,
Pavilioned in splendor and girded with praise.
O tell of God’s might, O sing of God’s grace,
Whose robe is the light, whose canopy space.
The chariots of heaven the deep thunderclouds form,
And dark is God’s path on the wings of the storm.
The earth with its store of wonders untold,
Almighty, Thy power hath founded of old;
Hath stablished it fast by a changeless decree,
And round it hath cast, like a mantle, the sea.
Thy bountiful care what tongue can recite?
It breathes in the air, it shines in the light;
It streams from the hills, it descends to the plain,
And sweetly distills in the dew and the rain.
Frail children of dust, and feeble as frail,
In Thee do we trust, nor find Thee to fail.
Thy mercies how tender, how firm to the end,
Our maker, defender, redeemer, and friend.
CALL TO CONFESSION
God watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.
We have righteousness within us, but we also have wickedness. Therefore, let us confess.
PRAYER OF CONFESSION
God of love, your commandments are so simple: love God, love neighbor, love self. Yet we cannot always muster that love. Love for you seems too abstract and distant. Love for our neighbors seems too impractical and draining. Love for ourselves seems too impossible and unimportant. But you are truly the God of love; if there is anyone who can help us love,
it is you. Shower us with your love so we might have the greatest example, and help us learn from you. (Silent reflection)
ASSURANCE OF PARDON
It is true: we are beloved of God. The God who loves us does not condemn us.
We will live in the glory of God’s love!
*GLORIA PATRI
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son,
and to the Holy Ghost.
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, Amen.
PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION
Sovereign God, let your Word rule in our hearts and your Spirit govern our lives until at last we see the fulfillment of your realm of justice and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
SCRIPTURE READING
Isaiah 9:2-7
2 The people who walked in darkness
have seen a great light;
those who lived in a land of deep darkness--
on them light has shined.
3 You have multiplied exultation;
you have increased its joy;
they rejoice before plunder you
as with joy at the harvest,
as people exult when dividing.
4 For the yoke of their burden
and the bar across their shoulders,
the rod of their oppressor,
you have broken as on the day of Midian.
5 For all the boots of the tramping warriors
and all the garments rolled in blood
shall be burned as fuel for the fire.
6 For a child has been born for us,
a son given to us;
authority rests upon his shoulders,
and he is named
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7 Great will be his authority,
and there shall be endless peace
for the throne of David and his kingdom.
He will establish and uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
from this time onward and forevermore.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.
Gospel Reading: Mark 8:27-38
27 Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi, and on the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” 28 And they answered him, “John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.” 29 He asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Messiah.” 30 And he sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about him.
31 Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes and be killed and after three days rise again. 32 He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. 33 But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”
34 He called the crowd with his disciples and said to them, “If any wish to come after me, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 35 For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. 36 For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? 37 Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? 38 Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”
SERMON ‘Who is Jesus?’ Pastor Mark Werner
*HYMN # 379 (Blue) ‘My Hope is Built on Nothing Less’
My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness;
I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name.
Refrain:
On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand:
all other ground is sinking sand;
all other ground is sinking sand.
When darkness veils His lovely face, I rest on His unchanging grace;
in every high and stormy gale, my anchor holds within the veil. [Refrain]
His oath, His covenant, His blood, support me in the whelming flood;
when all around my soul gives way, He then is all my hope and stay. [Refrain]
When He shall come with trumpet sound, O may I then in Him be found:
dressed in His righteousness alone, faultless to stand before the throne. [Refrain]
AFFIRMATION OF FAITH – APOSTLES’ CREED (in unison)
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.
PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE
-Gayle F
-Carol G
-Robert (Robby’s father)
-Susan H (MK’s daughter)
-Maxine D
-Andrew N (friend of Ella)
-Barb (Bob O’s sister)
-Anthony B (Teri’s son)
-USS South Dakota, captain and crew
-Jim (Dianne L’s husband)
-Nelda H
-Betty G
-Richard C and Dolores as caregiver
-Bob J and Jan as caregiver
-Darwin L and Jeanne as caregiver
-Bob O and Nancy as caregiver
-Andrew & Beth L
-Gwen B (Lee P’s friend)
-Patty (friend of Michele and Brookings)
-Harry (Bonnie S’s father)
Our homebound or in care members: Richard C, Bob J, Delores K, Rose P, Cliff R, Dee W (Please reach out and call)
This Week’s Prayer Families: Don B, Chad & Diane B & family Tate & Trent
Those who mourn: We pray for the Bierstedt, Riedesel, Eich, Ohnstad, VanderWaal, Broksieck, Canaday, Barnett, Fee, Goodale, McCann, and Webster families and all who have lost loved ones.
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.
INVITATION TO OFFERING
I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, to present yourselves as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God. Let us offer our lives to the Lord.
SPECIAL MUSIC ‘Great is the Lord’ Chorus
DOXOLOGY
Praise God from whom all blessings flow;
Praise Him, all creatures here below;
Praise Him above, ye heavenly host;
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.
PRAYER OF DEDICATION
God of the harvest, you are continually planting the seeds of your love in our world and in our lives. As we bring our gifts to you, may they be seeds of your grace, peace, and hope, planted deeply in our community. Amen.
*CLOSING HYMN #260 (Blue) ‘A Mighty Fortress is our God’
A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing;
Our helper He amid the flood of mortal ills prevailing.
For still our ancient foe, doth seek to work us woe;
His craft and power are great, and armed with cruel hate,
On earth is not his equal.
Did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing;
Were not the right Man on our side, the Man of God’s own choosing,
Dost ask who that may be? Christ Jesus, it is He,
Lord Sabaoth His name, from age to age the same,
And He must win the battle.
And though this world, with devils filled, should threaten to undo us,
We will not fear, for God hath willed His truth to triumph through us.
The prince of darkness grim, we tremble not for him;
His rage we can endure, for Lo! his doom is sure,
One little word shall fell him.
That word above all earthly powers, no thanks to them, abideth;
The Spirit and the gifts are ours through Him who with us sideth;
Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also;
The body they may kill, God’s truth abideth still.
His kingdom is forever.
BLESSING AND CHARGE
POSTLUDE
Sources: Call to Worship Lectionary Aids for 2022-2023 Year A Vo.56.1 PCUSA
22nd Sunday after Pentecost
Reformation Sunday
October 29, 2023
PRELUDE
WELCOME AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
-TUESDAY MORNING COFFEE GROUP meets at First Lutheran Mission Coffee House at 9:30ish.
-THURSDAY MORNING BIBLE STUDY AND PRAYER TIME meets in the Center Meeting Room 9:30-11:30. Come visit and see what we are about!
-CHOIR PRACTICE will be held on Sunday mornings at 9:30 AM. Please meet in the North Meeting Room. Let’s make a joyful noise to the Lord!
-DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME ENDS on November 5th, at 2:00 AM. Fall back one hour.
-A CONGREGATION MEETING will be held on November 5th following worship service for the purpose of electing officers. Please plan to attend.
-THE BUFFALO RIDGE CHORALE FAREWELL CONCERT is November 5th at 7:00 PM at the Christ Lutheran Church, Hendricks, MN. Anna DeGraff (former choir director at First Presbyterian Church) will be directing and Rozanne M is a member of the choir. Admittance is $8.
FEEDING BROOKINGS: First Presbyterian Church will be participating in the Feeding Brookings holiday distribution by supplying 250 packages of instant potatoes. For ease of collection, we are asking for monetary donations. Please make your donation during the month of November by using the envelopes provided by the offering plates or including on your check ‘Feeding Brookings’ on the memo line. Thank you for your generosity!
CALL TO WORSHIP
God speaks to us: You shall be holy,
for I am holy.
You shall not hate,
but love your neighbor as yourself.
*HYMN #476 (Blue) ‘O Worship the King, All Glorious Above’
O worship the King all glorious above!
O gratefully sing God’s power and God’s love;
Our shield and defender, the Ancient of Days,
Pavilioned in splendor and girded with praise.
O tell of God’s might, O sing of God’s grace,
Whose robe is the light, whose canopy space.
The chariots of heaven the deep thunderclouds form,
And dark is God’s path on the wings of the storm.
The earth with its store of wonders untold,
Almighty, Thy power hath founded of old;
Hath stablished it fast by a changeless decree,
And round it hath cast, like a mantle, the sea.
Thy bountiful care what tongue can recite?
It breathes in the air, it shines in the light;
It streams from the hills, it descends to the plain,
And sweetly distills in the dew and the rain.
Frail children of dust, and feeble as frail,
In Thee do we trust, nor find Thee to fail.
Thy mercies how tender, how firm to the end,
Our maker, defender, redeemer, and friend.
CALL TO CONFESSION
God watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.
We have righteousness within us, but we also have wickedness. Therefore, let us confess.
PRAYER OF CONFESSION
God of love, your commandments are so simple: love God, love neighbor, love self. Yet we cannot always muster that love. Love for you seems too abstract and distant. Love for our neighbors seems too impractical and draining. Love for ourselves seems too impossible and unimportant. But you are truly the God of love; if there is anyone who can help us love,
it is you. Shower us with your love so we might have the greatest example, and help us learn from you. (Silent reflection)
ASSURANCE OF PARDON
It is true: we are beloved of God. The God who loves us does not condemn us.
We will live in the glory of God’s love!
*GLORIA PATRI
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son,
and to the Holy Ghost.
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, Amen.
PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION
Sovereign God, let your Word rule in our hearts and your Spirit govern our lives until at last we see the fulfillment of your realm of justice and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
SCRIPTURE READING
Isaiah 9:2-7
2 The people who walked in darkness
have seen a great light;
those who lived in a land of deep darkness--
on them light has shined.
3 You have multiplied exultation;
you have increased its joy;
they rejoice before plunder you
as with joy at the harvest,
as people exult when dividing.
4 For the yoke of their burden
and the bar across their shoulders,
the rod of their oppressor,
you have broken as on the day of Midian.
5 For all the boots of the tramping warriors
and all the garments rolled in blood
shall be burned as fuel for the fire.
6 For a child has been born for us,
a son given to us;
authority rests upon his shoulders,
and he is named
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7 Great will be his authority,
and there shall be endless peace
for the throne of David and his kingdom.
He will establish and uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
from this time onward and forevermore.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.
Gospel Reading: Mark 8:27-38
27 Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi, and on the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” 28 And they answered him, “John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.” 29 He asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Messiah.” 30 And he sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about him.
31 Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes and be killed and after three days rise again. 32 He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. 33 But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”
34 He called the crowd with his disciples and said to them, “If any wish to come after me, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 35 For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. 36 For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? 37 Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? 38 Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”
SERMON ‘Who is Jesus?’ Pastor Mark Werner
*HYMN # 379 (Blue) ‘My Hope is Built on Nothing Less’
My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness;
I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name.
Refrain:
On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand:
all other ground is sinking sand;
all other ground is sinking sand.
When darkness veils His lovely face, I rest on His unchanging grace;
in every high and stormy gale, my anchor holds within the veil. [Refrain]
His oath, His covenant, His blood, support me in the whelming flood;
when all around my soul gives way, He then is all my hope and stay. [Refrain]
When He shall come with trumpet sound, O may I then in Him be found:
dressed in His righteousness alone, faultless to stand before the throne. [Refrain]
AFFIRMATION OF FAITH – APOSTLES’ CREED (in unison)
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.
PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE
-Gayle F
-Carol G
-Robert (Robby’s father)
-Susan H (MK’s daughter)
-Maxine D
-Andrew N (friend of Ella)
-Barb (Bob O’s sister)
-Anthony B (Teri’s son)
-USS South Dakota, captain and crew
-Jim (Dianne L’s husband)
-Nelda H
-Betty G
-Richard C and Dolores as caregiver
-Bob J and Jan as caregiver
-Darwin L and Jeanne as caregiver
-Bob O and Nancy as caregiver
-Andrew & Beth L
-Gwen B (Lee P’s friend)
-Patty (friend of Michele and Brookings)
-Harry (Bonnie S’s father)
Our homebound or in care members: Richard C, Bob J, Delores K, Rose P, Cliff R, Dee W (Please reach out and call)
This Week’s Prayer Families: Don B, Chad & Diane B & family Tate & Trent
Those who mourn: We pray for the Bierstedt, Riedesel, Eich, Ohnstad, VanderWaal, Broksieck, Canaday, Barnett, Fee, Goodale, McCann, and Webster families and all who have lost loved ones.
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.
INVITATION TO OFFERING
I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, to present yourselves as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God. Let us offer our lives to the Lord.
SPECIAL MUSIC ‘Great is the Lord’ Chorus
DOXOLOGY
Praise God from whom all blessings flow;
Praise Him, all creatures here below;
Praise Him above, ye heavenly host;
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.
PRAYER OF DEDICATION
God of the harvest, you are continually planting the seeds of your love in our world and in our lives. As we bring our gifts to you, may they be seeds of your grace, peace, and hope, planted deeply in our community. Amen.
*CLOSING HYMN #260 (Blue) ‘A Mighty Fortress is our God’
A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing;
Our helper He amid the flood of mortal ills prevailing.
For still our ancient foe, doth seek to work us woe;
His craft and power are great, and armed with cruel hate,
On earth is not his equal.
Did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing;
Were not the right Man on our side, the Man of God’s own choosing,
Dost ask who that may be? Christ Jesus, it is He,
Lord Sabaoth His name, from age to age the same,
And He must win the battle.
And though this world, with devils filled, should threaten to undo us,
We will not fear, for God hath willed His truth to triumph through us.
The prince of darkness grim, we tremble not for him;
His rage we can endure, for Lo! his doom is sure,
One little word shall fell him.
That word above all earthly powers, no thanks to them, abideth;
The Spirit and the gifts are ours through Him who with us sideth;
Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also;
The body they may kill, God’s truth abideth still.
His kingdom is forever.
BLESSING AND CHARGE
POSTLUDE
Sources: Call to Worship Lectionary Aids for 2022-2023 Year A Vo.56.1 PCUSA