First Presbyterian Church
Order of Worship
November 19, 2023
PRELUDE We Gather Together, DeCou
WELCOME & ANNOUNCEMENTS
-WORSHIP COMMITTEE will be meeting TODAY, Nov. 19 after worship service.
-TUESDAY MORNING COFFEE GROUP meets at First Lutheran Mission Coffee House at 9:30ish.
-THURSDAY MORNING BIBLE STUDY AND PRAYER TIME will not be meeting this Thursday in observance with Thanksgiving Day. See you all on Nov. 30th.
-THE CHURCH OFFICE will also be closed this Thursday in observance of Thanksgiving Day.
-MONETARY DONATIONS FOR FEEDING BROOKINGS HOLIDAY DISTRIBUTION are being accepted until Thanksgiving. Please put donations in the offering plate and write ‘Feeding Brookings’ on the memo line or use the envelopes by the offering plates. Thank you for your generosity!
CALL TO WORSHIP
To you, O God of the heavens, we lift our eyes.
Have mercy on us!
God has been our dwelling place from generation to generation.
Hear us when we call!
From everlasting to everlasting, God is with us.
We will magnify your holy name!
Hymn #41 (Red) ‘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,
whose chariots of wrath the deep thunderclouds form,
and bright is God’s path on the wings of the storm.
The earth with its store of wonders untold,
Almighty, your power has founded of old;
Established it fast by a changeless decree,
And round it has cast, like a mantle, the sea.
Your 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 you do we trust, nor find you to fail;
your mercies, how tender, how firm to the end,
our Maker, Defender, Redeemer, and Friend.
CALL TO CONFESSION
As children of God, we come to God in our joys, in our sorrows, in our fears, and in our guilt. Knowing that God loves us and embraces us, let us bring our confessions to God.
PRAYER OF CONFESSION
God of abundance, you have given us so many gifts. You bless us with talents, resources, skills, and knowledge, and yet we hide them under a bushel. We hoard these gifts, instead of following you and sharing with those in need. We have been poor stewards of all you have given. Forgive us, and help us grow what we are given, that it might be returned in service to you.
ASSURANCE OF PARDON
God has destined us not for wrath, but for salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that we may live with him.
Praise be to Christ! Alleluia!
*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.
CHILDREN’S SERMON
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
The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. Listen to the word of the Lord.
Psalm 123 (responsively)
1 I lift up my eyes to you,
to you who sit enthroned in heaven.
2 As the eyes of slaves look to the hand of their master,
as the eyes of a female slave look to the hand of her mistress,
so our eyes look to the Lord our God,
till he shows us his mercy.
3 Have mercy on us, Lord, have mercy on us,
for we have endured no end of contempt.
4 We have endured no end
of ridicule from the arrogant,
of contempt from the proud.
1 Thessalonians 5:1–11
1 Now, brothers and sisters, about times and dates we do not need to write to you, 2 for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. 3 While people are saying, “Peace and safety,” destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.
4 But you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief. 5 You are all children of the light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness. 6 So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be awake and sober. 7 For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night. 8 But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet. 9 For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. 10 He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him. 11 Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.
Matthew 25:14–30
14 “Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them. 15 To one he gave five bags of gold, to another two bags, and to another one bag, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. 16 The man who had received five bags of gold went at once and put his money to work and gained five bags more. 17 So also, the one with two bags of gold gained two more. 18 But the man who had received one bag went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.
19 “After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. 20 The man who had received five bags of gold brought the other five. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with five bags of gold. See, I have gained five more.’
21 “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’
22 “The man with two bags of gold also came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with two bags of gold; see, I have gained two more.’
23 “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’
24 “Then the man who had received one bag of gold came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. 25 So I was afraid and went out and hid your gold in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’
26 “His master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? 27 Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.
28 “‘So take the bag of gold from him and give it to the one who has ten bags. 29 For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. 30 And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
Judges 4:1–7
1 Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, now that Ehud was dead. 2 So the Lord sold them into the hands of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. Sisera, the commander of his army, was based in Harosheth Haggoyim. 3 Because he had nine hundred chariots fitted with iron and had cruelly oppressed the Israelites for twenty years, they cried to the Lord for help.
4 Now Deborah, a prophet, the wife of Lappidoth, was leading Israel at that time. 5 She held court under the Palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites went up to her to have their disputes decided. 6 She sent for Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali and said to him, “The Lord, the God of Israel, commands you: ‘Go, take with you ten thousand men of Naphtali and Zebulun and lead them up to Mount Tabor. 7 I will lead Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and his troops to the Kishon River and give him into your hands.’”
Keep these words in your heart. The Lord is our God, the Lord alone.
Thanks be to God.
SERMON – Deborah Elizabeth Fox, CRE
Hymn #35 (Red) Praise Ye the Lord, the Almighty’
Praise ye the Lord, the Almighty, the King of creation!
O my soul, praise him, for he is thy health and salvation!
All ye who hear; now to his temple draw near;
join me in glad adoration!
Praise ye the Lord, who o’er all things so wondrously reigneth,
shelters thee under his wings, yea, so gently sustaineth!
Hast thou not seen how thy desires e’er have been
granted in what he ordaineth?
Praise to the Lord! O let all that is in me adore him!
All that hath life and breath, come now with praises before him!
Let the Amen sound from his people again;
gladly for aye we adore him.
AFFIRMATION OF FAITH-Adapted from the Confession of 1967, 9.32–33
The life, death, resurrection, and promised coming of Jesus Christ has set the pattern for the church’s mission. His human life involves the church in the common life of all people. His service to men and women commits the church to work for every form of human well-being. His suffering makes the church sensitive to all human suffering so that it sees the face of Christ in the faces of persons in every kind of need. His crucifixion discloses to the church God’s judgment on the inhumanity that marks human relations, and the awful consequences of the church’s own complicity in injustice. In the power of the risen Christ and the hope of his coming, the church sees the promise of God’s renewal of human life in society and of God’s victory over all wrong. The church follows this pattern in the form of its life and in the method of its action. So to live and serve is to confess Christ as Lord.
PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE
Responses: Lord for the joy, we give you thanks.
Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.
-Roger J -Gayle F
-Carol G -Robert (Robby’s father)
-Maxine D -Susan H (MK’s daughter)
-Barb (Bob O’s sister) -Andrew N (friend of Ella)
-Anthony B (Teri’s son) -Harry (Bonnie S’s father)
-Nelda H -Jim (Dianne L’s husband)
-Betty G -Andrew & Beth L
-Gwen B (friend of Lee)
-Bob J and Jan as caregiver
-Darwin L and Jeanne as caregiver
-Bob O and Nancy as caregiver
-Richard C and Dolores as caregiver
-USS South Dakota, captain and crew
Our homebound or in care members: Richard C, Bob J, Delores K, Rose P, Joyce R, Cliff R, Dee W (Please reach out and call)
This Week’s Prayer Families: Bob & Pat F, Robby & Donna F
Those Who Mourn: We pray for the family and friends of Patty K who passed away November 9, 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. Romans 12:1
*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.
Hymn #836 (Red) ‘Abide with Me’
Abide with me: fast falls the eventide.
The darkness deepens; Lord, with me abide!
When other helpers fail and comforts flee,
help of the helpless, O abide with me.
Swift to its close ebbs out life's little day;
earth's joys grow dim; its glories pass away;
change and decay in all around I see.
O thou who changest not, abide with me.
I need thy presence every passing hour;
what but thy grace can foil the tempter's power?
Who, like thyself, my guide and strength can be?
Through cloud and sunshine, Lord, abide with me.
I fear no foe, with thee at hand to bless;
ills have no weight, and tears no bitterness.
Where is death's sting? Where, grave, thy victory?
I triumph still, if thou abide with me.
Hold thou thy cross before my closing eyes;
shine through the gloom and point me to the skies.
Heaven's morning breaks, and earth's vain shadows flee;
in life, in death, O Lord, abide with me.
BLESSING AND CHARGE
The blessing of the holy, triune God, who was and is and is to come--
first and last, beginning and end, Alpha and Omega— be with you now and always.
Alleluia! Revelation 1:8
Go in peace to love the Lord your God
with heart and soul and mind and strength,
and to love your neighbor as yourself. Amen.
Mark 12:29–31
POSTLUDE The Church's One Foundation, Hustad
Order of Worship
November 19, 2023
PRELUDE We Gather Together, DeCou
WELCOME & ANNOUNCEMENTS
-WORSHIP COMMITTEE will be meeting TODAY, Nov. 19 after worship service.
-TUESDAY MORNING COFFEE GROUP meets at First Lutheran Mission Coffee House at 9:30ish.
-THURSDAY MORNING BIBLE STUDY AND PRAYER TIME will not be meeting this Thursday in observance with Thanksgiving Day. See you all on Nov. 30th.
-THE CHURCH OFFICE will also be closed this Thursday in observance of Thanksgiving Day.
-MONETARY DONATIONS FOR FEEDING BROOKINGS HOLIDAY DISTRIBUTION are being accepted until Thanksgiving. Please put donations in the offering plate and write ‘Feeding Brookings’ on the memo line or use the envelopes by the offering plates. Thank you for your generosity!
CALL TO WORSHIP
To you, O God of the heavens, we lift our eyes.
Have mercy on us!
God has been our dwelling place from generation to generation.
Hear us when we call!
From everlasting to everlasting, God is with us.
We will magnify your holy name!
Hymn #41 (Red) ‘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,
whose chariots of wrath the deep thunderclouds form,
and bright is God’s path on the wings of the storm.
The earth with its store of wonders untold,
Almighty, your power has founded of old;
Established it fast by a changeless decree,
And round it has cast, like a mantle, the sea.
Your 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 you do we trust, nor find you to fail;
your mercies, how tender, how firm to the end,
our Maker, Defender, Redeemer, and Friend.
CALL TO CONFESSION
As children of God, we come to God in our joys, in our sorrows, in our fears, and in our guilt. Knowing that God loves us and embraces us, let us bring our confessions to God.
PRAYER OF CONFESSION
God of abundance, you have given us so many gifts. You bless us with talents, resources, skills, and knowledge, and yet we hide them under a bushel. We hoard these gifts, instead of following you and sharing with those in need. We have been poor stewards of all you have given. Forgive us, and help us grow what we are given, that it might be returned in service to you.
ASSURANCE OF PARDON
God has destined us not for wrath, but for salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that we may live with him.
Praise be to Christ! Alleluia!
*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.
CHILDREN’S SERMON
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
The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. Listen to the word of the Lord.
Psalm 123 (responsively)
1 I lift up my eyes to you,
to you who sit enthroned in heaven.
2 As the eyes of slaves look to the hand of their master,
as the eyes of a female slave look to the hand of her mistress,
so our eyes look to the Lord our God,
till he shows us his mercy.
3 Have mercy on us, Lord, have mercy on us,
for we have endured no end of contempt.
4 We have endured no end
of ridicule from the arrogant,
of contempt from the proud.
1 Thessalonians 5:1–11
1 Now, brothers and sisters, about times and dates we do not need to write to you, 2 for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. 3 While people are saying, “Peace and safety,” destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.
4 But you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief. 5 You are all children of the light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness. 6 So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be awake and sober. 7 For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night. 8 But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet. 9 For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. 10 He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him. 11 Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.
Matthew 25:14–30
14 “Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them. 15 To one he gave five bags of gold, to another two bags, and to another one bag, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. 16 The man who had received five bags of gold went at once and put his money to work and gained five bags more. 17 So also, the one with two bags of gold gained two more. 18 But the man who had received one bag went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.
19 “After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. 20 The man who had received five bags of gold brought the other five. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with five bags of gold. See, I have gained five more.’
21 “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’
22 “The man with two bags of gold also came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with two bags of gold; see, I have gained two more.’
23 “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’
24 “Then the man who had received one bag of gold came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. 25 So I was afraid and went out and hid your gold in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’
26 “His master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? 27 Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.
28 “‘So take the bag of gold from him and give it to the one who has ten bags. 29 For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. 30 And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
Judges 4:1–7
1 Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, now that Ehud was dead. 2 So the Lord sold them into the hands of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. Sisera, the commander of his army, was based in Harosheth Haggoyim. 3 Because he had nine hundred chariots fitted with iron and had cruelly oppressed the Israelites for twenty years, they cried to the Lord for help.
4 Now Deborah, a prophet, the wife of Lappidoth, was leading Israel at that time. 5 She held court under the Palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites went up to her to have their disputes decided. 6 She sent for Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali and said to him, “The Lord, the God of Israel, commands you: ‘Go, take with you ten thousand men of Naphtali and Zebulun and lead them up to Mount Tabor. 7 I will lead Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and his troops to the Kishon River and give him into your hands.’”
Keep these words in your heart. The Lord is our God, the Lord alone.
Thanks be to God.
SERMON – Deborah Elizabeth Fox, CRE
Hymn #35 (Red) Praise Ye the Lord, the Almighty’
Praise ye the Lord, the Almighty, the King of creation!
O my soul, praise him, for he is thy health and salvation!
All ye who hear; now to his temple draw near;
join me in glad adoration!
Praise ye the Lord, who o’er all things so wondrously reigneth,
shelters thee under his wings, yea, so gently sustaineth!
Hast thou not seen how thy desires e’er have been
granted in what he ordaineth?
Praise to the Lord! O let all that is in me adore him!
All that hath life and breath, come now with praises before him!
Let the Amen sound from his people again;
gladly for aye we adore him.
AFFIRMATION OF FAITH-Adapted from the Confession of 1967, 9.32–33
The life, death, resurrection, and promised coming of Jesus Christ has set the pattern for the church’s mission. His human life involves the church in the common life of all people. His service to men and women commits the church to work for every form of human well-being. His suffering makes the church sensitive to all human suffering so that it sees the face of Christ in the faces of persons in every kind of need. His crucifixion discloses to the church God’s judgment on the inhumanity that marks human relations, and the awful consequences of the church’s own complicity in injustice. In the power of the risen Christ and the hope of his coming, the church sees the promise of God’s renewal of human life in society and of God’s victory over all wrong. The church follows this pattern in the form of its life and in the method of its action. So to live and serve is to confess Christ as Lord.
PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE
Responses: Lord for the joy, we give you thanks.
Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.
-Roger J -Gayle F
-Carol G -Robert (Robby’s father)
-Maxine D -Susan H (MK’s daughter)
-Barb (Bob O’s sister) -Andrew N (friend of Ella)
-Anthony B (Teri’s son) -Harry (Bonnie S’s father)
-Nelda H -Jim (Dianne L’s husband)
-Betty G -Andrew & Beth L
-Gwen B (friend of Lee)
-Bob J and Jan as caregiver
-Darwin L and Jeanne as caregiver
-Bob O and Nancy as caregiver
-Richard C and Dolores as caregiver
-USS South Dakota, captain and crew
Our homebound or in care members: Richard C, Bob J, Delores K, Rose P, Joyce R, Cliff R, Dee W (Please reach out and call)
This Week’s Prayer Families: Bob & Pat F, Robby & Donna F
Those Who Mourn: We pray for the family and friends of Patty K who passed away November 9, 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. Romans 12:1
*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.
Hymn #836 (Red) ‘Abide with Me’
Abide with me: fast falls the eventide.
The darkness deepens; Lord, with me abide!
When other helpers fail and comforts flee,
help of the helpless, O abide with me.
Swift to its close ebbs out life's little day;
earth's joys grow dim; its glories pass away;
change and decay in all around I see.
O thou who changest not, abide with me.
I need thy presence every passing hour;
what but thy grace can foil the tempter's power?
Who, like thyself, my guide and strength can be?
Through cloud and sunshine, Lord, abide with me.
I fear no foe, with thee at hand to bless;
ills have no weight, and tears no bitterness.
Where is death's sting? Where, grave, thy victory?
I triumph still, if thou abide with me.
Hold thou thy cross before my closing eyes;
shine through the gloom and point me to the skies.
Heaven's morning breaks, and earth's vain shadows flee;
in life, in death, O Lord, abide with me.
BLESSING AND CHARGE
The blessing of the holy, triune God, who was and is and is to come--
first and last, beginning and end, Alpha and Omega— be with you now and always.
Alleluia! Revelation 1:8
Go in peace to love the Lord your God
with heart and soul and mind and strength,
and to love your neighbor as yourself. Amen.
Mark 12:29–31
POSTLUDE The Church's One Foundation, Hustad