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Order of Worship

“Let all things be done decently and in order.”
– 1 Corinthians 14:40

Welcome & Call to Worship

Psalm 24

A psalm of David.

1 
The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it.
    The world and all its people belong to him.

2 
For he laid the earth’s foundation on the seas
    and built it on the ocean depths.

3 
Who may climb the mountain of the Lord?
    Who may stand in his holy place?

4 
Only those whose hands and hearts are pure,
    who do not worship idols
    and never tell lies.

5 
They will receive the Lord’s blessing
    and have a right relationship with God their savior.

6 
Such people may seek you
    and worship in your presence, O God of Jacob. Interlude

7 
Open up, ancient gates!
    Open up, ancient doors,
    and let the King of glory enter.

8 
Who is the King of glory?
    The Lord, strong and mighty;
    the Lord, invincible in battle.

9 
Open up, ancient gates!
    Open up, ancient doors,
    and let the King of glory enter.

10 
Who is the King of glory?
    The Lord of Heaven’s Armies—
    he is the King of glory. 

Scripture Reading

  • Acts 17:22-28 

    All Peoples Are Kin

    22 So Paul, standing before the council, addressed them as follows: “Men of Athens, I notice that you are very religious in every way, 23 for as I was walking along I saw your many shrines. And one of your altars had this inscription on it: ‘To an Unknown God.’ This God, whom you worship without knowing, is the one I’m telling you about.

    24 “He is the God who made the world and everything in it. Since he is Lord of heaven and earth, he doesn’t live in man-made temples, 25 and human hands can’t serve his needs—for he has no needs. He himself gives life and breath to everything, and he satisfies every need. 26 From one man he created all the nations throughout the whole earth. He decided beforehand when they should rise and fall, and he determined their boundaries.

    27 “His purpose was for the nations to seek after God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him—though he is not far from any one of us. 28 For in him we live and move and exist. As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’

  • Vayikra (Leviticus) Chapter 6

    1 God spoke to Moses, saying,

    2 “Command Aaron and his sons, saying, ‘This is the regulation regarding the ascent-offering; it remains the same, valid ascent-offering as long as it was placed on the fire pile atop the Altar anytime during the entire night, until morning, inasmuch as the fire of the Altar will be burning on it throughout the night.

    3 Every morning, the priest must don his linen tunic, and he must don his linen trousers on his flesh. He must remove the ashes remaining after the fire will consume the daily afternoon ascent-offering upon the Altar, and deposit them next to the Altar.

    4 He should remove his garments and put on other garments, and he must take the ashes out to a ritually undefiled place outside the camp.

    5 The fire burning on the Altar must not be allowed to go out. The priest must kindle wood upon it every morning, and he must arrange the cut-up pieces of the morning daily ascent-offering upon it. He must burn up the fats of the peace-offerings upon it.

    6 The fire used to kindle the lamps of the Candelabrum, which must be lit regularly, must burn upon the Altar. The fire on the Altar must not go out.

Prayer of the People

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Prayer of the People ~

Responsive prayer and intercession for our community, nation, and world.

The Apostles’ Creed

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 Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, dead, and buried.
The third day He rose from the dead;
He ascended into heaven,
and sitteth at 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 Spirit,
the Church Universal,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting.

Amen.

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Near to All, Holy Among Us
Sunday Study
Near to All, Holy Among Us
Sunday Study

Preamble:
Before Paul stands among the altars of Athens,
the priest stands before the altar of Israel.

Before the nations hear
that God does not dwell in temples made with hands,
Israel is taught
how to rise,
how to handle yesterday’s ashes,
and how to keep the fire from going out in the night.

That word meets us in an age
that loves saying God is everywhere,
but does not always love
the discipline of living
as if He truly is.

Acts gives us the wide word.
God needs nothing.
He is not served as though He lacked.
He gives life, breath, and all things.
That is hard on proud religion.
It means God is not fragile.
He is not waiting on us
to keep heaven running.

He is God already.

But Leviticus gives us the close word.
The fire must not go out.
The priest must tend it.
The morning must begin again with care.
Ashes must be handled.
What was offered yesterday
must not be treated lightly today.

So this is not a contradiction.
It is a schooling.

God does not need the fire.
We need the fire.

We need it
so nearness does not become carelessness,
so worship does not become noise,
so we do not learn how to shout on Sunday
and forget how to bow by Monday.

The altar was never built
to contain God.
It was given
to shape a people.

And that is why this word leans toward Palm Sunday.
It is possible to wave branches
and still have no inward fire
for the obedience that comes after the parade.

So the question before us
is not simply whether God is near.
The question is whether we have become
the kind of people
who know how to live near Him.

For the God who cannot be housed by temples
still means to dwell among a people.
And He will be known
not by noise alone,
but by a people who know how to rise,
how to remember,
how to carry the ashes,
and how to keep the fire. 

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Benediction

May the God who gives life to all
teach us how to live that life well.

May the God who is near to every one of us
keep us from becoming careless in His presence.

May our hands be trained,
our hearts attentive,
and our lives ordered with quiet reverence.

And may the fire that is not for His sake
but for ours
never go out.

Amen — Ashe — So Be It.

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