Sunday, January 9, 2022 - Why do we exist?

Exploring the Seismic Questions - Why do we exist?

Theme: Exploring the Seismic Questions –Why do we exist?

“Remember how short my life is! Have you created humans for no good reason? (Psalm 89:47)

Hymn 18    Hallelujah! Sing Praise to Your Creator   (In Person Only)

Welcome

 

Awakening to God’s Presence                   (In Person Only)

Hymn       God You Sing the Whirling Planets     (In Person Only)

Prayer for God’s Guidance

Genesis 1:26                           Common English Bible Translation

Then God said, “Let us make humanity in our image to resemble us so that they may take charge of the fish of the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the earth, and all the crawling things on earth.” (Eph 2:10) Instead, we are God’s accomplishment, created in Christ Jesus to do good things. God planned for these good things to be the way that we live our lives. (Question: What are the good things you’ve identified in your life that you feel compelled to share with others?)

Genesis 1:27

God created humanity in God’s own image, in the divine image God created them, male and female God created them. (1 Jn 4:7) Dear friends, let’s love each other, because love is from God, and everyone who loves is born from God and knows God. (Question: What keeps you from experiencing God’s love?)

Hymn       We Are One in the Spirit        (In Person Only) 

Genesis 1:28

God blessed them and said to them, “Be fertile and multiply; fill the earth and master it. Take charge of the fish of the sea, the birds in the sky, and everything crawling on the ground.” (Jn 17:13) Now I’m coming to you and I say these things while I’m in the world so that they can share completely in my joy. (Question: How has a recognition of blessings in your life impacted your joy?)

Genesis 1:29–30

Then God said, “I now give to you all the plants on the earth that yield seeds and all the trees whose fruit produces its seeds within it. These will be your food. To all wildlife, to all the birds in the sky, and to everything crawling on the ground-to everything that breathes-I give all the green grasses for food.” And that’s what happened. (Ps 35:27) Let those who want things to be set right for me shout for joy and celebrate! Let them constantly say, “The Lord is great – God wants his servant to be at peace.” (Question: What are the things you search for in life?)

Hymn       Standing on the Promises        (In Person Only) 

Genesis 1:31

God saw everything he had made: it was supremely good. There was evening and there was morning the sixth day. (Is 48:17-19) The Lord your redeemer, the holy one of Israel, proclaims: I am the Lord your God who teaches you for your own good, who leads you in the way you should go. If you would pay attention to my commands, your well-being would be like a river, and your righteousness like the waves of the sea. Your offspring would be like the sand, and your descendants like its grains. Their name would never be eliminated, never wiped out from before me. (Question: What aspects of your life will live on beyond your lifespan?) 

Reflection Together     (In Person Only)

Offering Ourselves to God

  During this time let us reflect upon the words of Old Testament Professor and Theologian Walter Brueggemann

“We exist because of God’s inscrutable generosity in our creation, a generosity so rich that we need not be greedy or self-sufficient, because gifts are always being given. That story has its hope and culmination in the promise that God will make all things right, and that our destiny is to be in peaceable communion with God and with our neighbors, in this age and in the age to come. And between our beginning in generosity and our culmination in communion, our lives are lived in glad, obedient response to God’s purpose in our lives.”

Hymn       I’ve Got Peace like a River        (In Person Only)

Installation of Deacons and Elders (In Person Only)

Sentences of Scripture

Profession of Faith

I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth. I believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried; he descended to the dead. On the third day he rose again; he ascended into heaven, he is seated at the right hand of the Father, and he will come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the live everlasting. Amen.

Constitutional Questions and lifting of hands

Prayers of the People and 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

Benediction

Closing Hymn      You Shall Go Out with Joy      (In Person Only)

Hymn List

18 Hallelujah! Sing Praise to Your Creator

23 God, You Spin the Whirling Planets

80 You Shall Go Out with Joy

300 We Are One in the Spirit

623 I’ve Got Peace like a River

838 Standing on the Promises

Sermon Series: Exploring the Seismic Questions January 9th – February 27th

January 16th – Why is life so hard?

January 23rd – Why doesn’t God stop the pain?

January 20th – Who is God?

February 6th – Where is God?

February 13th – Who is Jesus?

February 20th – What is our purpose?

February 27th – What does it mean to follow Jesus?