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WELCOME & ANNOUNCEMENTS
PRELUDE Dr. Karen Marrolli, piano
*CALL TO WORSHIP
Shout to the Lord your praises!
Sing to the Lord the joy of this day!
For God’s might and power are established in the universe!
God’s transforming love beckons us.
Come, let us worship God whose Light bursts forth into our darkness!
Let us praise the God of salvation who brings us all home. AMEN.
*HYMN OF PREPARATION Come, Let Us Use the Grace Divine UMH 606
*A READING FROM THE GOSPEL Mark 4:30-32
MESSAGE That’s All It Takes Stoker
MUSICAL REFLECTION Covenant Prayer Karen Marrolli Dr. Karen Marrolli, mezzo-soprano
AN INVITATION TO THE WESLEYAN COVENANT SERVICE
The Wesleyan Covenant Prayer was adapted by John Wesley, the co-founder of Methodism (along with his brother, Charles) to renew the believer's covenant with God. Wesley says that the prayer was first used in a covenant renewal service held on Monday, August 11, 1755, in London, with 1800 people present. Since then, the Wesleyan Covenant Prayer has often been used in Methodist services around the world on the first Sunday of the year. The Wesleyan Covenant Prayer is an invitation to deeper discipleship in Jesus Christ and a commitment to the transformation of the world, starting with self.
COVENANT PRAYER
I am no longer my own, but yours. Put me to what you will, place me with whom you will. Put me to doing, put me to suffering. Let me be put to work for you or set aside for you, praised for you or criticized for you. Let me be full, let me be empty. Let me have all things, let me have nothing. I freely and fully surrender all things to your glory and service. And now, O wonderful and holy God, Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer, you are mine, and I am yours. So be it. And the covenant which I have made on earth, let it also be made in heaven. Amen.
A TIME OF HOLY SILENCE AND INTROSPECTION
INVITATION TO CHRISTIAN DISCIPLESHIP AND RENEWAL OF VOWS
Now that we have renewed our covenant with God, we now together renew our membership vows to continue to serve as disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. For those who are not yet members of Central United Methodist Church, you are invited to recite these vows with us and one of our pastors and one of our lay leaders will be glad to receive you into membership at the conclusion of this service. Let us be in a spirit of holy expectation for God’s work through our individual efforts to shape the common good in our community and world.
On behalf of the whole Church, I ask you: Do you renounce the spiritual forces of wickedness, reject the evil powers of this world, and repent of your sin?
I Do.
Do you accept the freedom and power God gives you to resist evil, injustice, and oppression in whatever forms they present themselves?
I Do.
Do you confess Jesus Christ as your Savior, put your whole trust in his grace, and promise to serve him as your Lord, in union with the Church which Christ has opened to people of all ages, nations and races?
I Do.
As a member of Christ’s universal church, will you be loyal and loving to the United Methodist Church, and do all in your power to strengthen and broaden its ministries?
I Will!
As a member of Central United Methodist Church, will you faithfully participate in its ministries by your prayers, your presence, your gifts, your service and your witness?
I Will!
Will you commit to working with this community to seek God’s direction and to face grief, questions, and doubts?
I Will!
Will you rejoice with this community in times of new birth, celebration, and new opportunities to be Christ to the world?
I Will!
Will you demand from this community justice and mercy for all people?
I Will!
Will you work for forgiveness and reconciliation within yourself and this community? I Will!
We have now re-committed ourselves to one another and to Central United Methodist Church. Do all you can to increase your faith, confirm your hope, and perfect your love.
As members together with you in the Body of Christ and in this congregation of the United Methodist Church, we renew our covenant faithfully to participate in the ministries of the Church by our prayers, our presence, our gifts, our service, and our witness. AMEN.
THE SHARING OF OUR GIFTS
OFFERTORY Revive Us Again Dr. Karen Marrolli, mezzo-soprano
DOXOLOGY Praise God, From Whom All Blessings Flow UMH 94
THE GREAT THANKSGIVING
The Lord be with you.
And also with you.
Lift up your hearts.
We lift them up to the Lord.
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
It is right to give our thanks and praise.
It is right, and a good and joyful thing, always and everywhere to give thanks to you, Almighty God, creator of heaven and earth. You formed us in your image
and breathed into us the breath of life.
When we turned away, and our love failed, your love remained steadfast.
You delivered us from captivity, made covenant to be our sovereign God, and spoke to us through your prophets, who looked for that day when justice shall roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream, when nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.
And so, with your people on earth and all the company of heaven we praise your name and join their unending hymn:
Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might, heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.
Holy are you, and blessed is your Son Jesus Christ. Your Spirit anointed him to preach good news to the poor, to proclaim release to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, and to announce that the time had come when you would save your people. He healed the sick, fed the hungry, and ate with sinners.
By the baptism of his suffering, death, and resurrection, you gave birth to your Church, delivered us from slavery to sin and death, and made with us a new covenant by water and the Spirit.
At his ascension, you exalted him to sit and reign with you at your right hand.
On the night in which he gave himself up for us, he took bread, gave thanks to you, broke the bread, gave it to his disciples, and said:
"Take, eat; this is my body which is given for you.
Do this in remembrance of me."
When the supper was over he took the cup, gave thanks to you, gave it to his disciples, and said:
"Drink from this, all of you; this is my blood of the new covenant, poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins.
Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me."
And so, in remembrance of these your mighty acts in Jesus Christ, we offer ourselves in praise and thanksgiving as a holy and living sacrifice, in union with Christ's offering for us, as we proclaim the mystery of faith.
Christ has died; Christ is risen; Christ will come again.
Pour out your Holy Spirit on us gathered here, and on these gifts of bread and wine.
Make them be for us the body and blood of Christ, that we may be for the world the body of Christ, redeemed by his blood.
By your Spirit make us one with Christ, one with each other, and one in ministry to all the world, until Christ comes in final victory, and we feast at his heavenly banquet.
Through your Son Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit in your holy Church, all honor and glory is yours, almighty God, now and forever. Amen.
THE LORD’S PRAYER
SHARING OF THE BREAD AND OF THE CUP
CLOSING HYMN The Summons TFWS 2130
BENEDICTION Brooks
POSTLUDE Dr. Karen Marrolli
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