announcements 11/19/23

 Announcements:

MAMMA MIA SING-ALONG: Chinese Presbyterian is hosting a sing-along to Mamma Mia on Friday, Nov. 24th  afternoon at 4:30pm. All are welcome.

ANGEL TREE: Every child deserves to experience the joy of Christmas morning. The Salvation Army Angel Tree program helps provide Christmas gifts for hundreds of thousands of children around the country each year. So grab a tag off the tree, shop for your child, and return gifts to the church by Dec. 3rd. You can do this on your own or team up with a friend. We even have elves willing to do the shopping for you if you prefer to make a monetary contribution instead of shopping. More information can be found on the tag and the attached information sheet, when you take one off the tree. 

CHURCH AUCTION!!  Our Church Auction is going live on Monday Nov. 20th at noon. Here is the link: https://www.32auctions.com/JCPChurch You all have donated so many wonderful items. Now we need people to buy them. We will be sending out an email next week with all the details for the Auction, including this link. We need you to share the link with your friends and family. We will make a post on Facebook that you will be able to share on your social media and we have small business card size flyers you can share in person. We also need volunteers to staff our drop off days and times and pick-up days and times. So if you have available on the 15th or 16th of Dec. please talk with Sue. Also if you have an item you intended to donate but have not had a chance to it get to Louise there is still time. We can add items after the Auction goes live but in order to get as many views as possible for your item the sooner we get it in the Auction the better. So please email Louise as soon as possible.

OFFICE CLOSURE FOR THANKSGIVING HOLIDAYS: The office will be closed from noon on Tuesday Nov. 21st and will reopen on Monday Nov. 27th. We will not have youth Fellowship time on the 26th, however we will have a children’s church. 

ALL CHURCH GATHERING OPPORTUNITY: Do you want to see a full solar eclipse and fellowship with your church members and other Presbyterians at the same time? We have a great opportunity to join Presbyterians from all over the country in Little Rock AK for an Intergenerational Creation Care Event culminating with the total solar eclipse at Ferncliff Camp and Conference Center. Please see the insert for more information. You can register with this link https://bit.ly/creationcareevent2024. We are asking everyone to register on their own, so you can select the accommodations that best suit your family. Then let us know you will be attending. We hope that families and individuals of all ages will join together for this wonderful all church event. 

ADVENT DEVOTIONALS: Even though it’s not even thanksgiving yet now is a great time to get your advent devotional ordered. Here is this week’s suggestion: Advent in Plain Sight A Devotion Through Ten Objects By Jill J. Duffield. At Christmas, God came into our ordinary world in the form of a child, and still today, God is at work through the ordinary stuff of life, if we train our eyes to see.

In this daily devotional for Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany, Jill J. Duffield draws readers’ attention to ten ordinary objects that appear in the biblical narratives of messianic prophesy and incarnation–objects we encounter in our own lives. Through objects such as gates, trees, cloth, light, and water, readers will find new meaning in the biblical account of Jesus’ coming. By connecting everyday objects with biblical texts, Advent in Plain Sight prompts readers to see the near kingdom of heaven on earth and ponder what that divine proximity enables and asks them to do and be. Each daily devotional features a Scripture reading, prayer, and reflection, reminding Christians that God still dwells among us, even in the most ordinary places.

BONUS FAMILY RECOMMENDATION:Advent in Narnia Reflections for the Season By Heidi Haverkamp Walking into Advent can be like walking through the wardrobe. With its enchanting themes of snow and cold, light and darkness, meals and gifts, temptation and sin, forgiveness and hope “and even an appearance by Father Christmas “C. S. Lewis’s The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe fits naturally into the Advent season. As the reader seeks a storied king and anticipates the glorious coming of Christmas, these twenty-eight devotions alternate between Scripture and passages from the novel to prompt meditation on Advent themes. Each devotion also includes questions for reflection. The book also provides several resources for churches, including four sessions for small group discussion and ideas for creating a Narnia Night for families. Readers will ultimately come to know God better while journeying through Narnia.

ZOOM ADVENT BIBLE STUDY: Join us each Thursday evening in December at 6:00 PM for a special Zoom Bible Study for Advent. We will be studying the book: Holy Disruption. Holy Disruption presents a fresh understanding of the holiness of Christmas grounded, not in a conventional cozy Christmas message, but through Mark’s disquieting gospel which invites its readers to experience God’s disruptive but transformative love for us and our world.Each week a different teacher will walk us through one of the four advent lessons. Please let Louise know if you would like us to order you a book. Right now they can be purchased on the PCUSA website for $10 but the price is subject to change. If you need a quick zoom tutorial or refresher prior to the start of the Bible study let Louise or Pastor Aaron know and we will get you set-up. 

PLAYSCHOOL HAPPENING AND FUNDRAISERS: Join us on Nov. 29th for a fundraiser. Eat at Reginelli’s between 11:00 am – 9:00 PM and they will donate 10% of your order when you mention the playschool.



Order of Worship 11/12/23

SERVICE FOR THE LORD’S DAY

Twenty Fourth Sunday After Pentecost 

November 12th Ten Thirty in the Morning

Minister: Reverend Ochart         

Liturgist: Jeremy Moore

Please silence all cell phones. 

Bold face indicates congregational participation.

✝ Please stand, in body or spirit

THE PEOPLE ARE GATHERED IN

PRELUDE The King of Love My Shepherd Is, arr. Gonzalo L. Gonzalez

✝PROCESSIONAL HYMN [*BLUE 411] [GTG#744] 

“Arise, Your Light Has Come!”

Arise, your light is come! The Spirit’s call obey;

show forth the glory of your God, which shines on you today.

Arise, your light is come! Fling wide the prison door;

proclaim the captives’ liberty, good tidings to the poor.

WORDS OF WELCOME           

DEACON MINUTE     Linda Lowry

ADORATION

CALL TO WORSHIP Ps. 146:9

ONE: The Lord watches over the strangers;

MANY:God upholds those who are in need.

                                                   

PRAYER OF THE DAY

Faithful God, you have continued to love your people despite our faithlessness to you. Receive our thanks for never giving up on us. Amen.

✝HYMN OF THE MONTH [GTG# 506] 

“Look Who Gathers at Christ’s Table”

  1. Look who gathers at Christ’s table!

Hear the stories that they bring.

Some are weeping; some are laughing;

some have songs they want to sing.

Others ask why they’re invited,

burdened by the wrong the’ve done.

Christ insists they all are welcome.

there is room for ev’ryone.

  1. Clouds of light surround the table;

Ancient followers appear,

saints confessing how they wrestled

with their guilt, their doubt and fear.

Peter tells of his denying

Christ was ever in his sight;

Paul relates his fruitless effort

to obliterate the light.

  1. Their sad stories are repeated

in the thousand diff’rent ways,

but they share one thing in common:

they are end in thanks and praise

for the host who has invited

north and south and east and west

to converge around this table,

where all life is fed and blest.

  1. Bring your joy and bring your sadness,

and prepare to be surprised

by the host whose hands are wounded,

who will open wide your eyes

when he blesses bread and breaks it–

truth and manna from above!–

and then passes wine that wakens

in your hear the taste of love.

MESSAGE FOR THE CHILDREN      

 RESPONSE HYMN [GTG#7] “Mothering God, You Gave Me Birth”

1 Mothering God, you gave me birth

in the bright morning of this world.

Creator, source of every breath,

you are my rain, my wind, my sun.

REPENTANCE

CALL TO CONFESSION                                                                  

SILENT CONFESSION

PRAYER OF CONFESSION

Almighty God, you love us, but we have not loved you. You call, but we have not listened. We walk away from neighbors in need, wrapped in our own concerns. We condone evil, prejudice, warfare, and greed.

God of grace, help us to admit our sin, so that as you come to us in mercy, we may repent, turn to you, and receive forgiveness; through Jesus Christ our redeemer. Amen. 

ASSURANCE OF PARDON                     

✝GLORIA PATRI [Blue#579] [GTG581]     

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.

THE WORD READ AND PROCLAIMED

SCRIPTURE [Pew Bible OT 794 or 842]           Hosea 11:1-9

When Israel was a child, I loved him,

   and out of Egypt I called my son.

The more I called them,

   the more they went from me;

they kept sacrificing to the Baals,

   and offering incense to idols.

Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk,

   I took them up in my arms;

   but they did not know that I healed them.

I led them with cords of human kindness,

   with bands of love.

I was to them like those

   who lift infants to their cheeks.

   I bent down to them and fed them.

They shall return to the land of Egypt,

   and Assyria shall be their king,

   because they have refused to return to me.

The sword rages in their cities,

   it consumes their oracle-priests,

   and devours because of their schemes.

My people are bent on turning away from me.

   To the Most High they call,

   but he does not raise them up at all.

How can I give you up, Ephraim?

   How can I hand you over, O Israel?

How can I make you like Admah?

   How can I treat you like Zeboiim?

My heart recoils within me;

   my compassion grows warm and tender.

I will not execute my fierce anger;

   I will not again destroy Ephraim;

for I am God and no mortal,

   the Holy One in your midst,

   and I will not come in wrath.

ONE: The Word of the Lord

MANY: Thanks be to God

SERMON                     “Parent and Child”                    Reverend Ochart

 RESPONSE     

✝AFFIRMATION OF FAITH Confession of Belhar

We believe that God has entrusted the church with the message of reconciliation in and through Jesus Christ; 

that the church is called to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world, that the church is called blessed because it is a peacemaker, that the church is witness both by word and by deed to the new heaven and the new earth in which righteousness dwells…

that the credibility of this message is seriously affected and its beneficial work obstructed when it is proclaimed in a land which professes to be Christian, but in which the enforced separation of people on a racial basis promotes and perpetuates alienation, hatred and enmity…

Therefore, we reject any doctrine which, in such a situation sanctions in the name of the gospel or of the will of God the forced separation of people on the grounds of race and color and thereby in advance obstructs and weakens the ministry and experience of reconciliation in Christ. 

ANNOUNCEMENTS

RECEIVING OF TITHES AND OFFERINGS

OFFERTORY “The King of Love My Shepherd Is” arr. Vicki Hancock Wright

The King of love my shepherd is, whose goodness faileth never.

I nothing lack if I am his, and he is mine forever.

Where streams of living waters flow, my ransomed soul he leadeth;

and where the verdant pastures grow, with food celestial feedeth.

In death’s dark vale I fear no ill, with thee, dear Lord, beside me;

thy rod and staff my comfort still, thy cross before to guide me.

Congration Part: And so through all the length of days 

Thy Goodness Faileth never 

Good Shepherd, may I sing thy praise Within thy house forever

✝ DOXOLOGY [*BLUE#592] [GTG#606]

Praise God from whom all blessings flow;

Praise God, all creatures here below;

Praise God above, ye heavenly hosts;

Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.

THE PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE

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.

✝HYMN [*Blue #332][GTG#772] “Live Into Hope”

1 Live into hope of captives freed,

of sight regained, the end of greed.

The oppressed shall be the first to see

the year of God’s own jubilee!

2 Live into hope the blind shall see

with insight and with clarity,

removing shades of pride and fear

a vision of our God brought near.

3 Live into hope of liberty,

the right to speak, the right to be,

the right to have one’s daily bread,

to hear God’s word and thus be fed.

4 Live into hope of captives freed

from chains of fear or want or greed.

God now proclaims our full release

to faith and hope and joy and peace

✝PARTING PRAYER     William Bright (1824-1901)

Loving God, you want us to give thanks for all things, to fear nothing except losing you, and to lay all our cares on you, knowing that you care for us. Protect us from faithless fears and worldly anxieties, and grant that no clouds in this mortal life may hide from us the light of your immortal love shown to us your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

✝CHARGE AND BENEDICTION

✝RESPONSE [GTG#44] Like a Mother Who Has Borne Us v. 1

  1. Like a mother who has borne us, held us close in her delight,

fed us freely from her body, God has called us into life.

POSTLUDE 

          “Nun danket alle Gott”                by Georg Kaufmann
 



ANNOUNCEMENTS

announcements 11/19/23

 Announcements:

MAMMA MIA SING-ALONG: Chinese Presbyterian is hosting a sing-along to Mamma Mia on Friday, Nov. 24th  afternoon at 4:30pm. All are welcome.

ANGEL TREE: Every child deserves to experience the joy of Christmas morning. The Salvation Army Angel Tree program helps provide Christmas gifts for hundreds of thousands of children around the country each year. So grab a tag off the tree, shop for your child, and return gifts to the church by Dec. 3rd. You can do this on your own or team up with a friend. We even have elves willing to do the shopping for you if you prefer to make a monetary contribution instead of shopping. More information can be found on the tag and the attached information sheet, when you take one off the tree. 

CHURCH AUCTION!!  Our Church Auction is going live on Monday Nov. 20th at noon. Here is the link: https://www.32auctions.com/JCPChurch You all have donated so many wonderful items. Now we need people to buy them. We will be sending out an email next week with all the details for the Auction, including this link. We need you to share the link with your friends and family. We will make a post on Facebook that you will be able to share on your social media and we have small business card size flyers you can share in person. We also need volunteers to staff our drop off days and times and pick-up days and times. So if you have available on the 15th or 16th of Dec. please talk with Sue. Also if you have an item you intended to donate but have not had a chance to it get to Louise there is still time. We can add items after the Auction goes live but in order to get as many views as possible for your item the sooner we get it in the Auction the better. So please email Louise as soon as possible.

OFFICE CLOSURE FOR THANKSGIVING HOLIDAYS: The office will be closed from noon on Tuesday Nov. 21st and will reopen on Monday Nov. 27th. We will not have youth Fellowship time on the 26th, however we will have a children’s church. 

ALL CHURCH GATHERING OPPORTUNITY: Do you want to see a full solar eclipse and fellowship with your church members and other Presbyterians at the same time? We have a great opportunity to join Presbyterians from all over the country in Little Rock AK for an Intergenerational Creation Care Event culminating with the total solar eclipse at Ferncliff Camp and Conference Center. Please see the insert for more information. You can register with this link https://bit.ly/creationcareevent2024. We are asking everyone to register on their own, so you can select the accommodations that best suit your family. Then let us know you will be attending. We hope that families and individuals of all ages will join together for this wonderful all church event. 

ADVENT DEVOTIONALS: Even though it’s not even thanksgiving yet now is a great time to get your advent devotional ordered. Here is this week’s suggestion: Advent in Plain Sight A Devotion Through Ten Objects By Jill J. Duffield. At Christmas, God came into our ordinary world in the form of a child, and still today, God is at work through the ordinary stuff of life, if we train our eyes to see.

In this daily devotional for Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany, Jill J. Duffield draws readers’ attention to ten ordinary objects that appear in the biblical narratives of messianic prophesy and incarnation–objects we encounter in our own lives. Through objects such as gates, trees, cloth, light, and water, readers will find new meaning in the biblical account of Jesus’ coming. By connecting everyday objects with biblical texts, Advent in Plain Sight prompts readers to see the near kingdom of heaven on earth and ponder what that divine proximity enables and asks them to do and be. Each daily devotional features a Scripture reading, prayer, and reflection, reminding Christians that God still dwells among us, even in the most ordinary places.

BONUS FAMILY RECOMMENDATION:Advent in Narnia Reflections for the Season By Heidi Haverkamp Walking into Advent can be like walking through the wardrobe. With its enchanting themes of snow and cold, light and darkness, meals and gifts, temptation and sin, forgiveness and hope “and even an appearance by Father Christmas “C. S. Lewis’s The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe fits naturally into the Advent season. As the reader seeks a storied king and anticipates the glorious coming of Christmas, these twenty-eight devotions alternate between Scripture and passages from the novel to prompt meditation on Advent themes. Each devotion also includes questions for reflection. The book also provides several resources for churches, including four sessions for small group discussion and ideas for creating a Narnia Night for families. Readers will ultimately come to know God better while journeying through Narnia.

ZOOM ADVENT BIBLE STUDY: Join us each Thursday evening in December at 6:00 PM for a special Zoom Bible Study for Advent. We will be studying the book: Holy Disruption. Holy Disruption presents a fresh understanding of the holiness of Christmas grounded, not in a conventional cozy Christmas message, but through Mark’s disquieting gospel which invites its readers to experience God’s disruptive but transformative love for us and our world.Each week a different teacher will walk us through one of the four advent lessons. Please let Louise know if you would like us to order you a book. Right now they can be purchased on the PCUSA website for $10 but the price is subject to change. If you need a quick zoom tutorial or refresher prior to the start of the Bible study let Louise or Pastor Aaron know and we will get you set-up. 

PLAYSCHOOL HAPPENING AND FUNDRAISERS: Join us on Nov. 29th for a fundraiser. Eat at Reginelli’s between 11:00 am – 9:00 PM and they will donate 10% of your order when you mention the playschool.