John Calvin Presbyterian Church

 

SERVICE FOR THE LORD’S DAY

6th Sunday of Easter

PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH (USA)

May 9, 2021 Ten Thirty in the morning

                                      Minister: The Reverend Aaron Ochart                                                  

Please silence all cell phones. 

Face Masks must be worn at all times unless leading worship. 

Bold face indicates congregational participation.

GATHERING

WORDS OF WELCOME

MINUTE for MISSION     Evelyn Toby, PW Birthday Offering

PRELUDE   I Know the Lord’s Laid His Hand on Me       arr. Patricia Cota

Bell Choir (Sandy Cranfill, Caleb Hebert, Nancy and Mia Lauland, Karla and David Russo)

ADORATION

CALL TO WORSHIP                                                             Psalm 66:20

Blessed is God, who hears our prayers,

whose steadfast love endures forever.                              

PRAYER OF THE DAY

Faithful Deliverer, You have chosen us to receive salvation by faith, not by the works of our hands. Deliver us, then, from the law, and free us from the bondage of sin, so that with our hands we might serve you in purity of joy and response to your goodness, for the sake of Jesus Christ, who is all goodness. Amen.

HYMN 304                 “Jesus Loves Me” 

Children’s Bell Choir (Savanna Gilbeau, Joseph Hebert, Brock Moore, Asher Ochart, Kate Russo, Michael and Sean Sens)

Jesus loves me! This I know, For the Bible tells me so;

Little ones to Him belong; They are weak, but He is strong.

Refrain; Yes, Jesus loves me! Yes, Jesus loves me!

Yes, Jesus loves me! The Bible tells me so.

CALL TO CONFESSION        

SILENT CONFESSION                                                          

PRAYER OF CONFESSION (unison)

Almighty God, in raising Jesus from the grave, you shattered the power of sin and death. We confess that we remain captive to doubt and fear, bound by the ways that lead to death. We overlook the poor and the hungry, and pass by those who mourn; we are deaf to the cries of the oppressed, and indifferent to calls for peace; we despise the weak, and abuse the earth you made.

Forgive us, God of mercy. Help us to trust your power to change our lives and make us new, that we may know the joy of life abundant given in Jesus Christ, the risen Lord. Amen.

ASSURANCE OF PARDON               

GLORIA PATRI 579        

PROCLAMATION

FIRST LESSON                                     Luke 11:33-36

“No one after lighting a lamp puts it in a cellar, but on the lampstand so that those who enter may see the light. Your eye is the lamp of your body. If your eye is healthy, your whole body is full of light; but if it is not healthy, your body is full of darkness. Therefore consider whether the light in you is not darkness. If then your whole body is full of light, with no part of it in darkness, it will be as full of light as when a lamp gives you light with its rays.”                    

MESSAGE FOR THE CHILDREN     “The Best Gift on Mother’s Day”

ANTHEM      “In Christ there is no East or West”     Arr. S. Cranfill

In Christ there is no east or west, in Him no south or north;

But one great fellowship of God throughout the whole wide earth. 

In Him shall true hearts everywhere their high communion find.

His service is the golden cord close binding all mankind.

Join hands, then, brothers of the faith, what e’er your race may be.

Who serves my Father as a son is surely kin to me.

Second Lesson                         Galatians 5:13-26

For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love become slaves to one another. For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” If, however, you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another. Live by the Spirit, I say, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh. For what the flesh desires is opposed to the Spirit, and what the Spirit desires is opposed to the flesh; for these are opposed to each other, to prevent you from doing what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not subject to the law. 

Now the works of the flesh are obvious: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these. I am warning you, as I warned you before: those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness,  gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, competing against one another, envying one another.

SERMON                “The Gift of Mother”              The Rev. Aaron Ochart

SPECIAL MUSIC                    “The Swan”                            Caleb Hebert

 RESPONSE 

AFFIRMATION OF FAITH               Theological Declaration of Barmen

Jesus Christ, as he is attested for us in Holy Scripture, is the one Word of God which we have to hear and which we have to trust and obey in life and in death.

As Jesus Christ is God’s assurance of the forgiveness of all our sins, so in the same way and with the same seriousness is he also God’s mighty claim upon our whole life. Through him befalls us a joyful deliverance from the godless fetters of this world for a free, grateful service to his creatures.

The Christian Church is the congregation of the brethren in which Jesus Christ acts presently as the Lord in Word and Sacrament through the Holy Spirit. As the church of pardoned sinners, it has to testify in the midst of a sinful world, with its faith as with its obedience, with its message as with its order, that it is solely his property, and that it lives and wants to live solely from his comfort and from his direction in the expectation of his appearance.

The various offices in the church do not establish a dominion of some over the others; on the contrary, they are for the exercise of the ministry entrusted to and enjoined upon the whole congregation.

The church’s commission, upon which its freedom is founded, consists in delivering the message of the free grace of God to all people in Christ’s stead, and therefore in the ministry of his own Word and work through sermon and Sacrament.

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         “Faith of Our Mothers”             Arthur Bardwell Patten

1 Faith of our mothers, living still In cradle song and bedtime prayer;

In nursery lore and fireside love, Thy presence still pervades the air.

Faith of our mothers, living faith, We will be true to thee till death.

2 Faith of our mothers, loving faith, 

Fount of our childhood’s trust and grace, 

Oh, may thy consecration prove Source of a finer, nobler race; 

Faith of our mothers, loving faith, We will be true to thee till death.

3 Faith of our mothers, guiding faith, For youthful longing, youthful doubt,

How blurred our vision, blind our way, Thy providential care without.

Faith of our mothers, guiding faith, We will be true to thee till death.

4 Faith of our mothers, Christian faith, 

In truth beyond our stumbling creeds,

Still serve the home and save the Church, 

And breathe thy spirit through our deeds;

Faith of our mothers, Christian faith, We will be true to thee till death.

PARTING PRAYER                                         St. Giles Cathedral (1637)

 O Lord our God, you are always more ready to bestow your good gifts than we are to seek them. You are more willing to give than we desire or deserve. Help us so to seek that we may truly find, so to ask that we may joyfully receive, so to knock that the door of your mercy may be opened for us; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.                                                     

CHARGE AND BENEDICTION

POSTLUDE  Promenade by Gordon Young

SERVICE FOR THE LORD’S DAY

Fifth Sunday of Easter

PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH (USA)

May 2, 2021 Ten Thirty in the morning

Minister: The Reverend Aaron Ochart             

Liturgist: Sheryl Wise

Please silence all cell phones. 

Face Masks must be worn at all times. 

Bold face indicates congregational participation.

GATHERING

WORDS OF WELCOME          

PRELUDE Soliloquy by Healey Willan           

ADORATION

CALL TO WORSHIP (Responsive)                             John 14:5–6

How can we know the way of God? 

Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life.

Faithful Deliverer, You have chosen us to receive salvation by faith, not by the works of our hands. Deliver us, then, from the law, and free us from the bondage of sin so that with our hands we might serve you in purity of joy and response to your goodness, for the sake of Jesus Christ, who is all goodness. Amen.

HYMN 488                  “The God of Abraham Praise”

CONFESSION 

CALL TO CONFESSION                                                                  

SILENT CONFESSION

PRAYER OF CONFESSION 

Almighty God, in raising Jesus from the grave, you shattered the power of sin and death. We confess that we remain captive to doubt and fear, bound by the ways that lead to death. We overlook the poor and the hungry, and pass by those who mourn; we are deaf to

the cries of the oppressed, and indifferent to calls for peace; we despise the weak, and abuse the earth you made.

Forgive us, God of mercy. Help us to trust your power to change our lives and make us new, that we may know the joy of life abundant given in Jesus Christ, the risen Lord. Amen.

ASSURANCE OF PARDON                     

GLORIA PATRI 579 

PROCLAMATION

SACRAMENT of BAPTISM         Nina Pizani

 

Presider: As many of you as were baptized into Christ

have clothed yourselves with Christ.

People: There is no longer Jew or Greek,

there is no longer slave or free,

there is no longer male and female;

for all are one in Christ Jesus. …

 

THANKSGIVING OVER WATER

The Lord be with you. 

And also with you.

Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.

It is right to give our thanks and praise.

 

FIRST LESSON                                                              Luke 1:68-79

“Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,

    for he has looked favorably on his people and redeemed them.

He has raised up a mighty savior for us

    in the house of his servant David,

as he spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets from of old,

    that we would be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us.

Thus he has shown the mercy promised to our ancestors,

    and has remembered his holy covenant, 

the oath that he swore to our ancestor Abraham,

    to grant us that we, being rescued from the hands of our enemies,

might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness

    before him all our days.

And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High;

    for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,

to give knowledge of salvation to his people

    by the forgiveness of their sins.

By the tender mercy of our God,

    the dawn from on high will break upon us,

to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,

    to guide our feet into the way of peace.”                         

                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

ANTHEM                 “Come To The Banquet”                 Joseph Martin

Come to the banquet God has prepared, a table of plenty, 

no cost has been spared.

Christ is our servant, we are His guest at a feast of forgiveness 

where all will be blessed.

Come and remember as you eat the bread

all the ways that He fed you by the words that He said.

There’s rest for the weary, and strength for the small.

O come and remember the Saviour of all. 

Come to the table, rejoice in the wine that refreshes the spirit, 

brings peace to the mind.

Come drink your fill till hearts overflow, O come to the banquet where God’s grace is shown.

Go from the banquet with hearts strong and pure,

Your place at the table forever secure. 

 Ask all who hunger to join with you there,

for there’s room at the banquet, and plenty to share!

                 

SECOND LESSON                                             Galatians 3:1-9, 23-29                                     

                  

SERMON                      “No Longer”                          Rev. Aaron Ochart 

 RESPONSE     

AFFIRMATION OF FAITH                      Westminster Shorter Catechism

 Q1. What is the main purpose for humanity?

SERVICE FOR THE LORD’S DAY

4th Sunday of Easter

PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH (USA)

                     Minister: The Reverend Aaron Ochart                   

                         Liturgist: Paula Palermo                          

Please silence all phones and beepers. 

Bold face indicates congregational participation.

GATHERING

WORDS OF WELCOME

PRELUDE    Offertoire sur les Grands Jeux (excerpt) –  François Couperin

ADORATION

CALL TO WORSHIP (responsive)                                   Psalms 23:1, 6

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever                                 

PRAYER OF THE DAY

Lord of justification, With great joy we receive the gift of salvation which is ours not because of our own efforts, but because of the saving work of Christ. Grant us full access to the glory of your salvation, an abundance that is more than enough for all humankind, for the sake of our redeeming Christ. Amen.

HYMN 438                   “Rock of Ages, Cleft for Me”   

1 Rock of Ages, cleft for me,

let me hide myself in thee.

Let the water and the blood

from thy wounded side which flowed

be of sin the double cure,

cleanse from guilt and make me pure.

can fulfill thy law’s demands.

Could my zeal no respite know,

could my tears forever flow,

all for sin could not atone.

Thou must save, and thou alone.

CALL TO CONFESSION        

SILENT CONFESSION                                                          

PRAYER OF CONFESSION (unison)

Almighty God, in raising Jesus from the grave, you shattered the power of sin and death. We confess that we remain captive to doubt and fear, bound by the ways that lead to death. We overlook the poor and the hungry, and pass by those who mourn; we are deaf to the cries of the oppressed, and indifferent to calls for peace; we despise the weak, and abuse the earth you made.

Forgive us, God of mercy. Help us to trust your power to change our lives and make us new, that we may know the joy of life abundant given in Jesus Christ, the risen Lord. Amen.

ASSURANCE OF PARDON               

GLORIA PATRI 579        

PROCLAMATION

FIRST LESSON                           Luke 18:9-14    

[Jesus] also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt: ‘Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax-collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, was praying thus, “God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax-collector. I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.” But the tax-collector, standing far off, would not even look up to heaven, but was beating his breast and saying, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” I tell you, this man went down to his home justified rather than the other; for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted.’

           

MESSAGE FOR THE CHILDREN        “Choose the Right Reason”   

ANTHEM       

“In the Valley Flows A River”                                    Douglas Nolan

In the valley flows a river, gentle waters from the Lord,                             

and those who stop and drink there will never thirst for more.

In the valley flows a river, cooling stream that has no end.

In its grace we find forgiveness, cleansing water for our sins. 

From the mountain springs it cometh to the deserts to the plains,

Bringing life to all it touches, bringing peace where there is pain.

In the valley there is comfort where the peaceful waters flow,

In the valley flows a river fed by heaven’s gentle rain,

and all who stop and drink there will never thirst again.

          

Second Lesson             Galatians 1:6-17; 2:11-21

I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel not that there is another gospel, but there are some who are confusing you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should proclaim to you a gospel contrary to what we proclaimed to you, let that one be accursed! As we have said before, so now I repeat, if anyone proclaims to you a gospel contrary to what you received, let that one be accursed!

Am I now seeking human approval, or God’s approval? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still pleasing people, I would not be a servant of Christ.

For I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel that was proclaimed by me is not of human origin; for I did not receive it from a human source, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.

You have heard, no doubt, of my earlier life in Judaism. I was violently persecuting the church of God and was trying to destroy it. I advanced in Judaism beyond many among my people of the same age, for I was far more zealous for the traditions of my ancestors. But when God, who had set me apart before I was born and called me through his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son to me, so that I might proclaim him among the Gentiles, I did not confer with any human being, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were already apostles before me, but I went away at once into Arabia, and afterwards I returned to Damascus.

 But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood self-condemned; for until certain people came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But after they came, he drew back and kept himself separate for fear of the circumcision faction. And the other Jews joined him in this hypocrisy, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. But when I saw that they were not acting consistently with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, “If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews?”

We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; yet we know that a person is justified not by the works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ. And we have come to believe in Christ Jesus, so that we might be justified by faith in Christ, and not by doing the works of the law, because no one will be justified by the works of the law. But if, in our effort to be justified in Christ, we ourselves have been found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! But if I build up again the very things that I once tore down, then I demonstrate that I am a transgressor. For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not nullify the grace of God; for if justification comes through the law, then Christ died for nothing.               

Sermon      “One Gospel”

 RESPONSE 

AFFIRMATION OF FAITH                        Heidelberg Catechism: 4.001

What is your only comfort, in life and in death? 

THE LORD’S PRAYER               

HYMN 371                         “Lift High the Cross”

Refrain:

Lift high the cross, the love of Christ proclaim

Till all the world adore His sacred name.

Bears on the brow the seal of Christ who died. (Refrain)

3 O Lord, once lifted on the glorious tree,

Your death has brought us life eternally. (Refrain)

4 So shall our song of triumph ever be:

PARTING PRAYER                                         St. Giles Cathedral (1637)

 O Lord our God, you are always more ready to bestow your good gifts than we are to seek them. You are more willing to give than we desire or deserve. Help us so to seek that we may truly find, so to ask that we may joyfully receive, so to knock that the door of your mercy may be opened for us; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.   

                                                  

POSTLUDE      Offertoire sur les Grands Jeux (excerpt) –  François Couperin