The Gathering
Tolling of the Hour
Welcome and Announcements ** Indicates, please stand.
Whether we are old or young, whether we are first-time or longtime worshipers, whether we come full of doubts or confidence, joy or sorrow, in this place we are all family, because of what Jesus did for us on the cross. Welcome to all of you today!
Prelude
Prayer of Invocation
God of power and wonder, we are awestruck by the glory of your presence. We rejoice at what we can see; we marvel at what we cannot see. You dazzle us with your brightness; you overshadow us as with a great cloud. Loving, protecting, challenging, nurturing, you strengthen and transform us. May we love and serve you in all that we are and do. Glory be to you. Amen.
**Responsive Call to Worship Please stand in body or spirit as you are able. Based on Psalm 99:1-3
The Lord is Sovereign; let the people tremble in awe.
God is enthroned upon the cherubim; let the earth shake.
The Lord is great in Zion and is high above all peoples.
Proclaim the greatness of the Lord our God, and worship God upon the holy mountain.
**Opening Hymn What Wondrous Love Is This #85
Call to Confession and Silent Prayer
When we come into the holy presence of God, our own humanity is laid bare. When we stand in the living presence of truth, our own falsehood is revealed. People of God, let us acknowledge who we are and ask our ever-present God to forgive us. Accepting his power to become new persons in Christ, let us in silence confess our sin before God.
Unison Prayer of Confession
God of transfiguration, you meet us in the ordinary as well as the extraordinary moments of life. We seek you in the valleys and on the mountaintops. Yet we admit that too often our eyes are blind to your presence, too often our ears are deaf to your call. When you reach out to us through the cries of the hungry and homeless, too often our hearts shrink from your touch. Forgive us, we pray, and set us free to love and serve. Amen.
Assurance of Pardon
Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another, for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit. In Jesus Christ we are forgiven and transformed!
Praise be to God!
** Passing the Peace
The Peace of Christ be with you…
And also with you.
**Gloria Patri #579
Hearing the Word
Prayer of Illumination
Holy God, you revealed to the disciples the everlasting glory of Jesus Christ. Grant us, who have not seen and yet believe, the gift of your Holy Spirit, that we may boldly live the gospel and shine with your transforming glory as people changed and changing through the redeeming presence of our Savior. Amen.
Scripture
Old Testament Reading Psalm 99
Instrumental Anthem
New Testament Reading Luke 9:28-36
Sermon Fully Awake Rev. Morris
Prayers of the People and The Lord’s Prayer
...using the prayer Your Son taught us to pray, Our Father...
**Hymn My Hope Is Built on Nothing Less #379
**Affirmation of Faith
I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth. I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried; he descended to hell. The third day he rose again from the dead. He ascended to heaven and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty. From there 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 life everlasting. Amen.
Invitation to Offering Romans 12:1, TM
So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life— your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life— and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him.
Offertory
**Doxology #592
**Unison Prayer of Dedication
Yours, Lord, is the greatness, the power and the glory, the victory and the majesty. All that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours, and you rule over all. Therefore, Lord, receive these offerings, our tangible expressions of love and gratitude. Transform them into a source of life for many, so that your kingdom may grow in the hearts of all. In the name of Jesus. Amen.
We Go Out to Serve
**Hymn Today We All Are Called to Be Disciples #434
**Charge Let us say together God’s invitation to a life of Christian discipleship.
O God, before the passion of your one and only Son you revealed his glory upon the holy mountain: Grant to us that we, beholding by faith the light of his countenance, may be strengthened to bear our cross and be changed into his likeness from glory to glory, through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
**Blessing
The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.
Postlude