God Gathers Us
Call to Worship - Psalm 37:1-9
To be read aloud by someone in your home:
1 Do not fret because of those who are evil
or be envious of those who do wrong;
2 for like the grass they will soon wither,
like green plants they will soon die away.
3 Trust in the Lord and do good;
dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.
4 Take delight in the Lord,
and he will give you the desires of your heart.
5 Commit your way to the Lord;
trust in him and he will do this:
6 He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn,
your vindication like the noonday sun.
7 Be still before the Lord
and wait patiently for him;
do not fret when people succeed in their ways,
when they carry out their wicked schemes.
8 Refrain from anger and turn from wrath;
do not fret—it leads only to evil.
9 For those who are evil will be destroyed,
but those who hope in the Lord will inherit the land.
Opening Prayer
This is one of the Psalms you’ll read soon if you are reading through the bible in a year with us. For several weeks we’ve been taking one of those Psalms and reading it again as we begin worship.
The psalmist here calls us to a life of faith in a world where evil often seems to have the upper hand. What do we do when we look around and see that the world is a mess, and that those who rebel against God so often seem to be succeeding!
This is a question regularly asked in the bible - and here, the answer is to trust in the God and take the long view - the Lord will vindicate those who trust Him and do good, and judge those who do evil. With this long view in place we can turn from anger and worry - and live for God, doing all the good we can.
Take a few moments to reflect on what may be tempting you to anger and worry, and give it to the Lord. Then, pray for God to give you eyes to see His greatness and to trust Him more, using this time of worship to strengthen us as a church in faith and service.
God Saves Us
Congregational Singing
We encourage you to sing - make a joyful noise! If you play an instrument, play! If you have some favorite hymns or choruses, pick one or two and sing! Or make use of other technology to play some music, and listen and sing along.
Below are some hymns you can make use of if these would be a help to you.
Offering
For everyone watching services online, we can still receive your offerings a couple of ways:
You can drop your offering in the locked mailbox outside the church office entrance
Or, you can mail them to the church at 393 Water Street, Augusta ME 04330.
Thank you for your continued support of Penney and its ministries!