God Gathers Us
Call to Worship - Psalm 5
To be read aloud by someone in your home:
Listen to my words, Lord,
consider my lament.
Hear my cry for help,
my King and my God,
for to you I pray.
In the morning, Lord, you hear my voice;
in the morning I lay my requests before you
and wait expectantly.
For you are not a God who is pleased with wickedness;
with you, evil people are not welcome.
The arrogant cannot stand
in your presence.
You hate all who do wrong;
you destroy those who tell lies.
The bloodthirsty and deceitful
you, Lord, detest.
But I, by your great love,
can come into your house;
in reverence I bow down
toward your holy temple.
Lead me, Lord, in your righteousness
because of my enemies—
make your way straight before me.
Not a word from their mouth can be trusted;
their heart is filled with malice.
Their throat is an open grave;
with their tongues they tell lies.
Declare them guilty, O God!
Let their intrigues be their downfall.
Banish them for their many sins,
for they have rebelled against you.
But let all who take refuge in you be glad;
let them ever sing for joy.
Spread your protection over them,
that those who love your name may rejoice in you.
Surely, Lord, you bless the righteous;
you surround them with your favor as with a shield.
Opening Prayer
This is one of the Psalms you read this week if you are reading through the bible in a year with us. For the next few weeks, we’ll be taking one of those Psalms and reading it again as we begin worship.
As you look at this Psalm, notice what it says about how seriously God takes wrongdoing and wickedness. God is a moral God, righteous and holy, and He takes no delight in sin.
Take a few moments as you start worship to be quiet and ask the Holy Spirit to show you if there is anything in your life - any sin, wickedness or wrongdoing - that needs to be confessed to God, asking for His forgiveness.
But remember also the last verses of the Psalm, that promise that if you take refuge in God, you can be glad and sing for joy because He will protect you. And we know, that in Christ, God has spared us from His just wrath at our sin and all its consequences, because Jesus bore our sin that we might be forgiven, accepted, redeemed.
So as you close, also thank God for the grace He gives us in Jesus, and ask that as you worship He might fill our hearts with joy as we put our trust in Him.
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
During this time when we can't gather on Sundays, 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!