First Presbyterian Church of Weedsport
September 1, 2024
Rev. Brian Copeland
WELCOME AND ANNOUNCEMENTS Liturgist
PRELUDE
CALL TO WORSHIP (Responsive) Liturgist
Who may abide in the presence of God?
Who may live on God’s holy mountain?
All those who walk blamelessly and do what is right.
All those who speak truth from their heart.
HYMN #276 Great is Thy Faithfulness
CALL TO CONFESSION Liturgist
Let us confess our sins to our loving God who calls us close through our beloved Savior, Jesus Christ our Lord.
PRAYER OF CONFESSION (Unison) Liturgist
Loving, righteous God, our hearts are defiled with the wickedness you hate. You have called us to yourself, but we have gone away. Forgetting your living Word, we cling to dead traditions. Deceiving ourselves, we abandon your commandments. Hypocrites, we honor you with our lips while our hearts are far from you. Cleanse our hearts from evil intentions; cleanse our tongues from evil words so that our worship may be pure and undefiled and we may live with you in love for others. Amen.
DECLARATION OF FORGIVENESS Liturgist
Our generous God has given us the perfect gift of forgiveness, Jesus Christ our Lord, who has liberated us from dead tradition and made us new by the living Word, filling our hearts with God’s love.
SPECIAL MUSIC
CHILDREN’S TIME
PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION (Unison) Liturgist
Creator of lights, there is no variation or shadow due to change in you. Let your Spirit illumine our hearts through your holy Word, turning us from the emptiness of our human traditions to the fullness of life in the Beloved One, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
FIRST SCRIPTURE READING: James 1:17-27 Liturgist
17Every generous act of giving, with every perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. 18In fulfillment of his own purpose he gave us birth by the word of truth, so that we would become a kind of first fruits of his creatures.
19You must understand this, my beloved: let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger; 20for your anger does not produce God's righteousness. 21Therefore rid yourselves of all sordidness and rank growth of wickedness, and welcome with meekness the implanted word that has the power to save your souls.
22But be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves. 23For if any are hearers of the word and not doers, they are like those who look at themselves in a mirror; 24for they look at themselves and, on going away, immediately forget what they were like. 25But those who look into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and persevere, being not hearers who forget but doers who act-they will be blessed in their doing.
26If any think they are religious, and do not bridle their tongues but deceive their hearts, their religion is worthless. 27Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.
SECOND SCRIPTURE READING: Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23 Rev. Brian Copeland
1Now when the Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around him, 2they noticed that some of his disciples were eating with defiled hands, that is, without washing them. 3(For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, do not eat unless they thoroughly wash their hands, thus observing the tradition of the elders; 4and they do not eat anything from the market unless they wash it; and there are also many other traditions that they observe, the washing of cups, pots, and bronze kettles.) 5So the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, "Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?" 6He said to them, "Isaiah prophesied rightly about you hypocrites, as it is written, 'This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; 7in vain do they worship me, teaching human precepts as doctrines.' 8You abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition."
14Then he called the crowd again and said to them, "Listen to me, all of you, and understand: 15there is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile."
21"For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come: fornication, theft, murder, 22adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, folly. 23All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person."
The word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
SERMON “Hearers, Doers, and the Human Heart” Rev. Brian Copeland
HYMN #306 Fairest Lord Jesus
PRAYERS OF INTERCESSION AND THE LORD’S PRAYER
Let us bring our prayers of intercession to God, saying,
Arise, God of Love. Come to our aid.
INVITATION TO THE OFFERING (Offering plates are on the front and back tables. Offering plates are not passed.)
PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING (Unison)
Living God, thank you for your gifts of life— fragrant flowers, fruitful vines, singing creatures, and our own lives, renewed in Christ. Let your grace infuse the gifts we offer with life-giving power for those in need. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
HOLY COMMUNION
HYMN # 428 We Give Thee but Thine Own
CHARGE AND BLESSING
POSTLUDE
Reminders:
Sept. 8 – Children’s Sunday School begins
Sept. 11 – Blood drive
Sept. 13 – Doug’s to Go to benefit the Weedsport Good Samaritan Fund
Sept. 15, 22, and 29 – No Sunday morning Adult Sunday School
Sept. 15 – Committee and Session meetings following worship.
Sept. 23 – Our turn to volunteer at the food pantry
