31 Jan Worship Bulletin – 1/31/21
McPherson First Church of the Brethren
Welcome to Worship at the McPherson Church of the Brethren
We invite your active participation in the life of this congregation, as together we continue to grow in grace and seek justice for God’s creation.
Sunday, January 31, 2021
Welcome
Centering Music | “For the Beauty of the Earth” | arr. Mary McDonald
Darren Hendricks, trumpet; Jean Hendricks, piano
Scripture | Psalm 111 | NIV
1 Praise God. I will extol God with all my heart – in the council of the upright and in the assembly.
2 Great are the works of God; they are pondered by all who delight in them.
3 Glorious and majestic are God’s deeds and God’s righteousness endures forever.
4 God has caused God’s wonders to be remembered; God is gracious and compassionate.
5 God provides food for those who fear God; God remembers God’s covenant forever.
6 God has shown the people the power of God’s works, giving them the lands of other nations.
7 The works of God’s hands are faithful and just; all God’s precepts are trustworthy.
8 They are established for ever and ever, enacted in faithfulness and uprightness.
9 God provided redemption for the people; God ordained God’s covenant forever –
holy and awesome is God’s name.
10 The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow God’s precepts have good understanding.
To God belongs eternal praise.
Community Prayer | based on Mark 1:21-28 | written by Nancy C. Townley (adapted)
What have we done, God?
We want to praise you, so we splash your words on screens on a wall, with graphics and lyrics.
We speak your praises, with litanies and prayers. We teach and preach your word.
But we don’t listen carefully for you.
We are so busy trying to compete against the noises of the day,
that we don’t take time to really listen and know you.
The voices of the prophets spoke to people long ago who were also too busy and anxious to hear.
Their words streamed in the winds of time and have come to us.
We need to pay attention to your message offered through them.
You are our God, the God of all creation, the God of power and love, whose mercy is offered to us.
Jesus proclaimed the good news through words and actions, reaching out to those who were troubled,
alienated, cast aside. Jesus offered healing and hope to those others turned away.
Help us to learn that you alone can heal us and fix those areas in our lives that are wounded and twisted.
Help us to understand that you alone can offer to us a new way of life through Jesus.
Remind us that as we pray for people and situations that concern us – as we pray for your healing presence –
remind us that the same touch is offered to us.
God, help us to let go of our need to control – to be right – to be the authority.
Help us to place our trust wholly in you. Help us to act with Your Love – fully engaged, seeking justice and
making peace -now and forever. Amen.
Hymn | “Praise, I Will Praise You Lord” | #76 HWB
Grace van Asselt & Kaitlyn van Asselt, vocals; Ellen Gilbert, piano
Children’s Story
Invitation to Give
Offering Music | “Total Praise” | arr. Shawn Kirchner
Give online or send a check made payable to “McPherson Church of the Brethren,” 200 N. Carrie, McPherson, KS 6746
Scripture | I Corinthians 8:1-13
1 Now about food sacrificed to idols: We know that “We all possess knowledge.”
But knowledge puffs up while love builds up.
2 Those who think they know something do not yet know as they ought to know.
3 But whoever loves God is known by God.
4 So then, about eating food sacrificed to idols: We know that “An idol is nothing at all in the world” and that
“There is no God but one.”
5 For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”),
6 yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord,
Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live.
7 But not everyone possesses this knowledge. Some people are still so accustomed to idols that when they eat
sacrificial food they think of it as having been sacrificed to a god, and since their conscience is weak, it is defiled.
8 But food does not bring us near to God; we are no worse if we do not eat, and no better if we do.
9 Be careful, however, that the exercise of your rights does not become a stumbling block to the weak.
10 For if someone with a weak conscience sees you, with all your knowledge, eating in an idol’s temple, won’t
that person be emboldened to eat what is sacrificed to idols?
11 So this weak brother or sister, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge.
12 When you sin against them in this way and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ.
13 Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother or sister to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will
not cause them to fall.
Message | “To Love God is to Know God” | Jerry Bowen
Hymn | “Dear Lord and Father of Mankind” | #523 HWB
Allan van Asselt & Deb van Asselt, vocals; Ellen Gilbert, piano
Sending Words
Sending Music | “March is C Major” | Mark Williams
Ellen Gilbert, organ
Videography and Editing: Eric Goering
Music Coordinator: Ellen Gilbert