(Clicking on the text underlined in blue will take you to Youtube videos. Most are songs, except for the Sermon, “Freedom”)
All Prayers are from the Book of Common Worship (Westminster John Knox Press, 2018) and The Worship Sourcebook, Second Edition (Calvin Institute of Christian Worship, Faith Alive Christian Resources and Baker Books, 2013)
Pray: God, our Rock, our refuge, our resting place, we come to you. Out of another busy week of work, out of our struggles to be meaningful in our world, out of our desire to meet you and know you as the center of our being, we come to you, O unmovable Rock of our security. Amen
Sing or Listen: Traditional: It is Well with My Soul
Contemporary: Forever
Confess: Gracious God, our sins are too heavy to carry, too real to hide, and too deep to undo. Forgive what our lips tremble to name, what our hearts can no longer bear, and what has become for us a consuming fire of judgment. Set us free from a past that we cannot change; open to us a future in which we can be changed; and grant us grace to grow more and more in your likeness and image; through Jesus Christ, the light of the world. Amen.
Be: Sit (or stand) in silence for one minute.
Be Assured: Hear these words of Comfort from Paul’s letter to the Romans: There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. In the name of Jesus Christ, we are forgiven. Amen.
Read God’s Word: Psalm 119:105-112 (New Revised Standard Version)
Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.
I have sworn an oath and confirmed it, to observe your righteous ordinances.
I am severely afflicted; give me life, O Lord, according to your word.
Accept my offerings of praise, O Lord, and teach me your ordinances.
I hold my life in my hand continually, but I do not forget your law.
The wicked have laid a snare for me, but I do not stray from your precepts.
Your decrees are my heritage forever; they are the joy of my heart.
I incline my heart to perform your statutes forever, to the end.
Read God’s Word: Romans 8:1-11 (New Revised Standard Edition)
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do: by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and to deal with sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, so that the just requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For this reason the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law—indeed it cannot, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
But you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you.
Watch the Sermon: “Freedom”
Think or Discuss: What does freedom mean? What does it mean to be set free from something?
Do: Next week, we are celebrating Christmas in July. If it’s not too hard, get out your nativity scene and decorate at least a small corner of your house. Rejoice, for Christ is with us.
Pray: Use this time to pray, silently, at first, and then for others who need your prayers.
Finally, pray the Lord’s Prayer. (Our Father…)
Sing or Listen: Traditional: Abide with Me
Contemporary: Lord, I Need You
Bless and Be Blessed: May the God of Peace and the Peace of God be with you always.