Sunday, June 22, 2025
Minister of Word and Sacrament – The Rev. Dan West
Prelude Aria from the Suite in D (Air on a G string)
(All rights reserved. Used with permission. J.S. Bach. Arr. S. Drummond Wolff.)
Gathering Song Come Touch Our Hearts
(All rights reserved. Used with permission. Gordon Light.)
Welcome and Announcements
Call to Worship
Walk toward the edges of life, the places where the rejected live, the despised and disturbed parts of ourselves and the ones who do not sit comfortably with others.
For the Christ waits there to meet us.
Walk toward the edges of life, the world that longs to be loved, the issues that are last on our agendas, and the silent groaning of the lost.
For the Christ waits there to meet us. We are never left alone.
*Hymn # 727 Let There Be Light
1. Let there be light;
let there be understanding;
let all the nations gather;
let them be face to face.
2. Open our lips;
open our minds to ponder;
open the door of concord,
opening into grace.
3. Perish the sword;
perish the angry judgement;
perish the bombs and hunger;
perish the fight for gain.
4. Hallow our love;
hallow the deaths of martyrs;
hallow their holy freedom;
hallowed be your name.
5. Your kingdom come;
your spirit turn to language;
your people speak together,
your spirit never fade.
6. Let there be light;
open our hearts to wonder;
perish the way of terror;
hallow the world God made.
Prayer of Adoration and Confession
The Lord’s Prayer
Our Father who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name;
thy kingdom come;
thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven;
give us this day our daily bread;
and forgive us our trespasses
as we forgive those who trespass against us
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil
for thine is the kingdom,
and the power and the glory forever.
Amen.
Assurance of Pardon
*Hymn # 698 Saviour, Teach Me Day by Day
1. Saviour, teach me day by day
love’s sweet lesson to obey;
sweeter lesson cannot be,
loving God who first loved me.
2. With a child’s glad heart of love
at thy bidding may I move,
prompt to serve and follow thee,
loving God who first loved me.
3. Teach me thus thy steps to trace,
strong to follow in thy grace,
learning how to love from thee,
loving God who first loved me.
4. Love in loving finds employ,
in obedience all its joy;
ever new that joy will be,
loving God who first loved me.
Children’s Time
Anthem A Rose Touched by the Sun’s Warm Rays
(All rights reserved. Used with permission. Jean Berger.)
Scripture Readings
Old Testament
1 Kings 19:1-4 RSV
19 Ahab told Jez′ebel all that Eli′jah had done, and how he had slain all the prophets with the sword. 2 Then Jez′ebel sent a messenger to Eli′jah, saying, “So may the gods do to me and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by this time tomorrow.” 3 Then he was afraid, and he arose and went for his life, and came to Beer-sheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there.
4 But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a broom tree; and he asked that he might die, saying, “It is enough; now, O LORD, take away my life; for I am no better than my fathers.”
Responsive Psalm 42 and 43
Psalm 42
Refrain
As the deer pants for the water,
so my soul longs after you;
you alone are my heart’s desire
and I long to worship you.
1 As a deer longs for flowing streams,
so my soul longs for you, O God.
2 My soul thirsts for God,
for the living God.
When shall I come and behold
the face of God?
3 My tears have been my food
day and night,
while people say to me continually,
“Where is your God?”
Refrain
As the deer pants for the water,
so my soul longs after you;
you alone are my heart’s desire
and I long to worship you.
4 These things I remember,
as I pour out my soul:
how I went with the throng,
and led them in procession to the house of God,
with glad shouts and songs of thanksgiving,
a multitude keeping festival.
5 Why are you cast down, O my soul,
and why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God; for again I shall praise,
my help and my God.
Refrain
As the deer pants for the water,
so my soul longs after you;
you alone are my heart’s desire
and I long to worship you.
6 My soul is cast down within me;
therefore I remember you
from the land of Jordan and of Hermon,
from Mount Mizar.
7 Deep calls to deep
at the thunder of your cataracts;
all your waves and your billows
have gone over me.
8 By day the LORD bestows steadfast love,
and at night God’s song is with me,
a prayer to the God of my life.
Refrain
As the deer pants for the water,
so my soul longs after you;
you alone are my heart’s desire
and I long to worship you.
9 I say to God, my rock,
“Why have you forgotten me?
Why must I walk about mournfully
because the enemy oppresses me?”
10 Like a deadly wound in my body,
my adversaries taunt me,
while they say to me continually,
“Where is your God?”
11 Why are you cast down, O my soul,
and why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God; for again I shall praise,
my help and my God.
Refrain
As the deer pants for the water,
so my soul longs after you;
you alone are my heart’s desire
and I long to worship you.
Psalm 43
Refrain
As the deer pants for the water,
so my soul longs after you;
you alone are my heart’s desire
and I long to worship you.
1 Vindicate me, O God, and defend my cause
against an ungodly people;
from those who are deceitful and unjust
deliver me!
2 For you are the God in whom I take refuge;
why have you cast me off?
Why must I walk about mournfully
because of the oppression of the enemy?
Refrain
As the deer pants for the water,
so my soul longs after you;
you alone are my heart’s desire
and I long to worship you.
3 O send out your light and your truth;
let them lead me;
let them bring me to your holy hill
and to your dwelling.
4 Then I will go to the altar of God,
to God my exceeding joy;
and I will praise you with the harp,
O God, my God.
5 Why are you cast down, O my soul,
and why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God; for again I shall praise,
my help and my God.
Refrain
As the deer pants for the water,
so my soul longs after you;
you alone are my heart’s desire
and I long to worship you.
Gospel Reading
Luke 8:26-39 RSV
26 Then they arrived at the country of the Ger′asenes, which is opposite Galilee. 27 And as he stepped out on land, there met him a man from the city who had demons; for a long time he had worn no clothes, and he lived not in a house but among the tombs. 28 When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell down before him, and said with a loud voice, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beseech you, do not torment me.” 29 For he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. (For many a time it had seized him; he was kept under guard, and bound with chains and fetters, but he broke the bonds and was driven by the demon into the desert.) 30 Jesus then asked him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Legion”; for many demons had entered him. 31 And they begged him not to command them to depart into the abyss. 32 Now a large herd of swine was feeding there on the hillside; and they begged him to let them enter these. So he gave them leave. 33 Then the demons came out of the man and entered the swine, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and were drowned.
34 When the herdsmen saw what had happened, they fled, and told it in the city and in the country. 35 Then people went out to see what had happened, and they came to Jesus, and found the man from whom the demons had gone, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind; and they were afraid. 36 And those who had seen it told them how he who had been possessed with demons was healed. 37 Then all the people of the surrounding country of the Ger′asenes asked him to depart from them; for they were seized with great fear; so he got into the boat and returned. 38 The man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might be with him; but he sent him away, saying, 39 “Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you.” And he went away, proclaiming throughout the whole city how much Jesus had done for him.
Response to the Word of God
Let us hear what the Spirit is saying to the Church.
Thanks be to God for this word to us today.
*Hymn # 706 Come, Let Us Sing
1. Come, let us sing of a wonderful love,
tender and true, tender and true;
out of the heart of the Father above,
streaming to me and to you:
wonderful love, wonderful love
dwells in the heart of the Father above.
2. Jesus the Saviour this gospel to tell
joyfully came, joyfully came,
came with the helpless and hopeless to dwell,
sharing their sorrow and shame:
seeking the lost, seeking the lost,
saving, redeeming at measureless cost.
3. Jesus is seeking the wanderers yet:
why do they roam? why do they roam?
Love only waits to forgive and forget;
home, weary wanderers, home:
wonderful love, wonderful love
dwells in the heart of the Father above.
4. Come to my heart, O thou wonderful love;
come and abide, come and abide,
lifting my life till it rises above
envy and falsehood and pride;
seeking to be, seeking to be
lowly and humble, a learner of thee.
Sermon Jesus Out on the Fringe
Offering
Offertory As the Deer
(All rights reserved. Used with permission. Martin Nystrom.)
*Doxology All Things Are Yours
All things are yours,
we make that true
when we return our gifts to you.
And so we give, and so we share.
In Christ’s strong name expressing care.
(All rights reserved. Used with permission. Worship & Rejoice # 687.)
Offertory Prayer
Prayer of Thanksgiving and Intercession
*Hymn # 723 Lord, In This Broken World
1. Lord, in this broken world where you have placed us,
open our ears to the voices that call,
crying for help, for direction, for comfort,
ease for the pain and relief over all.
2. Open our eyes, O Lord, that you can show us
how to bring healing and help for their pain.
Give us the wisdom and strength you have promised;
speak through your servants, we pray, once again.
3. Open our hearts, O Lord, show your love through us,
telling of you who alone can restore;
lifting and healing the broken in spirit,
offering your peace and a joy evermore.
*Benediction
*Response Go Make A Difference
Go make a diff’rence.
We can make a diff’rence.
Go make a diff’rence in the world.
Go make a diff’rence.
We can make a diff’rence.
Go make a diff’rence in the world.
2. We are the hands of Christ
reaching out to those in need,
the face of God for all to see.
We are the spirit of hope;
We are the voice of peace.
Go make a diff’rence in the world.
Go make a diff’rence.
We can make a diff’rence.
Go make a diff’rence in the world.
Go make a diff’rence.
We can make a diff’rence.
Go make a diff’rence in the world.
(All rights reserved. Used with permission. More Voices # 209.)
Postlude Toccata from Toccata and Fugue in D
(All rights reserved. Used with permission. J.S. Bach.)