Home Worship Service Plan September 6, 2020 • Week Two (WHITE) • Communion Revelation 1:1-8 “Telegraphing Your Moves” God is not just on the bookends of history: God is writing it with us.

Preparation Gather these items for worship. If you don’t have a particular item, fret not.. • a piece of WHITE cloth • an end table or stand • a Bible

• a plate with bread • a cup or glass of juice • a glass or bowl of water

• a lighter or match • a dish of oil

• a computer or internet-accessible device

For each item you have, thank God for the provision. For each piece you do not have, thank God you don’t need it. Place the table/stand in the area you plan to worship. If more than one person will be present, place the table in the middle of where you will be seating. Drape the cloth over it. Arrange the cup of juice, plate with bread, glass of water on the table. Be prepared to light the candle on the table. Keep the Bible in front of you, open to the passage for today.

Announcements & Service Notes

CHURCHWIDE BIBLE STUDY OVER ZOOM “Winning God” is our churchwide examination of the Revelation to John! We are looking at the overall theme of the letter as well as strategies for understanding what actually is a straightforward book of the Bible. To get the reading list for the Fall, you can download it from our website or Facebook page. You can also get a copy (actual or virtual) from the church office. There will also be weekly study guides as well as a supplemental resources published to go along with our efforts to pay attention to this Word of God to the people then and to us now. People WITHOUT a computer can participate (so spread the word!). As long as you have a phone you can study with us. Details are available from the church office. The study begins at 7:30pm on Wednesdays.

READY TO ACT! Worship happens well beyond what happens in a sanctuary or what we’re doing at home. At the end of the service, take the opportunity to engage in one or more of the activities suggested (if you aren’t already) as a continuation of our acts of worship.

SECURING OUR FUTURE Thank you to our Nominating Committee and the work they are taking up on our behalf! They are Nanette Pedelty, Kim Ragland, John Taylor, Vinda Crawford and Beverli McAdams! Pray for them and answer the phone when they call you as they work on their recommendation to us for the next class of Elders.

PRACTICE GOOD STEWARDSHIP! When we talk about stewardship in the Church, that often has to do with money. Sometimes we’ll even turn to the important subject of time and how we spend it. We’ll talk about the way we make use of our talents and abilities. But Stewardship, as a Christian, as a follower of Christ, has to do with the whole of our lives. That includes the idea of rest.

It may seem counter-intuitive to talk about rest in this time of relative quarantine. But constantly reinventing routines, processes, our habits, can be exhausting. And for those of us who have difficulty leaving home, feeling trapped is its own weariness. We need a break! This is not a failing in us. It’s design.

Be good stewards of your rest. God created with limits. Appreciate them. It is just as important (and productive!) to be as intentional about our rest as we are our work. Take seriously God’s example and rest (where you can) from the stressors present in your life. That of course can mean taking a break from work. But it can also mean taking a break from watching, reading, or listening to the news. It can mean finding someone to help take care of a loved one for whom you’re providing long-term care. It may mean stepping away from your family for a short time or your studies. It might mean figuring out a routine in the midst of these fluid times. It can be as simple as remembering to breathe deeply every now and then.

Be good stewards of your opportunities to rest!

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Opening Sentences (Read aloud, even if alone; the first spoken words of worship are Scripture): REVELATION 1:5-6 - “To the one who loves us and freed us from our sins by his blood, who made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father—to him be glory and power forever and always. Amen.”

PRAY: God, it’s no mystery what you are doing. You have told and told us. You have shown us, over and over again. And now, even in the middle of crises, disasters and mishaps, you show your sovereignty. You were in charge. You are in charge. You will always BE in charge. And your will for us is good things. Help us trust that and rest in that. Thank you for seeing us and not rejecting us. Help us see everything the way you do. In the great name of Jesus Christ we pray this together …

PRAY SILENTLY…THEN SAY, “Thank you for listening, God. Amen.”

The Word • SING, ‘Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken’ (lyrics p.6)

PRAY: Lord, your Word is more alive than ever. Put your Word in us so that we may be also. Amen.

READ: REVELATION 1:1-8 The author’s message is rooted in the divine name: God alone is the master of history. 1 A revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place. Christ made it known by sending it through his angel to his servant John, 2 who bore witness to the word of God and to the witness of Jesus Christ, including all that John saw. 3 Favored is the one who reads the words of this prophecy out loud, and favored are those who listen to it being read, and keep what is written in it, for the time is near. 4 John, to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace and peace to you from the one who is and was and is coming, and from the seven spirits that are before God’s throne, 5 and from Jesus Christ—the faithful witness, the firstborn from among the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To the one who loves us and freed us from our sins by his blood, 6 who made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father—to him be glory and power forever and always. Amen. 7 Look, he is coming with the clouds! Every eye will see him, including those who pierced him, and all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of him. This is so. Amen. 8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “the one who is and was and is coming, the Almighty.” SAY: The Word of the Lord…Thanks be to God!

Meditation [Blue Bloods] What is it that distinguishes royalty from every one else? Well, in your run of the mill kingdom, it isn’t beliefs, riches, abilities, intelligence, or even personality. In fact, the distinguishing factor is very mundane, bordering on laughable: it’s birthright; whether or not you can claim royal lineage, royal blood. Of course, that’s not how it started. At some point, someone had to be the first king. But once the king was established, blood commanded all.

One of the things that distinguished Israel’s kings (at least at first) was that GOD chose the king. It wasn’t until after King David (you know, only the second one they had) that Israel fell into the same pattern as all their neighbors: Solomon was king by virtue of David being his father.

But to really get a sense of our betrayal to God, you have to go back further. Before the first king of Israel was ordained, God pleaded with the people to understand: God is their king.

Well…they didn’t exactly go for that.

In embracing Saul they rejected God as King, themselves as God’s people, and their royal heritage. So when Jesus comes and fulfills God’s original vision for us, it is no mystery what God accomplished:

“But those who did welcome him, those who believed in his name, he authorized to become God’s children, born not from blood nor from human desire or passion, but born from God.” —John 1:12-13

Our connection to the royal bloodline is restored! We are as God describes us in verse 6: a kingdom, priests to the very God of Jesus Christ.

But what do you do when not everyone recognizes God’s rightful rule? What if people are at enmity with God? Yeah, you guessed it: that means God’s offspring become targets.

This is in essence the beginning of the encouragement John writes to us. A reminder of the wisdom the Pharisee Gamaliel observed about the disciples:

“If their plan or activity is of human origin, it will end in ruin. If it originates with God, you won’t be able to stop them. Instead, you would actually find yourselves fighting God!” —Acts 5:38-39

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John is arguing that the forces the churches (and we) are encountering are contending, not against us, but against God. And they’re coming against a message from God that is literally older than dirt.

[Chain of Custody] John begins the letter with ownership and authorship. It’s not about John. His name doesn’t even show up until verse 4. It is all about what God is trying to tell us through Jesus Christ.

Before we go further, we have to talk about “Christ.” It’s not Jesus’ last name. It’s his title, his royal title. Back in the day, the kings were chosen and consecrated with the pouring of oil on the head. In other words, they were anointed. That’s really the force of the word in Hebrew (Messiah), and in Greek, (Christ). It just means, “anointed.” Jesus is the chosen, rightful king. That means that what follows is not simply Jesus’ authority alone, but God’s. This authority is extended to us because Jesus’ job was to give it to us.

And it can be easy to read verse one and go crazy with the futuring. I mean, really, how many centuries of miscommunication and misadventure have taken place because the Church failed to recognize that “what must soon take place” was not a reference to the future but to what God has already done. We get clues about this later but the biggest we receive right away: John talks about the revelation in the past tense, something we’ve already been shown.

And the revelation comes to us as follows: God gave it to Jesus who gave it to his messenger to give to John to give to us. Filters aside, like the royal lineage we celebrate, the message matters for us because of who originated the message. God’s own self.

Another reason we tend to push the ideas of Revelation to the future rather than addressing our present is an often abused word: prophecy.

A prophet is simply someone who speaks for God. A prophecy is something a prophet says. To the degree that what is said represents the future, it is rooted in what is observed about the present.

If I see someone’s hand heading for a hot stove top, I’m not exactly Nostrodamus if I pronounce, “Behold, the hand touching yon stove shall forthwith experience burn.” But to someone who’s never experienced a hot stove top before, I’d seem like a prescient genius.

Back in the day, when the prophets would speak about what was coming, it was rooted in what they already knew about

how God operated. If God can part the Red Sea, defeat Gideon’s enemies, wipe out the prophets of Baal, take down Goliath, rain down manna, make water come out of rocks, keep Daniel’s crew from getting burned, make the blind see, the lame dance and raise Jesus from the dead, then God can (and will) handle anything the churches in John’s day (and our day) are facing. That’s not telling the future. That’s recognizing where God has been at work historically. That’s recognizing that the history God has already written speaks to its end. And the main reason for that confidence is God’s ongoing activity.

[Focus on My Voice] John draws sharp attention to the words of the prophecy. This is a clue to the thread we should pay attention to throughout the letter. It matters that we read God’s Word. It matters that we hear God’s Word. It matters that we internalize and take action on God’s Word.

It can seem obvious to say all that, perhaps. But, to be sure, we can relate to what the early Church was going through. They were dealing with a LOT of noise. The voices of the Roman authorities breathing down their necks and mortal threats to them and their families. The voices of the Jewish leadership, branding them all as traitors to the nation and to their own heritage and publicly and privately castigating them. The voices of their own needs, compounded by the realities of their economic situation: hard to publicly buy groceries when you can’t get a job and you generally can’t be seen in public. Then there were the voices of the internal conflicts they experienced with one another, splitting them into camps and exacerbated by the pressures they were feeling everywhere else. And lastly, the nagging feeling of doubt growing because the urgency of Jesus’ return was diminishing with each passing day. That’s a lot to cut through.

So John employs the only blade that makes a difference: God’s Word.

But, look, knowing that this letter was written in the mid 90s CE, how do we take seriously John saying, “The time is near”? I mean, even by then, the Temple was destroyed, the original disciples were dead or almost dead and Rome was more powerful and crazier than ever. What was God waiting on?

But the Old Testament, and in particular, the divine name, YHWH, teaches us something really important to remember about God: God is God over history, not just the moment. There’s a reason why many lottery winners are broke after only a short time, for example. There’s a reason why our own Session is exploring not just what can or can’t be done under the current phase, but what it means for us to be a Church moving forward. There’s a reason why it takes such a long time to really know a person.

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You know one of the things I’ve come to really appreciate about living here is NC barbecue. Whatever you do with it, you can’t cook it fast: not if you want it to be good. It takes a while.

The kind of changes God is looking to make in us are generational. Just listen to God’s rationale for the second commandment:

“...I, the LORD your God, am a passionate God. I punish children for their parents’ sins even to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me. But I am loyal and gracious to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments.” —Exodus 20:5-6

It’s a telling departure from what we usually think of as our domain or purview. We spend so much energy thinking about what’s good for us, what’s good for me, we might even consider what’s good for our children, but rarely do we consider whether something we’ve said or done would be good for our great-grandchildren or their great-grandchildren. But that’s how far the consequences of our decision-making reaches. That’s how far our choices reverberate. And so while God cares about us, cares about every cell in our bodies, God moves with our generations in mind. We should also.

And so the time to do what is right is always near. The time to be loving is always near. The time to be faithful is always near. The time to be merciful is always near. The time to be forgiving is always near. The time to be kind is always near. The time to do as Revelation instructs and read the Word of God aloud, listen to the Word of God and to “keep” the Word of God, is near. The urgency for this is not lessened with time. It only grows. Who could argue that we don’t need those things now more than ever?

[Divine Rule] And so Jesus is talked about in echoes of the divine name, YHWH, and is said, in present tense, to be the King of all NOW, not just then, not after some kind of rapture or even tribulation. Jesus is the king now.

So when God talks about us being a kingdom, that too is not something yet to come. That reality is present because this has already happened. We ARE a kingdom, priests to the God of Jesus Christ.

Take a moment, and think about (talk about) this description of you. What does it mean to you that you are a part of the kingdom and one of God’s priests?

We have a tendency to think of priests or even leaders in the church as being held to a higher standard than the rest of us. And that’s true. But we also acknowledge, if only intellectually, that they are also human (by which we mean, prone to error). That’s why when we witness their frailty, it can be equal parts shocking and not surprising.

When Jerry Falwell, Jr., resigned as President of Liberty University, there was a lot of buzz about the hypocrisy of his rhetoric vis a vis his actions, especially most recently. But don’t we all suffer this ailment? We all fall short with God by not backing up the promise we make every time we pray the Lord’s Prayer and don’t forgive our debtors. Don’t we fall short with God every time we say we love and don’t love our neighbor (by the way, a neighbor is anybody toward which WE are neighborly; see Luke 10:36-37). Should Falwell have resigned? Yes. Can we sit in judgement? Not our job.

Being a part of the reign of God is not a question of power: God already has all of that. Being part of the reign of God means doing the things that distinguish God’s kingdom from the rest. That’s not just something that’s supposed to take place in the future. We’re supposed to be doing that now.

[What Must We Do?] But how do we do that? How do we act on our identity with God? How do we demonstrate our membership in the divine bloodline? And how do keep that focus, especially now?

Remember our name: Christians, “the anointed.” We have been chosen, set aside, consecrated by none other than God. We already have the authority to act and the backing of the kingdom. Take the oil on your table. Dip your fingertip into it and draw the sign of the cross on your forehead as a reminder that you have not simply been anointed with oil. You’ve been anointed with God’s SPIRIT! But before you get carried away, keep in mind this is a sign of GOD’s goodness, not your own.

Because of that, remember what it has taken for God to get you to this point. Not just in your own life, but in the generations of lives that came before and the opportunities the generations following you present. Learn how the church community (or communities) you’ve been a part of came to be. Learn your Old Testament stories. Get the Gospels and the New Testament stories in your head. Get God’s history with you and with us all in your heart. It will buffer anything that comes your way, including a year like 2020.

And so, when you pray, remember that God is a God not just of the moment, but of all of history. There’s a temptation when we’re meeting as committees or even during pastoral visits to begin or end such encounters with prayers. That’s all

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fine and well. But praying should happen throughout. God should be consulted throughout. The King’s advice and direction should be sought throughout. Not just at the beginning or end. Not just when we’ve exhausted our attempts and ideas. God’s desire and will IS Immanuel: God WITH us.

Because God is not just on the bookends of history: God is writing it with us, here, now. Let the history we write reflect who God dreams for us to be: Kings and queens, messengers and witnesses.’

Respond to the Word SING:’Happy Day’ (Lyrics on p.6)

Offering & Offertory We give because God is good. Our tithes, gifts, participation, acts of service and compassion and offerings are thankful responses for what God has made us: a part of God’s New Heaven and New Earth!

Remember to look over the section at the end of the service plan (after the benediction for ways to continue in worship through your acts of service. And if you have the means and will and inclination to give money to the church, you can bring your offering or gift by the church office. You can submit it online by making the church a vendor with your bank’s bill pay service or by going to our church’s website and giving through our Square® portal (no app or extra software necessary). You can mail a check (please do not mail cash) or call the church office and we’ll walk you through the process. You can set time aside or schedule when you will do some of things prescribed in the meditation.

OFFERTORY & REFLECTION

Blessing PRAY: Lord, take our gifts offered in earnest. Multiply them according to your purposes that they may serve your ends. And in the process, make us all a part of the blessing you mean for the world. Amen.

Service of Communion • SAY: The Lord be with you...and also with you. God invites

us to the Table as we are, given who we are! God invites us to the Table even though we might think we have no place here. God invites us, does NOT force us, because God still loves us. Let us answer together as one Church across time, across our homes, across our various situations, and eat and drink of what the Lord offers. Let us pray...(pause)

• PRAY: (You can make use of the prompts below or completely compose your own prayer.)

• THANK GOD for the grace that allows us to be works in progress. Thank God for the examples you see of God’s Spirit at work.

• THANK GOD for making us a part of the history God is writing...

• PRAY for our world and for an end to the epidemic • PRAY for race reconciliation and an end to violence • PRAY for various situations and folks your may know

about (try to only use first names) • PRAY for Hawfields as we work reopening in a

responsible manner • 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 debts as we forgive our debtors.And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen.”

• (Take the bread in your hands and say) On the night in which he was betrayed, Jesus took the bread and after blessing it, he broke it; gave it to his disciples saying, ‘Take and eat. This is my body given for you. As often as you eat of it, do this in remembrance of me.’ (Eat the bread)

• (Hold up the cup and say) In the same manner he took the cup. After pouring it out he blessed it, gave it to his disciples, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant, sealed by my blood for the forgiveness of many. All of you, drink of it.’ (Drink from the cup)

• For as often as we eat this bread and drink this cup, we proclaim the Lord’s saving death until he comes. These are the gifts of God for the people of God: thanks be to God.

• The only proper response to the grace of God is gratitude. Let us pray together with the whole Church:

• Thank you, God, for making us your kingdom. Help us live out that thanks by being a refuge to all you call us to. Thank you for including us at your Table. Help us do the same with ours. In the great name of Jesus Christ we pray this together. Amen.

Sending & Benediction • SAY: ’ God is not just on the bookends of history: God is

writing it with us, here, now. Let the history we write reflect who God dreams for us to be: Kings and queens, messengers and witnesses.’

• (raise your hands and say) “Get up, take heart, Jesus is still calling you…Work for peace.”

_____________________________

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Your Continuing Acts of Worship MISSION FROM HOME:

send cards or write letter call or video-call people pray, everyday make art to share in some way start (or join) a Bible study group put together your own phone tree collect food or even clothing for someone else to take for you make masks put together health kits (the Presbyterian Disaster Assistance website has several lists to work from) observe the themes of the upcoming worship services and provide artwork, music or audio/video files of liturgy (the reading list is available from the church office).

MISSION AWAY FROM HOME: park in someone’s driveway and pray with them visit with folks through the window of their house or residence collect food (yours or pick up someone else’s) to give to Manna Market, our schools, or to a neighbor you know about leave gifts on the door knobs or handles of folks do drive-by Birthday greetings fix a meal to deliver to someone’s porch. make a cake, package or deliver part of it, and then eat it together with someone over the phone or video-call make a banner of thanks to display at a hospital or any number of first responder stations deliver cleaning supplies to shelters, food pantries or even a neighbor buy a little extra while you’re out help deliver the worship service plans and printed email updates and/or DVDs to those members without Internet access (and save the church a few stamps).

MISSION IN OTHER WAYS: give online or by mail (no cash, please) Meals on Wheels of Alamance County Manna Market Food Pantry the school pantry at Audrey Garrett Elementary building ramps and other helps for folks who need more accessibility at their homes support our employees, facilities support efforts to blunt not only the effects of the virus, but of poverty, food insecurity and social violence determine your love will be concrete

You could determine that being a part of the household of God doesn’t limit your options, but actually expands your options for love and compassion and kindness. Be generous. Be Christ-like. Be Christ

SONGS Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken Glorious things of thee are spoken, Zion, city of our God. God, whose word cannot be broken, formed thee for a blest abode. On the rock of ages founded, what can shake thy sure repose? With salvation's walls surrounded, thou may'st smile at all thy foes.

Round each habitation hovering, see the cloud and fire appear for a glory and a covering, showing that the Lord is near. Thus deriving from their banner light by night and shade by day, safe they feed upon the manna which God gives them when they pray.

See, the streams of living waters, springing from eternal love, well supply thy sons and daughters and all fear of want remove. Who can faint while such a river ever flows, their thirst to assuage? Grace, so like the Lord the giver, never fails from age to age.

Happy Day The greatest day in history, Death is beaten, you have rescued me, Sing it out, Jesus is alive! The empty cross, the empty grave, Life eternal, you have won the day, Shout it out, Jesus is alive! He's alive!

Chorus: Oh, happy day, happy day, You washed my sin away Oh, happy day, happy day, I'll never be the same Forever I am changed

When I stand in that place, Free at last, meeting face to face, I am yours, Jesus you are mine. Endless joy, perfect peace, Earthly pain finally will cease Celebrate, Jesus is alive! He's alive!

Chorus

Oh, what a glorious day; What a glorious way That you have saved me! Oh, what a glorious day; What a glorious name

Chorus

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