Silent Prayer
Call to Worship
Benin Shekawongo
(based on Psalm 30, from Erik Alsgaard)
Leader: I will praise you, O God, for you have lifted me up.
All: You did not let my foes rejoice over me.
Leader: You, O God, have healed me,
All: You have brought up my soul from the pits of hell.
Leader: I will sing and praise you, O God.
All: I give thanks for your holy name.
Leader: You have turned my mourning into dancing.
All: You have clothed me with joy.
Leader: My soul will praise you, O God, and it will not be silent.
All: O Lord my God, I will give thanks to you forever.
Opening Song
Lift Every Voice and Sing (UMH #519)
Words: James Weldon Johnson, Music: J. Rosamond Johnson
- Lift every voice and sing, till earth and heaven ring,
ring with the harmonies of liberty;
let our rejoicing rise high as the listening skies,
let it resound loud as the rolling sea.
Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us;
sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us;
facing the rising sun of our new day begun,
let us march on till victory is won. - Stony the road we trod, bitter the chastening rod,
felt in the days when hope unborn had died;
yet with a steady beat, have not our weary feet
come to the place for which our fathers sighed?
We have come over a way that with tears has been watered;
we have come, treading our path thru the blood of the slaughtered,
out from the gloomy past, till now we stand at last
where the white gleam of our bright star is cast. - God of our weary years, God of our silent tears,
thou who hast brought us thus far on the way;
thou who hast by thy might led us into the light,
keep us forever in the path, we pray.
Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met thee;
lest our hearts drunk with the wine of the world, we forget thee;
shadowed beneath thy hand, may we forever stand,
true to our God, true to our native land.
Prayer Reflection: Naaman’s Story
Esther Inuwa
From Katherine Hawker, Liturgies Outside
a little girl
an army commander
a religious zealot
for one brief moment
difference suspended
doubt superseded
ordinary water
simple ritual
extraordinary presence
May we have the courage of the child
to reach out to even the powerful.
May we have the wisdom of Namaan
to ask for help when we are lost.
May we have the faithfulness of Elisha
to love outside the lines.
Scripture Reading
2 Kings 5:5-8
Cody Beckett
And the king of Aram said, ‘Go then, and I will send along a letter to the king of Israel.’
He went, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten sets of garments. He brought the letter to the king of Israel, which read, ‘When this letter reaches you, know that I have sent to you my servant Naaman, that you may cure him of his leprosy.’ When the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and said, ‘Am I God, to give death or life, that this man sends word to me to cure a man of his leprosy? Just look and see how he is trying to pick a quarrel with me.’
But when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, he sent a message to the king, ‘Why have you torn your clothes? Let him come to me, that he may learn that there is a prophet in Israel.’
Leader: The Word of God for the people of God.
All: Thanks be to God.
Sermon
Finding Hope in Uncertain Times
Rev. Dr. Kevin Miller
Musical Response
“When the fig Tree Fails to Blossom”
Words: David Gambrell, Music: Mark Miller
When the fig tree fails to blossom
and no fruit is on the vine
when the fields are bare as deserts
and our hope is hard to find
When a song of celebration
seems entirely out of place,
When our lives are stretched to breaking
hanging by a thread of grace
We will rejoice
We will rejoice
in the Lord in the Lord
we will rejoice
in the Lord in the Lord
When the sun and moon are shaken
and the heavens lose their light
When we think we are forsaken
there’s a comforter in sight
For the day is surely coming
when these labor pains have passed
We will greet the new creation
and with all the saints at last
(Chorus)
Blessing
Rev. Dr. Kevin Miller
Sending Song
We’ll UnderstandIt Better By and By (UMH #525)
Refrain
By and by when the morning comes,
When the saints of God are gathered home,
We’ll tell the story how we’ve overcome:
For we’ll understand it better by and by.
Verse 1
We are tossed and driv’n
On the restless sea of time,
Somber skies and howling tempests
Oft succeed a bright sunshine,
In that land of perfect day,
When the mists have rolled away,
We will understand it better by and by.
Verse 2
We are often destitute
Of the things that life demands,
Want of food and want of shelter,
Thirsty hills and barren lands,
We are trusting in the Lord,
And according to God’s word,
We will understand it better by and by.
Refrain
Verse 3
Trials dark on ev’ry hand,
And we cannot understand,
All the ways that God would lead us
To that blessed Promised Land;
But He guides us with His eye
And we’ll follow till we die.
For we’ll understand it better by and by.
Verse 4
Temptations, hidden snares
Often take us unawares,
And our hearts are made to bleed
For a thoughtless word or deed,
And we wonder why the test
When we try to do our best.
But we’ll understand it better by and by.
Refrain
Drew Theo Chapel 