The Gift of Getting Lost

Bold indicates congregational participation, * indicates an invitation to stand,
PRELUDE                        
Stephanie Shorden

GREETING                      

INTROIT             “Highland Cathedral”                Jubilee Bells

THRESHOLD SONG       “I Believe”         Sanctuary Choir

*CALL TO WORSHIP                                 CLM Twinkle Gordon

Leader: Permeating Love, enter our lives and open us to the gifts residing deep within the Holy Darkness of our lives.
People: When we feel overwhelmed by the twists and turns of life, quiet us, open us, and heighten our senses to perceive your nudge toward life.
Leader: This is the day that the Lord has made.
People: We shall rejoice and be glad in it!

*HYMN              Be Still My Soul            UMH #534
WORDS: Katharine von Schlegel, 1752; trans. by Jane Borthwick, 1855 (Ps. 46:10)

1. Be still, my soul: the Lord is on your side. Bear patiently the cross of grief and pain; leave to your God to order and provide; in every change God faithful will remain. Be still, my soul: your best, your heavenly friend through thorny ways leads to a joyful end.

2. Be still, my soul: your God will undertake to guide the future, as in ages past. Your hope, your confidence let nothing shake; all now mysterious shall be bright at last. Be still, my soul: the waves and winds still know the Christ who ruled them while he dwelt below.

3. Be still, my soul: the hour is hastening on when we shall be forever with the Lord, when disappointment, grief, and fear are gone, sorrow forgot, love’s purest joys restored. Be still, my soul: when change and tears are past, all safe and blessed we shall meet at last.

MYSTERY BOX              

HYMN  As the Deer      TFWS #2025
WORDS: Martin J. Nystrom (Ps. 42:1) MUSIC: Martin J. Nystrom © 1984 Maranatha Praise, Inc., admin. by The Copyright Co.

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. You alone are my strength, my shield; to you alone
may my spirit yield. You alone are my heart’s desire, and I long to worship you.

Pastoral, SILENT, and Lord’s Prayer                      Pastor Donnie Sturgill

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 to trespass against us. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the Kingdom, and the Power and the Glory forever.

Scripture Reading   Psalm 42; 1 Samuel 3:6-9         CLM Twinkle Gordon

As a deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul longs for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God,
for the living God. When shall I come and behold the face of God? My tears have been my food day and night, while people say to me continually, “Where is your God?”
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. Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise him, my help and my God.
My soul is cast down within me; therefore I remember you from the land of Jordan and of Hermon, from Mount Mizar. Deep calls to deep at the thunder of your torrents; all your waves and your billows have gone over me. By day the Lord commands his steadfast love, and at night his song is with me, a prayer to the God of my life.
I say to God, my rock, “Why have you forgotten me? Why must I walk about mournfully because the enemy oppresses me?” As with a deadly wound in my body, my adversaries taunt me, while they say to me continually, “Where is your God?”
Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise him, my help and my God.
The Lord called again, “Samuel!” Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” But he said, “I did not call, my son; lie down again.” Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, and the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him. The Lord called Samuel again, a third time. And he got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” Then Eli perceived that the Lord was calling the boy. Therefore Eli said to Samuel, “Go, lie down, and if he calls you, you shall say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.’ ” So Samuel went and lay down in his place.

PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION

Leader: May the words of my mouth,
People: and the meditations of all of our hearts
All: be acceptable in your sight, O Lord our rock and our redeemer.
Psalm 19:14

Message          The Gift of Getting Lost             Pastor Donnie Sturgill

Offertory                    “Lamb of God” arr. Lloyd Larson              Sanctuary Choir

Prayer of Thanks & Dedication                

*Doxology                 Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow              UMH #94

Praise God, from whom all blessings flow; Praise God, all creatures here below: Alleluia! Alleluia! Praise God, the source of all our gifts! Praise Jesus Christ, whose power uplifts! Praise the Spirit, Holy Spirit! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia

*Hymn              Amazing Grace             v. 1, 3, 6 UMH #378
WORDS: John Newton, 1779; st. 6 anon. (1 Chr. 17:16-17)

1. Amazing grace! How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me! I once was lost, but now am found; was blind, but now I see.

3. Through many dangers, toils, and snares, I have already come; ’tis grace hath brought me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home.

6. When we’ve been there ten thousand years, bright shining as the sun, we’ve no less days
to sing God’s praise than when we’d first begun.

*Benediction                          

Postlude                      Stephanie Shorden