Going the Wrong Way

Sunday Worship 11am, February 7, 2021 Online at Zoom & https://www.facebook.com/centrechurchpa/ In 1990, Souper Bowl of Caring began with a simple prayer from a single youth group: “Lord, even as we enjoy the Super Bowl football game, help us be mindful of those without a bowl of soup to eat.” Since then, more than $150 million has been generated for local charities across the country through Souper Bowl of Caring. https://souperbowl.org/ “Christ Centered Community Focused Growing as We Serve” 83 New Park Road, New Park, PA 17352 https://centrechurchpa.org 1 5th Sunday After Epiphany Announcements Prelude Lighting of the Epiphany Candle Hymn # 91 Kathleen Wilson O Come, All Ye Faithful Carrie Underwood https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8oc1ovRsnk Call to Worship (from Ephesians 3:5,6 & Psalm 9:1,2) Only in our time has it been made clear by God’s Spirit through his holy apostles and prophets of this new order. The mystery is that people who have never heard of God and those who have heard of him all their lives stand on the same ground before God. They get the same offer, same help, same promises in Christ Jesus. The Message is accessible and welcoming to everyone, across the board. Therefore, we will give thanks to the Lord with our whole heart; We will recount all of your wonderful deeds. We will be glad and rejoice in you; We will sing praise to your name, O Most High. Prayer of Confession & the Lord’s Prayer Every week, as we worship together, we have the opportunity to admit to ourselves, to each other, and to God that we do not always live as we are called. In this time of confession, this time of opening our hearts, let us remember that God is merciful and just, eager to offer grace and love. Let us pray, first in silence. (Time for silent reflection and confession). Gracious God, source of all life, Lord of mercy and grace, hear our prayer. We come before you in need of healing: The healing of our bodies and souls, The healing of our relationships, The healing of our pride and fear and apathy. We know that with you, nothing is impossible, not even our healing, Not even the restoration of the whole world. We pray that you will heal us, that you will heal our world, So that we will be freed to serve and love and dream and be, as Christ calls us. 2 We pray this humbly in Christ's name, who taught us to pray: 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. Hymn # 53 All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name Maranatha! Singers https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-N9_SdxW4c Sharing of Prayer Requests Prayers of the People (prayer by St. Francis of Assisi) Lord, make us instruments of your peace; where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; and where there is sadness, joy. O Divine Master, grant that we may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood, as to understand; to be loved, as to love; for it is in giving that we receive, it is in pardoning that we are pardoned, and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Through Christ our Lord. Amen. The Offering (online donations at https://centrechurchpa.org/) Offertory Scripture - Ephesians 3:8-13 (the Message translation) And so here I am, preaching and writing about things that are way over my head, the inexhaustible riches and generosity of Christ. My task is to bring out in the open and make plain what God, who created all this in the first place, has been doing in secret and behind the scenes all along. Through followers of Jesus like yourselves gathered in churches, this extraordinary plan of God is becoming known and talked about even among the angels! All this is proceeding along lines planned all along by God and then executed in Christ Jesus. When we trust in him, we’re free to say whatever needs to be said, bold to go wherever we need to go. So don’t let my present trouble on your behalf get you down. Be proud! 3 Sermon “Going the Wrong Way” Rev. Dr. Don Hackett Saul, the troublemaker Did you ever get in trouble? I mean BIG TROUBLE! The apostle Paul did. He spent the first part of his life making life difficult for followers of Jesus. Wherever he could find them, he would track them down and drag them off to jail. Doing this religious police work in Jerusalem was not enough for Paul, then know as Saul. He wanted to stamp out this heresy called, The Way, before it could spread and infect the whole Jewish world. In the book of Acts, chapter 9, we see Saul seeking authority from the high priest to enter the synagogues in Damascus. He wanted to travel the 135 miles to put an end to this foolishness about the Risen Jesus Christ. He was a person angry for God, but clearly out of touch with God. He was headed full steam in the wrong direction. Wrong direction? Has that ever happened to you? You were so sure of something, convinced you were in the right, only to discover later to be greatly mistaken? It could be when we are travelling, thinking we are headed the right direction. It could be in your beliefs about best business or farming practices, how to raise children, what food to eat, the best solutions for our country, or even beliefs we have about God. It happens all the time. We can get so focused on our issues and being right, we can lose the big picture. God is always inviting you and me to stop, reconsider our path, and go a new direction. Wakeup Call Saul is about to have that moment of reckoning. Hot on the trail of Christians in Damascus, Saul is stopped short. Here is what happened: As he [Saul] neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” “Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked. “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.” The men traveling with Saul stood there speechless; they heard the sound but did not see anyone. Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus. For three days he was blind, and did not eat or drink anything. (Acts 9:3-9) 4 Can you imagine Saul’s shock?! He knows the one speaking from the blinding light is obviously Lord. He is confused by what this Lord is saying. “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” So Saul, asked, “Who are you, Lord?” Here is the shock, the Lord replies, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” The very one Saul hated is reaching out to him to stop. Saul is left physically and spiritually blind. He is lead to Damascus and for three days he does not eat or drink anything. The turnaround We know the rest of the story. A follower of Jesus in Damascus, Ananias, is told by the Lord to go to Saul and pray for his healing. Though reluctant at first, Ananias goes to Straight Street and prays for Saul to receive the Holy Spirit. In that moment, Saul’s life is changed. He understands and believes that Jesus is the Son of God. Saul, who we now know as Paul, has a mission. He wants all see that God is reaching out not just to him, to all people. Jews and Gentiles alike are welcomed into God’s family. Paul would pay a big price to do this mission from God. He would suffer much for this calling. He becomes now the who is hunted down and arrested. When you read his letters, however, you understand that he would have it no other way! Paul has seen God face to face and sees the light. As we read in this passage in Ephesians, Paul mission is to unveil the mystery of God, hidden for ages. People who previously had no knowledge of God are welcomed into deep intimacy through the Risen Christ. Paul reminds us that once we embrace Christ, we are treated as equal family members. We are in the same body, keepers of God’s promises, and vessels for God’s Spirit and love. As we come to our Annual Meetings next week, I want to celebrate you. You have hung together with each and Christ. You have weathered this pandemic with flexibility, grace, and compassion. As I read over our History of Centre Presbyterian Church for 2020, I rejoiced at what God has done. We continued and even expanded out our worship. We learned, prayed, and fellowshipped any way we could. We gave generously to those in need and our missionaries around the globe. Our elders faithfully met and guided us. Our deacons stepped up the tangible care of Christ. Our trustees pressed into the hard work of expanding our facilities and resources of the mission of Christ. You all have loved each other in and through this extremely stressful year. 5 Thank you. Our work is not done. There are many who still need to experience the love of Christ. With God’s help, we are ones to deliver it. Let us rejoice in our God by reciting the creed of our faith. The passage in your bulletin, that comes from our 1983 Brief Statement of Faith, declares the goodness of God and persistence of our Creator. Confession of Faith (from the Brief Statement of Faith, PCUSA, AD1983) We trust in God, whom Jesus called Abba, Father. In sovereign love God created the world good and makes everyone equally in God’s image male and female, of every race and people, to live as one community. But we rebel against God; we hide from our Creator. Ignoring God’s commandments, we violate the image of God in others and ourselves, accept lies as truth, exploit neighbor and nature, and threaten death to the planet entrusted to our care. We deserve God’s condemnation. Yet God acts with justice and mercy to redeem creation. In everlasting love, the God of Abraham and Sarah chose a covenant people to bless all families of the earth. Hearing their cry, God delivered the children of Israel from the house of bondage. Loving us still, God makes us heirs with Christ of the covenant. Like a mother who will not forsake her nursing child, like a father who runs to welcome the prodigal home, God is faithful still. Hymn #558 Gloria Patri https://youtu.be/QUBxpypSblw Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost, as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen, Amen. Benediction Let the majesty of the Father be the light by which we walk, the compassion of the Son be the love by which we live, the presence of the Spirit be the power by which we serve. Amen. 6 Hymn # 91 O Come, All Ye Faithful 1 O come, all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant, O come ye, O come ye to Bethlehem. Come and behold him, born the king of angels. Refrain: O come let us adore him, O come let us adore him, O come let us adore him, Christ the Lord. 2 True God of true God, Light of light eternal, our lowly nature he hath not abhorred; born of a woman, here in flesh appearing. [Refrain] 3 Sing, choirs of angels, sing in exultation, sing, all ye citizens of heav’n above: “Glory to God, all glory in the highest!” [Refrain] 4 Yea, Lord, we greet thee, born this happy morning, Jesus, to thee be all glory giv’n; Word of the Father, begotten, not created. [Refrain] Hymn # 53 All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name 1 All hail the power of Jesus' name! Let angels prostrate fall. Bring forth the royal diadem, and crown him Lord of all. Bring forth the royal diadem, and crown him Lord of all! 2 O seed of Israel's chosen race now ransomed from the fall, hail him who saves you by his grace, and crown him Lord of all. Hail him who saves you by his grace, and crown him Lord of all! 3 Let every tongue and every tribe responsive to his call, to him all majesty ascribe, and crown him Lord of all. To him all majesty ascribe, and crown him Lord of all! 4 Oh, that with all the sacred throng we at his feet may fall! We'll join the everlasting song and crown him Lord of all. We'll join the everlasting song and crown him Lord of all 7