Sunday, July 4, 2021 – Independence Day
July 4, 2021 Worship Service 10:00 a.m.
With Grateful thanks to Ken Brader & the Holiday Brass Quartet (Ken Brader, Vince Pettinelli, William Fehringer & Shannon Cawley) for their special music today.
Communion Sunday
Independence Day
Prelude Patriotic Medley (“God Bless America”, “You’re a Grand Old Flag”, “This Is My Country”, “America the Beautiful”) arranged by Ken Brader
Welcome No matter who you are or where you are on your journey, You are welcome here!
We are gathered and ready and aware of God’s presence
Gathering Song “Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee” ELW Hymn No. 836
Reading: Exodus 1:1-22 Cheryl Lawler
1 These are the names of the sons of Israel who came to Egypt with Jacob, each with his household:
2 Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah,
3 Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin,
4 Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher.
5 The total number of people born to Jacob was seventy. Joseph was already in Egypt.
6 Then Joseph died, and all his brothers, and that whole generation.
7 But the Israelites were fruitful and prolific; they multiplied and grew exceedingly strong, so that the land was filled with them.
8 Now a new king arose over Egypt, who did not know Joseph.
9 He said to his people, “Look, the Israelite people are more numerous and more powerful than we.
10 Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, or they will increase and, in the event of war, join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land.”
11 Therefore they set taskmasters over them to oppress them with forced labor. They built supply cities, Pithom and Rameses, for Pharaoh.
12 But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread, so that the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites.
13 The Egyptians became ruthless in imposing tasks on the Israelites,
14 and made their lives bitter with hard service in mortar and brick and in every kind of field labor. They were ruthless in all the tasks that they imposed on them.
15 The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other Puah,
16 “When you act as midwives to the Hebrew women, and see them on the birthstool, if it is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, she shall live.”
17 But the midwives feared God; they did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but they let the boys live.
18 So the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and said to them, “Why have you done this, and allowed the boys to live?”
19 The midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women; for they are vigorous and give birth before the midwife comes to them.”
20 So God dealt well with the midwives; and the people multiplied and became very strong.
21 And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families.
22 Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, “Every boy that is born to the Hebrews you shall throw into the Nile, but you shall let every girl live.”
GOSPEL John 11:38-44 (NRSV)
38 Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it.
39 Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead four days.”
40 Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?”
41 So they took away the stone. And Jesus looked upward and said, “Father, I thank you for having heard me.
42 I knew that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me.”
43 When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”
44 The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”
Help us God, as we seek to interpret what this means for our lives.
Message
Reception of Tithes and Offerings / Announcements
Message Song – “The Prayer” by Foster, Sager, Testa, & Renis
Trumpet Solo – written and performed by Ken Brader
Orchestral accompaniment produced by Praise Hymn
Reception of Tithes and Offerings
Prayers of the Church Carolyn Raudenbush
After each petition: Jesus has taught us, the freedom to love in all things.
Finally and altogether:
We lift our prayers to you, O God, trusting in your abiding grace. Amen.
Words of Institution
Mark 14:22-24 (NRSV)
While they were eating, Jesus took a loaf of bread, and after blessing it he broke it, gave it to them, and said, “Take; this is my body.”
Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he gave it to them, and all of them drank from it. He said to them, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many.
We gather at this table and remember how on the night when Jesus was handed over, he gathered with his disciples in the upper room and together they shared in an ordinary meal that had extraordinary implications.
For at this table,
Jesus broke bread and shared wine with one who betrayed him.
At this table,
Jesus broke bread and shared wine with one who denied him.
At this table,
Jesus broke bread and shared wine with those who fled from him in his time
of need.
At this table,
Jesus broke bread and shared wine with people from all walks of life.
And so whenever we gather at this table to share the bread and the cup in this community of faith, we proclaim Jesus’ life, which affirms there is a place at the table for all people, for the love of God transcends every power that tries to contain it.
The Awakening Church Service
The Lord’s Prayer ELW (front section) Page 145
As the Grains of Wheat ELW 465
Communion ~ ALL ARE WELCOME ~
Come to the banquet where no one is turned away
and there is always enough for everyone.
With this piece of bread and sip of wine we remember Jesus
Post Communion Prayer
Gracious God, as we received this bread and wine, we receive the presence and life of Christ within us so that the spirit of Christ might work through us. Amen
Closing Song: “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God” ELW Hymn No. 504
Announcements
Departure
Go in Peace and serve the Lord. Thanks be to God.
Postlude “When the Saints Go Marching In”
***Extend your hour of worship with an hour of Adult Christian Education.***
Join Pastor Phil in the church library or on Zoom very Sunday,
“Being Christian in the 21st Century” 9:00—9:45am