Mill Plain UMC
Sunday, April 23, 2023,
Living As Exiles
Scripture
I Peter 1:17-25
Songs
The Joy Of The Lord
This Is Amazing Grace
He Reigns
I will Rise
How Great is Our God
One Thing Remains
Pass It On
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Mill Plain UMC
April 23, 2023
9:30 a.m.
Opening Song The Joy Of The Lord
Greeting
Land Acknowledgement
Welcome to Mill Plain United Methodist Church in Vancouver, Washington.
In honor of Native American Awareness Sunday, we start today with a Land
Acknowledgment. Land Acknowledgments reflect the indigenous cultural practice of
protocol – acknowledging and appreciating that one is on the land of another. Land
Acknowledgements remind us to be intentional in our relations with the land and with
the people indigenous to the land. There were many different cultures living near the
Columbia River due to the weather and the abundance of natural resources. We
recognize some as predominant.
Today we honor the Indigenous people on whose traditional and ancestral
homelands our church stands: the Cowlitz, the Chinook, the Grand Ronde, the Yakama
peoples, and others who lived here.
We acknowledge the ancestors of this place and recognize that we are here because of
the sacrifices forced on them.
In remembering these communities, we honor their legacy, their lives, and their
descendants. We strive to continue their stewardship of the land in our own
stewardship.
Call to Worship
Worship Assistant: By the rivers of Babylon, we sat down and wept.
People: How can we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land?
Worship Assistant: On the willows there we hung up our harps when we
remembered Zion.
People: How can we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land?
Opening Prayer
God, you called Abram and Sarai to leave their homes and all that was familiar to them
to go to a new land. You guided the Hebrew children into the land of promise, though
the way ahead was strange and frightening. You walked with the people of Judah into
exile in Babylon.
We too live in a world changing so rapidly that it feels strange to us. We wonder how it
is we can sing your songs when all about us is unfamiliar and even frightening.
Give us the confidence of Jesus’ resurrection to know that you bring new life out of
death and build us homes in new places. Fill our hearts with your love that we can
welcome strangers and befriend our enemies.
In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.
Praise Song This is amazing grace
Praise Song He Reigns
Young Disciples Moment
Silent Prayer
Pastoral Prayer
Lord’s Prayer
Offertory I will Rise
Presentation of Offerings
Doxology How Great Is our God
Scripture
I Peter 1:17-25
If you invoke as Father the one who judges all people impartially according to their
deeds, live in reverent fear during the time of your exile. You know that you were
ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your ancestors, not with perishable things
like silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without defect
or blemish. He was destined before the foundation of the world, but was revealed at the
end of the ages for your sake. Through him you have come to trust in God, who raised
him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are set on God. Now
that you have purified your souls by your obedience to the truth so that you have
genuine mutual love, love one another deeply from the heart. You have been born
anew, not of perishable but of imperishable seed, through the living and enduring word
of God.
For “All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and
the flower falls, but the word of the Lord endures forever.” That word is the good news
that was announced to you.
Sermon Living as Exiles
Prayer
During the time of our exile, O God, you judge us impartially. So fill our hearts with your
fairness and welcome that we too will judge others impartially; that we will welcome
travelers and strangers; that we will build homes to dwell in even in foreign lands and
communities with those new to us.
In Jesus’ name we pray,
Amen.
Praise Song One Thing Remains
Benediction
You have been born anew, not of imperishable seed but of imperishable seed, through
the living and enduring word of God. Go in grace and peace to love God and your
neighbor in all that you do. Amen.
Praise song Pass it on