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image: Sphere Surface with Fishes, Colour, M.C. Escher (1958)
Preparation for Worship and Communion
“Men are reluctant to pass over from the notion of an abstract and negative deity to the living God. I do not wonder. God does nothing. [Popular religion’s] God demands nothing. He is there if you wish for Him, like a book on a shelf. He will not pursue you… An impersonal God, well and good. A subjective God of beauty, truth and goodness, inside our own heads– better still. A formless life-force surging through us, a vast power which we can tap, best of all. But God himself, alive, pulling at the other end of the cord, perhaps approaching at infinite speed, the hunter, king, husband– that is quite another matter. There comes a moment when the children who have been playing at burglars hush suddenly: was that a real footstep in the hall? There comes a moment when people who have been dabbling in religion (“Man’s search for God”!) suddenly draw back. Supposing we really found Him? We never meant it to come to that! So it is a sort of Rubicon. One goes across; or not. But if one does, there is no manner of security against miracles. One may be in for anything.” —C.S. Lewis
Call to Worship — Isaiah 51:1-3
Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness,
you who seek the Lord:
look to the rock from which you were hewn,
and to the quarry from which you were dug.
Look to Abraham your father
and to Sarah who bore you;
for he was but one when I called him,
that I might bless him and multiply him.
For the Lord comforts Zion;
he comforts all her waste places
and makes her wilderness like Eden,
her desert like the garden of the Lord;
joy and gladness will be found in her,
thanksgiving and the voice of song.
Declaration of Faith — The Apostles’ Creed (orig. 2nd century)
I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth. I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, and born of the virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried; He descended into hell. The third day He rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. From there He will come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.
Come and Welcome (Thomas Haweis, 1792)
The Lord’s Prayer — Luke 11:2-4
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 who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For Thine is the Kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen.
Old Testament Reading — Jeremiah 16:15-19
“I will restore them to the land I gave their forefathers. But now I will send for many fishermen,” declares the Lord, “and they will catch them. After that I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt them down on every mountain and hill and from the crevices of the rocks. My eyes are on all their ways; they are not hidden from Me, nor is their sin concealed from My eyes. I will repay them double for their wickedness and their sin.” O Lord, my Strength and my Fortress, my Refuge in time of distress, to You the nations will come.
Our God Our Hope In Ages Past (Isaac Watts, 1719)
Sermon — Mark 1:14-20
14 Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, 15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” 16 Passing alongside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew the brother of Simon casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. 17 And Jesus said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.” 18 And immediately they left their nets and followed him. 19 And going on a little farther, he saw James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, who were in their boat mending the nets. 20 And immediately he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants and followed him.
Preparation for the Lord’s Supper — Mark 14:16-25
The disciples prepared the Passover. And when it was evening, Jesus came with the twelve. And they were reclining at the table and as they were eating, he took bread. And after blessing it, he broke it and gave it to them, and said, “Take; this is my body.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, and they all drank of it. And he said to them, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many. Truly, I say to you, I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.”
Confession of Sin
Merciful God, we have sinned in what we have thought and said, in the wrong we have done, and in the good we have not done. You proclaimed the Gospel of God, but we have been slow to repent; forgive our cold hearts. You said the Kingdom was at hand, but we have been slow to trust; forgive our unbelief. You called us to follow You, but we are given to our own way; forgive our rebel lusts. Forgive us, for our Savior Christ’s sake, and renew our lives to the glory of Your name. Amen.
Words of Encouragement — II Corinthians 5:21
God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.
The Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper
May God Keep You/Psalm 150 (Peter La Grand, 2008)
Jesus I Come (William T. Sleeper, 1887)
How Great Is Our God (Tomlin, Reeves & Cash, 2004)
Benediction
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