image :: Hallelujah Lady, Mary T. Smith (1987)
Preparation for Worship ::: This Is Love
Because I think that we are primarily desiring [creatures] rather than merely thinking things, I also think that what constitutes our ultimate identities— what makes us who we are, the kind of people we are—is what we love. (James K. A. Smith, Desiring the Kingdom)
My song is love unknown; My Savior’s love to me. Love to the loveless shown that they might lovely be. (Samuel Crossman, 1664)
Call to Worship ::: from Isaiah 62:1-4,11-12
For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent, you will be called by a new name that the mouth of the Lord will bestow. No longer will they call you Deserted, or name your land Desolate. for the Lord will take delight in you. The Lord has made proclamation to the ends of the earth: “Say to Daughter Zion, ‘See, your Savior comes! See, His reward is with Him,’ They will be called the Holy People, the Redeemed of the Lord; and you will be called Sought After, the City No Longer Deserted.
From All That Dwell / Doxology (Thomas Ken, 1674) [bandcamp track=2237420751 bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=venti]
Thy Mercy My God (John Stocker 1799) [bandcamp track=2834013035 bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=venti]
Sermon ::: Hosea 1:2-9, 2:21-23
2 When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea, “Go, take to yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the Lord.” 3 So he went and took Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.
4 And the Lord said to him, “Call his name Jezreel, for in just a little while I will punish the house of Jehu for the blood of Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel. 5 And on that day I will break the bow of Israel in the Valley of Jezreel.”
6 She conceived again and bore a daughter. And the Lord said to him, “Call her name No Mercy, for I will no more have mercy on the house of Israel, to forgive them at all. 7 But I will have mercy on the house of Judah, and I will save them by the Lord their God. I will not save them by bow or by sword or by war or by horses or by horsemen.”
8 When she had weaned No Mercy, she conceived and bore a son. 9 And the Lord said, “Call his name Not My People, for you are not my people, and I am not your God.”
10 Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or numbered. And in the place where it was said to them, “You are not my people,” it shall be said to them, “Children of the living God.” 11 And the children of Judah and the children of Israel shall be gathered together, and they shall appoint for themselves one head. And they shall go up from the land, for great shall be the day of Jezreel….
19 And I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy. 20 I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And you shall know the Lord.
21 “And in that day I will answer, declares the Lord,
I will answer the heavens,
and they shall answer the earth,
22 and the earth shall answer the grain, the wine, and the oil,
and they shall answer Jezreel,
23 and I will sow her for myself in the land.
And I will have mercy on No Mercy,
and I will say to Not My People, ‘You are my people’;
and he shall say, ‘You are my God.’”
My Song Is Love Unknown (Samuel Crossman, 1664) [bandcamp track=15292330 bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=venti]
We Confess Our Sin Together
Almighty God, to know You is Life itself, and the satisfaction of our most ardent desires. Yet foolishly we have sought our pleasures elsewhere. We have given ourselves to the devices and desires of our own hearts. We have run after deadly idols of our own making, and forsaken You. We have failed to love You with our whole heart, soul, and mind. We have failed to love our neighbors as ourselves, and there is no health in us. Forgive us our sins for the sake of Your Son, our Savior Jesus Christ. Renew Your Bride, Your Church, as You have redeemed her. Amen.
Jesus, I Come (William Sleeper, 1887) [bandcamp track=1190898373 bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=venti]
Words of Encouragement ::: I Peter 2:9-10
You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
There’s a Wideness in God’s Mercy (Frederick W. Faber, 1862) [bandcamp track=3916104644 bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=venti]
New Testament Reading ::: I John 4:7-10
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
God is Love Let Heaven Adore Him (Timothy Rees, 1922) [bandcamp track=381279901 bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=venti]
Benediction
