WELCOME & ANNOUNCEMENTS
BREAKTHROUGH PRAYER: Amazing God, We pray that through the Holy Spirit Your preferred future for Groveport United Methodist Church will be made clear to us. Give us the courage we need to follow You wherever You may take us. We ask that You bind us together in love so that we can bring the Good News of Jesus Christ to our friends, families, and community. Open our eyes so that we may see the amazing things You are already doing among us. AMEN.
PRELUDE “God of Our Fathers”
LIGHTING OF THE ALTAR CANDLES
*OPENING HYMN “America the Beautiful” #697
CALL TO WORSHIP:
L: In Jesus Christ, we are all children of God.
P: In him there is neither Jew nor Greek, neither slave nor free, neither male nor female.
L: All who have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
P: All who have put on Christ are heirs, with him, of all the promises of God.
HYMN “Faith of Our Fathers” #710
PRAYER OF CONFESSION:
L: O beautiful for spacious skies, For amber waves of grain, For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
P: O God, forgive our mindless exploitation of this bountiful land. Forgive us for fouling our air, contaminating our water, disfiguring our landscape. And grant us vision and courage to right these wrongs.
L: O beautiful for pilgrim feet, Whose stern, impassioned stress a thoroughfare for freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
P: O God, forgive us for knowing so little about our heritage and for caring less. Forgive us for taking the faith and wisdom of our ancestors for granted. And grant us vision and courage to right these wrongs.
Leader: O beautiful for heroes proved in liberating strife, Who more than self their country loved,
And mercy more than life!
People: Forgive us, O God, for having grown soft and flabby, more concerned about what our country can do for us than about what we can do for our country. Forgive us for admiring the costly sacrifices of others while inventing cut-rate excuses for ourselves. And grant us vision and courage to right these wrongs.
Leader: O beautiful for patriot dreams that sees, beyond the years, Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears!
P: Forgive, O God, our fear of dreaming grand, wonderful dreams of justice and mercy in our land and peace among the nations. Forgive our daily failures in doing what we can to make such dreams come true because what we can do seems so little in the face of needs so vast. And grant us vision and courage to right these wrongs.
Leader: We pray in the name of he who contains in his person all the beauty in the universe,
P: Even Jesus Christ, our crucified and risen Lord. Amen.
FIRST SCRIPTURE READING: Deuteronomy 10:12-13; 17-21
HYMN “Morning Has Broken” #145
OUR TIME OF PRAYER (During our time of prayer, the altar rail is open for all who wish to come forward.)
HYMN “Sanctuary”
PASTORAL PRAYER
THE LORD’S PRAYER
OUR TITHES AND OFFERINGS Special Music – Angela Martin
*DOXOLOGY
*PRAYER OF DEDICATION
SECOND SCRIPTURE READING: Galatians 5:1-6; 13-26
VIDEO MESSAGE “Independence Day”
*CLOSING HYMN “Battle Hymn of the Republic” #717
*BENEDICTION
*SENDING FORTH “As We Go”
POSTLUDE “The Star Spangled Banner”