Sunday Worship, Jan 16, 8&10AM. Online/In-Person

Better than a happy new year, we wish you a blessed life! So we turn our direction to the Beatitudes. Jesus looks at you and says, “Blessed are you who are…”
Come and listen to what he has to say for a blessed year 2021 in your life.

Both of our 8 & 10AM services continue to be livestreamed https://www.facebook.com/LodiUMC

Order of Worship
January 16, 2022

CALL TO WORSHIP Liturgist: Nada Zeimet (8AM), Mike Beilke (10AM)
Come and worship, all you who love and serve our God
Our God surrounds us with unfailing love, and answers us when we call;
He cares for the humble and lowly, and never abandons those in need.
This is our God, worthy of our worship and praise.

OPENING PRAYER
Living and faithful Spirit, the God in whom we live, move and have our being,
the God who is made known in Christ Jesus,
bless us one and all as we wait on you this day.

Please remove from our minds and hearts
whatever impediments hinder worship or dampen our joy.
Increase within us a holy longing for closeness
which can open our lives to fuller delight and to a deeper commitment.

By you, with you and for you, may our lives publish your praise.
In the name of Christ Jesus. Amen.

* HYMN OF ADORATION   God of Love and God of Power (United Methodist Hymn #578)
1 God of love and God of power, grant us in this burning hour
grace to ask these gifts of thee, daring hearts and spirits free.
God of love and God of power, thou hast called us for this hour.

2 We are not the first to be banished by our fears from thee;
give us courage, let us hear heaven’s trumpets ringing clear.
God of love and God of power, thou hast called us for this hour.

3 All our lives belong to thee, thou our final loyalty;
slaves are we whene’er we share that devotion anywhere.
God of love and God of power, thou hast called us for this hour.

4 God of love and God of power, make us worthy of this hour;
offering lives if it’s thy will, keeping free our spirits still.
God of love and God of power, thou hast called us for this hour.

* AFFIRMATION OF FAITH
I believe in God, who formed every nation, tribe and language and calls the whole earth to love, service and reconciliation.
I believe this same God loves color and character, ethnicity and diversity, and loves all people equally, for all were divinely created in God’s image.
I believe in Jesus Christ who is our peace and has torn down every barrier between us and heaven; between us and all humanity.
I believe in the Holy Spirit by which Christ has built us up into one body. I believe that whoever repents and believes, reconciliation and peace are promised as gifts of Christ through the Holy Spirit.
May God, One in Three, Three in One, help us all live as people reconciled to God and to each other. Amen. (adapted from Africana Worship (2006) Black History Month Celebration, edited by Valerie Bridgman)

PASSING THE PEACE OF CHRIST
As people reconciled, let us offer one another signs of Christ’s peace:
The peace of Christ be with you, always. And also with you.

SHARING JOYS AND CONCERNS Please share your prayer requests and joys. Type them in the comment section.

PASTORAL PRAYER

TIME OF DEDICATION   Thank you for living your faith by sharing your gifts with God’s world through your church. Online Giving: www.LodiUMC.org/Give
Lord, you are the provider of comfort.
You fill our emptiness with your goodness. You come to our weakness with your strength.
We give you thanks for all you have given us, and for the privilege to give for your glory.
Use these gifts to flesh out your love and goodness. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

SCRIPTURE READING   Matthew 5:1-12
Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them. He said:
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

MESSAGE Beatitudes 1

HYMN OF FAITH  Lift Every Voice and Sing (United Methodist Hymn #519)
1 Lift every voice and sing, till earth and heaven ring, ring with the harmonies of liberty;
let our rejoicing rise high as the listening skies, let it resound loud as the rolling sea.
Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us;
sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us;
facing the rising sun of our new day begun, let us march on till victory is won.

2 Stony the road we trod, bitter the chastening rod, felt in the days when hope unborn had died;
yet with a steady beat, have not our weary feet come to the place for which our fathers sighed?
We have come over a way that with tears has been watered;
we have come, treading our path thru the blood of the slaughtered,
out from the gloomy past, till now we stand at last where the white gleam of our bright star is cast.

3 God of our weary years, God of our silent tears, thou who hast brought us thus far on the way;
thou who hast by thy might led us into the light, keep us forever in the path, we pray.
Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met thee;
lest our hearts drunk with the wine of the world, we forget thee;
shadowed beneath thy hand, may we forever stand, true to our God, true to our native land.

DISMISSAL WITH BLESSING

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