Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost
3 September 2006
10 o'clock in the morning

PREPARING FOR WORSHIP
*All who are able, please stand
‡Seating of latecomers

PRELUDE John Stansell, organ

Early American Organ Voluntaries Thomas Loud (died 1834), Charles Zeuner (1795-1857), Benjamin Cross (1796-1857)

CALL TO COMMUNITY Rev. Ronald E. Halvorsen

Please sign and pass the red book.

CALL TO WORSHIP

Leader: We gather to affirm the warmth of our faith, giving thanks…
People: For the connectedness that forms whenever Christ convenes us, for the caring that marks us as a church community.
Leader: We gather to receive the nourishment of our faith, giving thanks…
People: For the prayers that strengthen our spirits, for the energizing power that Word and sacrament release within us.
Leader: We gather to celebrate the texture of our faith, giving thanks…
People: For the human diversity that characterizes us as a family, for the multiple ministries that call us into God's service. We give heartfelt thanks for a faith to savor and to share.

PRAISING GOD

*OPENING HYMN AND PROCESSION

Pilgrim Hymnal 12 to the tune LASST UNS ERFREUEN
From All That Dwell Below the Skies

OPENING PRAYER (in unison) Anna Paskausky

Gracious God, we thank you for all the good things with which you fill our lives, but most of all for the vision of peace and freedom in Christ that draws us into the future. May we be your people in the world, in word and in deed, in spirit and in truth. Grant that we may not be play-actors, but people who show we truly care, like Jesus Christ, whose very life was love. Amen.

CONFESSING TO GOD

CALL TO CONFESSION

PRAYER OF CONFESSION (in unison)

Gracious God, we come before you confessing a desire to be faithful as well as a reluctance to follow faith's course and calling. We yearn for an ample faith and strive to be instruments of your supple Spirit. Yet, we often believe sparingly and confine ourselves through bondage to inflexible notions. Challenge us to stretch our spiritual selves, to grow in new directions, to discover in doing your will a source of joy and value.

Forgive us when we pursue contentment without commitment, when we allow our best intentions to receive minimal effort, when we choose to present a veneer of niceness in situations requiring expression of the truth or recognition of injustice. Help us to be whole persons, holy persons, well persons.

Instill in us not only an expanding devotion to you, but also the courage to be willing to follow wherever that devotion leads us. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

LORD'S PRAYER

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 debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen.

WORDS OF ASSURANCE

‡CONGREGATIONAL RESPONSE

Alleluia. Alleluia. Alleluia.

HEARING GOD'S WORD

FIRST LESSON Mary Ranta

Song of Solomon 2: 8-13

The voice of my beloved! Look, he comes, leaping upon the mountains, bounding over the hills. My beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag. Look, there he stands behind our wall, gazing in at the windows, looking through the lattice. My beloved speaks and says to me: 'Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away; for now the winter is past, the rain is over and gone. The flowers appear on the earth; the time of singing has come, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land. The fig tree puts forth its figs, and the vines are in blossom; they give forth fragrance. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away.

ANTHEM The Summer Choir

I Am the Rose of Sharon William Billings (1746-1800)
Song of Solomon 2: 1-5, 7-8, 10-11

SECOND LESSON

Mark 7: 1-8, 14-15, 21-23

Now when the Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around him, they noticed that some of his disciples were eating with defiled hands, that is, without washing them. (For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, do not eat unless they thoroughly wash their hands, thus observing the tradition of the elders; and they do not eat anything from the market unless they wash it; and there are also many other traditions that they observe, the washing of cups, pots, and bronze kettles.) So the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, 'Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?' He said to them, 'Isaiah prophesied rightly about you hypocrites, as it is written, ''This people honours me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching human precepts as doctrines.'' You abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition.'

Then he called the crowd again and said to them, 'Listen to me, all of you, and understand: there is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile.' For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come: fornication, theft, murder, adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, folly. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.'

‡*HYMN

Pilgrim Hymnal 208 to the tune O JESU CHRISTE, WAHRES LICHT
Dear Master, in Whose Life I See

SERMON

''A Time for Action'' Rev. Susan M. Craig

*AFFIRMATION OF FAITH (in unison)

We believe that God summons the Church to participation in the world. To witness by word and deed to God's revelation in Christ and the acts of love by which God reconciles us. To evoke in us the personal response of repentance and faith through which we can find newness of life in loving relationships with God and with our sisters and brothers everywhere. To bring us together into a Christian community of worship and love, and to send us forth into the world as servants in the struggle for meaning and justice. To move us to live in awareness of the life-giving power of God's presence, in acknowledgement of God's rule over history and in the confident expectation of the final completion of God's purpose. Amen.

*Gloria Patri (New Century Hymnal 754)

Glory to God the Creator, and to the Christ, and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen. Amen.

RESPONDING TO GOD

CALL TO OFFERING Dr. John Stansell

OFFERTORY ANTHEM The Summer Choir

Take My Gifts Colin Gibson
See New Century Hymnal 562
The Congregation is invited to join with the Choir for the third stanza.

Doxology (New Century Hymnal 776)

Praise God from whom all blessings flow; Praise Christ, all creatures here below; Praise Holy Spirit, Comforter; One God, Triune, whom we adore. Amen. Amen.

*Prayer of Dedication

SACRAMENT OF THE LORD'S SUPPER (seated)

Prayer of Consecration

Serving of the Bread and Cup

In the tradition of our church, let us partake of the bread as it is served, remembering our individual uniqueness in the eyes of God and our diversity within the Body of Christ. Let us hold the cup until all have been served, remembering our oneness with God and our unity in the Body of Christ.

During communion the choir will sing ''Be Known to us in Breaking Bread,'' which can be found at New Century Hymnal 342.

Prayer of Thanksgiving (in unison)

We thank you, God, for inviting us to this table where we have known the presence of Christ and have received all Christ's gifts. Strengthen our faith, increase our love for one another, and let us show forth your praise in our lives; through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.

GOING FORTH TO SERVE GOD

*CLOSING HYMN AND PROCESSION

Pilgrim Hymnal 293 to the tune ORA LABORA
Come, Labor On

*CLOSING SENTENCES

Leader: Christian, rise and act thy creed;
People: Let thy prayer be in thy deed;
Leader: Seek the right, perform the true,
People: Raise thy work and life anew.

*BENEDICTION

*BENEDICTION RESPONSE

POSTLUDE

Allegro Maestoso W. Eugene Thayer (1838-1889)

The flowers this morning are given by the Chancel Committee in celebration of the outreach of our church to the community and to our own church family.

Deacons Serving Communion: Carolyn Paulus, Beth Beam, Tina Birkic, David Cowles, Sybren Hoekstra, Paul Kretschmann, Clem Lepoutre, and Darlene Moore
Ushers: Sandy Sandlock, John Fryback, Wendy Reynolds and Harlan Reynolds.
Greeters and Coffee Hour Hosts: Deacons
Flower Delivery: Sue Baker

Calendar

TODAY

Childcare is available for our babies and toddlers in the Purple Door Classroom in the Undercroft. Young preschoolers are also welcome should they become restless in the Meetinghouse.

Homecoming Sunday is only one week away! Tickets for the picnic are available at Coffee Hour. There will be no Beach Service September 10th.

Blood Pressure Screening A member of the Wellness Committee is available to check blood pressures in room 203 following the worship service.

Food Pantry Needs For September This is the first Sunday in September and the food barrel is out again. Food donations slackened during the summer months. Consequently, we need to fill specific shortages to maximize the effectiveness of our contribution. The following items are most needed: juice, jam, fruit, cereal, and canned corn.

Prayer Chain Meeting 11:20 AM in the Church Lounge

NEWS AND NOTICES

This Fall Hats Off will be venturing north September 25 - 28 in response to an invitation from our friends in Windham, Maine (Hats Off North). There, we will visit with our sisters in faith, considering the life stories of Maine women, and our own life stories as women today. Our books, More than Petticoats, Remarkable Maine Women, by Kate Kennedy, are available in the Church Office for a cost of $9. Those interested in making the trip should be in touch with Susie Craig by September 5th. More details will be forthcoming as we know our numbers and the availability of drivers.

The Members of The First Congregational Church of Greenwich, Ministers

United Church of Christ
Senior Pastor: David D. Young
Senior Associate Pastor: Susan M. Craig
Minister of Pastoral Care: Ronald E. Halvorsen
Parish Associate and Youth Director: Anna L. Paskausky
Parish Nurse: Susan Asselin
Church School Coordinator: Rosemary Lamie
Director of Music/Senior Organist: John Stansell
Associate Organist/Director: Mark Swicegood
Pastors Emeriti: Thomas L. Stiers and Sally Colegrove

Sunday Service of Worship -
8:00 AM Beach Service
10 AM Church Service
Church School - 10 am
Nursery Care provided during the
10 am Service.
The 10 am Service is broadcast live
on WGCH 1490 am Radio.
www.fccog.org