Livestream Worship 5.23.21

HELPFUL LINKS

Prelude | Worship Band 
Breathe on Me, Breath of God 

Breathe on me, breath of God, 
fill me with life anew, 
that I may love what thou dost love,  
and do what thou wouldst do. 

Breathe on me, Breath of God,  
'til my heart is everpure, 
until my will is one with thine,  
to do and to endure. 

Breathe on me, Breath of God,  
till I am wholly thine, 
until this earthly part of me  
glows with thy fire divine. 

Breathe on me, Breath of God,  
so shall I never die, 
but live with thee the perfect life  
of thine eternity. 

By Edwin Hatch and Michael Van Patter. © 2012 Michael Van Patter. Used with permission.  

Song | Worship Band 
Come Down O Love Divine 

Come down, O Love divine, 
seek thou this soul of mine, 
and visit it with thine own ardor glowing;  
O Comforter, draw near, 
within my heart appear, 
and kindle it, thy holy flame bestowing.  

O let it freely burn, 
till earthly passions turn 
to dust and ashes in its heat consuming; 
and let thy glorious light 
shine ever on my sight, 
and clothe me round, the while my path illuming. 

And so the yearning strong, 
with which the soul will long, 
shall far outpass the power of human telling;  
for none can guess its grace, 
till Love create a place 
wherein the Holy Spirit makes a dwelling.  

By Bianco da Siena, Richard Frederick Littledale (trans.), and Ralph Vaughan Williams. Arrangement by Wen Reagan. © 2019 Sursum Corda Music. CCLI # 7160810. 

Invocation

Come down, O love divine! Great comforter, draw near! Almighty God, it was this day that you kindled the flame of your Spirit in the hearts of your people. By the same Spirit, illuminate our hearts and draw us out of the darkness and into the light of Christ. Kindle within us a burning for your word and table, so that we might hear and believe the gospel, come and feed on Christ, and be your hands and feet in the world. Through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God now and forever, amen. 

Responsive Scripture Reading (read in unison)   
Psalm 84 

How lovely is your dwelling place, 
    Lord Almighty! 
My soul yearns, even faints, 
    for the courts of the Lord; 
my heart and my flesh cry out 
    for the living God. 
Even the sparrow has found a home, 
    and the swallow a nest for herself, 
    where she may have her young— 
a place near your altar, 
    Lord Almighty, my King and my God. 
Blessed are those who dwell in your house; 
    they are ever praising you. 

Blessed are those whose strength is in you, 
    whose hearts are set on pilgrimage. 
As they pass through the Valley of Baka, 
    they make it a place of springs; 
    the autumn rains also cover it with pools. 
They go from strength to strength, 
    till each appears before God in Zion. 

Hear my prayer, Lord God Almighty; 
    listen to me, God of Jacob. 
Look on our shield, O God; 
    look with favor on your anointed one. 

Better is one day in your courts 
    than a thousand elsewhere; 
I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God 
    than dwell in the tents of the wicked. 
For the Lord God is a sun and shield; 
    the Lord bestows favor and honor; 
no good thing does he withhold 
    from those whose walk is blameless. 

Lord Almighty, 
    blessed is the one who trusts in you. 

Call to Confession 

 On that first Pentecost Sunday, Peter concluded his address to the crowd, saying, “Therefore… be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.”  When the crowd heard this, they were cut to the heart.  When the Holy Spirit is poured out on us, we discover, as one pastor says, “We are more sinful and flawed in ourselves than we ever dared believe, yet at the very same time we are more loved and accepted in Jesus Christ than we ever dared hope.”  Each week we kneel to confess the first part of that statement because the Holy Spirit has impressed upon us that we can dare to hope, in confident hope, that we are more loved and accepted in Jesus Christ than we have yet realized.  Let us kneel in confession before such a Savior. 

Prayer of Confession

O Love Divine, Comforter and Convicter, be poured out on us we pray.  Help us to see the depth of our sin so that we might understand more of the depth and height and width and length of your love for us.  Holy Spirit, we confess to you our earthly passions, our disordered desires for our vainglory, for our comfort, for our pleasure.  We confess our amazing capacity to take your good gifts and to shape them into idols we serve until we become smaller, less substantial, less real.  We confess the ways that we settle for these impoverished lives, settling for mudpies when you have invited us to your Great Banquet.  We confess we doubt your goodness.  We pray that you would “freely burn” in us, turning our earthly passions to ash and dust, and enliven our hearts to long for you, your ways, your Kingdom, and to love our neighbors as you have loved us.  We pray these things in the confident hope of the gospel of Jesus Christ, Amen. 

Assurance of Pardon  

Beloved, this is the gospel and it is worthy of full acceptance: In Jesus Christ you are forgiven. 

Passing the Peace 

May the peace of the Lord be with you. 
Response: And also with you 

Song | Worship Band 
Agnus Dei     

Lamb of God you take away the sins of the world      
Have mercy on us     
Lamb of God you take away the sins of the world      
Have mercy on us     
Lamb of God you take away the sins of the world      
Grant us your peace     
Grant us your peace     

Setting by Greg LaFollette. © 2019 Late Model Leadfoot Music. CCLI # 7128565 

Affirmation of Faith | Apostles Creed                 

We believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth; And in Jesus Christ His only Son our Lord; who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; He descended into hell; the third day He rose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven, and sits on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence He shall come to judge the living and the dead. We 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.  

Children’s Worship  

To receive the Children’s Worship video email, please contact Beth Solie.  

Proclamation of the Word | Pastor Allan Poole 

John 14:15-21 
15 “If you love me, keep my commands. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be[a] in you. 18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live.20 On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. 21 Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.” 

Communion Song | Worship Band 
Fall Afresh 

Awaken my soul come awake  
To hunger to seek to thirst  
Awaken first love come awake  
And do as You did at first  

Spirit of the living God  
Come fall afresh on me  
Come wake me from my sleep 
Blow through the caverns of my soul  
pour in me To overflow  
To overflow  

By Jeremy Riddle. © 2011 Mercy / Vineyard Publishing. CCLI # 6032768. 

Prayers of Thanksgiving and Intercession 

Would you like to share a prayer request? Submit your request here. 

(As you pray the following petitions, you are encouraged to pause and lift to the Lord particular concerns or people or events. Read prayer requests from Blacknall members and ministry partners here.) 

Lord Jesus, we hear your promises to us: that those who love you and keep your commands  will be loved by your Father, that you will reveal yourself to us, and that you will come to us and make your home in us.  We give you thanks.  This is what our hearts long for: to be loved by our Father and for you to reveal yourself to us.  Lord Jesus, make your home in us.  We thank you for the gift of your Holy Spirit. 

We thank you for your Holy Spirit because it makes possible what we long for.  We can never keep your commands and obey your teaching without your Spirit.  Your Holy Spirit reveals who you are to us.  It is by your Holy Spirit that you enter into us and make your home in us.  We thank you and praise you for the gift of your Spirit. 

We pray for your Holy Spirit to have full sway in our hearts, minds, and bodies.  Give us hearts that long to keep your commands.  Empower us to love one another.  May we serve with glad hearts those people with whom we interact every day in our families, our friendships, our work and our schools. 

Empower us to love our neighbors, those who live next door to us and those who have been beaten and bruised by our world and who need your care and rescue.  Empower us to be your witnesses in Durham, in North Carolina, in the United States, and to the ends of the earth. 

We pray that your Holy Spirit would empower us at Blacknall to be an outpost of your Kingdom.  We pray that we might accurately teach and keep your commands.  We pray that you might be revealed in our life together.  We pray that our fellowship together might be your home, your dwelling place.  We pray that we might be well connected to you, the Head, and to your Body here in Durham and around the world. 

We give you thanks for your Word and for Allan’s faithful proclamation of that Word, today, and for the last 36 years.  We pray your blessings on him and Betsy as we have been blessed through them. 

Lord, we love you and so we keep your command to pray as you taught us to pray... 

The 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. 

Songs of Response | Worship Band & Congregation 
Come Thou Fount 

Come, Thou fount of every blessing,  
tune my heart to sing Thy grace.  
Streams of mercy, never ceasing,  
call for songs of loudest praise.  
Teach me some melodious sonnet,  
sung by flaming tongues above.  
Praise His name! I’m fixed upon it,  
Name of God’s redeeming love. 

Here I raise my Ebenezer; 
hither by Thy help I’ve come. 
And I hope, by Thy good pleasure,  
safely to arrive at home. 
Jesus sought me when a stranger  
wand’ring from the fold of God;  
He, to rescue me from danger,  
bought me with his precious blood.  

Oh, to grace how great a debtor 
daily I’m constrained to be! 
Let thy grace, Lord, like a fetter, 
bind my wand’ring heart to Thee:  
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, 
prone to leave the God I love. 
Here’s my heart, Lord, take and seal it,  
seal it for thy courts above. 

By John Wyeth. Arrangement by Wen Reagan. © 2014 Sursum Corda Music. CCLI # 7029032. 

Holy Spirit Ever Dwelling 

Holy Spirit, ever dwelling 
In the holiest realms of light; 
Holy Spirit, ever brooding 
O'er a world of gloom and night;  
Holy Spirit, ever raising 
Those of earth to thrones on high;  
Living, life-imparting Spirit, 
You we praise and magnify. 

Holy Spirit, ever living 
As the Church's very life; 
Holy Spirit, ever striving  
Through us in a ceaseless strife;  
Holy Spirit, ever forming 
In the Church the mind of Christ;  
You we praise with endless worship  
For your fruits and gifts unpriced. 

Holy Spirit, ever working 
Through the Church's ministry;  
Quick'ning, strength'ning, and absolving,  
Setting captive sinners free; 
Holy Spirit, ever bind - ing 
Age to age and soul to soul 
In communion never ending, 
You we worship and extol. 

By Timothy Rees and William Moore. Public Domain.  

Presenting Our Gifts | Online Giving 

You are invited to respond to God’s Word by giving to the mission God has called us to at Blacknall.  

Benediction  

Song | Worship Band & Congregation 
Alleluia     

Alleluia, alleluia!     
Alleluia, alleluia!       

Father we praise you as Lord     
All of the earth gives you worship     
For your majesty      
Fills the heavens, fills the earth!          

Come, Holy Spirit, 
Fill the hearts of your faithful  
And enlighten them 
With the fire of your love.     

Refrain by Fintan O’Carroll (1980). Verses and arrangement by Christopher Walker (1985). © 1985 Christopher Walker and Fintan O'Carroll (Published by OCP). CCLI # 1564180.