HELPFUL LINKS
Video Bookmarks
(bookmarks are added after the 8:30 am livestream service and available by 10 am)
Prelude | Worship Band
Establish the Works of Our Hands
If You don't build it we labor in vain
Without Your Spirit
we stand with no strength
I know my life is passing away
But the works of Your hands
are what will remain
Let the favor of the Lord rest upon us
O Lord!
establish the work of our hands
O Lord!
establish the work of our hands
Teach us to number the length of our days
Pour out Your power we'll pour out Your praise
Teach us to run to finish the race
For only what's done
in love will remain
Alleluia alleluia alleluia
Alleluia alleluia alleluia
By Isaac Wardell. © 2017 Hymns from the Porter’s Gate. CCLI # 7097860.
Song | Worship Band
Great Are You Lord
You give life You are love
You bring light to the darkness
You give hope You restore
ev'ry heart that is broken
And great are You Lord
It's Your breath in our lungs
So we pour out our praise
We pour out our praise
It's Your breath in our lungs
So we pour out our praise to You only
And all the earth will shout Your praise
Our hearts will cry these bones will sing
Great are You Lord
By David Leonard and Leslie Jordan. © 2012 Open Hands Music, Integrity’s Praise! Music, and Integrity’s Alleluia! Music. CCLI # 6460220.
Invocation
Almighty God, to you all hearts are open, all desires known, and from you no secrets are hid. Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the power of your Holy Spirit so that we might rightly love you and worthily magnify your holy name, through Christ our Lord, amen.
Unison Scripture Reading (read in unison)
Psalm 127
Unless the LORD builds the house,
the builders labor in vain.
Unless the LORD watches over the city,
the guards stand watch in vain.
In vain you rise early
and stay up late,
toiling for food to eat—
for he grants sleep to those he loves.
Children are a heritage from the LORD,
offspring a reward from him.
Like arrows in the hands of a warrior
are children born in one’s youth.
Blessed is the man
whose quiver is full of them.
They will not be put to shame
when they contend with their opponents in court.
Call to Confession
“Unless the LORD builds the house, the builders labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the guards stand watch in vain.” How much of our life is vain? A ceaseless building and watching and then, maybe, at the end of the day we ask God to bless our efforts. Instead of building on a foundation of Rock—the Lord and his Word—we build on sand and then put a cross on top. Let us kneel to confess our foolishness, our arrogance, our forgetfulness, our vain striving and our need for a Savior.
Prayer of Confession
Lord, we hear the words of the Preacher, “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity,” [Ecclesiastes 1:2] and we have experienced the truth of these words. We have given ourselves in pursuit of that which is nothing but a vapor. The songwriter sings, “I ain’t ever satisfied,” and we sing along and then continue in our pursuit of that which does not satisfy. Lord, in your mercy, open our eyes to see our foolishness. Open our eyes to see that which our hearts truly long for. By your Spirit, move in our hearts to cause us to desire what you desire and to submit to you. Build in us your Kingdom. Watch over and guard our life together so that we might reflect your glory. For Jesus’ sake we pray, Amen.
Assurance of Pardon
Beloved, what is not vain, what is not a vapor but is solid, eternal, truth is this: by the blood of Jesus Christ we are forgiven...
Passing the Peace
May the peace of the Lord be with you.
Response: And also with you
Song | Worship Band
Gloria (Speak to Your People Today)
Glory to God in the Highest
And peace to his people on earth
Father Son and Holy Spirit
We worship you and give you thanks
Descend to us Comforter
Fill us with your holy fire!
Glory to God in the Highest
And peace to his people on earth
Jesus the Word of the Father
Speak to your people today
By Ezra Reagan and Wen Reagan. © 2020 Sursum Corda Music. CCLI # 7176614.
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
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Proclamation of the Word | Pastor Goodie Bell
Sermon Text: Mark 4:26-34
6 He also said, “This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. 27 Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. 28 All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. 29 As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.”
30 Again he said, “What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it? 31 It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest of all seeds on earth. 32 Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds can perch in its shade.”
33 With many similar parables Jesus spoke the word to them, as much as they could understand. 34 He did not say anything to them without using a parable. But when he was alone with his own disciples, he explained everything.
Communion Song | Worship Band
Create in Me a Clean Heart
Create in me a clean heart, O God
And renew a right spirit within me.
Cast me not away
from thy presence, O Lord,
Take not thy Holy Spirit from me.
Restore unto me the joy of my salvation,
And renew a right spirit within me.
By Keith Green. © 1984 For the Shepherd Music. CCLI # 900453.
Prayers of Thanksgiving and Intercession
Would you like to share a prayer request? Submit your request here.
(Read prayer requests from Blacknall members and ministry partners here.)
Lord, as we are in this season of transition, we give thanks to you that you are the Sovereign Lord who is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
Lord, as we come to you in prayer this day, we give thanks for our yesterdays. We give thanks for the stories we can tell of your faithfulness and love and grace towards us. We give thanks for those who have gone before us, that great cloud of witnesses who have demonstrated to us and shown us how good it is to follow after you.
Lord, we give you thanks for this day. For the friends we have today, for your Word to us today, for your invitation to us today to participate with you in your Kingdom. Lord, we pray for those we love who need you this day; who need your healing touch; who need to be given hope; who need eyes to see and ears to hear your good news. We pray for those who are grieving today.
And Lord, we pray for our tomorrow. We pray for our graduating seniors as they leave high school and move into what is next. Be preparing and equipping them for what is next. May the seed of your Word in them continue to grow and sprout and bear good fruit. We pray for those who are leaving Blacknall and leaving Durham, friends that we will miss. We pray your blessing upon them as they move into this next stage of their adventure of following you. We pray for OUR tomorrow, as we as a congregation begin this season of transition without the faithful presence of Allan and Betsy. Help us to be confident in our trust in the future you have for us.
Lord, because of the certainty of our future with you and because of our memories of your faithfulness in our past, help us to live today in utter abandonment to you, your will, and your Kingdom. And so we pray the prayer you taught us...
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.
Ordination and Installation of Officers
Songs of Response | Worship Band & Congregation
Here is Love
Here is love, vast as the ocean
Loving kindness as the flood
When the Prince of Life, our Ransom
Shed for us His precious blood
Who His love will not remember?
Who can cease to sing His praise?
He can never be forgotten
Throughout Heav'n's eternal days
On the mount of crucifixion
Fountains opened deep and wide
Through the floodgates of God's mercy
Flowed a vast a gracious tide
Grace and love, like mighty rivers
Poured incessant from above
Heav'n's peace and perfect justice
Kissed a guilty world in love
By William Rees and Robert Lowry. Public Domain.
This is My Father’s World
This is my Father’s world, and to my listening ears
All nature sings, and round me rings
the music of the spheres.
This is my Father’s world: I rest me in the thought
Of rocks and trees, of skies and seas;
His hand the wonders wrought.
This is my Father's world: The birds their carols raise,
The morning light, the lily white,
Declare their Maker's praise.
This is my Father's world: He shines in all that's fair;
In the rustling grass I hear Him pass,
He speaks to me everywhere.
This is my Father’s world. O let me ne’er forget
That though the wrong seems oft so strong,
God is the ruler yet.
This is my Father’s world, the battle is not done:
Jesus Who died shall be satisfied,
And earth and Heav’n be one.
This is my Father’s world, should my heart be ever sad?
The Lord is King, let the heavens ring.
God reigns, let the earth be glad.
This is my Father’s world. Now closer to Heaven bound,
For dear to God is the earth Christ trod
No place but is holy ground.
By Franklin Lawrence. Arrangement by Wen Reagan. © 2017 Sursum Corda Music. CCLI # 7139683.
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
Mighty God We Thank and Praise You
Mighty God we thank and praise you
For this meal this bread of life
Precious blood and body broken
From your Son our Savior Christ
In these myst’ries you assure us
We are members of your Son
Heirs of your eternal Kingdom
With all faithful people one
Humbly now we ask you Father
In your grace to make us strong
That with all the saints before us
In good works we may press on
Send us out to love and serve you
Send us out to sing your praise
Father Son and Holy Spirit
Power and glory to your name
Amen
Words: “Mighty God We Thank and Praise You” from the Book of Common Prayer. Tune: Ode to Joy. Arrangement and setting by Wendell Kimbrough. © 2012 Wendell Kimbrough. CCLI # 7023049.