Harbor Church
Gathered October 23, 1765
e,January 3rd, 2021, 10:00 a.m.f
Our 256th year
WELCOME TO OUR WORSHIP SERVICE
January 3rd, 2021
The Beginning of a New Year
WE GATHER TOGETHER
Prelude Music
Opening Reflection - Isaiah 41:10
“Celebrate endings, for they precede new beginnings.”
[Jonathan Lockwood Huie]
Welcome
A NEW YEAR’S LITANY
One: A new day has begun!
Many: A new year has arrived!
One: Are you ready to give God praise?
Many: We are ready!
One: Are you ready to leave behind the baggage? Are you ready to step out on faith?
Many: We are ready!
One: Are you ready to forgive those who hurt you?
Many: We are ready!
One: Are you ready to release your doubts and fears?
Many: We are ready!
One: Are you ready to follow the Lord into an abundant future?
All: How majestic is our God; We are his, and we are ready!
(B. Kevin Smalls, The Africana Worship Book)’
Song “We Give You Glory”
We have raised a thousand voices
Just to lift Your holy name
And we will raise thousands more to sing
Of Your beauty in this place
Oh none can even fathom
No not one define Your worth
As we marvel in Your presence
To the ends of the earth
Chorus 1
We give You glory
Lifting up our hands and singing holy
You alone are worthy
We just want to touch Your heart Lord
Touch Your heart
Glory
Lifting up our voice and singing holy
You alone are worthy
We just want to touch Your heart Lord
Touch Your heart
As we fall down before You
With our willing hearts we seek
In the greatness of Your glory
It's so hard to even speak
There is nothing we can offer
No nothing can repay
So we give You all our praises
And lift our voices to sing
Our hope is drenched in You
Our faith has been renewed
We trust in Your ev'ry word
Nothing else can even measure up to You
Glory, Singing holy, We're singing worthy
We want to touch Your heart Lord
Touch Your heart
Glory!
CCLI Song # 4874337Jeremy Camp
© 2006 Stolen Pride Music (Capitol CMG Publishing) CCLI License # 20007620
GOD DRAWS US NEAR
Scripture Reading: Ephesians 1:3-14
1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,
1:4 just as he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love.
1:5 He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will,
1:6 to the praise of his glorious grace that he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.
1:7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace
1:8 that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and insight
1:9 he has made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ,
1:10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
1:11 In Christ we have also obtained an inheritance, having been destined according to the purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to his counsel and will,
1:12 so that we, who were the first to set our hope on Christ, might live for the praise of his glory.
1:13 In him you also, when you had heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and had believed in him, were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit;
1:14 this is the pledge of our inheritance toward redemption as God's own people, to the praise of his glory.
Disciple’s Moment New Year’s Noisemakers
Song “Shine Jesus Shine”
Chorus:
Shine Jesus shine Fill this land With the Father's glory
Blaze Spirit blaze Set our hearts on fire
Flow river flow Flood the nations With grace and mercy
Send forth Your word Lord And let there be light
Lord the light of Your love is shining
In the midst of the darkness shining
Jesus Light of the world shine upon us
Set us free by the truth You now bring us
Shine on me, shine on me
[Chorus]
Lord I come to Your awesome presence
From the shadows into Your radiance
By the blood I may enter Your brightness
Search me try me consume all my darkness
Shine on me shine on me
[Chorus]
As we gaze on Your kingly brightness
So our faces display Your likeness
Ever changing from glory to glory
Mirrored here may our lives tell Your story
Shine on me shine on me
[Chorus]
CCLI Song # 30426 Graham Kendrick © 1987 Make Way Music (Admin. by Music Services, Inc.) CCLI License # 20007620
Ministry Moment Camp Canonicus
Scripture Reading. Jeremiah 31:7-14
31:7 For thus says the LORD: Sing aloud with gladness for Jacob, and raise shouts for the chief of the nations; proclaim, give praise, and say, "Save, O LORD, your people, the remnant of Israel."
31:8 See, I am going to bring them from the land of the north, and gather them from the farthest parts of the earth, among them the blind and the lame, those with child and those in labor, together; a great company, they shall return here.
31:9 With weeping they shall come, and with consolations I will lead them back, I will let them walk by brooks of water, in a straight path in which they shall not stumble; for I have become a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn.
31:10 Hear the word of the LORD, O nations, and declare it in the coastlands far away; say, "He who scattered Israel will gather him, and will keep him as a shepherd a flock."
31:11 For the LORD has ransomed Jacob, and has redeemed him from hands too strong for him.
31:12 They shall come and sing aloud on the height of Zion, and they shall be radiant over the goodness of the LORD, over the grain, the wine, and the oil, and over the young of the flock and the herd; their life shall become like a watered garden, and they shall never languish again.
31:13 Then shall the young women rejoice in the dance, and the young men and the old shall be merry. I will turn their mourning into joy, I will comfort them, and give them gladness for sorrow.
31:14 I will give the priests their fill of fatness, and my people shall be satisfied with my bounty, says the LORD.
Message: “HAPPY?!”
WE RESPOND IN FAITHFULNESS
Musical Meditation
What would a Happy New Year look like in 2021?
What does a happy life look like to me?
Our Offering & Doxology
Sharing our Joys and Concerns
Pastoral Prayer and The Lord’s Prayer
(“…forgive us our sins")
A Celebration of Holy Communion
Pastor:
Friends, as we celebrate this memorial meal together, Let us pause to gather our thoughts in quietness as we silently confess our sins to the One who knows us best. We know that we have been set apart and adopted as the children of God. We dare to believe that we are part of a master plan. But are doing all that we can to live as God’s children?
We know God calls to us, but we’re so easily distracted. We know God loves us, but we balk at the cost of following Him with our whole heart. Come, friends, let us acknowledge our failings to the Lord in the silence of this moment.
(moment of silent repentance)
God has poured out grace upon grace, freely, and in great abundance. Though we never earned it and don’t deserve it, in Christ we are made new, in Christ we are forgiven, and in Christ we are released into hope to live out His plans for us, to the praise and glory of our God, Amen.
Invitation to the Lord’s Supper “Come Share the Lord”
We gather here, in Jesus’ name,
His love is burning in our hearts like living flame;
For through the loving Son the Father makes us one,
Come take the bread, come drink the wine, come share the Lord.
He joins us here, He breaks the bread,
The Lord who pours the cup is risen from the dead;
The One we love the most is now our gracious host,
Come take the bread, come drink the wine, come share the Lord.
Pastor: And So we remember…
People: “On the night in which he gave himself up for us, he took bread, gave thanks to you, broke the bread, gave it to his disciples, and said:
Pastor: Take, eat; this is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”
People: When the supper was over, he took the cup, gave thanks to you, gave it to his disciples, and said:
Pastor: Drink from this, all of you; this is my blood of the new covenant, poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. As often as you do this, do it in remembrance of me.”
People: And so, we remember your goodness to us in Jesus Christ, we offer ourselves in praise and thanksgiving as a holy and living sacrifice, to be your servants in this world.
Pastor: Pour out your Holy Spirit on us gathered here, and on these gifts of bread and wine.
People: Make them be for us a remembrance of the body and blood of Christ, that we may be for the world the body of Christ. Following Christ’s example to love and serve as He did. By your Spirit make us one with Christ, one with each other, and one in ministry and service to all the world, until Jesus comes again.
Pastor: Through your Son Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit, all honor and glory is yours, almighty God, now and forever. Amen.
Our Mission Statement
“Joyfully, we are invited by the Spirit of God to embrace, celebrate and minister to the hopes and hurts of our members, of our neighbors, and of our the larger community through Christ-centered prayer, worship, teaching, sharing, and caring.”
Song: “Blessed be the Tie that Binds”
Blessed be the tie that binds our hearts in Christian love
The fellowship of kindred minds Is like to that above
CCLI Song # 4371108 George Fike © 2004 CCLI License # 20007620
POSTLUDE Auld Lang Syne
Should old acquaintance be forgot
And never brought to mind
Should all acquaintance be forgot
And auld lang syne
Chorus:
For auld lang syne, my dear
For auld lang syne
We'll take a cup o' kindness yet
For auld lang syne
We too have paddled in the stream
From morning sun to night
But the seas between us broad have roared
From auld lang syne
[Chorus]
Words & Music Public Domain CCLI License # 20007620
“HAPPY NEW YEAR!”
may your New Year be filled with
good health, happiness, hope and peace.
