Reader: Good morning. We’re glad you can join us for this special music Sunday. We hope it will be a service of joy and inspiration. This years’ service is centered around the Fruits of the Spirit in Galatians 5. Perhaps more than anywhere else in scripture, Galatians 5 is the most concrete example of a community of who entrusts its faith and growth to the leading of the Holy Spirit.
Galatians 5 says: the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things. If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit.
Just like physical fruit needs time to grow, the fruit of the Spirit will not ripen in our lives overnight. As we mature in our faith, all the characteristics of our spiritual fruits will grow as well. So let us join our hearts and minds in Faithfulness, the first fruit, as we are led through this service of music and worship. Let us pray together…
Opening prayer (In unison): O Beloved One, All the ends of the earth marvel at your deeds of power; we feel your presence, we rejoice as we remember your faithfulness and steadfast love revealed in Jesus Christ. Surround us with that faithfulness and steadfast love. Fill us with generosity and courage so that we may be called your friends and live by the fruits of the Spirit. Amen
Faith - hymn – Blue 276 “Great Is They Faithfulness”
Reader “The next fruit of the spirit is JOY. Joy is a word we often associate with the birth of the Christ-child, the birth of our own child or grandchild and significant, happy, life-events. But true Joy buoys us even when we are not feeling completely happy. Being in a state of Joy means that regardless of our life circumstances we can celebrate the power of God in our lives to do abundantly far more than we can ever ask or imagine. Being in a state of Joy means acknowledging the unending, unconditional love of God, even when we don’t feel loveable. Being in a state of Joy is knowing the Holy Spirit is at work in our lives to bring us in and through whatever we face. In the gospel of John we hear Jesus’ words: “7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples. 9 As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. 10 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. 11 I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.
Joy – “Spring” - Herman Beeftink (Nancy VanDyke, flute)
Reader: The next fruit is Patience. Patience is a gift of the Holy Spirit wherein we can be kind, when we are angry, quiet when we want to shout, listening instead of speaking. Before we hear this next piece, let us pray these prayers of intercession from scripture for the Spirit knows what we need, even before we ask. Please pray with me…
PRAYER FOR JOY: (In Unison)
Loving Spirit, I ask for Your joy to be so profound and powerful in my life so that I am able to fully experience it. Joyful Spirit, I ask You for joy no matter the circumstances. Ever-present Spirit, help me to recognize Your presence in my life so that I know the peace that passes all understanding. Trusting Spirit, help me to trust You with my all of my life. Comforting Spirit clothe me in Your kindness, compassion, humility, gentleness and patience. Amen.
Patience - I Will Praise Him! - arr. Kristin Campbell (Henry Stoll, violin)
Reader Our next fruit, Self-Control (along with patience) does not come easily to most. It is a part of being ‘disciplined’ as a believer and takes daily, if not hourly effort. Without it, we run amuck so quickly! Yet like all the fruits of the Spirit, the ability to exercise self-control relies on us…relying on God to help us escape the evils of the world and become instead, participants in God’s kingdom. 2nd Peter speaks to this very point: “5 For this very reason, you must make every effort to support your faith with goodness, and goodness with knowledge, 6 and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with endurance, and endurance with godliness, 7 and godliness with mutual affection, and mutual affection with love. 8 For if these things are yours and are increasing among you, they keep you from being ineffective and unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Self-control - A Good Work - Mark A. Miller (Chancel Choir)
Reader: Goodness is used all throughout scripture used to describe the purity of God’s Spirit. It is a virtue that is to be sought after. Good work, as we just heard, is a mutual process that begins and ends with God’s activity in our lives but that doesn’t mean we don’t have any responsibility. Seeking to be ‘good’ is far more “acting on our best behavior” It is a desire to be pure and holy, without guile, like a child, a Tekna Theou. This next anthem reiterates the purity within us and highlights that even when the world judges us, or we are critical of ourselves, God still sees the goodness in us and rejoices! Thanks be to God!
Goodness - "Child of God” - Mark A. Miller (Chancel Choir, Soloist: Lisa Hordnes)
This anthem was given by Lisa Borgstrom Hordnes on 9/29/2019 in loving memory of her brother, Lars Borgstrom – truly a child of God
PRAYERS of the PEOPLE
Loving Spirit, we thank you for your Spirit in this place; we come to You this day fully aware that we need your presence and your help in our lives, yet aware as well that we often fail to stop and to turn to you for that help. We get caught up in the troubles and the turmoil of daily living—we become busy with the goals that we have set for ourselves and those that come to us from our work and our families and our friends. We strive to be loving, we seek joy and peace, we desire to be gentle and patient and kind, to show goodness, and to have self-control—and yet these things all too often elude us. Help us, Lord, to root ourselves more deeply in you; to seek your will for our lives; to stop and to listen for your voice when we are troubled; to fully rely on you when we strive to do what is right; to remember you and trust in you when we are wounded; to meditate on your goodness and your gracious will when we begin each day—so that like trees by a stream which send down their roots to the water, we may produce by your power the fruit of your Spirit.
Gracious God, we remember the concerns and prayers that have been lifted up this past week by members of this congregation and our community— concerns and prayers that we now pray for with them in silence…Thank you, Lord, for being our God and making us your people. Thank you for growing in us and for helping us to grow. Thank you for the ministry you entrust to us.
Peace - “The Lord’s Prayer” - Mark A. Miller (Chancel Choir)
Reader: Paul’s famous words in 1 Corinthians are so popular and so famous that they still are echoed thousands of times a day, each time a couple marry. Yet, he wrote them for a very different context; to help the church at Corinth learn to be loving by putting aside self-centered ways and letting go of all large and petty differences and come together in the name of, and for the sake of Christ. The fruit of love is among the most powerful and the most necessary not only for peace, but for all human existence. We all know the fruit that can be sowed and harvested when we choose love over fear, which manifests as hatred. Listen again with new ears 1Cor 13 in the Common English Version:
“4 Love is patient, love is kind, it isn’t jealous, it doesn’t brag, it isn’t arrogant, 5 it isn’t rude, it doesn’t seek its own advantage, it isn’t irritable, it doesn’t keep a record of complaints, 6 it isn’t happy with injustice, but it is happy with the truth. 7 Love puts up with all things, trusts in all things, hopes for all things, endures all things. 8 Love never fails.” Hear it now sung by our choir as you meditate on these words.
Love - Hymn - Blue 335 ‘Though I May Speak”
Reader: Our next fruit is gentleness. The word gentleness in scripture comes from the root word which means mildness and humility. It is a call to treat all others with care and respect in the way we act and speak. It is founded on strength and rooted in love. It is the opposite of puffing ourselves up, or needing to be right. It is a conscious choice to submit to the law of love, regardless of people might say or think, trusting in God to guide and guard us as we care and protect others. Isaiah speaks to this in Chapter 40 “He will feed his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms, and carry them in his bosom, and gently lead the mother sheep. Jesus models gentleness for us, all through the New Testament; like the way he treated the woman when the Pharisees wanted to stone her. In Matthew he speaks to all of us: “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”
Gentleness - “Gentle Air” - arr. James Gallaway (Roxanne Tavakkol, flute/Will Tavakkol, guitar)
BENEDICTION
Kindness - Special Music: Doxology for a New Day - Mark A. Miller (Chancel Choir)
This anthem was given by Beatrice Beatty and Isabelle Perry on 5/17/2017 in loving memory of their mother Jacqueline Haller