Front Royal Presbyterian Church

May 25, 2025, 10:30 am

Liturgist – Usi Mix

Minister – Rev. Jaci Smith Patman

Prelude   Flute Voluntary               Benjamin Carr

Welcome and Announcements

Opening Prayer & Gathering #2013 Bless the Lord

Bless the Lord, my soul and bless God's holy name.

Bless the Lord, my soul who leads me into life.

Call to Worship (based on Psalm 67)

May God be gracious to us; May God bless us.

We gather in worship, knowing God is here.

May God’s face shine upon us.

May God call us into the joyful work of creating peace.

Let us worship our God in praise.

Opening Hymn #118 The Day of Resurrection!

(Please remain standing through the Response to God’s Grace)

Call to Confession

We are a people who trend toward sin. We are a people in need of God’s vision, praying for our eyes to be opened. We are a people in need of God’s reversal, praying for our hearts to be softened. We are a people in need of God’s reconciliation, praying that our faces might be illumined by God’s presence. Let us claim our need of God and his work in us, as we confess our sin together.

Prayer of Confession

Gracious God, we confess our upside-down thinking and confused perspective. We equate our judgment with your judgment, and can assume our ways to be your ways. We define peace as the absence of disruption, holding our comfort as your aim and thinking our preferences reflect your ways. Too often we act as if we are your authoritative witnesses, believing our own worldview reflects your vision, and that our perspective contains your hope for the future. O God, help us to see our sinful assumptions, and to walk in your ways more fully. Forgive our self-focused views. Correct us with your truth and teach us by your Spirit.

Assurance of Pardon and Exchange of Peace

In Jesus Christ, we are forgiven. It is he who opens eyes to see, softens hearts to hear and returns us to God’s presence. Receive his forgiveness, and be at peace.

In light of God’s gift of grace, please turn to your neighbor to extend the peace of Christ, saying, “May the Peace of Christ be with you,” and offer the traditional response: “And also with you.”

Response to God's Grace #122 Thine is the Glory (refrain)

Thine is the glory,

Risen, conquering Son;

Endless is the victory,

Thou o'er death hast won.

Sermon for Faith Builders Children are invited to go to Children’s Worship with our Children’s Worship Leader, Ms. Marisa. Children will return during the final hymn.

Prayers of the People & The Lord's Prayer

Call to Offering

Offertory     My Heart is Full of Longing to Achieve Eternal Rest      

Johann Gottfried Walther

Song of Praise (to LASST UNS ERFREUEN)

Praise God from whom all blessings flow.

Praise God, all creatures high and low,

Alleluia, alleluia!

Praise God, in Jesus fully known: Creator, Word, and Spirit one.

Alleluia, alleluia! Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!

Prayer of Dedication

Hymn #2009 O God Beyond All Praising

Scripture Reading Deuteronomy 34:1-12

Anthem Jerusalem the Golden   

Bernard of Cluny/Alexander Ewing

Jerusalem the golden, with milk and honey blest,

beneath your contemplation sink heart and mind oppressed;

I know not, O I know not what joys await me there,

what radiancy of glory, what bliss beyond compare!

They stand, those halls of Zion, all jubilant with song,

and bright with many an angel, and all the martyr throng;

the Prince is ever in them; the daylight is serene;

the pastures of the blessed are decked in glorious sheen.

There is the throne of David, and there, from care released,

the shout of those who triumph, the song of those who feast;

and they, who with their Leader have conquered in the fight,

forever and forever are clad in robes of white.

O sweet and blessed country, the home of God's elect!

O sweet and blessed country, that eager hearts expect!

In mercy, Jesus, bring us to that dear land of rest,

who are, with God the Father, and Spirit, ever blessed.

Sermon  Peace Be With You

A Vision for Glory and Light Revelation 21:10, 21:22-22:5

Affirmation of Faith - (Adapted from the Confession of 1967, 9.26)

Life in Christ is life eternal. The resurrection of Jesus is the sign that God will consummate the work of creation and reconciliation beyond death, and bring to fulfillment the new life begun in Christ.

Closing Hymn This Is My Song (Tune: Finlandia)

Commissioning and Benediction

Postlude     Look, the Sight is Glorious!   

William Owens/William Haller