Worship Notes for Sunday, February 3, 2013
We are pleased to have Rev. Paul Boyd with us this morning. His sermon on Following the Good Shepherd flows naturally from where we have been the past four weeks in learning what it means To Be the people of God. We begin with the Call to Worship from Psalm 28 and the call to trust the Lord and for Him to be our Shepherd. We continue by singing There’s a Wideness in God’s Mercy and the welcome for sinners in His mercy and by His blood.The Psalm for February is from Psalm 117: From All That Dwell. It’s a summons to spread the name of the Lord from shore to shore and “fill the world with loudest praise.” Our New Testament Reading is from John 10—Jesus as the Good Shepherd and the necessity for us to hear and follow His voice. The Prayer of Confession from Psalm 40 reminds us of the times that we do not trust God or delight in doing His will—times that we hide from following Him.
The following hymn, Jesus, I Am Resting, is a prayer to find our joy, wholeness, and peace in Christ only. The second Communion Hymn, Shepherd of Souls, recognizes our utter dependence on the living bread and heavenly wine that call us into a life of obedience.
The final hymn, Jesus, Shepherd, is a prayer for the sustaining grace of Jesus to lead us even as we confess that we are “weak, and poor, and feeble” we recognize that we can trust His mighty hand.
