God Gathers Us
Call to Worship - Psalm 42:1-11
To be read aloud by someone in your home:
1 As the deer pants for streams of water,
so my soul pants for you, my God.
2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When can I go and meet with God?
3 My tears have been my food
day and night,
while people say to me all day long,
“Where is your God?”
4 These things I remember
as I pour out my soul:
how I used to go to the house of God
under the protection of the Mighty One
with shouts of joy and praise
among the festive throng.
5 Why, my soul, are you downcast?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him,
my Savior and my God.
6 My soul is downcast within me;
therefore I will remember you
from the land of the Jordan,
the heights of Hermon—from Mount Mizar.
7 Deep calls to deep
in the roar of your waterfalls;
all your waves and breakers
have swept over me.
8 By day the Lord directs his love,
at night his song is with me—
a prayer to the God of my life.
9 I say to God my Rock,
“Why have you forgotten me?
Why must I go about mourning,
oppressed by the enemy?”
10 My bones suffer mortal agony
as my foes taunt me,
saying to me all day long,
“Where is your God?”
11 Why, my soul, are you downcast?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him,
my Savior and my God.
Opening Prayer
This is one of the Psalms you’ll read soon if you are reading through the bible in a year with us. For several weeks we’ve been taking one of those Psalms and reading it again as we begin worship.
Psalm 42 and 43 are both psalms of a struggling soul, fighting for faith and joy in God. Do you hear in this psalm, the movement from the psalmist’s honest description of his longing and his grief, to his resolute call to his soul to rest all hope in God.
Take a moment to think about the longings and griefs that may be wearying your soul this week. Then, think about what aspects of the character of God speak to your situation.
Finally, go to God in prayer, lifting up your needs, and praying for the rest of our church family, including any specific needs you know and our general need to be growing in faith, hope and love.
God Saves Us
Congregational Singing
We encourage you to sing - make a joyful noise! If you play an instrument, play! If you have some favorite hymns or choruses, pick one or two and sing! Or make use of other technology to play some music, and listen and sing along.
Below are some hymns you can make use of if these would be a help to you.
Offering
For everyone watching services online, we can still receive your offerings a couple of ways:
You can drop your offering in the locked mailbox outside the church office entrance
Or, you can mail them to the church at 393 Water Street, Augusta ME 04330.
Thank you for your continued support of Penney and its ministries!