Virtual service: October 18, 2020

Opening song: With or without you

By U2 (Key of D [C 2nd fret])

See the stone set in your eyes

See the thorn twist in your side

I'll wait for you

Sleight of hand and twist of fate

On a bed of nails, you make me wait

And I wait without you

Refrain

With or without you

Through the storm, we reach the shore

You give it all but I want more

And I'm waiting for you

Refrain

With or without you

With or without you,

I can't live With or without you

And you give yourself away

And you give and you give

And you give yourself away

My hands are tied

My body bruised, you got me with

Nothing to win and

Nothing left to lose

Refrain

And you give yourself away

And you give and you give

And you give yourself away

With or without you

With or without you, oh

I can't live With or without you

With or without you

With or without you, oh

I can't live with or without you

With or without you

Announcement and offering

Prayer and dedication

Call to worship

Hymn: All people that on Earth do dwell

(VU 822; Psalm 100) (Key of F [C 4th fret])

1

All people that on earth do dwell,

sing out your faith with cheerful voice;

delight in God whose praise you tell,

whose presence calls you to rejoice.

2

Know that there is one God, indeed,

who fashions us without our aid,

who claims us, gives us all we need,

whose tender care will never fade.

3

Enter the sacred gates with praise;

with joy approach the temple walls.

Extol and bless our God always

as people whom the Spirit calls.

4

Proclaim again that God is good,

whose mercy is forever sure,

whose truth at all times firmly stood,

and shall from age to age endure.

Opening prayer and confession

Assurance of pardon

Lord's prayer song

A time for all God's children

Children's hymn: Over my head

Scripture: Exodus 32: 1-14 Make God for us

(The Message Bible)

When the people realized that Moses was taking forever in coming down off the mountain, they rallied around Aaron and said, “Do something. Make gods for us who will lead us. That Moses, the man who got us out of Egypt—who knows what’s happened to him?”

So, Aaron told them, “Take off the gold rings from the ears of your wives and sons and daughters and bring them to me.” They all did it; they removed the gold rings from their ears and brought them to Aaron. He took the gold from their hands and cast it in the form of a calf, shaping it with an engraving tool. The people responded with enthusiasm: “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up from Egypt!” Aaron, taking in the situation, built an altar before the calf.

Aaron then announced, “Tomorrow is a feast day to God!”

Early the next morning, the people got up and offered Whole-Burnt-Offerings and brought Peace-Offerings. The people sat down to eat and drink and then began to party. It turned into a wild party!

God spoke to Moses, “Go! Get down there! Your people whom you brought up from the land of Egypt have fallen to pieces. In no time at all they’ve turned away from the way I commanded them: They made a molten calf and worshiped it. They’ve sacrificed to it and said, ‘These are the gods, O Israel, that brought you up from the land of Egypt!’”

God said to Moses, “I look at this people—oh! what a stubborn, hard-headed people! Let me alone now, give my anger free reign to burst into flames and incinerate them. But I’ll make a great nation out of you.”

Moses tried to calm his God down. He said, “Why, God, would you lose your temper with your people? Why, you brought them out of Egypt in a tremendous demonstration of power and strength. Why let the Egyptians say, ‘He had it in for them—he brought them out so he could kill them in the mountains, wipe them right off the face of the Earth.’ Stop your anger. Think twice about bringing evil against your people! Think of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants to whom you gave your word, telling them ‘I will give you many children, as many as the stars in the sky, and I’ll give this land to your children as their land forever.’”

And God did think twice. He decided not to do the evil he had threatened against his people.

Gospel hymn: Great is thy faithfulness

(VU 288; Key of D [chords in VU])

1

Great is thy faithfulness, God our creator;

there is no shadow of turning with thee;

thou changest not, thy compassions, they fail not;

as thou hast been thou forever wilt be.

Refrain
Great is thy faithfulness! Great is thy faithfulness!

Morning by morning new mercies I see;

all I have needed thy hand hath provided -

great is thy faithfulness, ever to me!