Online Worship for September 13, 2020

Welcome to Church of the Holy Cross’s live streaming worship service for September 13th, 2020. Feel free to follow the service text by scrolling down, or you may download and print the service in PDF format below.

Online Worship, September 13, 2020
Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Rev. Eric S. Anderson, Pastor

WE GATHER TO WORSHIP GOD

Welcome:                                                                                Rev. Eric S. Anderson

Prelude: Pastorale – Sammartini arr. Wolff                               Kayleen Yuda

Call to Worship: Lay Reader based on Psalm 114                Gloria Kobayashi

Leader: When Israel went out from Egypt, when the people left behind the bonds of slavery,
All: The Red Sea looked and fled. The Jordan River stood still in its course.
Leader: The mountains skipped like rams, the hills like lambs.
All: Why is it, O sea, that you flee? Why, Jordan, do you stand still?
Leader: Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the LORD,
All: Who turns the rock into a pool of water, who calls up springs from the hardness of flint.

Please join me in the Invocation: based on Matthew 18:21-35
At one moment, O God, we seek your guidance and forgiveness. At another moment, O God, we play the part of God ourselves as we condemn our friends and neighbors. Be patient with us in our inconsistent righteousness and unrighteousness. Be patient with us in our commitment to reconcile and our failure to forgive. Be patient with us, O God, that we may pray once more today in gratitude for your grace. Amen.

Hymn Duet #572 When Israel Was in Egypt’s Land (trad.)   
Eric S. Anderson & Doug Albertson
Movement led by Genie Phillips

Scripture: Exodus 14:19-31                                                     Gloria Kobayashi

The angel of God who was going before the Israelite army moved and went behind them; and the pillar of cloud moved from in front of them and took its place behind them. It came between the army of Egypt and the army of Israel. And so the cloud was there with the darkness, and it lit up the night; one did not come near the other all night. Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea. The Lord drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night, and turned the sea into dry land; and the waters were divided. The Israelites went into the sea on dry ground, the waters forming a wall for them on their right and on their left. The Egyptians pursued, and went into the sea after them, all of Pharaoh’s horses, chariots, and chariot drivers. At the morning watch the Lord in the pillar of fire and cloud looked down upon the Egyptian army, and threw the Egyptian army into panic.  He clogged their chariot wheels so that they turned with difficulty. The Egyptians said, “Let us flee from the Israelites, for the Lord is fighting for them against Egypt.” Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea, so that the water may come back upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots and chariot drivers.” So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at dawn the sea returned to its normal depth. As the Egyptians fled before it, the Lord tossed the Egyptians into the sea. The waters returned and covered the chariots and the chariot drivers, the entire army of Pharaoh that had followed them into the sea; not one of them remained. But the Israelites walked on dry ground through the sea, the waters forming a wall for them on their right and on their left. Thus the Lord saved Israel that day from the Egyptians; and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. Israel saw the great work that the Lord did against the Egyptians. So the people feared the Lord and believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses.

Exodus 15:1b-11

Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the Lord:
“I will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously;
    horse and rider he has thrown into the sea.
The Lord is my strength and my might,
    and he has become my salvation;
this is my God, and I will praise him,
    my father’s God, and I will exalt him.
The Lord is a warrior;
    the Lord is his name.
“Pharaoh’s chariots and his army he cast into the sea;
    his picked officers were sunk in the Red Sea.
The floods covered them;
    they went down into the depths like a stone.
Your right hand, O Lord, glorious in power—
    your right hand, O Lord, shattered the enemy.
In the greatness of your majesty you overthrew your adversaries;
    you sent out your fury, it consumed them like stubble.
At the blast of your nostrils the waters piled up,
    the floods stood up in a heap;
    the deeps congealed in the heart of the sea.
The enemy said, ‘I will pursue, I will overtake,
    I will divide the spoil, my desire shall have its fill of them.
    I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them.’
You blew with your wind, the sea covered them;
    they sank like lead in the mighty waters.
“Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods?
    Who is like you, majestic in holiness,
    awesome in splendor, doing wonders?

Story/Sermon: Miracle Work                                         Rev. Eric S. Anderson

Pastoral Prayer                                                                 Rev. Eric S. Anderson

Please join me in the Lord’s Prayer
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy Name. Thy kingdom come.  Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever and ever. Amen.

Instrumental Anthem: Piano sonata Opus 90 No. 27, 1^st movement by Ludwig van Beethoven                                                                              
                                                                                                Kanako Okita

Call to Offering:                                                                      Gloria Kobayashi
Once more we invite you to an offering. You cannot place your gifts in a calabash or a plate. Instead, they must make their way through the mail in an envelope sent to 440 West Lanikaula Street, Hilo, Hawai’i, 96720, or as information on the Internet submitted at holycrosshilo.com/donate. However you send them, let them be gifts of the heart that extend your love and compassion to your neighbors and your friends, and also to the stranger on the far side of the world. Let us pray together:

Offertory Prayer:
You have summoned us to freedom from the consequences of our actions, O God. We rejoice in your gift. You have summoned all people to freedom, O God, from the oppressions of need and fear. We rejoice in your gift. May our offerings today speed the day that your summons comes to be, when all will find forgiveness, healing, and home in the bounty of your love. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.

Anthem: Praise the Source of Faith and Learning– Thomas H. Troeger & Roland H. Prichard                                                                                               
                                                                                                Eric S. Anderson
                                                                                                Doug Albertson
                                                                      Movement led by Genie Phillips

Announcements:                                                               Rev. Eric S. Anderson

Benediction:                                                                        Rev. Eric S. Anderson

Postlude: In Christ There Is No East or West — Wood              Kayleen Yuda

Permissions:
Praise the Source of Faith and Learning
Contributors: Thomas H. Troeger
Text: © 1987, Oxford University Press
Streamed by permission. ONELICENSE #A-735890