Sermon Tone Analysis

Pastoral Welcome

Good morning (good morning)

It is good to be in worship with you this morning, I can’t wait to see how God speaks to us in this time together.

If we have yet to meet my name is Lewis and I serve as the campus pastor at our Faith Chapel location.

I welcome you to this place and to this space where we together will stand in awe of what God is doing in our midst.

I want to give a special word of welcome to all of the people that are up there in the balcony sitting in that seat right there, and in that seat right over there.

That is what I call the people that are worshiping online with us.

Even though you are worshiping online I invite you to still participate fully in worship by singing, and standing, and praying.

Also want to extend a word of welcome to our newcomers to faith or to Ankeny First.

My prayer is that you might experience a glimpse of God’s grace this morning.

All Praise thee, for thou, O Divine #166

Call to Worship

Leader:            By the word of the LORD the heavens were made,

People:           And all their host by the breath of his mouth.

Leader:            He gathered the waters of the sea as in a bottle;

People:           He put the deeps in storehouses.

Leader:            Let all the earth fear the LORD;

People:           Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him.

(Psalms 33:6-8)

Special Music: Be still and know

Liturgy

I waited patiently for the Lord,

who inclined to me and heard my cry.

The Lord drew me up from the desolate pit,

out of the miry bog,

set my feet upon a rock,

making my steps secure

The Lord put a new song in my mouth,

a song of praise to our God.

Many will see and be in awe,

and put their trust in the Lord.

R

Blessed are those who make the Lord their trust,

who do not turn to the proud,

to those who go astray after false gods!

O Lord my God, you have multiplied your wondrous deeds

and your thoughts toward us;

none can compare with you!

Were I to proclaim and tell of them,

they would be more than can be numbered.

Sacrifice and offering you do not desire;

but you have given me an open ear.

Burnt offering and sin offering

you have not required.

Then I said, “Lo, I come;

in the roll of the book it is written of me;

I delight to do your will, O my God;

your law is within my heart.”

R

You may be seated

Intro

Amen, amen, may that be so.

You know the liturgy that we just read together also serves as our scripture this morning, and don’t worry if you weren’t paying attention I will read it again during the sermon.

We are all about second chances here.

You know it speaks of waiting on the Lord, patiently trusting the Lord, and standing in awe of what God is doing in our midst.

In a lot of ways it carries with it this sense of awe.

And truly when we are in tune to what God is doing in our midst we have the privilege of seeing God do some pretty amazing things.

We are in the midst of our annual stewardship campaign that goes along with the sermon series that we are in and devotionals that we are reading as well as a church.

By the way if you have not been reading those devotionals or they haven’t been getting to your mailbox reach out to our church office to get on that email list, because these stories are really amazing.

And they are not amazing because of the people in our church, though you all are great.

They are some really amazing stories because of what God is doing in our midst.

It has been such a blessing to pause each day for me and just give thanks that God is working in someone else life in our community often through stories that I had no clue of.

One of the ways that we see god’s faithfulness at play across our church is through the many ways that people respond through time, talent, and treasure to make the area that we live in look just 1% more like the kingdom of God.

So even though we are in the midst of a season of generosity right, now I want to take a moment to just look back over the last month the month of December just to be in awe for one moment about what God is doing through the people of our church.

Middle chunk

Celebration of the season of giving numbers

Diapers

End of year giving

Mortgage update

Announcing that we will be singing our way into prayer

God let your light shine through me

Pastoral Prayer

Lord let your light shine through us, so that others can know you.

Lord, we wait with eager expectation for the coming of Your kingdom

when the humble will be exalted and the hungry fed.

Where we participate with you in doing what is right in our midst.

Lord, we watch with those who wait and weep,

longing for a kingdom that makes sense in light of the grief that we feel

We lift up to you the Crabtree and the Dillingham family and we pray that in the recent loss of their loved ones they might find hope and resurection.

In the moments of questioning and uncertainty guide our paths.

Connect us with you and with each other once again

We pray for those that are struggling with uncertainties of their health.

We lift up Florence Bishop, Ruth O’Donnell, and Pastor Angie.

In the long-drawn and heavy breaths of despair and pain we cry out to you with them.

We lift up the many that struggle with health set-backs related to Covid-19 and it’s many variants.

O God we grief the many transitions and loses that this disease has brought through our community.

Help us to be peacemakers in a world that is often not categorized by peace.

Lord, we seek You among the despised and rejected,

knowing that there we will find Your light shining in the dark.

When we have felt outcast comfort us in our loneliness,

And convict us in our complacency

I pray that you would comfort the afflicted

and challenge the comfortable

Help us to bed holy and to seek what is right both for ourselve, and for our community

Lord pour your spirit out of to the leaders in our lives.

To the mentors, guides, counselors and church leaders in our own life.

Pour out your spirit on the leaders of our denomination, of our state, and of our national government structures.

God may they be led by a spirit of compassion and grace.

As we seek to be a confessing and repenting church

We confess before you this morning: