Welcome and Announcements
Prelude
Invitation to Worship
Come all who give thanks for the gift of life.
Come all who long for a just and happy world.
Come all who seek peace and are willing to pursue it.
Together we come to worship the One who
transforms
pain into hope,
fear into love,
crying into laughter.
Come let us worship the living God!
Opening Prayer
Song of Praise
Love Divine, All Loves Excelling
by Charles Wesley
Tune of BEECHER
Love divine, all loves excelling, joy of heaven on earth be found,
Fix in us a humble dwelling, all your faithful mercies crown;
Jesus, you are all compassion; pure, unbounded love impart.
Visit us with your salvation, enter every trembling heart.
Breathe, O breathe your loving Spirit into every troubled breast;
Let us all in you inherit, let us find your promised rest;
Take away our love of sinning; Alpha and Omega be;
End of faith, as its beginning, set our hearts at liberty.
Come, almighty to deliver, let us all your life receive;
Suddenly return, and never, nevermore your temples leave.
You we would be always blessing, love you as your angles love,
Pray and praise for your unfailing, wounded arms outstretched above.
Finish, then, your new creation; pure and spotless may we prove;
Let us see your great salvation perfectly restored in you;
Changed from glory into glory, till in heaven we take our place,
Crowned as saints, we ever shall be lost in wonder, love, and praise.
Ephesians 4:4-6
You are one body and one spirit, just as God also called you in one hope. There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God and Father of all, who is over all, through all, and in all.
1 Peter 2:2-5
Like a newborn baby, desire the pure milk of the word. Nourished by it, you will grow into salvation, since you have tasted that the Lord is good.
Now you are coming to him as to a living stone. Even though this stone was rejected by humans, from God’s perspective it is chosen, valuable. You yourselves are being built like living stones into a spiritual temple. You are being made into a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices that are acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
Celebration of the Baptism of Wren Doppke
Prayer of Blessing
Song of Praise
God When I came into This Life
by Fred Kaan
Tune of LAND OF REST
God, when I came into this life, you called me by my name;
Today I come, commit myself, respond to your claim.
You give me freedom to believe; today I make my choice,
And to the worship of the church I add my learning voice.
Within the circle of the faith, as member of your cast,
I take my place with all the saints of future, present, past.
Isaiah 25:6-9
Common English Bible
On this mountain,
the Lord of heavenly forces will prepare for all peoples
a rich feast, a feast of choice wines,
of select foods rich in flavor,
of choice wines well refined.
He will swallow up on this mountain the veil that is veiling all peoples,
the shroud enshrouding all nations.
He will swallow up death forever.
The Lord God will wipe tears from every face;
he will remove his people’s disgrace from off the whole earth,
for the Lord has spoken.
They will say on that day,
“Look! This is our God,
for whom we have waited—
and he has saved us!
This is the Lord, for whom we have waited;
let’s be glad and rejoice in his salvation!”
Remembering the Saints
This morning we remember and name those from our church family who have gone before us to that heavenly place which God has prepared for us all. With confidence in God’s eternal presence in our lives, we take courage and we remember:
Annelise Davis, James Dooley, Carl Hooper, and Baxter Wood
Silent Prayer
Lux Aeterna
by Sally Albrecht
May eternal light shine upon them, Lord,
with your saints forever, for you are kind.
Grant them eternal rest, Lord.
And may perpetual light shine upon them.
Ever-living God, today we remember those from our church family whom you have gathered from the noise and storm of life here on earth into the peace of your eternal presence. May that your Spirit of peace fall on us and all who remember their loved ones this day, Grant us your peace, through Jesus Christ we pray. Amen.
Song of Affirmation
Heaven and Earth
by Christopher Grundy
Revelation 21:1-6a
Common English Bible
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the former heaven and the former earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. I heard a loud voice from the throne say, “Look! God’s dwelling is here with humankind. He will dwell with them, and they will be his peoples. God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more. There will be no mourning, crying, or pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” Then the one seated on the throne said, “Look! I’m making all things new.” He also said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” Then he said to me, “All is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will freely give water from the life-giving spring.
Reflection on the Scriptures
Rev. Tonya Vickery
Hymn of Response
Rejoice in God’s Saints
By Fred Pratt
Tune of HANOVER
Rejoice in God’s saints, today and all days!
A world without saints forgets how to praise.
Their faith in acquiring the habit of prayer,
Their depth of adoring, Lord, Help us to share.
Some march with events to turn them God’s way;
Some need to withdraw, the better to pray;
Some carry the gospel through fire and through flood:
Our world is their parish: their purpose is God.
Rejoice in those saints, unpraised and unknown,
Who bear someone’s cross, or shoulder their own:
They share our complaining, our comforts, our cares:
What patience in caring, what courage, is theirs!
Rejoice in God’s saints, today and all days!
A world without saint forgets how to praise.
In loving, in living, they prove it is true:
Their way of self-giving, Lord, leads us to you.
Prayer of Sending
May God,
who has begun a good work in us,
guard us and encourage us
and bless us on our journey,
and bring us at the last
surely and safely home. Amen
Closing Song
Blessed Be the Tie
Words by John Fawcett
Tune of DENNIS
Blessed be the tie that binds our hearts in Christian love.
The fellowship of kindred minds is like to that above.
When we are called to part, it gives us inward pain;
but we shall still be joined in heart, and hope to meet again.
This glorious hope revives our courage by the way;
while each in expectation lives and waits to see the day.
Acknowledgements. The Call to Worship was adapted from Elizabeth Baxter’s writing in Winter, ed. Ruth Burgess. Wild Goose Publications, © 2021. The Sending Out was written by Ruth Burgess also published n Winter, ed. Ruth Burgess. Wild Goose Publications, © 2021. All were used with permission. Permission to print the words and lead lines to the music in this service obtained from ONE LICENSE with license #A-724755. All rights reserved.
Cullowhee Baptist Church 
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