THE FIRST LESSON Colossians 2:6-15
THE SECOND LESSON Luke 11:1-13
SERMON "Who Closes the Door?"
Worship Notes
Welcome to worship at Westminster on this the Ninth Sunday after Pentecost. During these summer weeks, and throughout the Pentecost season, we sustain a purposeful focus on God's gift of the Holy Spirit and on its presence at work within and through us.
In worship today, we focus purposefully on the act of prayer. In the gospel lesson, Jesus teaches us how to pray and frames that if we seek, we will find, if we knock, the door will be opened to us. The music through which we worship today is chosen to evoke a particular spirit of prayer that leads to and culminates in the Prayers of the People, which follows the sermon and the Affirmation of Faith.
We welcome the musical leadership in worship today from our Handbell Week participants, who will offer a setting of the familiar hymn, "Sweet Hour of Prayer," as our offertory. The text of this hymn creates a meaningful framework for our prayerful experience in worship. Two stanzas of this hymn, which were written by William Walford and published in 1861, are as follows:
Sweet hour of prayer! sweet hour of prayer!
That calls me from a world of care,
And bids me at my Father's throne
Make all my wants and wishes known.
In seasons of distress and grief,
My soul has often found relief,
And oft escaped the tempter's snare,
By thy return, sweet hour of prayer!
Sweet hour of prayer! sweet hour of prayer!
Thy wings shall my petition bear
To Him whose truth and faithfulness
Engage the waiting soul to bless.
And since He bids me seek His face,
Believe His Word and trust His grace,
I'll cast on Him my every care,
And wait for thee, sweet hour of prayer!
