The Cup You Choose – 3/20/2022

Call to Worship
L: God, we choose you! Our hearts are glad! Our whole bodies shout for joy and rest in you.
All: God, we choose you when good things are happening and joy can easily be found.
L: We choose you when our thoughts trouble us and we can’t find sleep.
All: God, you are our cup of blessing and you hold our futures.
L: We bless you because you are our Counselor, Guide, and the One who secures us.
All: God, we choose you! Our hearts are glad! Our whole bodies shout for joy and rest in you.

Song UMH 469 – Jesus is All The World to Me
CCLI# 4425315
Jesus is all the world to me, my life, my joy, my all;
he is my strength from day to day, without him I would fall.
When I am sad, to him I go, no other one can cheer me so;
when I am sad, he makes me glad, he’s my friend.
Jesus is all the world to me, my friend in trials sore;
I go to him for blessings, and he give them o’er and o’er.
He sends the sunshine and the rain, he sends the harvest’s golden grain;
sunshine and rain, harvest of grain, he’s my friend.
Jesus is all the world to me, and true to him I’ll be;
O how could I this friend deny, when he’s so true to me?
Following him I know I’m right, he watches o’er me day and night;
following him by day and night, he’s my friend.
Jesus is all the world to me, I want no better friend;
I trust him now, I’ll trust him when life’s fleeting days shall end.
Beautiful life with such a friend, beautiful life that has no end;
eternal life, eternal joy, he’s my friend.
Will L. Thompson CCLI#

Prayer:
(All) Almighty God, we praise your holy name. You have chosen us as your people and in return we love you and it is our desire to know you more. Give us a thirst for you and may we choose nothing less than to become just like Jesus. In the wonderful and powerful name of Jesus Christ we pray. Amen

Scripture Psalm 16
1  Protect me, O God, for in you I take refuge. 2  I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you.” 3  As for the holy ones in the land, they are the noble, in whom is all my delight. 4  Those who choose another god multiply their sorrows; their drink offerings of blood I will not pour out or take their names upon my lips. 5  The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot. 6  The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; I have a goodly heritage. 7  I bless the Lord who gives me counsel; in the night also my heart instructs me. 8  I keep the Lord always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. Therefore my heart is glad, and my soul rejoices; my body also rests secure. 10  For you do not give me up to Sheol, or let your faithful one see the Pit. 11  You show me the path of life. In your presence there is fullness of joy; in your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
L: The word of God for the people of God.
All: Thanks be to God.

Song: UMH 462 ‘Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus
Louisa M.R. Stead and William J Kirkpatrick CCLI# 22609
‘Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus, and to take him at his word;
just to rest upon his promise, and to know, “Thus saith the Lord.”
Refrain: Jesus, Jesus, how I trust him! How I’ve proved him o’er and o’er!
Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus! O for grace to trust him more!
O how sweet to trust in Jesus, just to trust his cleansing blood;
and in simple faith to plunge me neath the healing, cleansing flood!
Refrain
Yes, ‘tis sweet to trust in Jesus, just from sin and self to cease;
just from Jesus simply taking life and rest and joy and peace.
Refrain

Sermon – The Cup You Choose – Pastor Gayle

Prayer of Confession:
Almighty God, we confess to you that we are often swept up in the tide of our generation. We have failed in our calling to be your holy people, a people set apart for your divine purpose. We live more in apathy born of fatalism than in passion born of hope. We are moved more by private ambition than by social justice. We dream more of privilege and benefits than of service and sacrifice. We try to speak in your name without relinquishing our glories, without nourishing our souls, without relying wholly on your grace. Help us to make room in our hearts and lives for you. Help us to choose your way rather than our own. Forgive us, revive us, and reshape us in your image. Amen
Lydia S. Martinez UMC Book of Worship

Song TFWS #2129 – I Have Decided to Follow Jesus
CCLI# 7066560
I have decided to follow Jesus. I have decided to follow Jesus.
I have decided to follow Jesus. No turning back, no turning back.
Though none go with me, still I will follow. Though none go with me, still I will follow.
Though none go with me, still I will follow. No turning back, no turning back.
The cross before me, the world behind me. The cross before me, the world behind me.
The cross before me, the world behind me. No turning back, no turning back.

Offertory Prayer: When we turn our lives to you, we find ourselves enrolled in your sacred story, becoming participants in the work of salvation. With open hands we offer to you now our gifts, so that all your children may come to declare “the boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places.” Amen

Pastoral Prayer

THE LORD’S PRAYER :
Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. Lead us not into temptation and deliver us from evil. For yours is the kingdom, the power, and the glory now and forever. Amen.

Benediction

Song UMH #464 – I Will Trust in the Lord African American Spiritual.
CCLI# 3052655
I will trust in the Lord, I will trust in the Lord,
I will trust in the Lord, till I die; I will trust in the Lord,
I will trust in the Lord, I will trust in the Lord, till I die.
Sister, will you trust in the Lord? Sister, will you trust in the Lord?
Sister, will you trust in the Lord, all your life?
Brother, will you trust in the Lord? Brother, will you trust in the Lord?
Brother will you trust in the Lord all your life?

Cokesbury CCLI License #2851555

Please keep in prayer: Donna and Rosier Bailey, Tom Fabricus, Mary Jane Fizer, Deirdre and John, Louise and Mark Young, Marian Benson, Ellen Kuvasko, Margaret Franklin, Benny Willis, Bagby family, Debbie, Lilli, Ollie, Linda, Chrissie, Toye, Wenona, people living with cancer, battling addictions, struggling with life
changes, seeking the Lord.

The ministry and vision of Cokesbury.
Called Charge Conference today immediately following worship

Learn
Bible Study Wednesday at 7pm on Zoom and in-person. “Holy Spirit: Here and Now” by Trevor Hudson. Contact Pastor Gayle for Zoom link.

Video and Discussion Series “Virginia Roots, Race and Reconciliation” in-person and Zoom following worship. April 3rd at 11:30am. A brown bag lunch will be provided.

Devotion
The Cokesbury UMC Prayer Group meets weekly Mondays at 6pm on Zoom – all are invited to join and participate! Please send or share all prayer concerns with Pastor Gayle so we may give each concern prayerful attention. 
https://zoom.us/j/98610851248?pwd=MVZkSHlPeGdyLzhZT2o5WVh2NGpuUT09
Meeting ID: 986 1085 1248 Passcode: 940573
One tap mobile: +13017158592,,98610851248#,,,,*940573# US (Washington DC)

Prayer for Discernment following worship First Sundays of month.

Serve
Welcome Table (Messy Church) April 10th at 11:30am. See sign-up for food.

A.C.T.S Food Pantry:
Canned Vegetables, especially peas, 15 oz size, Low sodium canned vegetables, Snack items, individually packed, Pop-top canned prepared meals suitable for our homeless clients, Single serve prepared food suitable for our homeless clients, Laundry Detergent, Dish Detergent, Cleaning Supplies in general, Toiletries and Personal Hygiene Items, Size 4T pull-ups, Size 6 diapers.

Easter Meal- For ACTS Food Pantry. Take a bag and purchase items on list. Return by Sunday April 10th

Mission Report: 213 lbs. of food and household products donated in February to ACTS.

Teachers and Staff at Featherstone Elementary School received hand written notes and several bags of hard candy. Principal Groover shares their appreciation and thanks to Cokesbury.

Beef stew meal for 16 persons at Hilda Barg Shelter.

Ushers for Sunday worship. Please call Gordon Freeman at 703-680-4629 for information and to volunteer.

Feb Income      $7354.55
Feb Expenses    $8354.15
Shortfall               $999.60

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