The Anchor Holds – Hebrews 6:13-20a
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Announcements:
Called Charge Conference – Cokesbury will be hosting a Called Charge Conference via ZOOM this Thursday, June 3rd, at 7pm with our District Superintendent Jeff Mickle in order to vote and approve Rev. Gayle Porias’ salary, housing exclusion, and accountable reimbursement. All are welcome to attend this digital meeting. If you don’t currently receive the church’s emails, and would like to attend the meeting, please send an email to cokesburyumc@gmail.com in order to join for the Charge Conference on June 3rd.
Sunday Drive-In Worship Services planned for June (weather permitting):
– Next Sunday, June 6th, 11am: Drive-In and Online,
– June 13th, 11am: Drive-In and Online (Celebration for Rev Mertins),
– June 20th: Online Only,
– June 27th, 11am: Drive-In and Online (Rev Mertins’ Final Sunday)
Call to Worship – Michelle Holmes-Chaney
Lift up your heads! Lift up your hearts! Lift up your spirits!
We lift them up to the Lord.
Hope in the Lord!
With the Lord there is steadfast love and great power to redeem.
Hymn 368 – My Hope Is Built:
V1. My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
but wholly lean on Jesus’ name.
Refrain:
On Christ the solid rock I stand,
all other ground is sinking sand;
all other ground is sinking sand.
V2. When darkness veils his lovely face,
I rest on his unchanging grace.
In every high and stormy gale,
my anchor holds within the veil.
Refrain
V3. His oath, his covenant, his blood
supports me in the whelming flood.
When all around my soul gives way,
he then is all my hope and stay.
Refrain
V4. When he shall come with trumpet sound,
O may I then in him be found!
Dressed in his righteousness alone,
faultless to stand before the throne!
Refrain
Opening Prayer – Michelle Holmes-Chaney
The Lord be with you.
And also with you.
Let us pray.
Gracious God, You are the hope of the world:
In these times of shifting sands,
when the ways we have built our lives around are rapidly changing
we yearn for solid ground, for a place to depend on that is sure and steady.
Give us grace to rely on You as the anchor that holds through it all,
to put our trust in Your unfailing goodness and mercy
and to follow in the way of Your holy love,
Through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and forever. Amen.
Scripture Reading: Hebrews 6:13-20a
When God made a promise to Abraham, because he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself, saying, “I will surely bless you and multiply you.” And thus Abraham,having patiently endured, obtained the promise. Human beings, of course, swear by someone greater than themselves, and an oath given as confirmation puts an end to all dispute. In the same way, when God desired to show even more clearly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it by an oath, so that through two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible that God would prove false, we who have taken refuge might be strongly encouraged to seize the hope set before us. We have this hope, a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters the inner shrine behind the curtain, where Jesus, a forerunner on our behalf, has entered, having become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.
Sermon: “The Anchor Holds” – Jeff Mickle
Apostles’ Creed:
I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth; And in Jesus Christ his only son our Lord: who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; the third day he rose from the dead; he ascended into heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.
Prayers – Michelle Holmes-Chaney
Offering – Michelle Holmes-Chaney
Closing Hymn 462 – ’Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus:
V1. ‘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!
V2. 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
V3. 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
V4. I’m so glad I learned to trust thee,
precious Jesus, Savior, friend;
and I know that thou art with me,
wilt be with me to the end.
Refrain
Blessing and Sending Forth – Jeff Mickle