The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it
The earth and all who live in it
Come now and receive blessing from the Lord
And vindication from our God

chorus:

Lift up your heads (lift up your heads)
You mighty gates (you mighty gates)
Be lifted up (be lifted up)
You ancient doors (you ancient doors)
That the King of glory may come in

Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord?
Who may stand in his holy place?
The one whose hands are clean
The one whose heart is pure
The one who does not in an idol trust

chorus

The Lord is gracious and compassionate,
slow to anger and rich in love.
The Lord is good to all;
he has compassion on all he has made.

All your works praise you, Lord;
your faithful people extol you.
They tell of the glory of your kingdom

and speak of your might,
so that all people may know of your mighty acts

and the glorious splendor of your kingdom.

Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,
and your dominion endures through all generations.
The Lord is trustworthy in all he promises
and faithful in all he does.
The Lord upholds all who fall

and lifts up all who are bowed down. (Psalm 145:8-14)

All creatures of our God and King,
lift up your voice and with us sing
Oh praise him, alleluia!
Thou burning sun with golden beam,
thou silver moon with softer gleam,
O praise him, O praise him,
alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!

Thou rushing wind that art so strong,
ye clouds that sail in heav'n along,
O praise him, alleluia!
Thou rising morn, in praise rejoice,
ye lights of evening, find a voice,
O praise him, O praise him,
alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!

Let all things their Creator bless,
and worship him in humbleness,
O praise him, alleluia!
Praise, praise the Father, praise the Son,
and praise the Spirit, three in one,
O praise him, O praise him,
alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!

4 Show me your ways, Lord,
teach me your paths.
5 Guide me in your truth and teach me,
for you are God my Savior,
and my hope is in you all day long.
6 Remember, Lord, your great mercy and love,
for they are from of old.
7 Do not remember the sins of my youth
and my rebellious ways;
according to your love remember me,
for you, Lord, are good.
8 Good and upright is the Lord;
therefore he instructs sinners in his ways.
9 He guides the humble in what is right
and teaches them his way.
10 All the ways of the Lord are loving and faithful
toward those who keep the demands of his covenant.
11 For the sake of your name, Lord,
forgive my iniquity, though it is great.

16 Turn to me and be gracious to me,
for I am lonely and afflicted.
17 Relieve the troubles of my heart
and free me from my anguish.

The word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

In the freedom the gospel provides, we are able to confess that we do not give the Lord the praise he is worthy of. So often, our meditations are on many things other than God.

The psalmist leads us into prayer:

I will sing to the Lord as long as I live;
I will sing praise to my God while I have being.
May my meditation be pleasing to him,
for I rejoice in the Lord. (Psalm 104:33-34)

We serve a God of limitless power and might. Yet, in all of his power he looks on us with mercy, and draws us into his family, because of what Jesus Christ has done.

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ— by grace you have been saved. (Ephesians 2:4-5)

Together, we remember the hope of the gospel: In Christ, we are forgiven. Amen.

This is my Father's world and to my listening ears
All nature sings and round me rings the music of the spheres
This is my Father's world, I rest me in the thought
Of rocks and trees, of skies and seas
His hands the wonders wrought

This is my Father's world, the birds their carols raise
The morning light, the lily white declare their Maker's praise
This is my Father's world, He shines in all that's fair
In the rustling grass I hear him pass, He speaks to me everywhere

This is my Father's world, Oh, let me ne'er forget
That though the wrong seems oft so strong, God is the Ruler yet
This is my Father's world, the battle is not done
Jesus, who died, shall be satisfied and earth and heav’n be one

For centuries the church have used creeds, catechisms, and prayers to articulate and better understand their shared faith. The Nicene Creed, adopted in the 3rd century, is the most universally affirmed creed among Christian churches.

Christian, what do you believe?

I believe in one God,
the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible.

And in one Lord Jesus Christ,
the only Son of God,
begotten from the Father before all ages,
God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God,
begotten, not made; of the same essence as the Father.
Through him all things were made.

For us and for our salvation,
he came down from heaven;
he became incarnate by the Holy Spirit and the virgin Mary,
and was made human.

He was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate; he suffered and was buried.
The third day he rose again, according to the Scriptures.
He ascended to heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again with glory to judge the living and the dead.
His kingdom will never end.

And we believe in the Holy Spirit,
the Lord, the giver of life.
He proceeds from the Father and the Son,
and with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified.
He spoke through the prophets.

We believe in one holy catholic* and apostolic church.
We affirm one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
We look forward to the resurrection of the dead,
and to life in the world to come. Amen.

* ‘catholic’ refers to the true Christian church at all times and in all places.

Father God,

“We praise you, the Lord sits enthroned forever;
he has established his throne for justice,
and he judges the world with righteousness;
he judges the peoples with uprightness.”

Father, we sit in the tension and challenge of a national holiday celebrating independence, when this independence has not been righteous, nor for all people.

We pray, because we know not how… we pray:

“The Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed,
a stronghold in times of trouble.
And those who know your name put their trust in you,
for you, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you.”

We pray for the communities, our neighbors, our brothers and sisters who have experienced oppression since the very founding of this country:

The killing of and stolen land of indigenous peoples

The enslavement of African peoples

⅗ of a person

40 acres and a mule
The lynching of thousands of African Americans
The Chinese massacre of 1871
The Porvenir massacre of 1918
Japanese American Concentration Camps
Jim Crow
Red Lining
The mass incarceration of Black men
The oppression and racialization of all non-white Americans

We pray for the Church complicit and the Church silent: give us the eyes and hearts to see how shalom is not present in our country for all.

We pray:

“The nations have sunk in the pit that they made;
in the net that they hid, their own foot has been caught.
The Lord has made himself known; he has executed judgment;
the wicked are snared in the work of their own hands.”

May the church not be snared but be the light of servant humility, which is only possible through Jesus’ life and death. We pray that we may see and continue to walk toward the path of racial equity. This weekend, may we wrestle with the generational trauma of what this independence has cost. May the church truly be the hands and feet of Christ, and may we enter into the lives of peoples widowed and orphaned. May we truly seek shalom.

For the needy shall not always be forgotten,
and the hope of the poor shall not perish forever.
Arise, O Lord! Let not man prevail;
let the nations be judged before you!
Put them in fear, O Lord!
Let the nations know that they are but men!

Amen.

(Adapted from Psalm 9)

Blessing and honor and glory and power belong to the one sitting on the throne
and to the Lamb, forever and ever.

Go in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen. (Revelation 5:13)

Let us go forth and serve our world as those who love our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Thanks be to God!