September 10, 2023
WORDS OF GREETING AND NomoFomo
Pastor Amanda Miller Garber
If you have children, check out our new “KidZone” - a supervised area within our worship space where kids can be kids - play with toys or games, draw and color, etc - and still be with the community for worship. Parents can choose to stay close and worship alongside their kids or sit more distantly and let our staff and volunteers give them their energy and attention for a time.
Shenandoah Valley Pride Festival will be held this Saturday, September 16, 1-5 pm, at Harrisonburg Court Square. Come out and enjoy the fun! RISE will again have a table, and we would love for you to help - if interested, contact Alexis (riseharrisonburg@gmail.com) and/or choose a timeslot on the sign-up by clicking HERE.
RISE Together at the Hburg Summer Concert Series - Next Wednesday, September 20, 6-8 pm at Turner Pavilion
Join with RISE friends for a great night of free music, conveniently playing right across the street from our Ice House Homebase, featuring J & The Causeways, a soul/R&B band “that finds itself mentioned in the same breath as the likes of St. Paul & The Broken Bones, Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats, and The Marcus King Band — all modern-day entities of passion and purpose, each summoning the pulsating, endless energy of soul/R&B music.”Have a musical talent? Wanna just shake a box of cereal or hit a tambourine? Join the music team!! Will is looking for folks to help grow our music ministry. Talk to him after service today or find any RISE leader and let them know and we will get you connected.
We are always looking for persons willing to volunteer to assist and support our worship gatherings. If you’d be willing to help with set up/clean up, offering rides, providing a light breakfast, participating in the service, helping with music or the arts, etc, etc please let us know by filling out this short form: Worship Support Team Response.
If you would like to connect more deeply with RISE, you can start by submitting this short form to Get Connected!
Sign up for texting services:
Text “RISE” to 833-803-0868 to join the primary list and receive weekly community updates and alerts
Text “RISEcares” to receive prayer requests, care needs, and community concerns and celebrations
Please continue to check social media (Facebook & Instagram) and our website for all updates and information!
Requests for care and/or prayer can be sent via e-mail to cares@riseharrisonburg.org, texted to 833-803-0868, or submitted online via our RISE Cares form.
WELCOMING STATEMENT
RISE believes that God has open arms, and so should we. Our Creator wants us to love, accept and affirm every human being, including persons of every age, race, ethnic background, nationality, gender identity, sexual orientation, family or socioeconomic status, educational background, religion or creed, and physical or mental ability. We celebrate our diversity and recognize the sacred worth and dignity of all. Everyone is invited and encouraged to join us as we seek to follow Jesus with mutual respect, understanding, and love.
*Read more about “Why Pronouns Matter” HERE.
SONGS
Will Stutzman
“Rain Down”
CHORUS:
Rain down, rain down
rain down your love on your people
rain down, rain down,
rain down your love, God of life.
Faithful and true is the word of our god
All of God’s work are so worthy of trust.
God’s mercy falls on the just and the right;
Full of God’s love is the earth.
We who revere and find hope in our God
Live in the kindness and joy of God’s wing.
God will protect us from darkness and death;
God will not leave us to starve.
God of creation, we long for your truth
you are the water of life that we thirst.
Grant that your love and your peace touch
our hearts, all of our hope lies in you.
“Lord I Need You”
Lord I come I confess
Bowing here I find my rest
And without You I fall apart
You're the one that guides my heart
CHORUS:
Lord I need You oh I need You
Ev'ry hour I need You
My one defense my righteousness
Oh God how I need You
Where sin runs deep Your grace is more
Where grace is found is where You are
And where You are Lord I am free
Holiness is Christ in me
So teach my song to rise to You
When temptation comes my way
And when I cannot stand I'll fall on You
Jesus You're my hope and stay
Opening Prayer
Abby Dotson
Scripture Reading
Genesis 2: 4b-8; 15-25
On the day the Lord God made earth and sky—5 before any wild plants appeared on the earth, and before any field crops grew, because the Lord God hadn’t yet sent rain on the earth and there was still no human being to farm the fertile land, 6 though a stream rose from the earth and watered all of the fertile land— 7 the Lord God formed the human from the topsoil of the fertile land and blew life’s breath into his nostrils. The human came to life. 8 The LordGod planted a garden in Eden in the east and put there the human he had formed.
15 The Lord God took the human and settled him in the garden of Eden to farm it and to take care of it. 16 The Lord God commanded the human, “Eat your fill from all of the garden’s trees; 17 but don’t eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, because on the day you eat from it, you will die!” 18 Then the LordGod said, “It’s not good that the human is alone. I will make him a helper that is perfect for him.”19 So the Lord God formed from the fertile land all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky and brought them to the human to see what he would name them. The human gave each living being its name. 20 The human named all the livestock, all the birds in the sky, and all the wild animals. But a helper perfect for him was nowhere to be found.
21 So the Lord God put the human into a deep and heavy sleep, and took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh over it. 22 With the rib taken from the human, the Lord God fashioned a woman and brought her to the human being.23 The human said,
“This one finally is bone from my bones
and flesh from my flesh.
She will be called a woman/wife (ishshah = wife)
because from a man/husband (ish = husband) she was taken.”24 This is the reason that a man leaves his father and mother and embraces his wife, and they become one flesh. 25 The two of them were naked, the man and his wife, but they weren’t embarrassed.
Theological Exploration
“Who Is Your You?”
Adam King
“The Work of the People”
Table Discussions and FACEBOOK Live Chat Discussion Questions
Who is your “you”? What makes them your you?
Share about a time when you struggled to know who your “you” was. What was most difficult during that time?
Why do you think God made humans to need “a helpmate” or a “You”?
COMMUNION
Pastor Amanda Miller Garber
Servers: The Harbick Family
SONG DURING COMMUNION
Will Stutzman
“Crowded Table”
You can hold my hand, when you need to let go
I can be your mountain, when you’re feeling valley low
I can be your streetlight, showing you the way home
If you can hold my hand, when you need to let go
CHORUS:
I want a house with a crowded table
And a place by the fire for everyone
Let us take on the world while we’re young and able
And bring us back together when the day is done
If we want a garden, we’re gonna have to sow the seeds
Plant a little happiness, let the roots run deep
If it’s love that we give, then it’s love that we reap
If we want a garden, we’re gonna have to sow the seed
The door is always open
Your picture’s on my wall
Everyone’s a little broken
And everyone belongs
Yeah, Everyone belongs
Offering
Alexis Owens
Closing SONG
Will Stutzman
“For We Are Strangers No More”
CHORUS:
For we are
Strangers no more, but members of one family;
Strangers no more, but part of one humanity;
Strangers no more, we’re neighbors to each other now;
Strangers no more, we’re bound to one another now.
Come walk with me, we’ll worship God together,
As we join song to song, and prayer to prayer.
Come, take my hand, and we will work together
by lifting all the burdens we can share.
Where diff’ring cultures meet, we’ll serve together.
Where hatred rages, we will strive for peace.
Come, take my hand, and we will pray together
That justice come, and strife and warfare cease.
FINAL BLESSING
Adam King
The Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you;
the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.