Equal Exchange

 Equal Exchange -- In the Narthex on November 10th & PW Boutique

Equal Exchange’s extra virgin olive oil is made from organic Nabali olives, an indigenous Palestinian variety that produces one of the highest quality oils in the world. Cold-pressed with a rich, peppery flavor, this olive oil can be used for cooking, baking, and dipping.

St. Mark supports this mission to build long-term trade partnerships that are economically just, environmentally sustainable, and to foster mutually beneficial relationships between small farmers and consumers (that’s us!).

Cash, Credit, Debit, Digital Wallet Payments Accepted

Worship Prayers

 

 

CENTERING PRAYER

 

Dear LORD, you are our only hope. Teach us to put our trust in you. God, you are our help. Teach us the path of righteousness and turn us from the ways of the wicked, for we know you love those who do justice. We will forever praise you for the glory of your righteous reign, now and forever. Amen.

 

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“Almighty God, as people go to the polls this day we pray first and foremost for peace. May the sense of community and connection be greater than any division or difference, no matter how entrenched. Knowing we will vote in schools, churches, synagogues, and other communal gathering places, may our commitment to care for one another grow as we stand in lines, talk to our neighbors and recognize we have more in common than we often realize. May we show one another kindness and respect, today and in the days to come.

We thank you for the freedom to vote our conscience, of which you alone are Lord. After this election, we are keenly aware that even if the political rhetoric fades the acrimony it highlighted will remain. Grant us the courage to step into the breaches and not shrink back into our enclaves of homogeneity. Send your Spirit to drive us to the places where you are already working to bring reconciliation. Remind us relentlessly that you are greater than every category we devise, more powerful than any estrangement we have created, eternal, ever present and always calling forth justice, peace and abundant life. Show us today and everyday how to live in the love of Jesus Christ, the perfect love that casts out fear. Amen.” – Rev. Dr. Jill Duffield

 

CALL TO WORSHIP (Psalm 146)

 

Praise the LORD! Praise the LORD, O my soul!

I will praise the LORD as long as I live;

I will sing praise to my God all my life long.

Do not put your trust in princes,

in mortals, in whom there is no help.

Happy are those whose hope is in the LORD their God.

The LORD sets the prisoners free;

The LORD opens the eyes of the blind.

The LORD watches over the strangers

and upholds the orphan and the widow,

but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.

The Lord reigns forever. Praise the LORD!

 

 

PRAYER OF CONFESSION

 

O God, you are ever-faithful, yet we do not love you with our whole hearts. You show us how to love our fellow human beings, yet we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. Turn us back to you, O God, that we may follow your commandments; through Christ our LORD. (Silent Confession)

 

 

AFFIRMATION OF FAITH – WCF SC Q1

 

 

OFFERING

 

Invitation to the Offering

 

Our God is ever-faithful and provides everything we need. Let us praise the LORD through our giving that our offerings may be acceptable to God.

 

Prayer after Offering

 

Let us pray… Dear God, we offer you these gifts hoping to build up the work of your kingdom. Make us living witnesses to the way of your righteous reign. Strengthened by your many blessings may we continue to move onward in faith for the glory of your son, Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray.

Scripture for November 3

 Ruth 1:1-18

Naomi Loses Her Husband and Sons

1 In the days when the judges ruled,[a] there was a famine in the land. So a man from Bethlehem in Judah, together with his wife and two sons, went to live for a while in the country of Moab. 2 The man’s name was Elimelek, his wife’s name was Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Kilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem, Judah. And they went to Moab and lived there.

3 Now Elimelek, Naomi’s husband, died, and she was left with her two sons. 4 They married Moabite women, one named Orpah and the other Ruth. After they had lived there about ten years, 5 both Mahlon and Kilion also died, and Naomi was left without her two sons and her husband.

Naomi and Ruth Return to Bethlehem

6 When Naomi heard in Moab that the Lord had come to the aid of his people by providing food for them, she and her daughters-in-law prepared to return home from there. 7 With her two daughters-in-law she left the place where she had been living and set out on the road that would take them back to the land of Judah.

8 Then Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go back, each of you, to your mother’s home. May the Lord show you kindness, as you have shown kindness to your dead husbands and to me. 9 May the Lord grant that each of you will find rest in the home of another husband.”

Then she kissed them goodbye and they wept aloud 10 and said to her, “We will go back with you to your people.”

11 But Naomi said, “Return home, my daughters. Why would you come with me? Am I going to have any more sons, who could become your husbands? 12 Return home, my daughters; I am too old to have another husband. Even if I thought there was still hope for me—even if I had a husband tonight and then gave birth to sons— 13 would you wait until they grew up? Would you remain unmarried for them? No, my daughters. It is more bitter for me than for you, because the Lord’s hand has turned against me!”

14 At this they wept aloud again. Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law goodbye, but Ruth clung to her.

15 “Look,” said Naomi, “your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods. Go back with her.”

16 But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. 17 Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.” 18 When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her.

Read full chapter

Naomi entreating Ruth and Orpah to return to the land of Moab by William Blake, 1795

Daily Prayer November 1

"My word shall accomplish that which I purpose," says the Lord, "and succeed in the thing for which I sent it."

Daily Readings for Friday, November 1, 2024

• Morning Psalms 84; 148
• First Reading Nahum 2:13-3:7
• Second Reading Revelation 13:1-10
• Gospel Reading Luke 12:13-31
• Evening Psalms 25; 40

Eternal God, as we are baptized into the death of Jesus Christ, so give us the grace of repentance that we may pass through the grave with him and be born again to eternal life, for he is the One who was crucified, dead, and buried, and rose again for us, Jesus our Savior. Eternal God, you sent us a Savior, Christ Jesus, to break down the walls of hostility that divide us. Send peace on earth, and put down greed, pride, and anger, which turn nation against nation and race against race. Speed the day when wars will end and the whole world accepts your rule. God of mercy, you are full of tenderness and compassion, slow to anger, rich in mercy, and always ready to forgive. Grant us grace to renounce all evil and to cling to Christ, that in every way we may prove to be your loving children. (Add your prayers.) Amen.

Go in peace to love and serve the Lord, rejoicing in the power of the Holy Spirit.

(Opening sentences, prayers, and blessings are from the Book of Common Worship. Readings are from the daily lectionary in Daily Prayer. Both are published by Westminster/John Knox Press.)