Welcome and Announcements

Prelude             I Worship You, Almighty God           arr. Carol Tornquist

Call to Worship   
One: As the deer longs for flowing streams,
All: So my soul longs for you, oh God.
One: My soul thirsts for God,
All: For the living God.
One: When shall I come and behold the face of God?
All: My tears have been my food day and night,
One: While people say to me continually, “Where is your God?”
All: I say to God, my rock, “Why have you forgotten me?”
One: Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
All: My help and my God.

**Hymn               #353 My Hope Is Built on Nothing Less

** Affirmation of Faith
In life and death we belong to God.
We trust in Jesus Christ, fully human, fully God.
We trust in God, whom Jesus called Abba, Father.
In sovereign love God created the world good and
makes everyone equally in God’s image, male and female,
of every race and people, to live in one community.
We trust in God the Holy Spirit,
everywhere the giver and renewer of life.
With believers in every time and place,
we rejoice that nothing in life or in death can separate us
from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Time with Young Disciples

Scripture                     Psalm 27:7-14 and Romans 5:1-5
Hear, O LORD, when I cry aloud, be gracious to me and answer me! Come, my heart says, "seek his face!" Your face, LORD, do I seek.  Do not hide your face from me. Do not turn your servant away in anger, you who have been my help. Do not cast me off, do not forsake me, O God of my salvation!  If my father and mother forsake me, the LORD will take me up. Teach me your way, O LORD, and lead me on a level path because of my enemies.  Do not give me up to the will of my adversaries, for false witnesses have risen against me, and they are breathing out violence.  I believe that I shall see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. Wait for the LORD; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the LORD! -- Psalm 27:7-14

Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God.  And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us. – Romans 5:1-5

Message                        “Why does God let us suffer?”

Prayers of the People with the Lord’s Prayer

**Hymn #819 Be Still, My Soul

**Benediction

**Choral Blessing  Irish Blessing
May the road rise to meet you,
May the wind blow at your back,
May the sun shine warmly on your face,
May the rain fall softly on your field,
And, until we meet again, Until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of God’s hand.
 
Postlude

**congregation standing in body or spirit