Family Drama Genesis 25:19-34 | Franklin United Church

Call to Worship – Heidelberg Catechism (Question 1)

What is your only comfort in life and death?

That I am not my own, but belong with body and soul, both in life and in death, to my faithful Saviour Jesus Christ. He has fully paid for all my sins with His precious blood, and has set me free from all the power of the devil. He also preserves me in such a way that without the will of my heavenly Father not a hair can fall from my head; indeed, all things must work together for my salvation. Therefore, by His Holy Spirit He also assures me of eternal life and makes me heartily willing and ready from now on to live for Him.

Invocation

O God, without whose beauty and goodness our souls are unfed, without whose truth our reason withers: Consecrate our lives to your will, giving us such purity of heart, such depth of faith, and such steadfastness of purpose, that in time we may come to think your own thoughts after you; through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.

The Book of Common Prayer – 75. For Holy Thought

How Can I Keep from Singing?

My life flows on in endless song; above earth’s lamentation,
I catch the sweet, though far-off hymn that hails a new creation.

No storm can shake my inmost calm while to that Rock I’m clinging.
Since Christ is Lord of heaven and earth, how can I keep from singing?
How can I keep from singing?

Through all the tumult and the strife, I hear that music ringing,
It finds an echo in my soul. How can I keep from singing?

No storm can shake my inmost calm while to that Rock I’m clinging.
Since Christ is Lord of heaven and earth, how can I keep from singing?
How can I keep from singing?

What though my joys and comfort die? The Lord my Savior liveth.
What though the darkness gather round? Songs in the night he giveth.

No storm can shake my inmost calm while to that Rock I’m clinging.
Since Christ is Lord of heaven and earth, how can I keep from singing?
How can I keep from singing?

The peace of Christ makes fresh my heart, a fountain ever springing!
All things are mine since I am his! How can I keep from singing?

No storm can shake my inmost calm while to that Rock I’m clinging.
Since Christ is Lord of heaven and earth, how can I keep from singing?
How can I keep from singing?

Robert Lowry (1826-1899)
Public Domain

Children’s Sermon

Prayer and Intercession

Almighty and everlasting God, you are always more ready to hear than we to pray, and to give more than we either desire or deserve: Pour down upon us the abundance of your mercy, forgiving us those things of which our conscience is afraid, and giving us those good things for which we are not worthy to ask, except through the merits of mediation of Jesus Christ our Savior; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Please take a few moments to pray for:

Donald Cooper
Fennessey Family
Mays Family
Chelsea Mends-Cole
Brady Adams
The Paradee Family
Kevin Fleming
Donna Waguespack
Healthcare workers
Other personal concerns

Scripture Reading – Genesis 25:19-34

Jacob and Esau

¹⁹This is the account of the family line of Abraham’s son Isaac.

Abraham became the father of Isaac, ²⁰and Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah daughter of Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan Aram^[c]and sister of Laban the Aramean.

²¹Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife, because she was childless.The Lord answered his prayer, and his wife Rebekah became pregnant.²²The babies jostled each other within her, and she said, “Why is this happening to me?” So she went to inquire of the Lord.

²³The Lord said to her,

“Two nations are in your womb,
and two peoples from within you will be separated;
one people will be stronger than the other,
and the older will serve the younger.”

²⁴When the time came for her to give birth, there were twin boys in her womb. ²⁵The first to come out was red, and his whole body was like a hairy garment; so they named him Esau.^[d] ²⁶After this, his brother came out, with his hand grasping Esau’s heel; so he was named Jacob.^[e] Isaac was sixty years old when Rebekah gave birth to them.

²⁷The boys grew up, and Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the open country, while Jacob was content to stay at home among the tents. ²⁸Isaac, who had a taste for wild game, loved Esau, but Rebekah loved Jacob.

²⁹Once when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau came in from the open country, famished. ³⁰He said to Jacob, “Quick, let me have some of that red stew! I’m famished!” (That is why he was also called Edom.^[f])

³¹Jacob replied, “First sell me your birthright.”

³²“Look, I am about to die,” Esau said. “What good is the birthright to me?”

³³But Jacob said, “Swear to me first.” So he swore an oath to him, selling his birthright to Jacob.

³⁴Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and some lentil stew. He ate and drank, and then got up and left.

So Esau despised his birthright.

Sermon: Family Drama – Rev. Jason R. McConnell

Amazing Grace (My Chains are Gone)

Amazing grace, How sweet the sound That saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost, but now I’m found, Was blind, but now I see.

‘Twas grace that taught my heart to fear, And grace my fears relieved.
How precious did that grace appear The hour I first believed.

My chains are gone, I’ve been set free. My God, my Savior has ransomed me,
And like a flood His mercy reigns, Unending love, Amazing grace.

The Lord has promised good to me; His word my hope secures.
He will my shield and portion be As long as life endures.

My chains are gone, I’ve been set free. My God, my Savior has ransomed me,
And like a flood His mercy reigns, Unending love, Amazing grace.

The earth shall soon dissolve like snow, The sun forbear to shine,
But God, Who called me here below Will be forever mine,
Will be forever mine. You are forever mine.