VERDUGO COMMUNITY CHURCH WORSHIP SERVICE JANUARY 21, 2024

We begin our service with song. Pastor Gail Linstrom opens the service by welcoming all to worship and to participate in the life of our church family, and Linda Kozik calls us to worship with a reading from Psalm 118. Luisa Fernandez opens us in prayer. Nick Baltazar and Ed Manacop lead us in our praise singing. Albert Ramseyer takes up the praises and concerns of the church and our world in the Prayers of the People.

 

In her sermon, “Baptism – a Practice as Old as Time,” Pastor Gail looks at the background and meaning of Jesus’s baptism as found in Mark 1 and Matthew 3 by looking at the deep roots of this practice in the Old Testament. From the earliest days of Exodus God required that men and women immerse themselves in living water before coming before him to worship, or, to signify a change in their lives: One goes down into the water by one set of steps and comes up, renewed, by another. It is easy to miss the connection with baptism because is a Greek word without a Hebrew equivalent. Thus when John was reluctant to baptize Jesus for the repentance of sins, Jesus reminded him that it was a requirement in the Law for other reasons. When Jesus was baptized, he saw the heavens open and his Father affirming him and saying he was well pleased with him. When we acknowledge the baptism of the holy spirit by changing our lives, we are likewise opening ourselves to God’s love and affirmation.

 

Pastor Gail then leads us in the sacrament of communion, and you are invited to participate as well.

 

Verdugo makes its Sunday sermons available to you on Facebook and posts audio copies of the service and sermon at https://verdugochurch.podbean.com.

 

Prayers of the People have been edited to respect the privacy and confidentiality of those participating or mentioned. All CCLI songs are performed under Verdugo Community Church’s CCLI license # 2486815.

 

Verdugo Community Church is a Free Methodist congregation serving the Glassell Park, Eagle Rock, and Glendale areas in Los Angeles. It is located at 4300 Verdugo Road, Los Angeles, CA 90065. Our email address is verdugofmc@gmail.com. Contact Pastor Gail at (323) 500-3343.

 

Worship service copyright 2024 by Verdugo Community Church. Sermon copyright 2024 by Gail Whitcome Linstrom and Verdugo Community Church.