Welcome Message
HELLO! WELCOME TO WPC
from WPC – Get Sermon
Westminster Presbyterian Church of Los Angeles invites you to experience Virtual Worship. Scroll the page to participate in Virtual Sunday Worship and join us on Sunday’s at noon for the Video Chat Coffee Hour on Zoom. See you soon.
Shhh, Virtual Worship is Starting
Opening Prayer:
Gentle God, you shepherd us in times of trouble. When the way seems dark, you guide us safely through. When we cannot bear to slow down, you show us the wisdom of Sabbath rest. In your presence there is life, overflowing, abundant and free.
As we rest in your goodness, teach us, O Lord, to see with your heart. Open our eyes to the world beyond our neighborhoods, and to your beloved children both near to us and far. Open our hearts to the blessed fierceness of your creation, which sustains us and yet is more powerful than we can imagine.
Anoint us with your spirit of blessing, that we might be as Christ to one another, in our welcome, compassion and care.
Amen.
Opening Praise:
“Rest” – Ken Burton
CHURCH NEWS & GIVING
Announcements:
~ NO COFFEE HOUR NOVEMBER 1st ~
FELLOWSHIP COFFEE HOUR via Zoom
Sunday at 12:00 p.m. / Noon
Fellowship with your Westminster Family. Let’s join one another for a check in and fellowship following the morning virtual worship service via zoom. Join the Zoom Coffee Hour Meetings – Let’s Chat! – CLICK HERE
Attention Westminster Family
~ DRIVE-IN COMMUNION SERVICE ~
Sunday, December 6th, 2020 at 10:00 a.m.
PLEASE ARRIVE 9:30-9:45 A.M.
On Sunday, December 6th we will be having a special drive-in Communion service in our parking lot. Please pay close attention to upcoming emails this week about instructions for the service. So hold the first Sunday date at 10am and join us in the WPC parking lot for our Westminster drive-in Communion service.
PREVIEW
DRIVE-IN COMMUNION SERVICE TODAY
~ Click Here ~
PRAYER MEETING:
Wednesdays at 5:30pm
Please join us for the via conference call.
Phone: (339) 209-4324 – (no code is needed)
NOTE: This is the New Phone# as of Aug 18th
BIBLE STUDY
Wednesday at 1:00 p.m.
As of Wednesday, September 9th, we will meet for our Bible Study at 1pm as to not conflict with the food giveaway ministry. Join Pastor Rhoden for our weekly zoom virtual Bible Study. – CLICK HERE
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BIBLE STUDY & PRAYER:
Wednesdays at 12 Noon
Interaction Based discussions/Scripture Translation will continue until the end of the summer. – GET DETAILS!
*** FOOD GIVE AWAY ***
Thursdays at 11:00 a.m.
We know that times are tough. Thanks to our partnership with Immanuel Presbyterian Church, we’re giving away FREE FOOD to the community. Come and get your free box of food in the parking lot of Westminster Presbyterian Church of Los Angeles on Thursdays.
LEARN MORE ~ Click Here
*** SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENTS ***
MARK YOUR CALENDAR FOR UPCOMING EVENTS
DECEMBER 6th – 11:15 a.m.
Congregational Meeting will take place on December 6th directly after our Drive-In Sunday Worship.
Prayer
Prayers of the People:
Lord God, we give you thanks for all your gifts to us — for daily food, for health, for each breath we take, for freedom to choose, and for the gifts of your word, your power and your love. Our hearts are truly overwhelmed, O God, when we consider how you have entrusted so much to us. May we be worthy of that trust. May we be a people who are unafraid to live as fully and as richly as you want us to live.
Help us, O God, as followers of Jesus, to multiply all that you have given us, to risk spreading your word and perhaps see it misunderstood, to gamble by loving those whom others think worthy only of hate, to take chances by doing good to those who have not done good to us. Help us be faith-filled and desire to increase your glory and your goodness in this world. Make us people who share in both word and deed that which you have given to us.
We pray for the church gathered today, both here and around the world, that it may encourage all of its members to discover, develop and use all their gifts, those of nature and those of grace.
We pray for those who are poor in body or in spirit, for those oppressed and heavy laden, for those sick or in despair, especially [names here]. Minister by your Spirit and by us, to all those for whom we have prayed, and help us walk faithfully in the path of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Amen!
Opening Praise:
“Oh Happy Day” – Anthony Brown and the FBCG Combined Choir
Prayer for the Offering:
Wonder-working God, use all of who we are, and all of what we have, to uproot what is unjust, and plant what is loving. Through our gifts, speak your gospel to people we may never meet. May all come to hear your call to prophetic living.
Amen.
Tithes and offerings:
SERMON MESSAGE
Sermonic Songs:
“Use Me” – the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir
Sermon:
“We Over ME!”
~ 1 Thessalonians 2:9-13 ~
By Pastor Carlton Rhoden
SCRIPTURE READING
SERMON by Pastor Carlton Rhoden
Did you miss any of the Virtual Worship today? If so, Click Here and start from the top.
And we’d love to here your thoughts. Leave a comment below for our moderator to approve.
HOLY COMMUNION
Call to Reconciliation:
We are good at rules: making them and then breaking them. Paul reminds us that, when we gain Christ Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we receive exactly what we need – forgiveness, grace, hope. Let us confess our sins to God, that we might know God’s healing love for us!
Prayer of Confession:
If we were to name all the gods we have before you, Rock of Redemption, we would be here a very long time. We elevate politicians into saviors, though they are as broken as we are. We misuse your name so much during the day, we have trouble speaking to you in prayer at night. We are so busy, we do not notice how creation witnesses to your goodness and grace.
Forgive us, God our Hope. Help us to let go of what we value most, so we may open our emptiness, our hearts, our lives to the healing and loving presence of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.
Assurance of Pardon:
Persistently, patiently, lovingly, God pours out grace and joy into our lives,
healing our brokenness, forgiving our sin.
Loved, we are sent to love;
forgiven, we are freed to forgive;
graced, we can offer our gifts to everyone we meet.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
Communion Song:
“Nothing But The Blood” – David Wesley’s Virtual Choir
Communion:
Communion with Westminster Presbyterian Church of Los Angeles
CLOSING SONG
“Abide with Me” – the Nathaniel Dett Chorale
Closing Prayer:
We are called to be witnesses to God’s glory. God urges us, encourages us, pleads with us to take this call seriously — to live a life worthy of God. Jesus is our Model and Ideal, and also our Savior and Hope. When we fall short, it is the Spirit who supplies all our needs. Go from this place, committed to be witnesses to God, disciples of Christ and a community of the Spirit, through the power of the triune God.
We hope you enjoyed Virtual Sunday Worship.
ADD YOUR COMMENTS BELOW, SHARE THE WORSHIP,
& JOIN US FOR COFFEE HOUR on ZOOM at NOON on SUNDAYS.
MEET PASTOR RHODEN
Rev. Carlton A. Rhoden
Westminster Presbyterian Church / Los Angeles
Rev. Carlton A. Rhoden became the Pastor/Head of Staff of the Westminster Presbyterian Church in April, of 2014. Rev. Rhoden comes with a wealth of experience, having formerly served as Senior Minister of the First Baptist of Los Angeles from 2006 until 2013. Rev. Rhoden earned a Masters of Divinity from the American Baptist Seminary of the West in Berkeley California in 2005. Upon graduation Rev. Rhoden was awarded “The J. Alfred Smith Sr. Award for Outstanding Ministry in the Black Church”. He is also a graduate of the Harvard Divinity School Summer Leadership Program class of 2005. Rev. Rhoden received a Bachelor of Science in Social Work with a minor in African American Studies from the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey in 1999. While at Stockton, Rev. Rhoden was a member of the Men’s Basketball team, a member of Student Government, and pledged Iota Phi Theta Fraternity, Inc.
He is also active in community organization, most recently with Oakland Community Organizations. He is nationally recognized for his expertise in this field and has provided advice and consulting for community organization groups from coast to coast.
Carlton is married to Nikki Thomas-Rhoden. Nikki holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology and a Master’s Degree in Public Administration. They have two children, CJ and Maya. Nikki is a Social Worker who has a great concern for children in need. She is a graduate of Richard Stockton College of N.J. (B.A.), and a Master’s of Public Administration from Cal State Hayward. She is currently employed at Penny Lane Centers as a Site Director of Wrap Around. She is devoted to her family and the ministry of Westminster Presbyterian Church Los Angeles. Most importantly she is the best wife and mother a man and his children (Maya and C.J.) can have.
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