Sunday Worship – March 11, 2018

  • CONSIDERING LENT: 2018
    • Unlike the Christmas season with all its parties, running around, buying presents, baking cookies, and decorating, the season of Lent is a slower time, a time of reflection, self-examination, and commitment. The traditional forty days of Lent offer people a chance to focus on how to live a more Christian life.
    • Use these moments before the ringing of the bell to greet your neighbor and consider: How might you live a more Christian life?

 

  • The Way, Ann Weems (from “Kneeling in Jerusalem”)
    • O God, I’ve only just begun and already I feel I’ve lost my way. Surely this is not the road and surely these are not the ones to travel with me. This Lenten journey calls for holy retreat, for reflection and repentance.
    • Instead of holiness the highway is crammed with the cacophony of chaos. Is there no back road to Jerusalem? No quiet path where angels tend to weary travelers? No sanctuary from the noise of the world? Can this hectic highway be the highway to heaven?

PART 1: 

  • THE RINGING OF THE BELL
  • A LENTEN WELCOME – Rev. Joel Weible, Pastor
    • Pastor: We have each gone our own way. You have, and you have, and I have, too. From on high and down low and everywhere in between we have been called; we have been called together from out of our way into the way of love. But we do not answer.
    • People: We have each gone our own way. Christ have mercy.
  • PRELUDE:  “Chaconne in F minor” – Johann Pachelbel

PART 2: 

  • CALL TO WORSHIP – Sis Sleadd, elder
    • Leader: The Lord is our Shepherd, there is nothing we lack.
    • People: God guides us in proper paths.
    • Leader: God bathes our heads in oil and our cups are so full, they spill over.
    • People: God’s goodness and faithful love will pursue us all the days of our life.
    • ALL: LET US WORSHIP IN THE HOUSE OF THE LORD FOREVER!
  • OPENING HYMN NO. 282:  “If Thou but Trust in God to Guide Thee” – WER NUR DEN LEIBEN GOTT
  • CALL TO CONFESSION
    • Leader: We come before you, O God, in the shadow of the cross, grateful for your great love for us.
    • People: As you came to us in Jesus, reveal yourself among us still. Hear our prayer…
    • Merciful God, we confess the folly of our sin and the hypocrisy of our complaints. We grumble about the evils of our world, even as we commit injustices and profit through deceit. We fret about the scarcity of resources while hoarding earth’s goods and cheating the poor. We protest the problems of our world, but we do not actively work to address them. Expose our sins in the light of your grace. Heal us and free us from our foolish ways that we may know the joy of eternal life in Jesus Christ. In his name, hear our silent prayers of return … (a time of silence for personal confession)
  • KYRIE, Hymn No. 574
    • Lord, have mercy upon us.
      Christ, have mercy upon us.
      Lord, have mercy upon us.
  • ASSURANCE OF PARDON
    • Leader: Our hearts are washed anew in the healing waters of God’s love.
    • People: For the steadfast love of God endures forever …
    • Leader: Through the Holy Spirit, God nourishes us into life.
    • People: For the steadfast love of God endures forever …
    • ALL: WHAT WONDROUS LOVE IS THIS?
  • CONGREGATIONAL RESPONSE, HYMN NO. 85
    • What wondrous love is this, O my soul, O my soul,
      What wondrous love is this, O my soul!
      What wondrous love is this that caused the Lord of bliss
      To bear the heavy cross for my soul, for my soul,
      To bear the heavy cross for my soul!

PART 3: 

  • TIME WITH THE YOUNGER DISCIPLES – Rev. Joel Weible, Pastor

PART 4: 

  • MUSICAL OFFERING:  Richard Ray, soloist – “When You Prayed Beneath the Trees” – Lloyd Larson

PART 5:

 

  • SCRIPTURE LESSON:  Micah 6:1-8 (Page 866, OT, Pew Bible)
    • The Word of the Lord.
      Thanks be to God.
  • SERMON:  LIVING FULLY – Reverend Joel Weible, Pastor

PART 6: 

  • PROCLAMATION HYMN NO. 405:  “What Does the Lord Require” – SHARPTHORNE
  • AFFIRMATION OF FAITH – from THE IONA COMMUNITY
    • With the whole church … We affirm that we are made in God’s image, befriended by Christ, and empowered by the Spirit.  With people everywhere … We affirm God’s goodness at the heart of humanity, planted more deeply than all that is wrong.  With all creation … We affirm and celebrate the miracle and wonder of life and the unfolding purposes of God, forever at work in ourselves and the world.  Amen.

PART 7: 

  • TIME OF GIVING THANKS CELEBRATIONS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
  • PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE AND THE LORD’S PRAYER
    • Our Father who art in heaven,
      Hallowed be Thy name.
      Thy Kingdom come,
      Thy will be done,
      on earth as it is in heaven.
      Give us this day our daily bread:
      And forgive us our debts,
      As we forgive our debtors;
      And lead us not into temptation,
      But deliver us from evil.
      For Thine is the kingdom
      And the power and the glory, forever.
      Amen.

PART 8: 

  • OFFERTORY:  “I’ve Got Peace Like A River” – arr. by Charles Callahan
  • DOXOLOGY
  • PRAYER OF DEDICATION (unison)
    • God of all true power and glory, we thank you that once again we travel with Jesus toward Jerusalem, not with a sword to challenge the powers of this world, but with love to transform them. May these gifts be a sign of the offering of our whole selves in this season. Amen.

PART 9: 

  • CLOSING HYMN NO. 291:  “O God of Earth and Altar” – LLANGLOFFAN
  • CHARGE AND BENEDICTION – Reverend Joel Weible

PART 10: 

  • THE RINGING OF THE BELL
  • POSTLUDE:  “O Love, How Deep, How Broad, How High” – arr. by Paul Manz

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