Worship Service
February 14, 2021
We are RECEIVED as the Beloved of God
Worship content begins 15 minutes into the recordings.
OPENING SONG – Heart of Worship
WELCOME
OPENING PRAYER
Thank you, God, for your blessings and divine love.
As we prepare for this season of Lent, for Ash Wednesday, we are reminded our mortality, and we pray for reconciliation with God. We remember that Lent is not a time of sorrow, but a season of spiritual preparation, preparation not for Jesus’ death, but for his future and holy return.
I pray for those with us today, and for those who will hear these words another time. I pray for our neighbors, our friends and our families. I pray for those in pain, in hunger or ill, homeless or economically challenged, that they may find relief in the near term as we work to make for a more generous people to surround them and help them. I pray they’ll find long term relief as I especially pray for those working to address and solve the root cause issues underlying their pain, for those engaged in social and economic just ministries.
I pray that our country will heal and find peace and joy in the bounties that surround us. I pray that our world will heal, and also find peace and joy, as we find ways to share the bounties of the world with those whose local resources are stretched to thin or even non-existent.
On this Valentine’s Day, I wish Peace, Joy, Happiness, Love and Blessings for all of you.
Amen.
SONG – It Is Well with My Soul – UM Hymnal # 377
CHILDREN’S TIME
SONG – Strength for the Journey
We are TRANSFORMED by the Word of Jesus Christ
NUMBERS 13:25-14:9
25 At the end of forty days they returned from exploring the land. 26 They came back to Moses and Aaron and the whole Israelite community at Kadesh in the Desert of Paran. There they reported to them and to the whole assembly and showed them the fruit of the land. 27 They gave Moses this account: “We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey! Here is its fruit. 28 But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large. We even saw descendants of Anak there. 29 The Amalekites live in the Negev; the Hittites, Jebusites and Amorites live in the hill country; and the Canaanites live near the sea and along the Jordan.” 30 Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.” 31 But the men who had gone up with him said, “We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.” 32 And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, “The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. 33 We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.”
14 1 That night all the people of the community raised their voices and wept aloud. 2 All the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron, and the whole assembly said to them, “If only we had died in Egypt! Or in this desert! 3 Why is the LORD bringing us to this land only to let us fall by the sword? Our wives and children will be taken as plunder. Wouldn’t it be better for us to go back to Egypt?” 4 And they said to each other, “We should choose a leader and go back to Egypt.” 5 Then Moses and Aaron fell facedown in front of the whole Israelite assembly gathered there. 6 Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had explored the land, tore their clothes 7 and said to the entire Israelite assembly, “The land we passed through and explored is exceedingly good. 8 If the LORD is pleased with us, he will lead us into that land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and will give it to us. 9 Only do not rebel against the LORD. And do not be afraid of the people of the land, because we will swallow them up. Their protection is gone, but the LORD is with us. Do not be afraid of them.”
2 CORINTHIANS 12:9-10
9 But the Lord said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
GOOD NEWS – Self-Esteem or God-Esteem?
SONG – Because He Lives – UM Hymnal # 364
RESPONSE TO GOD’S GRACE (OFFERING)
Pastor: God wants our love more than God wants our offerings; God cares about our hearts not the amounts of our offerings. (Hosea 6:6).
All: As we count all the blessings God has already given to us, we cheerfully give our offerings to God, the Provider, with grateful hearts. Amen! (2 Corinthians 9:7).
PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE
THE LORD’S PRAYER
SHARING THE PEACE OF CHRIST
We are SENT in the Power of the Holy Spirit
ANNOUNCEMENTS
BLESSING AND SENDING
May the grace and peace of Christ be with you, my friends.
Go and share the love of God, love that never ends.
CLOSING SONG – Channel of Your Peace (black hymnal #2171)