The Celebration of the Gospel
Fifth Sunday in Lent
March 22, 2015
8:15 – 9:00 am
10:30 – 11:45 am
Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies,
it remains just a single grain,
but if it dies, it bears much fruit.
— John 12.24
_______ We Gather as The Body of Christ_______
GREETING
PRELUDE Let Us Break Bread Together traditional, arr. Mark Hayes
[As we listen to the music we quiet our minds and bodies,
listen for our hearts’ deepest desires,
and become present to the Holy One who is lovingly present for us.]
* CALL TO WORSHIP
Leader: Holy God, you are the soil of heaven.
All: We are your seeds of life. We fall into you. We are buried in you, and we live.
Holy God, you sow us in the soil of the world.
We are your seeds of love. We let go of ourselves, and we bear fruit.
May your Spirit live in us, your Christ blossom in us, your love bear fruit in us. Amen.
* SONG Take Up Thy Cross Blue hymnal #415 vv. 1, 2, 4
(10:30) CHILDREN’S TIME
__________ We Attend to the Word____________
PRAYER OF CONFESSION
Pastor: The grace of God be with you.
Congregation: And also with you.
Trusting in God’s tender mercy, let us come before God in all honesty with one another.
RESPONSE Jesus, Remember Me Blue hymnal # 488
O Lord, you desire truth in the inward being;
teach us to see ourselves clearly.
Your mercy is abundant, O Lord;
wash us clean of our sin.
Create in us a clean heart, O God,
and put a new and right spirit within us.
SILENT PRAYER … THE WORD OF GRACE
RESPONSE Jesus, Remember Me
PASSING THE PEACE
PRAYER OF THE DAY
Holy One, speak your Word to us, and write your love on our hearts.
Holy One, speak your truth to us, and write your love on our hearts.
Holy One, speak your grace to us, and write your love on our hearts. Amen.
OLD TESTAMENT Jeremiah 31.31-34
[God promises to forgive us and to write a new Covenant, not on tablets, but on our hearts, not as something we “ought” to do, but as a part of who we are.]
The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt—a covenant that they broke, though I was their spouse, says the Lord. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, “Know the Lord,” for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.
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PSALTER Psalm 51, paraphrased by Steve Garnaas-Holmes
[ We pray for forgiveness and a new heart.]
Be gentle with me, O God,
hold me in your constant love.
With your abundant mercy
free me from my sins.
Wash away the grime
that covers your image in me.
I know I don’t live the life you give me;
you know the difference.
My love is not perfect;
this you see.
But you lead me to live in harmony
with my inner truth,
to be transparent
to your presence within me.
Purge me with your love,
that I may be pure love.
Fill me,
that I may be pure light.
Deep within me, in your light,
I discover joy,
gratitude even for bones broken
to be reset.
When you look at me you don’t see sins;
you see love.
Create me all over again, O God;
breathe your life-giving breath in me.
Hold me close
and give me your loving spirit.
You are the joy that sustains me;
you give me my willing heart.
O Beloved, when I open my lips,
my mouth will sing praise, only praise.
I can’t offer a thing to please you,
can’t determine your love for me.
What delights you is just me,
this broken heart,
this true, simple heart.
Use me as I am to love the world.
That will be gift enough for both of us.
GOSPEL John 12.20-33
[ Jesus says the way to live your life fully is to give it over to God in loving service, like seeds that “die” and then bear fruit.]
Now among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks. They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Human One to be glorified.
Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, God will honor.
“Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say—”God, save me from this hour’? No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour. Abba God, glorify your name.”
Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” The crowd standing there heard it and said that it was thunder. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.” Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not for mine. Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” He said this to indicate the kind of death he was to die.
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SERMON
SONG Into the Darkness Steve G-H
Only the seed that has died and is buried lives to bear fruit, Jesus said.
Lead me then into the darkness and dying, so you can raise me up from the dead.
Jesus, help me die and rise.
All of my living, my loves and desires, all of the things that I cling to,
now I surrender to die and be buried. Raise me in following, serving you.
Jesus, help me die and rise.
Lead me to truth and have mercy and wash me deep in the dark of my being.
A spirit like bread that is taken and broken: this is the death that is freeing.
Jesus, help me die and rise.
Give me a clean heart, a heart poor in spirit, willing and steadfast and made new.
my life I lose; let your cross lift me up now. One joy restore to me: life in you.
Jesus, help me die and rise.
THE PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE
[Anyone who wishes may share a prayer concern at the microphone.]
(10:30) THE WORD IN SONG God Help the Outcasts
Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz (Jenn Woolcock & choir members)
_________We Share at Christ’s Table_________
OFFERING OUR GIFTS In God, My Faithful God J. S. Bach
* COMMUNION SONG Jesus, Remember Me Blue hymnal #488
THE GREAT THANKSGIVING
The Lord be with you.
And also with you.
Lift up your hearts.
We lift them up to the Lord.
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
It is good to give God thanks and praise.
RESPONSE Jesus, Remember Me
God of love, we praise you,
for in the darkness you gave of yourself and there was light.
You poured yourself into us and made us in your image.
You left your place of comfort and came to us in our suffering;
you condemned the forces of oppression and walked with us to freedom.
You gave of yourself to us through your prophets.
In the fullness of time you came to us in Jesus,
who died in love for us, that your love might bear fruit in us.
Therefore we come to Christ’s table, hungry for life.
RESPONSE Jesus, Remember Me
Blessed are all who come in your name, and blessed is Jesus, your Christ.
He loved and taught and healed, pouring himself out for the hurting.
He flung himself like a seed of God into the world, and was crucified and buried.
But in his dying there is life; in his rising your love bears fruit.
[The Blessing and Covenant…]
Remembering these your mighty acts in Jesus Christ,
we offer ourselves in praise and thanksgiving,
as a holy and living sacrifice,
in union with Christ’s offering for us,
as we proclaim the mystery of our faith:
Christ has died. Christ is Risen. Christ will come again.
RESPONSE Jesus, Remember Me
Pour out your holy Spirit on these gifts of bread and cup,
that they may be for us the body and blood of Christ.
Pour out your Holy Spirit on us, that transformed by your mercy
we may die and rise with Christ,
that your love may bear fruit in us,
for the healing of the world, to your eternal glory. Amen.
RESPONSE Jesus, Remember Me
THE PRAYER OF JESUS
Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.
Save us from the time of trial and deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power and the glory are yours,
now and forever. Amen.
SHARING THE HOLY MEAL [Everyone is welcome at the table of Christ’s self-giving love.
The bread is wheat-, soy- and dairy free. We dip the bread in the juice.]
PRAYER OF BLESSING
Gracious God, we thank you for this mystery in which you have given yourself to us. We are the seeds of your love. Sow us in the soil of this world, that your grace in us may bear fruit. Amen.
_____ We Are Sent in Ministry to the World______
THE LIFE OF THE CHURCH IN THE WORLD
* SONG Breathe On Me Breath of God Blue hymnal # 420
* THE BLESSING AND SENDING FORTH
RESPONSE Please stand and sing to your neighbors:
May the grace and peace of Christ be with you my friends.
Go and share the love of God, love that never ends.
POSTLUDE Forth in Your Name Lani Smith
[During the postlude there are people ready to pray with you at the candles in the corners..]