The celebration of the Gospel
March 1, 2015 — Second Sunday in Lent
If you want to be my follower,
take up your cross and come with me.
— Mark 8.34
________ We Gather as The Body of Christ______
GREETING
PRELUDE Adagio from Symphony No. 3 Camille Saint-Saëns, arr: Albert Zabel
[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: God of mercy, you hear the cries of the afflicted.
All: God of love, you hear the voice of our pain.
You save us, and we praise you.
You bless us, and we worship you.
By the mystery of the cross you are with us in our suffering.
Redeem us, and bring us to life.
* SONG
Jesus Walked this Lonesome Valley Black hymnal #2112
(10:30) CHILDREN’S TIME
____________ We Attend to the Word__________
(10:30) THE WORD IN SONG Be Thou My Vision John Rutter (Julie Spring, harp)
PRAYER OF CONFESSION
Pastor: The grace of God be with you.
Congregation: And also with you.
Trusting in God’s tender mercy, let us confess our sin to God with one another.
God of love, in the mercy of Christ,
who dies on the cross of our sin yet forgives,
you receive our whole lives with grace.
Forgive what is hurtful, heal what is fearful,
and redeem us in the power of your Spirit.
SILENT PRAYER … THE WORD OF GRACE
RESPONSE Kyrie Eleison Black Blue hymnal # 483
PASSING THE PEACE
PRAYER OF THE DAY
Loving God, your passion for the world is infinite. Jesus bore the cross in the power of your love, and calls us to do the same. Be our faith and courage; be our love. Speak to us, we who cling to life, and call us to life. Amen.
OLD TESTAMENT Genesis 17. 1-7, 15-16
[God makes a covenant with Abram: “I will be your God, and I will give you descendants and land.” Sarai is promised a child, even in her old age. The covenant makes them new people, so they receive new names: Abraham and Sarah. ]
When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said to him, “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless. And I will make my covenant between me and you, and will make you exceedingly numerous.” Then Abram fell on his face; and God said to him, “As for me, this is my covenant with you: You shall be the ancestor of a multitude of nations. No longer shall your name be Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you the ancestor of a multitude of nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you. I will establish my covenant between me and you, and your offspring after you throughout their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. I will bless her, and moreover I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall give rise to nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.”
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NEW TESTAMENT Romans 8.12-17
[We are more than our bodies: we are God’s Spirit, embodied. When we live as if we are just bodies, we die. But the Spirit in us makes us children of God. Trusting that, we aren’t afraid to suffer with Christ, knowing that with him we experience God’s grace.]
So then, brothers and sisters, we are not defined by our flesh — to live as if we are merely self-contained bodies — for if you live according to the flesh, you will die. But if by the Spirit you put to death the desire simply to be a body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, “Abba! Father!” it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ—if, in fact, we suffer with Christ so that we may also be glorified with him.
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GOSPEL Mark 8.31-38
[Jesus knows he will be killed. Peter resists this, but Jesus says the only way to truly be alive is to die first: to let go of control of our lives and trust God. He invites us to take up our cross — suffering for others — and so to be with him, and one with him.]
Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.” He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? Indeed, what can they give in return for their life?
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SERMON
SONG Wounded World that Cries for Healing Black hymnal #2177
THE PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE
________We Share at Christ’s Table ________
OFFERING OUR GIFTS When I Consider How The Father Loves Penny Rodriguez
* COMMUNION SONG Christ in Your Pain Steve G-H
Christ, in your pain for the world, we are healed. May our hearts be yours.
Christ, in our pain for the world, we are one. Grant your Spirit, Lord.
Christ, in your pain for the world we are saved. May your heart be ours.
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.
We worship you, O God, for in the beginning
your Spirit brooded over the waters of chaos
and you brought forth Creation.
Left: You created us in your image and put your Spirit within us.
Right: You called us as your people and made Covenant to be our God.
You heard our cries in slavery, and knew our suffering.
You judged the forces of oppression and led us to freedom.
You gave us Jesus, who knew our suffering
so that we might know your love.
All: Therefore we sing your praise with all Creation:
[Sanctus]
Blessed are all who come in your name,
and blessed is Jesus, your Christ.
He loved and taught, he created a community of the outcast,
and he touched those who were in pain.
He shared our suffering so that we might share in your grace.
[ The Blessing and Covenant….]
Pour out your Holy Spirit on these gifts of bread and cup,
that they may be for us the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Fill us with your Holy Spirit, that we may be the Body of Christ,
broken for the world in love.
Give us courage to enter the suffering of the world with Christ,
trusting in your Resurrection.
By your grace may we lose our lives in love,
serving the world in the name of Christ,
and receive eternal life in the power of your Spirit, to your eternal glory.
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. Our lives are taken up into the life of Christ, crucified and risen. No longer alone, no longer afraid, we are one in Christ. May we take up our cross and follow, for the healing of the world. Amen.
______ We Are Sent in Ministry to the World_____
THE LIFE OF THE CHURCH IN THE WORLD
* SONG Make Me a Channel of your Peace Black hymnal #2171
* THE BLESSING AND SENDING FORTH
RESPONSE We stand and sing to our 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 Fugue In D Minor Johann Pachelbel
[During the postlude there are people ready to pray with you at the candles in the corners.]