The Celebration of the Gospel
Fourth Sunday in Lent
March 15, 2015
8:15 – 9:00 am
10:30 – 11:45 am
Let your heart be clear and simple, and your soul filled with Light.
Psalm 107 Nan Merrill
_______ We Gather as The Body of Christ_______
GREETING
PRELUDE Deep River Traditional, arr: Marianne Kim
[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: We give thanks to You, who are the Source of Love:
All: whose Light shines forth throughout the universe!
Come, awaken our hearts that we might do your Work;
For, without You, we can do nothing;
It is your Love that loves through us.
* SONG Immortal, Invisible Blue hymnal #103
(10:30) CHILDREN’S TIME
___________ We Attend to the Word___________
(10:30) THE WORD IN SONG And Can It Be?
Charles Wesley; music by Thomas Campbell, arr. Benjamin Harlan.
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.
O God, we turn our eyes to things that do not bring us peace, we turn our hearts to things that do not bring us joy, we turn our minds to things that do not inspire, we turn our lives to things that do not matter. Turn us towards you, towards your love and grace, that we might start anew.
SILENT PRAYER … THE WORD OF GRACE
RESPONSE Amazing Grace Blue hymnal #378 vs. 1
PRAYER OF THE DAY
Gracious God, attune us to the small still voice within, may we stay true to your heart’s Center, for through your inner being Truth and Wisdom are heard. Amen.
OLD TESTAMENT Numbers 21:4-9
[The Israelites who are escaping from Egypt complain about their suffering. To give them some perspective, God sends poisonous snakes, but also provides a means of healing, in the form of a curative bronze serpent.]
From Mount Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom; but the people became impatient on the way. The people spoke against God and against Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we detest this miserable food.” Then the Lord sent poisonous serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many Israelites died.
The people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned by speaking against the Lord and against you; pray to the Lord to take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. And the Lord said to Moses, “Make a poisonous serpent, and set it on a pole; and everyone who is bitten shall look at it and live.” So Moses made a serpent of bronze, and put it upon a pole; and whenever a serpent bit someone, that person would look at the serpent of bronze and live.
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PSALTER Psalm 107
[A song of thanks to God for leading the people through the desert, and feeding and healing them, with special care for the hungry, the powerless and the needy. We are invited to let God’s light fill us and shape our lives]
From a paraphrase by Nan Merrill in Psalms for Praying.
We give thanks to you, who are the source of love,
whose light shines forth throughout the universe!
Come, awaken our hearts that we might do your work,
for without you we can do nothing;
it’s your Love that loves through us.
Gather us in from all the lands,
from the east and the west, from the north and the south.
Let all who are hungry and thirsty,
whose souls are faint within them,
cry out to the Most Merciful to give them succor,
to nourish them with healing love,
for fear cannot live
where love and gentleness abide.
Enter into the Great Silence,
where you may hear the voice of the Beloved,
who satisfies the hungry soul,
and quenches the thirsty with streams of living water.
Who will offer the dance of their own life
as a creation of love and beauty?
Only those who have come through the darkness
and walk now in the Light
can offer their lives in service to build the new world
where justice and freedom will truly flourish.
Awaken, all you who are yet asleep,
let us plant seeds for the commingling of heaven and earth,
For the Energy of Love radiates in everything,
and receptive hearts are purified by its Fire.
Blessed are the children of Light,
for they know their home is in the Universal Heart.
Let your heart be pure and simple,
and your soul filled with light:
Thus do we become the very image that we reflect.
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GOSPEL John 3:14-21
[In love God gives us Christ, who is like Moses’ bronze serpent: a source of healing and hope. Trusting in Christ leads us to life. God’s judgment is not condemnation, but light, so that we can see clearly and live lives of love instead of hiding in delusion and falsehood.]
Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Human One be lifted up, that whoever believes in the Beloved may have eternal life. For God so loved the world that God gave the Only Begotten, so that everyone who believes in Christ may not perish but may have eternal life. Indeed, God did not send the Beloved into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Love. Those who trust are not condemned; but those who do not trust are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the Begotten One.
And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed. But those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God.
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SERMON Rev. Cynthia Good
[Pastor Steve is away today celebrating Beth’s 65th birthday with their family. Special thanks to Cynthia Good, our preacher today.]
SONG Be Thou My Vision Blue hymnal #451
THE PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE
[Anyone who wishes may share a prayer concern at the microphone.]
PASSING THE PEACE
______We Share at Christ’s Table ______
OFFERING OUR GIFTS – Including our One Great Hour of Sharing offering
Allegretto Tranquillo Alexandre Guilmant
* COMMUNION SONG Lord, I Lift Your Name on High Black hymnal #2088
THE GREAT THANKSGIVING Black Hymnal 2257
THE PRAYER OF JESUS
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 will offer the dance of our own lives, to offer our lives in service to build the new world, where justice and freedom will truly flourish. Let our hearts be clear and simple, and our souls be filled with Light; enter the place of gentleness, the embodiment of Love! For we are invited to radiate the Divine Presence, to be a blessing to one another; thus do we become the very image that we reflect. Amen.
______ We Are Sent in Ministry to the World_____
THE LIFE OF THE CHURCH IN THE WORLD
* SONG We Are Called Black hymnal #2172
* 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 God Our Father, Dwell With Us Samuel Scheidt
[During the postlude there are people ready to pray with you at the candles in the corners.]