The Celebration of the Gospel
February 14, 2016 —First Sunday in Lent
Jesus was led by the Spirit in the wilderness,
where for forty days he was tempted.
— Luke 4.1-2
________We Gather as the Body of Christ______
GREETING
PRELUDE Eventide Wm. H. Monk, arr: Pierce Dickens
[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: In this season of Lent we journey with Christ in the wilderness.
All: We journey from death to life.
We let go of our fears and desires and embrace God.
We worship Yahweh our God, and serve the Holy One alone.
We turn to you, O God, and surrender our lives to you.
By your grace, grant us life.
* SONG Lord, Who Throughout These Forty Days Blue hymnal # 269 vv. 1-3
(10:30) CHILDREN’S TIME
____________ We Attend to the Word__________
PRAYER OF CONFESSION
Pastor: The grace of God is 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, help us to see ourselves with the eyes of love,
and by your grace to be honest about all in us that is not loving.
With the love you show us in Christ,
forgive us, heal us, and perfect your love in us.
SILENT PRAYER … THE WORD OF GRACE
RESPONSE Change My Heart, O God Black hymnal #2152
PRAYER OF THE DAY
God of love, we live not by bread alone but by your living Word, for your Word is the bread of life. Speak life to us now in our hungry wilderness. Speak freedom to us in our secret deserts, and bring us home. We pray with Jesus, who journeys through this wilderness with us. Amen
OLD TESTAMENT Isaiah 55.13, 6-9
[God calls us to repentance, to stop working for what does not nourish our souls. God says, “My ways are not your ways.” We need to change our ways, not to avoid punishment, but because our sin is starving us, while God’s ways truly nourish us.]
“Come, all you who are thirsty,
come to the waters;
and you who have no money, come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.
Why spend money on what is not bread,
and your labor on what does not satisfy?
Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good,
and your soul will delight in the richest of fare.
Give ear and come to me;
hear me, that your soul may live.
Seek Yahweh while you can;
call on God, who is near.
Let the wicked forsake their ways and the evil one their thoughts.
Let them turn to Yahweh, and God will have mercy on them,
and to our God, for God will freely pardon.
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,” declares Yahweh.
“As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
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PSALTER Psalm 91 Blue hymnal, page 810
[A reassurance that God cares for us in all distress and danger. Satan quotes it to Jesus in tempting him to jump from the top of the temple.]
You who live in the shelter of the Most High,
who abide in the shadow of the Almighty,
will say to Yahweh, “My refuge and my fortress;
my God, in whom I trust.”
For God will deliver you from the snare of the fowler
and from the deadly pestilence;
God will cover you with her pinions,
and under her wings you will find refuge;
God’s faithfulness is a shield and buckler.
You will not fear the terror of the night,
or the arrow that flies by day,
or the pestilence that stalks in darkness,
or the destruction that wastes at noonday.
A thousand may fall at your side,
ten thousand at your right hand,
but it will not come near you.
You will only look with your eyes
and see the punishment of the wicked.
Because you have made the Lord your refuge,
the Most High your dwelling place,
no evil shall befall you,
no scourge come near your tent.
For God will command angels concerning you
to guard you in all your ways.
On their hands they will bear you up,
so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.
You will tread on the lion and the adder,
the young lion and the serpent you will trample under foot.
Those who love me, I will deliver;
I will protect those who know my name.
When they call to me, I will answer them;
I will be with them in trouble,
I will rescue them and honor them.
With long life I will satisfy them,
and show them my salvation.
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GOSPEL Luke 4.1-13
[Jesus is tempted in the desert. “Satan” is not an actual character, but a personification of Jesus’ own inner struggles. Jesus responds to his temptations with quotations from Deuteronomy 8.3, 6.13 and 6.16, material related to the Shema, the great commandment (Dt. 6.4-5): “Hear, O Israel: Yahweh is our God, Yahweh alone. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.”]
Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing at all during those days, and when they were over, he was famished. The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread.” Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone.’”
Then the devil led him up and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And the devil said to him, “To you I will give their glory and all this authority; for it has been given over to me, and I give it to anyone I please. If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.” Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.’”
Then the devil took him to Jerusalem, and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written, ‘God will command angels concerning you, to protect you,’ and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’” Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘Do not put Yahweh your God to the test.’” When the devil had finished every test, he departed from him until an opportune time.
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SERMON
* SONG Jesus, Tempted in the Desert Black hymnal # 2105
THE PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE
[Anyone who wishes may share a prayer concern at the microphone.]
RESPONSE: This is my prayer. All: This is our prayer.
PASSING THE PEACE
(10:30) THE WORD IN SONG Now Thank We All Our God J. S. Bach (Joshua Pak, organ)
___________We Share at Christ’s Table _________
OFFERING OUR GIFTS
It Is Well With My Soul Philip P. Bliss, arr: Brian Buda
* COMMUNION SONG Change My Heart, O God Black hymnal #2152
THE GREAT THANKSGIVING
Beloved, the Holy One is with you.
And also with you.
Lift up your hearts.
We lift them up to our God.
Let us give thanks to Yahweh our God.
It is good to give God thanks and praise.
We thank you, God, for you create us in love,
claim us as your own, and make covenant with us to be our God.
You set us free from all that oppresses us outside us and within;
you bring us back to one another,
and journey with us toward your shalom.
You who are thirsty, come and buy drink without money.
You who are hungry, come and eat, and be satisfied.
For your Word is the bread of life; nothing else do we desire.
Therefore we come to your table with all Creation singing your praise.
[sung]
Our holy, holy, holy God, your glory shines in all that is.
Blest is the one who bears your love! Hosanna in the highest.
Blessed are all who come in your name and bear your love,
and blessed is Jesus, your Christ.
He loved and taught, healed and gathered a new community of grace.
Resisting the temptations of power, security and esteem,
he relied solely upon you and so, in faithfulness he became our leader and model.
Resisting the temptations of worldly power,
he opened to us the Empire of your Grace,
and so, in love, he became our Sovereign.
For the sake of love did not defend himself
from suffering, powerlessness or death,
and so, in forgiveness, he became our savior.
[The Blessing and Covenant…]
With gratitude we remember these, your mighty acts in Jesus Christ.
Therefore we offer ourselves in praise and thanksgiving
as a living and holy sacrifice,
in union with Christ’ offering for us,
as we proclaim the mystery at the heart of our faith.
[sung]
In dying Christ destroyed our death. In rising Christ restores our life.
And Christ will come again in love. O Lamb of God, hosanna.
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 we may be the Body of Christ.
By your Spirit lead us in these forty days to turn to you.
May your Word be the bread of our life.
May your grace be our only security.
May the Realm of your Love be our only Empire,
to your glory, now and forever.
[sung]
Amen. Your will be done, O God. May we, your church, become your Word.
Make us the Body of Christ in love. O Lamb of God, hosanna.
THE PRAYER OF JESUS
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 trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, 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. You have fed us your Word, the Bread of Life, rescued us from death and offered us the Empire of your Grace. Having fed us the bread of heaven, lead us always to turn from worldly powers and desires to embrace your love; to journey from death to life: in the name and the company of Christ. Amen.
______We Are Sent in Ministry to the World_____
THE LIFE OF THE CHURCH IN THE WORLD
* SONG Into My Heart Black hymnal #2160
* 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 All Glory Be To God On High Max Reger