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A Service of Song, Word, & Table
FIRST SUNDAY IN LENT
February 18, 2024
* Please rise in body or spirit.
WELCOME
PRELUDE Come Unto Me Karen Marrolli
8:30 Dr. Karen Marrolli, mezzo-soprano
11:00 Dr. Karen Marrolli, Karah Ingraham, and Marshal Hollingsworth, trio; Linda Davidson, flute
* CALL TO WORSHIP
Lenten travelers, when you feel the security of God’s love, affirmation of God’s call, and covered in God’s grace…
God comes near.
When you feel deserted and alone, starving and parched for a caring hand or an encouraging word, troubled and uncertain as the ground under you shifts like sand…
God comes near.
When you feel emboldened to act, inspired to speak, energized to live as bearers of the good news that the Kin-dom of God is here…
God comes near.
In all seasons of our lives, God comes near to us and does not forsake us.
We gather to come near to God whose ever-present love remains near no matter where our journey takes us. Amen.
* HYMN Jesus, Tempted in the Desert 2105 TFWS
PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION
Lord and Shepherd of our journeys in the desert, we come to you during this Lenten season as servants of Jesus Christ. We remember how you liberated Moses and the Israelites; we remember also how you liberated the prophet Elijah in his journey to escape from a corrupt king.
Now, in our Lenten journey, we implore your direction, your patience, and your spiritual support. As you sent your angels to care for the Israelites, to the prophet Elijah in his journey, and to Jesus during his forty days in the desert, send them also to us in our earthly journeys. We ask in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
A READING FROM THE GOSPEL Mark 1:9-15
This is the Word of God for the People of God.
Thanks be to God.
Anthem
8:30 Lenten Meditation Jay Althouse Good News
11:00 I Shall See Michael John Trotta Chancel Choir/Karah Ingraham, soprano
HOMILY “Peaks & Valleys”
MUSICAL RESPONSE I Want Jesus to Walk With Me 521UMH
PRAYER OF CONFESSION
Jesus says:
“The time is ready, the kin-dom of God is at hand,
repent and believe the Gospel.”
O come, let us return unto our God,
Who will have mercy and abundantly pardon.
Let us pray:
Most holy God,
we admit to you and each other
that we are so dazzled by the false gods of this age
that we find it hard to recognize who we are,
where we came from, or where we are going.
We easily become caught up in selfishness,
seduced by cynicism,
waylaid by glittering consumerism,
and led by the nose along the highways and byways
created by powerful, vested interests.
Please open our hearts that we may know ourselves more clearly,
and seek you more diligently.
Most loving God,
arrest the false gods that have diverted us,
show us the deceits that have blurred our vision,
unmask the poverty of our goals and longings,
expose the cheap values that parade as virtues,
save us from permitting a rift between Christ and us,
and deliver us from cheap guilt and trivial remorse.
Please bring us
to an honest repentance, the forgiveness of sins,
and the renewal of our faith and love.
Through Christ Jesus our Saviour, Amen!
WORDS OF ASSURANCE
Fellow travelers on the road to Easter,
always remember that there is much more forgiveness in God
than we could ever exhaust.
Receive from God, through the grace of Christ,
the blessing of sins forgiven and a right relationship restored.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
PASSING OF THE PEACE
REGATHERING HYMN It is Well With My Soul (vs 1) UMH 377
INVITATION TO OFFERING
OFFERTORY PRAYER
OFFERTORY
8:30 Dr. Dan Cummings, piano
11:00 Lenten Meditation Jay Althouse Good News
* DOXOLOGY Praise God, From Whom All Blessings Flow UMH 95
THE GREAT THANKSGIVING TFWS 2257 b,c,d
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 right to give our thanks and praise.
And so, with your people on earth and all the company of heaven
we praise your name and join their unending hymn:
Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might,
heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest. Hosanna in the highest.
Hosanna in the highest.
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.
Hosanna in the highest. Hosanna in the highest.
And so, in remembrance of 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 faith.
Christ has died; Christ is risen; Christ will come again. Hosanna in the highest.
Hosanna in the highest. Hosanna in the highest.
Through your Son Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit in your holy Church,
all honor and glory is yours, almighty Father (God), now and for ever.
Amen. Amen. Amen. Hosanna in the highest. Hosanna in the highest. Hosanna in the highest.
LORD’S PRAYER
SHARING THE BREAD AND THE CUP
MUSIC AT COMMUNION Dr. Dan Cummings, piano
INVITATION TO CHRISTIAN DISCIPLESHIP
* SENDING HYMN Jesus Walked this Lonesome Valley 2112 TFWS
* BENEDICTION
POSTLUDE Dr. Dan Cummings
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