Bulletin – March 14, 2021

Fourth Sunday in Lent

Approach

Lenten Candle Liturgy

On this road to Jerusalem with Jesus we realize that we are not travelling alone – it is, after all, Passover.
We see family groups, groups of friends, all making this journey together.
Some are travelling only a short distance, others like us seem to have been travelling for a long time.
It is tiring to travel, but it is made more bearable knowing that we are not the only ones making this journey.
It can give us comfort knowing that others too are on this journey, that we are not alone.
Yet in the end Jesus ends up alone.
Each day we travel the roads of our lives, most of them familiar, but God has challenged us to move off those roads, to follow this new way. Who will be our guide?
Can we trust that God will be with us, both alone and as a group, as we walk this new path?
As the days lengthen, the light lasts longer, we extinguish a candle knowing that on this new path there will be dark days ahead.

Sung Response:

You shall be the path that guides us,
You the light that in us burns;
Shining deep within all people,
Yours the love that we must learn,
For our hearts shall wander restless
‘Til they safe to you return;
Finding you in one another,
We shall all your face discern.

Call to Worship

One:   Pilgrims, we are invited to journey through this season of Lent.
All:     On a journey towards the One who calls us each by a new name.

One:   Disciples, we walk with Jesus wherever he leads us,
All:     pulling our fears, our doubts, our longings behind us.

One:   Believers, we seek to trust the God who always surprises us.
All:     whose promises have taken on life in the good news called Jesus.

One:   Let us follow on this journey as we come together in worship.
All:     Let us worship God this day and every day.

Hymn – “Come and Journey with a Saviour”

Come and journey with a Saviour who has called us from our birth,
Who has washed us in the waters, and who loved us on the earth.
Come and journey, come and journey, with a Saviour who has come.
We are all God’s sons and daughters. In the Spirit we are one.

Come and journey, journey inward, come and seek him deep within.
Where he meets us in our living, in our striving and our sin.
Come and journey, journey outward, where the cross calls us to care,
Where injustice and where hunger and the poor call us to share.

Come and journey, journey upward. Sing God’s praises, offer prayer.
In the storm and in the stillness, find God’s presence everywhere.
Come and journey, journey onward, all our gifts we now shall bring,
To the building of a city that is holy, Christ its king.

Prayer of Approach

Merciful God, we come to you this morning offering our words of praise.
We come together in answer to your call to come, to join with you on this journey.
We come to you bringing all that we are, all that we are not.
We try to follow you each day, but so often the words we speak do not show you in our lives, God of our pilgrimage.
We spend so much time boasting to others, they imagine we have no need for you.
We grumble impatiently when you don’t respond immediately to our requests but are slow to sing your praises.
We mutter under our breath about the behaviour of those around us, when we could be asking them if there is some way we could serve them.
It is on our journey to the cross and the tomb that you fill us with the riches of your mercy, Steadfast Love!
You do so, not because of anything we have done, but because of the compassion which flows from your heart wounded by our failings.
As we open our lives to receive your forgiveness, may we turn to the Light which brings us life, following Jesus Christ, every step of the way. Amen.

Words of Assurance (adapted from Thom Shuman)

Sung Response:

How deep the peace, the confidence, of those whose wrongs are forgiven.
How deep the peace, the confidence, of those whose hearts are healed.

Time for All Ages

The Word

Scripture Reading:          Ephesians 2:1-10

¹ You were dead through the trespasses and sins ² in which you once lived, following the course of this world, following the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work among those who are disobedient. ³ All of us once lived among them in the passions of our flesh, following the desires of flesh and senses, and we were by nature children of wrath, like everyone else. ⁴ But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us ⁵ even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— ⁶ and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, ⁷ so that in the ages to come he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. ⁸ For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God— ⁹ not the result of works, so that no one may boast. ¹⁰ For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.

Scripture Reading:          John 3:14-21

¹⁴ And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, ¹⁵ that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

¹⁶ “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.

¹⁷ “Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. ¹⁸ Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God. ¹⁹ 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. ²⁰ For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed. ²¹ 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.”

Hear what the Spirit is saying to the Church.

Thanks be to God!

Hymn – “Come, Let Us Sing of a Wonderful Love”

Come, let us sing of a wonderful love,
Tender and true, tender and true,
Out of the heart of the Father above,
Streaming to me and to you:
Wonderful love, wonderful love
Dwells in the hear of the Father above.

Jesus the Saviour this gospel to tell
Joyfully came, joyfully came,
Came with the helpless and hopeless to dwell,
Sharing their sorrow and shame,
Seeking the lost, seeking the lost,
Saving, redeeming at measureless cost.

Jesus is seeking the wanderers yet,
Why do they roam? What do they roam?
Love only waits to forgive and forget,
Home, weary wanderers, home!
Wonderful love, wonderful love
Dwells in the heart of the father above.

Come to my heart, O thou wonderful love!
Come and abide, come and abide,
Lifting my life till it rises above
Envy and falsehood and pride.
Seeking to be, seeking to be
Lowly and humble, a learner of thee.

Meditation – “As We Move Forward, We are Never Alone!”

Anthem – “You’re Still There”

The Response

Time of Prayer

One:   Creator God, we come before you with prayers for those who lead nations, cities, churches, homes. May they have the wisdom and courage to live in true peace, justice, mercy and compassion each and every day. As you poured out your love in the Word may we hear your word and follow; may the words of our mouths and the meditations of our hearts lead us to you. God hear our prayer.

All:     And in your love answer.

One:   Holy One, we come before you—a people broken into shards of lives sick, poor, hungry, hidden by limitations of our eyes. Help us to see those around us who need our help. Help us to see the blessings that we have been given, and your call to share our gifts with all the world so that everyone might have enough. Help us to see as you see as you poured out your love in the Word. May we hear your word and follow; may the words of our mouths and the meditations of your hearts lead us to you. God hear our prayer.

All:     And in your love answer.

One:   God of Mercy, we come before you—seeking to live as you command, but often failing, and thus we are torn by cries of despair, anger, power, control; lost to foolishness, and stumbling blocks despite your love in the Word. Help us to feel your presence in all the dark times, in all of the dark places of this world, knowing that you are always with us. Help us to hear your word, feel your presence, and follow. May the words of our mouths and the meditations of our hearts lead us to you. God hear our prayer.

All:     And in your love answer.

One:   Gentle God, we come before you giving thanks for all our blessings, the gift of life, hope, faith, love, family, friends, all we care for this day, as we lift up to you those whom we hold in our hearts this day…Help us to be Your hands. Help us to be Your heart in the world. May the words of our mouths and the meditations of our hearts lead us to you. God hear our prayer.

All:     And in your love answer.

One:   Hear us as we continue to pray in the words that Jesus taught us:

All:     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 and ever. Amen.

(adapted from Terri Pilarski)

Hymn – “He Leadeth Me”

He leadeth me; O blessed thought! O words with heavenly comfort fraught!
Whate’er I do, where’er I be, still ‘tis God’s hand that leadeth me.
He heath me! He leadeth me! By his own hand he leadeth me!
His faithful follower I would be, for by his hand he leadeth me!

Sometimes ‘mid scenes of deepest gloom, sometimes where Eden’s bowers bloom,
By waters calm, o’er troubled sea, still ‘tis his hand that leadeth me.
He heath me! He leadeth me! By his own hand he leadeth me!
His faithful follower I would be, for by his hand he leadeth me!

Lord, I would clasp thy hand in mine, nor ever murmur nor repine,
Content, whatever lot I see, since ‘tis my God that leadeth me.
He heath me! He leadeth me! By his own hand he leadeth me!
His faithful follower I would be, for by his hand he leadeth me!

And when my task on earth is done, when by they grace the victory’s won,
Even death’s cold wave I will not flee, since God through Jordan leadeth me.
He heath me! He leadeth me! By his own hand he leadeth me!
His faithful follower I would be, for by his hand he leadeth me!

Benediction

Let us rejoice: God so loves the world!
May God your Maker send you back into the world with creative energies refreshed.
May Christ the Light illuminate your darkest moments.
And may the Holy Spirit of steadfast love guide you until we worship together again.
May you know the triune God is with you today and every day.  Amen!

(adapted from Rev. Dr. Ginny Daniel)

Sung Response:

May the Christ who walks on wounded feet
Travel with you all your journey through.
May you see Christ’s face in all you meet
And may all you meet see Christ’s face in you.