Bulletin – Sunday, February 25, 2024 – Second Sunday in Lent

Sunday, February 25, 2024
Second Sunday in Lent

We Gather as People of Faith

Welcome

Announcements

Call to Worship

One:   Come away and be still.
All:      We come to worship God.

One:   Come find rest for your weariness.
All:      We come to worship God.

One:   Come with your joy and sorrow.
All:      We come to worship God.

One:   In this time, in this place, God waits for us!
All:      Let us worship together!

Hymn – “Take Time to be Holy” (VU #672)

Take time to be holy, speak oft with your Lord;
Abide in him always, and feed on his word.
Make friends of God’s children, help those who are weak,
Forgetting in nothing his blessing to seek.

Take time to be holy, let him be your guide,
And run not before him, whatever betide.
In joy or in sorry, still follow the Lord,
And, looking to Jesus, still trust in his word.

Take time to be holy, be calm in your soul,
Each thought and each motive beneath his control.
Thus led by his spirit to fountains of love,
You soon shall be fitted for service above.

Candle Liturgy

One:   On Sunday morning, for a brief space of time, we leave behind the world of home and work and school—the world where we have our lists of things to do, activities to participate in, tasks to complete. We come here this morning seeking something else. We come here seeking a shift—from the ordinary to the sacred, from doing to being. I invite you to close your eyes. Let go of your list. Recall that it is the season of Lent. Remember the parable of the sower. The sower throws the seed…and where it lands determines if it will grow or not grow. Think of it this way: Think of the season of Lent as the sower, the time when seeds of faith are thrown with special intensity, as a time when God calls us in a low, urgent voice. Listen. Jesus is being drawn to Jerusalem. Where is God calling you to? What is God calling you to do?

(Silent Time)

One:   As we extinguish this light, we acknowledge the darkness and pain of injustice to the Earth and its ecosystems.

(A candle is extinguished)

One:   Let us pray:
All:      Loving God, as we journey through this holy season of Lent, may we be open to your presence. Give us the strength to make the changes that are needed in our lives and the courage to take on the work of transforming the world. Amen.

Prayer of Approach and Confession

Jesus calls us to deny ourselves. Yet we trust in our own works rather than in God’s grace. Jesus calls each of us to take up our cross. Yet rather than allow our selfishness and sin to be put to death, we cling to what we know. Jesus calls us to follow him. Yet we fear where faith will lead and what it might change in our lives. In this moment, we confess the sin that separates us from one another and from God.

Words of Assurance

People of God, hear this good news. God’s covenant with us is true. God is faithful even when we fail. Through the Holy Spirit, God gives us the gift of faith and makes us righteous. Believe in the good news that you are set free to live as children of God. Amen.

Sung Response – “How Deep the Peace” (MV #95)

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

We Hear God’s Word

Prayer for Illumination

Open our senses and incline our hearts toward you, O God, that we may experience you among us, receive your call to new life, and respond with our whole being to the grace you so freely offer. May we receive these words of scripture in new and healing ways. Amen.

Hymn – “To Abraham and Sarah” (VU #634)

To Abraham and Sarah the call of God was clear;
‘Go forth and I will show you a country rich and fair.
You need not fear the journey for I have pledged my word:
That you shall be my people and I will be your God.’

From Abraham and Sarah arose a pilgrim race,
Dependent for their journey on God’s abundance grace;
And in their heart was written by God this saving word:
That ‘you shall be my people and I will be your God.’

We of this generation on whom God’s hand is laid,
Can journey to the future secure and unafraid,
Rejoicing in God’s goodness and trusting in this word:
That you shall be my people and I will be your God.

Scripture Reading:        Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16

¹ 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. ² And I will make my covenant between me and you and will make you exceedingly numerous.” ³ Then Abram fell on his face, and God said to him, ⁴ “As for me, this is my covenant with you: You shall be the ancestor of a multitude of nations. ⁵ 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. ⁶ I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you. ⁷ 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.

¹⁵ God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. ¹⁶ I will bless her and also give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall give rise to nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.”

Scripture Reading:         Mark 8:31-38

³¹ 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. ³² He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. ³³ 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.”

³⁴ He called the crowd with his disciples and said to them, “If any wish to come after me, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. ³⁵ 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. ³⁶ For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? ³⁷ Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? ³⁸ Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”

Hear what the Spirit is saying to the Church
Thanks be to God!

Meditation – “Our Soul’s Desire”

Anthem – “Jesus Teach Me”

Jesus, teach me what I need to know.
Guide and lead me where I need to go.
In everything I say and do, teach me how to love like You.

Shine Your heavenly light.
Touch me and open my eyes.
As I go through the day, Lord, let me follow Your way.

Jesus, teach me what I need to know.
Guide and lead me where I need to go.
In everything I say and do, teach me how to love like You.

Lord, the sound of Your voice fills me with comfort and joy.
Now I know I must start listening with all of my heart.

Jesus, teach me what I need to know.
Guide and lead me where I need to go.
In everything I say and do, teach me how to love,
Teach me how to love, teach me how to love like You.

We Respond to God’s Word

An Invitation to Share

In praise and thanksgiving to our god, in response to Christ’s love shown in the cross, and as a sign of our faithfulness, let us offer our gifts to the work of god’s church here on earth. Let us join together in our offering.

Offering Response – “These Lenten Gifts We Bring”

These Lenten gifts we bring,
Our living faith expressed,
We offer them, most lovingly,
And thus our hearts are blessed.

O loving God receive
These gifts we gladly give,
That show our faith and hope and trust;
Your way we seek to live.

Offering Prayer

Loving God, we come before you today in humility, acknowledging the gifts you give us. We ask that you now receive our gifts, the fruits of our labours, our hands and our hearts. May they be used to glorify your name. Amen.

Prayers of the People

One:   O Lord, we give you thanks for the example of Abraham and for all the saints who have gone before us – for those who waited in patience for your promises to come to pass – for those who lived in hope while around them it seemed to be only darkness, for those who witnessed to you when it was not considered the proper thing to do, for those who forgot their own selves in their desire to obey your commands and respond to your call upon their lives. Help us today, O God, to examine the level of our faith – to look seriously at our resistance to talk about the cross and about sacrifice; and to consider in prayer our reluctance to give up the things of this world – to risk our reputations, our comfort, and our security for the sake of following you – for the sake of witnessing to you – for the sake of obeying you. Lord, hear our prayer,
All:      and in your love, answer.

One:   We pray, O Lord, that you would make us bold in our faith. By our self-forgetting, our self-denial, help us make visible to all our brothers and sisters the reality of your power and care – that power and care that is so often made evident when we confess our weakness – and so often concealed from others when we are strong. Lord, hear our prayer,
All:      and in your love, answer.

One:   We pray, O Lord, for those people whose names, or faces, or needs are resting upon our hearts – for the members of our church whose health is failing as they age – for those believers whose families are struggling to deal with teenage rebellion and adult confusion and uncertainty – for those who have little or not faith and who seem to be lost even though your light shines around them and your word is close to hand. We pray, O Lord, for those in our family, our church, our community, and our world that you bring to our hearts and minds at this time – and we hold them up to you. We pray for Marlene, Rob, heather, Barb, Angela, Jay, Norm, Kieran, Paul, Joe, Nick, Brenda, Al, Brian, Helen, Dollard, Bill. Lord, hear our prayer,
All:      and in your love, answer.

One:   All these things we pray to, through your Son Jesus, who died that we might live, and who lives that we might never die.
All:      Amen.

We Go Into God’s World

Hymn – “God, as We Rise to Leave” (VU #417)

God, as we rise to leave this shell of worship,
Called to the risk of unprotected living,
Willing to be at one with all your people,
We ask for courage.

For all the strain with living interwoven,
For the demands each day will make upon us,
And for the love we owe the modern city,
God, make us cheerful.

Give us an eye for openings to serve you;
Make us alert when calm is interrupted,
Ready and wise to use the unexpected,
Sharpen our insight.

Lift from our life the blanket of convention;
Give us the nerve to lose our life to others;
Be with your church in death and resurrection,
God of all ages.

Benediction

Go now, and live before God in openness and integrity. Set your minds on the ways of God, not clinging to your own life, but taking up your cross and following Jesus. And may God give you a share in the eternal covenant. May Christ Jesus be proud of you when he comes in glory. And may the Holy Spirit make you grow strong in faith and lead you in the ways of righteousness. We go in peace to love and serve the Lord, in the name of Christ. Amen.

Response – “From This Place of Prayer and Praising”

From this place of prayer and praising,
Cross and table, well-worn pews,
God, we leave to work and witness,
Living every day for you.

Bless us on our Lenten journey,
Loving Parent, Holy Friend;
Spirit, guide your people onward
Till once more we meet again.

(All sources are from Gathering Lent / Easter 2024 and re:Worship)