Bulletin – Sunday, March 5, 2023 – Second Sunday in Lent / Communion

Sunday, March 5, 2023
Second Sunday in Lent / Communion

Approach

The Lenten Candle

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 story of Nicodemus. Nicodemus who felt that call to come to Jesus in the night, to listen, to learn and heeded that call. Will we too listen, Jesus is being drawn to Jerusalem. Where is God calling you to? What is God calling you to do? What is God calling you to listen for? What is God calling you to know today?

As we extinguish this light, we acknowledge the darkness, the burden, and pain of injury don to the Earth and its ecosystems.

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.

Call to Worship

One:   For God so loved the world;
All:      The sparrows, the mountain lions, the fish, and the people.

One:   For God so loved the world;
All:      In success and failure, in sickness and health, in mediocrity and extraordinary, in knowing and unknowing.

One:   For God so loved the world;
All:      Enough to become one of us, enough to suffer along with us; enough to offer new life for us.

One:   For God so loved the world;
All:      Let us worship God!

Hymn – “In Suffering Love”

In suffering love the thread of life is woven through our care,
For God is with us, not alone our pain and toil we bear.

There is a rock, a place secure within the storms’ cold blast,
Concealed within the suffering night God’s covenant stands fast.

In love’s deep womb our fears are held; there God’s rich tears are sown
And bring to birth, in hope newborn, the strength to journey on.

In suffering love our God comes now, hope’s vision born in gloom;
With tears and laughter shared and blessed the desert yet will bloom.

Prayer of Approach and Confession

Loving God, giver of all light and life, you sent Jesus Christ into the world not to condemn, but to save. You sent Jesus to be our guide and teacher. Help us to lift up the light of Christ so that the world might believe in him, so that we might truly believe in him. Holy God, we confess that we do not trust you fully.

We put our hope in worldly gain and in human promises, and find ourselves defeated and lost when things fall apart. You have given us a love more fully than anything we could experience in this world but we do not seek it, we do not hold on to it, and we look to our own means of assurance and security.

Forgive us. Call us back to you that we may put our trust in you and not be afraid. May we hear the words so clearly as Nicodemus heard the words of Jesus, and tried to understand, may we rise up, may we come to you, and not be afraid. In the name of Jesus, who loves us and offers us forgiveness, we pray. Amen.

Response

I cast all my cares upon You.
I lay all of my burdens down at Your feet.
And anytime that I don’t know what to do,
I will cast all my cares upon You.

Words of Assurance

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:           Genesis 12:1-4a

¹ Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. ² I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. ³ I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

⁴ So Abram went, as the LORD had told him; and Lot went with him.

Scripture Reading:           John 3:1-17

¹ Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. ² He came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God.” ³ Jesus answered him, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.” ⁴ Nicodemus said to him, “How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?” ⁵ Jesus answered, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. ⁶ What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. ⁷ Do not be astonished that I said to you, ‘You must be born from above.’ ⁸ The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” ⁹ Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?” ¹⁰ Jesus answered him, “Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things?

¹¹ “Very truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen; yet you do not receive our testimony. ¹² If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? ¹³ No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. 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.

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

Hymn – “God So Loved the World”

God so loved, He so loved our world
That He gave us His only son
That if we will believe in Him
We will have everlasting life.

God so loved, He so loved our world
That He gave us His only son
That if we will believe in Him
We will have everlasting life.

For God sent not His Son to condemn the world,
But that all through Him might be saved.

God so loved, He so loved our world
That He gave us His only son
That if we will believe in Him
We will have everlasting life.

Meditation – “Our Second Burden!”

Anthem – “Speak, O Lord”

Offering / Response

Praise God throughout these forty days;
Praise Christ, our Lord, whom God did raise;
And praise the Spirit who imparts
God’s love in Christ into our hearts. Amen.

The Response

Communion

One:   God is with you!
All:      And God is with us all.

One:   Open wide your hearts.
All:      We open them completely to the Spirit of God.

One:   May God’s love nurture your wandering spirits each day. May God’s light sustain your souls each night.

One:   This is a season of wilderness—the season we grasp to understand the Divine just a little more. This is the time for us to reach inwards to find the self that God sees. This is the chance for us to gaze outwards, caring for the Christ in our midst. This is a season for us to examine the burdens that we carry with us through our lives. It is a time for us to journey with Christ, easing our burdens in the presence of God with us. It is time for us to look for the burdens that others carry and lift them up as we care for them. Let us now lift up to God the burdens of those who are in our hearts this day…

One:   The Lenten roads are long yet full of gifts. The Lenten paths often seem chilly yet warm with the winds of the Spirit. The Spirit of God is the light that leads us in the hushed nights. The Christ is our companion on the journey in the intense sunlight of day. We remember his time in the wilderness—the struggles. The hunger. The peace.

One:   We remember Nicodemus, his night with Jesus—the listening, the hearing, the unknowing. We remember Moses and Miriam, their journey through the desert—the escape through the sea, the trusting, the joy at God’s providing. But we continue to wander away from God’s presence in our lives and we become lost.

One:   And as we week the Divine in our midst, on this journey, we crave the bread of life. On our desert roads, we thirst for the fruit of the vine, the cup of blessings.

One:   Through Jesus the Christ’s story, we remember the night before his arrest, the night of serenity, solemnity, and love. Jesus took in his hands bread from the table. He broke it and blessed it. Eat in remembrance of me, he said.

One:   And after supper, as the night grew long, Jesus took a cup, and filled it with the fruit of the vine. As he blessed it, he spoke aloud to them, take and drink and always remember me.

One:   May the Spirit who traveled with Christ in the wilderness and fills us with the hope of God surround these elements. May the Spirit speak to us in this season of wilderness becoming our strength on this journey and filling our lives with love. Amen.

One:   The Bread of Life.

One:   The Cup of Blessing.

Prayer after Communion

Divine Light of Our Journey in a spirit of gratitude we give thanks for this time at your Holy Meal. This time at the Tale filled us with strength, knowing that as we continue on this Lenten journey, we will find your peace surrounding us. Amen.

Hymn – “Now Let Us From This Table Rise”

Now let us from this table rise
Renewed in body, mind and soul;
With Christ we die and live again,
His selfless love has made us whole.

With minds alert, upheld by grace,
To spread the word in speech and deed;
We follow in the steps of Christ,
At one with all in hope and need.

To fill each human house with love,
It is the sacrament of care;
The work that Christ began to do
We humbly pledge ourselves to share.

Then give us grace, Companion-God,
To choose again the pilgrim way
And help us to accept with joy
The challenge of tomorrow’s day.

Benediction

Just as God’s Word was sent into the world to heal and redeem, so God sends you into the world this day to be light and love, healing and hope. Go now to be light for the world! And may the grace and peace of God the Creator, the Redeemer, and the Sustainer come upon you this day and remain with your always. Amen.

Response

Every promise we can make,
Every prayer and step of faith,
Every difference we will make
Is only by His grace.

Every mountain we will climb,
Every ray of hope we shine,
Every blessing left behind
Is only by His grace.

Grace alone which God supplies,
Strength unknown He will provide.
Christ in us, our Cornerstone,
We will go forth in grace alone.