Welcome to Worship
We gather to worship, we go out to serve.
GATHERING AROUND THE WORD
* Please rise in body or spirit
Tolling of the Bell
Lenten Journey of Diminishing Lights
Welcome and Announcements
Visitors, fill out the connection card in the pew so we can send you a note
Opening Prayer Gary Kollmann
The day has dawned with the gift of sunlight, and we awaken from sleep into the light and grace of Christ. Thank you for this new day. Stay with us, we pray, shepherding us through all that the day will hold. Lead us into pleasant places and give us the provisions we will need if I find ourselves in difficulty or danger. Whenever the cup of gladness overflows, help us to recognize that it is filled with your goodness and mercy. In praise and anticipation, we begin this day; in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Prelude Christopher Bunch
*Call to Worship (Responsive) Gary Kollman
The Lord is my shepherd. There is nothing I lack.
God guides me in proper paths for the sake of God’s good name.
God bathes my head in oil; my cup is so full it spills over!
Yes, God’s goodness and faithful love will pursue me all the days of my life.
*Hymn Softly and Tenderly Jesus is Calling #418
Prayer for New Beginnings (Unison) Gary Kollmann
Holy God, why is it that we look, but do not see? Bring us again and again into your light until your ways become visible to us, and bear fruit in us. Touch us so that we are utterly changed, a “before” and “after,” a “now” and “then”; that we may also say, “One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.” Lord, we believe; help our unbelief. In Christ’s light, we pray. Amen.
*Passing of the Peace (Responsive)
The peace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.
And also with you.
*Congregational Response In My Life #468 v.1,4
In my life, Lord, be glorified; be glorified.
In my life, Lord, be glorified today,
In your world, Lord, be glorified; be glorified.
In your world, Lord, be glorified today.
HEARING THE WORD
Prayer for Illumination Gary Kollmann
Gracious God, illumine our hearts and minds as the Scriptures are read and proclaimed, so that by the power of your Holy Spirit we may see what is good and right and true. And seeing, help us to do what is pleasing to you, so that your glory becomes visible in our words and deeds. In Christ’s name, we pray. Amen.
1st Reading Psalm 23
The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside still waters; he restores my soul. He leads me in right paths for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil; for you are with me; your rod and your staff— they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord my whole life long.
Gospel Reading John 9:1-41
Leader: The Word of God for the people of God.
People: Thanks be to God.
Word in Music Christopher Bunch
Sermon Rev. Jeff Sockwell
RESPONDING TO THE WORD
*Hymn Jesus Calls Us #720
*Affirmation of Faith (Unison) from a Brief Statement of Faith
We trust in God, whom Jesus called Abba, Father. In sovereign love God created the world good and makes everyone equally in God's image, male and female, of every race and people, to live as one community. In everlasting love, the God of Abraham and Sarah chose a covenant people to bless all families of the earth. Hearing their cry, God delivered the children of Israel from the house of bondage. Loving us still, God makes us heirs with Christ of the covenant. Like a mother who will not forsake her nursing child, like a father who runs to welcome the prodigal home, God is faithful still.
Prayers of Intercession / Lord’s Prayer (Responsive)
God our faithful Shepherd, we depend on you for everything we need: for daily food, for guidance and protection, for healing in injury and comfort in sorrow. You respond in abundant provision. Thank you for your tender care of us. Thank you for soothing the wounds of this life. Knowing your faithfulness in our lives, we bring before you the lives of others, the cares of this world, entrusting all things to your goodness and mercy.
Bring healing to those who are ill in mind, body, or spirit.
Bring release to those who are held captive by old hurts or new bonds that oppress and entangle.
Bring freedom to those unjustly accused, relief to those burdened with debt, comfort to all who suffer from abuse of any kind.
We pray for people living precariously in the midst of war. Protect, we pray, citizens and soldiers alike, and teach us to put away our weapons, taking up instead words of peace and reconciliation.
By the power at work in Christ, break down the walls of hostility we build so that we may learn to live together graciously.
We remember those living in the midst of drought and famine. We pray for rain to fall and crops to grow, and for generosity to overflow from our own hands and resources, until all your children receive their daily bread; until all your children have clean water to drink; until all your children have adequate shelter and medical care.
Compel us to be better stewards of creation so that our habitation is sustainable and responsible.
Loving God, help us to see the world as you see it; to see others as you see them; and to see ourselves rightly, too. Because you have come into this world for judgment, we can leave our judgments behind. Pursue us all with your goodness and faithful love until goodness and faithful love fills every heart and informs every action. We pray these things in the name of the one who came that we might see, Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, who taught us this prayer:
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 debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory forever. Amen.
Invitation to the Offering
*Doxology #606
Prayer of Dedication
WE GO OUT TO SERVE
*Hymn Rock of Ages, Cleft for Me #438
*Blessing
May the love of God pursue you, the light of Christ enfold you, and the Holy Spirit keep you; as you dwell in the house of the Lord your whole life long.
Postlude Christopher Bunch