10 March 2024
Lent 4
God Invites Us To Gather
Words of Welcome
Acknowledgment of the Land –
Lent is a journey we are called to walk,
So too is the path to reconciliation with the first peoples of this land.
And so we acknowledge that the land upon which we are worshipping, creating our church home, and making our Lenten walk, is the treaty lands of the Mississaugas of the credit. We give them thanks for welcoming us on this common journey toward peace and reconciliation.
Our Christ Candle is lit. We give thanks for the light of Christ in our life and in the work and worship we do together. If you are at home I invite you to light your own candle to celebrate the light that lives in our world. Let us prepare our hearts and minds for our worship, as we listen to our prelude.
Prelude:
Call to Worship.
May the God’s love and hope be recognized and welcomed in our midst.
May we receive the power and peace of divine love.
Let us worship with our hearts and minds and bodies.
Let us come, seeking justice and compassion.
Blessed be God who challenges, heals, and unites us.
Blessed be our learning and blessed be our vision.
Blessed be God who inspires all things to be new.
We are loved, we are forgiven, we are not alone.
Let us give thanks, and worship our God!
*Hymn: As The Sun With Longer Journey VU 111
Prayer of Approach & The Lord’s Prayer
God of hope, you have shown us the true meaning of generosity, filling our world with beauty and the potential for such peace and community.
And they you brought Jesus into our lives to teach us about hope and how much you love us,
Encouraging us, through his life and ministry to live from a place of love, building community, loving you and loving our neighbour as we want to be loved ourselves.
In this time of worship may we be able to look beyond any worries we have brought here with us,
All of the difficulties of this world, the headlines that haunt us,
So that we can see you … at work here and now,
with us, encouraging us and reflecting hope for us,
telling us stories of the Easter morning that awaits, pointing to the hope of new life.
Keep our spirits and our hearts focused on the love and hope we find in you,
This we pray in Jesus’ name and in the words he taught us we pray
Our Creator
in heaven
Hallowed be your name
Your kindom come
Your 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 yours is the kindom
The power and the glory
Forever and ever
Amen.
Anthem:
Prayer of Confession
We confess, God, that we have often filled our lives with poor beginnings and bad endings.
We have wished for good outcomes,
but we have not done what was needed to make them so.
Forgive us when we lack faith, lack insight, lack hope.
Forgive us when we get caught in negative patterns and attitudes that consume us.
Forgive us when we find it hard to lift our eyes past the stresses pressing in on us,
To hear your encouragement and see the path you are setting out for us through the darkness.
Hear us as we bring our regrets before you, and repent.
Time for silent confession.
Forgive us God, and give us opportunities to begin again.
Amen.
Sung Response: Kyrie MV 67
Kyrie eleison
Kyrie eleison.
Christe eleison.
Christe eleison.
Kyrie elei – Kyrie eleison (sing 2 x)
Assurance of Pardon
God is constantly working within our lives to create new paths, new opportunities and new life where we imagined only endings and sorrow. Having walked this human journey, Jesus understands how easy doubt and discouragement can be, and He forgives us and loves us into trust and our new beginnings. Continue your Lenten journey with this assurance – if you can, lift your eyes and see …. you are loved, you are forgiven, and paths to new life are being carved out just for you. Easter morning lies ahead. Amen.
The Word of God Proclaimed
Prayer of Illumination (Gord Penley)
God of love and wisdom, your Word is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. Give us grace to receive your truth in faith and love, and strength to follow on the path you set before us; through Jesus Christ, Amen.
Reading: John 3:14-21 page 94 of your pew Bibles, in the New Testament
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.[a]
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.”[b
Hear what the Spirit is saying to the church.
Thanks be to God.
Sermon: Tomorrow Is Another Day
Hymn: Life Into Hope. VU 699
Our Response to God
Offering: We take time to recognize and dedicate all that has been offered to our church this week, gifts of money, gifts of time, your talents and skills, and of course your prayers. Let’s stay seated and sing …
Offering Hymn: Giver of the Perfect Gift. VU 116 v. 1 & 4
Giver of the perfect gift,
Only hope of human race,
Hear the prayer our hearts uplift,
Gathered at thy throne of grace.
Oh may these our Lenten days,
blest by thee with thee be passed,
that with purer, nobler praise
we may keep they feast at last.
Offering Prayer
Your risen life is in us, God, and we find so much joy in what you have done in our lives and in the world. Receive the gifts and offerings that have been given this week, given with joyful and grateful hearts, and use them, we pray, to proclaim the good news of the risen Christ, bringing hope to those who need new life. Amen.
Meditative Music
Prayers of the People
God of abundant and extravagant love
you hold all that you have created
Within your compassionate embrace.
We know that when we are
Torn by pain, sorrow or anger,
When we cry out for wholeness –
For ourselves, for those we love,
and for our world,
that you hold us in your love embrace
and show us pathways to new life.
May your healing presence gently transform
The places of our lives where we hold pain.
May your loving presence be a comforting reality
For all those who find themselves in despair, lost or alone.
May your transforming presence
create generosity in place of greed,
Harmony in place of hatred,
And true justice where evil now reigns in our world.
God we know that at the other side of every Good Friday in our own life
Is the promise of new life and Easter morning.
But sometimes in the thick of things it is hard to feel hope,
We worry about loved ones and friends and those in our community and our world who see to be dealing with so much.
We know that it is sometimes hard to feel hope when so much is a struggle,
It is hard to feel hope when there is so much pain and so many doubts.
And so we ask you God, bring your healing power upon all who need it this day, God.
Bring your healing power upon all who are grieving,
All who are in hospital
All preparing for and recovering from surgery
All living with decreased mobility, chronic debilitating illness,
All who are afraid of what the path ahead holds.
Bring your comfort and your peace upon all who are living amidst occupation and violence that we can not fathom,
All who are underfed,
All who are underhoused,
All who are afraid,
All who are addicted
All who have lost hope
All who doubt, God.
Bring your healing power upon all who need it,
All who cry out this day.
God as we continue on our spiritual journey through Lent toward Palm Sunday and the events of Holy Week
We ask that you will help us to remember –
That out of every darkness and every anxiety
Is the potential for new life and new beginnings.
Help us God to be
Aware and so appreciative of all you do in our lives.
This is your world
Help us to always see your presence and power in it
Help us to find comfort and hope in our Changeless Christ.
Help us respond to your love with our own style of worship and praise
In our every days
Unafraid to show how your love has impacted our lives.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.
*Hymn: I Heard the Voice of Jesus VU 626
*Benediction
Sung Blessing: Love Us Into Fullness MV 81
Love us into fullness, touch us with your grace;
Jesus in your mercy, draw us to your face.
Love us into fullness, hold us in your care,
Cheer us with your presence, here and everywhere.
Love us into fullness, and we will be strong;
Jesus walk beside us, fill our hearts with song.
