17 March 2024
Lent 5
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.
Lift up your voice and call out to God.
We cry out, knowing that God hears us.
Come together and wait for God.
We come together, trusting that God is still speaking.
God’s presence is here with us now.
We wait to see Jesus.
We wait in hope,
for God’s enduring love lifts our hearts.
Come, let us worship God!
Let us celebrate the power of God that restores us!
*Hymn: Praise to the Lord, the Almighty. VU 220
Prayer of Approach & The Lord’s Prayer
God of all pilgrims; as we continue on our Lenten walk with Christ,
bless us with your presence.
Help us to rejoice that we are never alone.
Give us reminders of your presence among us,
Help us to see you,
to hear you,
to follow you.
Help us to trust in your promise that the way of faith and love, is the way of life.
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: Glorify Thy Name
Prayer of Confession
God of promise and hope,
you call us to trust in your way
and set out these paths for us to follow
but sometimes we hesitate.
We hesitate to follow you
and to make changes in our lives
even when we know changes need to be made.
Sometimes we forget to look to you,
Thinking we have all of the answers ourselves.
Sometimes our priorities and commitments
reflect personal interests
more than your desire for our lives and world.
Free us, God, that we might be faithful to you
and hear us as we come before you confessing our personal mistakes
and offering you our repentant hearts.
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
On the journey of Lent we seek a spirit of discernment and wisdom. On the journey of Lent we move toward relationship with God. Follow Jesus and known new life. Seek the Spirit and know new insight. Move toward God and know grace. We are forgiven.
The Word of God Proclaimed
Prayer of Illumination (Pat Thompson)
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 12:20-33 page 106 of your pew Bibles, in the New Testament
Now among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks. 21 They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” 22 Philip went and told Andrew, then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. 23 Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24 Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain, but if it dies it bears much fruit. 25 Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26 Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor.
27 “Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say: ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour. 28 Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” 29 The crowd standing there heard it and said that it was thunder. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.” 30 Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not for mine. 31 Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out. 32 And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people[a] to myself.” 33 He said this to indicate the kind of death he was to die.
Hear what the Spirit is saying to the church.
Thanks be to God.
Sermon: My Artist and My Author
Hymn: He Came Singing Love. VU 359
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
God of new life and new beginnings, take the dry bones of these gifts. Breathe life into them that they may bring hope to our congregation and community.
In the name of Christ in whom we have light and life. Amen.
Meditative Music
Prayers of the People
God of all seasons,
in your pattern of things
there is a time for keeping and a time for losing;
a time for building up and a time for pulling down.
In this season of Lent,
as we journey to the cross,
help us to discern in our lives
what we must lay down and what we must take up;
what we must end and what we must begin.
Help us to open our hearts to the ways in which you can work in our lives
moving us from death to new life
from stagnation to new beginnings
from pain to renewal.
Give us grace to lead a discipline life,
in glad faithfulness and with the joy
which comes from closer relationship with Christ.
At this time we think of all those people we know, and those known only to you
who are in need of new life and new hope.
Our prayers continue for the people of Gaza and for the hostages taken by Hamas.
Give them strength and endurance, and may there be hope for tomorrow.
We pray for all the war torn areas of our world,
We pray for our climate, our world, your creation, suffering.
We pray for all who are grieving,
Those who are worried about loved ones,
All who are recovering from surgeries and receiving treatments,
We pray for those who are waiting,
Those who are living with uncertainty and fear.
We pray God for those who are underhoused and underfed.
We pray for all who wish to see you God,
To see some hope and light breaking into their darkness.
And we pray God for strength for our journey,
and vision for the road
May we all be caring companions, full of hope and ready to lay down our old ways in order to embrace new life, as we continue along our Lenten road.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.
*Hymn: I See A New Heaven. VU 713
*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.
