The
Congregations of St. Mark’s and St. David’s
United
Church of Canada
Port
Hawkesbury/Port Hastings, NS
Office:
625-2229, Fax 625-3597
E-mail:
stmarks1@eastlink.ca
Blog:
http://ourcontactonline.blogspot.com/
Presbytery
Website: inverguyunited.ca
Ministers:
The Whole People of God; Nan Corrigan D. M.
Minister
of Music: Al Fougere
March
22nd,
2015—5th
Sunday of Lent
Announcements The
Work of Church and Community
The
liturgy for Lent follows traditional lines though it is written in a
pattern to employ a “river” theme:
R reflect
I invite
V voice
E engage
R realize
REFLECT
Greeting
One:
The peace of Christ be with you. All: And with your spirit
Introit Tree of Life and Awesome Mystery, v. 5 VU
121
Written
on Our Hearts For quiet
reflection as we gather
A
Hassidic story tells of a rabbi who always told his people that if
they studied the Torah it would put scripture on their hearts. One of
the students asked, “Why on our hearts and not in them?” The
rabbi answered, “Only God can put scripture inside, but reading
sacred text can put it on your hearts, and then when your hearts
break, the holy words will fall inside.”
Copyright
© Wood Lake Publishing Inc. 2014 Seasons of the Spirit™
SeasonsFUSION Lent • Easter 2015 p.87
INVITE
Call
to Worship At the 5th
bend in the river...a place of “love”
People
of God, gather here;
in
this sacred space, in this sacred moment,
away
from your daily concerns and restraints.
Here
we recall the stories of faith,
here
we see the God who is constantly loving,
here
we are offered forgiveness again,
here
we remember whose we are.
*Hymn Here
I Am, Lord VU 509
Lenten
Triad Candle Extinguishing (Tenebrae) (Two purple candles and
Christ candle are lighted prior to worship.)
Adult:
…Let us consider what in our lives must die in order that fresh
growth and a renewed spirit might be born in us.
(5th
candle is extinguished.)
Let
us pray: All: Loving God, you call us from darkness
and despair, to life and hope. Help us to die to sin. Open us to the
possibility of new life which can spring forth from the darkness of
the old. Amen.
*Sung
Assurance Like a Mighty River
Flowing, v. 5 VU
267
VOICE
Jeremiah
31:31–34 “I will write [my law] on
their hearts.”
One:
This is the witness of the Hebrew people. All: Thanks be to God.
Psalm
51:1–12 Put a new heart in me, O
God. Ref.1 VU 776
*Hymn Breathe on Me, Breath of God VU 382
Opening
the Word & Lord’s Prayer
Gospel
Acclamation
John
12:20–33 Unless a grain of wheat
falls into the earth.
One:
The gospel of Jesus Christ. All: Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
Opening
the Word 2
Responsive
choral reading of Jeremiah 31:31–34
A:
The days are surely coming, says God,
B:
...so expect a surprise;
A:
when I will make a new covenant with my people,
B:
...not built around signs and laws and land like before.
A:
Not like the one I made when I took them out of Egypt
B:
...when God held the people’s hand as a husband would when guiding
his wife.
A:
I will put my law within them and write it on their hearts.
B:
...It will be essential, intrinsic, inherent, known not learned;
A:
and I will be their God and they shall be my people
B:
...like family.
A:
No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, “Know
the Lord.”
B:
...This old way will be obsolete,
A:
for they shall all know me,
B:
...God will be in relationship with everyone,
A:
from the least to the greatest,
B:
...from the smallest child to the most articulate adult,
A:
I will forgive their iniquity and remember their sin no more.
B:
So Jeremiah foretold the good news that was to come, and set God’s
people on a path of expectation.
Prayer
God,
we hear your promise that as love is written on our hearts, love
becomes our true nature. In the full knowledge that we are a forgiven
people we look with expectation into our world, to do what we can do
to share the good news revealed in Jesus and be agents of peace and
justice. Amen.
ENGAGE
*Hymn Jesus Calls Us VU 562
Minute
for Mission & Offering Our Gifts to God
*Offering
Prayer
We
send these gifts into the world with love and the desire that they
will flow and flood where they will do good and bring about justice.
Amen.
Prayers
of the People
REALIZE
*Hymn Lift
High the Cross VU 151
*Commissioning
One:
As you leave this sacred space,
remember
that we are a forgiven people
and
God has written love on our hearts.
Remember
your sacredness,
remember
your place in the eternal flow of life,
and
realize the power love has to change lives.
All:
We will flood the world with the law of love. Amen.
*Choral
Amen
