ORDER OF SERVICE SUNDAY APRIL 9TH 2017-PALM/PASSION SUNDAY

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: stmarksuc@gmail.com

Blog: http://ourcontactonline.blogspot.com/

Presbytery Website: inverguyunited.ca

Ministers: The Whole People of God   Minister: Nan Corrigan D.M.

Minister of Music: Al Fougere

April 9th, 2017-Palm/Passion Sunday

WE GATHER TO WORSHIP GOD

Choir members, worship leader, readers and children gather at the entrance/in church hall to process.
(The Christ candle and 5 candles are lit before the service begins.) 

Greeting 

One: The peace of Christ be with you. All: And with your spirit.

Call to Worship   Reading of Matthew 21:1-11

One: Herein is Good News.   
All: Praise be to God. 
One: Hosanna to the Son of David! 
All: Hosanna in the highest heaven! 
One: Blessed is the one who comes in the name of our God! 
All: Hosanna in the highest heaven! 

*Processional Hymn  Hosanna, Loud Hosanna VU 123

Opening Prayer

Hosanna Saviour, we wave our palms and sing our praise 
as we remember your triumphal entry into Jerusalem. 
May your Spirit enter the heart of our worship this day 

giving us the strength to endure the journey which is ahead. Amen.  Lenten Triad Candle Lighting        Prayer of Confession

(The 6th and last candle of Lent is lit from the Christ candle.)
Leader: We light this candle as a symbol of our love for Jesus and our joy in welcoming him into our lives.
(Movements are led by child or youth)
One: We praise you this day, O God, with singing and palm branches waving. (wave the branch)
All: We join with all creation and all God’s people in praising your name! (wave the branch)
One: We seek to follow Jesus in joyful service.    (wave the branch)
All: Yet it’s much easier to just celebrate the good times:
the parades, the healings, the teachings, the comforting hand; and ignore the tough times:     (place the branch behind your back)
One: the risk-taking that goes with a commitment to peace and justice, the risk-taking that follows Jesus to the cross. 
All: Forgive us, God,       (hold the branch close in front of you)
and fill us with the same passion of Jesus, your beloved son and servant. (hold the branch high)
We pray in his name. Amen.

Assurance of Pardon

Leader: God understands how difficult it is to live as Jesus did. 
All: God forgives us and encourages us to turn our lives around and make this the first day of a new beginning.
Thanks be to God!

*Hymn    Tell Me the Stories of Jesus VU 357

St. David’s: Children may leave for Sunday School during hymn

WE LISTEN FOR GOD’S WORD

The Passion of Jesus (Based on Matthew 26:14–27:66)

The Passion told by symbols

Sung Questions:  Tune VU 144

Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Oh, sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble.
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?

Were you there when his friend betrayed his trust? (each question is modeled after the first verse of “Were you there?” as above)

Scene One: Judas Agrees to Betray Jesus     Coins

Sung Question: Were you there when they shared the bread and wine?

Scene Two: The Passover Meal with the Disciples    Bread/Wine

Sung Question: Were you there when he knelt and prayed to God?

Scene Three: Jesus Prays in Gethsemane Palm branch

Sung Question: Were you there when his friends betrayed and fled?

Scene Four: The Betrayal and Arrest of Jesus Sword

Sung Question: Were you there when they sentenced him to death?

Scene Five: Trial and Peter’s Denial Wind chime

Sung Question: Were you there when they screamed for him to die?

Scene Six: Pilate Hands Jesus Over to Be Crucified     Water

Sung Question: Were you there when they nailed him to the tree?

Scene Seven: Jesus Is Crucified Psalm 31 & Earth

Sung Question: Were you there when they laid him in the tomb?

Scene Eight: Jesus Is Buried Stone

Sung Question: Were you there when the women stayed and cried?

WE RESPOND IN FAITH

Minute for Mission & Offering Our Gifts to God

*Offering Prayer

Gracious God, even on a day such as this, when more than any other we contemplate how we have failed to uphold your word and your work, still we offer you these gifts of our hands and our hearts, and pray that you will receive them and use them, that together we might continue to tell the world of your love. Amen.  

Prayers of Thanksgiving and Intercession 

One: We pray to you, O God, All: save us, Holy One. 

WE GO TO SERVE GOD

*Hymn       Morning Has Broken     VU 409

* Commissioning

There is a tradition that Palm/Passion Sunday is the beginning of
a one-week-long service through Holy Week so there is no
Amen, just words of encouragement and invitation to gather
again next time.
We leave today in limbo, not sure how to feel. 
We leave today knowing that the story is not finished. 
We leave today knowing we have betrayed and denied 
and yet… 
We leave today knowing that God will never let our stories end in death.