Hope Churches' Bulletin 3/22/20

The Service for the Lord’s Day

The Fourth Sunday In Lent 

March 22, 2020

GATHERING

Gathering Music:                                    

Welcome & Announcements

*Entrance Song: “Kum Ba Yah”                   See the separate song sheet for all congregational music.

*Call to Worship                                                                                   

*Opening Prayers

*Filling the Baptismal Font                                                                

*Hymn: “Hope of the World”                                                                                                                                   

Prayer for Wholeness 

God of goodness and love:

We admit to our shame

twisting our hearts

in neediness and grief,

craving attention and affection

in which it is all about us.

We repress it by glomming on to others 

to make them need us.

We deny it by dedicating ourselves 

to success and distracting achievement.

We express it in a deluded individualism

aglow with our own specialness and independence.

Addicted to approval

we forget who we are,

becoming what we think will sell.

And our own emptiness

threatens to consume us. 

We corrupt love into a commodity,

and lose our own souls.

O God, our Creator,

have mercy on us.

Kyrie: “Lord, Have Mercy”                                                                             

Invocation of the Trinity

*Gloria: “Glory Be to the Father”                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                

*Procession of the Word

*The Peace

Christ is in the midst of us.

He is and ever shall be.

May the grace and peace of Christ our God be with all of you.

And also with you.            

THE WORD

Sung Prayer for Understanding: “Lord Let My Heart Be Good Soil”        

Hebrew Scriptures 1 Samuel 16:1-13                                         

Psalm: “My Shepherd Will Supply My Need”       Psalm 23                                                                       

Epistle                                Ephesians 5:8-14                                   

Gospel          John 9:1-41                                          

Gospel Talk        

*Affirmation of Faith   

In life and in death we belong to God.
Through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the love of God,
and the communion of the Holy Spirit,
we trust in the one triune God, the Holy One of Israel,
whom alone we worship and serve. 

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. 

But we rebel against God; 

we hide from our Creator.
Ignoring God’s commandments.
we violate the image of God in others and ourselves,
accept lies as truth,
exploit neighbor and nature,
and threaten death to the planet entrusted to our care. We deserve God’s condemnation. 
Yet God acts with justice and mercy to redeem creation. 
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. 

With believers in every time and place,
we rejoice that nothing in life or in death
can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. 

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. 

Amen. 

Prayers of God’s Creation and People  

….Help, save, comfort, and defend us, gracious Lord.

In the communion of all the saints, 

we commend ourselves, one another, 

and our whole life to you, O Christ our God.…

THANKSGIVING

Minute for Mission One Great Hour of Sharing

Offering                                                                                                                

     Offertory Music:          

*Doxology: “O What Shall I Render?”  (verse 1)                                                   

*Closing Prayer of Thanksgiving

*Hymn: “Christ of the Upward Way”                                                                       

SENDING

*Charge                                                                                                                    

Blessed are the poor in spirit, 

for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  

Blessed are those who mourn, 

for they will be comforted.  

Blessed are the meek, 

for they will inherit the earth.  

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, 

for they will be filled.  

Blessed are the merciful, 

for they will receive mercy.  

Blessed are the pure in heart, 

for they will see God.  

Blessed are the peacemakers, 

for they will be called children of God.  

Blessed are those who are persecuted 

for righteousness' sake, 

for theirs is the kingdom of  heaven.  

Blessed are you 

when people revile you and persecute you 

and utter all kinds of evil against you 

falsely on my account.  

Rejoice and be glad, 

for your reward is great in heaven, 

for in the same way 

they persecuted the prophets who were before you.    Matthew 5:3-12

*Benediction                                                                                          

*Choral Benediction: “Jesus Remember Me”  (3 times)                                                                          

*Dismissal

 *Postlude: “Here I Am To Worship”