SERVICE FOR THE LORD’S DAY
1st Sunday in Lent
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH (USA)
February 21, 2021 Ten Thirty in the morning
Minister: The Reverend Aaron Ochart
Liturgist: Sue Crawford
Please silence all cell phones..
Bold face indicates congregational participation.
GATHERING
WORDS OF WELCOME
MINUTE FOR MISSION Jananne Lankard
PRELUDE Ich ruf zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ “I Call to Thee, Lord Jesus Christ” -J.S. Bach
ADORATION
CALL TO WORSHIP (responsive)
One: Lent is a journey with Jesus toward Jerusalem, toward the cross, toward resurrection and new life. We will be transformed and blessed on this journey.
Many: We are pilgrims on a journey. We are travelers on the road.
One: We undertake the journey knowing we will not remain the same.
Many: We are pilgrims on a journey. We are travelers on the road.
One: The journey will take time. We will feel the strain in our bodies and in our souls, yet love will urge us onward.
Many: We are pilgrims on a journey. We are travelers on the road.
One: Let us start the journey with prayer:
All: God of all times and places, as we begin the pilgrimage from life to death to new life, you will surprise us and nurture us. We put our trust in you, knowing you will guide and provide for us. In the name of Jesus we pray, Amen.
HYMN 309 “Of the Father’s Love Begotten”
- Of the Father’s love begotten, Ere the worlds began to be,
He is Alpha and Omega, He the source, the ending He,
Of the things that are, that have been,
And that future years shall see, Evermore and evermore!
- O ye heights of heaven adore Him;
Angel hosts, His praises sing;
Powers, dominions, bow before Him,
And extol our God and King; Let no tongue on earth be silent,
Every voice in concert ring, Evermore and evermore!
CONFESSION
CALL TO CONFESSION
SILENT CONFESSION
PRAYER OF CONFESSION (unison)
God of mercy, you sent Jesus Christ to seek and save the lost. We confess that we have strayed from you and turned aside from your way. We are misled by pride, for we see ourselves pure when we are stained, and great when we are small. We have failed in love, neglected justice, and ignored your truth. Have mercy, O God, and forgive our sin. Return us to paths of righteousness through Jesus Christ, our Savior.
ASSURANCE OF PARDON
GLORIA PATRI 579
PROCLAMATION
FIRST LESSON 1 Corinthians 13:1-13
If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. For now we see in a mirror, dimly,[b] but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.
MESSAGE FOR THE CHILDREN
ANTHEM Spirit of God Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Spirit of God, bright wind, breath that bids life begin,
blow as you always do; create us anew.
Give us the breath to sing, lifted on soaring wing,
held in your hands, borne on your wings.
Spirit of God, bright Flame, send us in your holy name,
the power to heal, to share your love everywhere.
We cannot fail or fall, or know defeat at all, held in your hands, borne on your wings.
Spirit of God, bright Hands,
even in far off lands you hold all the human race in warm embrace.
No matter where we go, you hold us, you hold us together so,
held in your hands, borne on your wings.
Alleluia! Come, Spirit, come!
SECOND LESSON Luke 10:25-42
Just then a lawyer stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he said, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” He said to him, “What is written in the law? What do you read there?” He answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” And he said to him, “You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live.” But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road; and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan while traveling came near him; and when he saw him, he was moved with pity. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, having poured oil and wine on them. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, ‘Take care of him; and when I come back, I will repay you whatever more you spend.’ Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?” He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”
Now as they went on their way, he entered a certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what he was saying. But Martha was distracted by her many tasks; so she came to him and asked, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me.” But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.”
One: The Word of the Lord.
Many: Thanks be to God.
SERMON “Your Focus Determines Your Reality” Rev. Aaron Ochart
RESPONSE
REAFFIRMATION OF BAPTISM
One: Just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.
MANY: For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body- Jews and Greek, slaves and free– and we were all made to drink of the one Spirit…
One: Trusting in the gracious mercy of God, do you turn from the ways of sin and renounce evil and its power in the world?
MANY: I do.
ONE: Who is your Lord and Savior?
MANY: Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior.
ONE: Will you be Christ’s faithful disciple, obeying his word and showing his love?
MANY: I will, with God’s help.
THE AFFIRMATION OF FAITH Heidelberg Catechism
Q. What is your only comfort in life and in death?
A. That I am not my own, 1 but belong— body and soul, in life and in death— to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ. He has fully paid for all my sins with his precious blood, and has set me free from the tyranny of the devil. He also watches over me in such a way that not a hair can fall from my head without the will of my Father in heaven; in fact, all things must work together for my salvation. Because I belong to him, Christ, by his Holy Spirit, assures me of eternal life and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready from now on to live for him.
THE LORD’S PRAYER
Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever. Amen
Hymn 430 “What a Friend We Have in Jesus”
1. What a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear!
What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer!
O what peace we often forfeit, O what needless pain we bear,
all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer!
2. Have we trials and temptations? Is there trouble anywhere?
We should never be discouraged; take it to the Lord in prayer!
Can we find a friend so faithful who will all our sorrows share?
Jesus knows our every weakness; take it to the Lord in prayer!
PARTING PRAYER Augustine of Hippo (354–430)
O God, full of compassion, I commit and commend myself to you, in whom I am, and live, and know. Be the goal of my pilgrimage, and my rest by the way. Let my soul take refuge from the crowding turmoil of worldly thought beneath the shadow of your wings. Let my heart, this sea of restless waves, find peace in you, O God. Amen.
CHARGE AND BENEDICTION
POSTLUDE Fugue in C Major BWV 553 (“Little”) attributed to J.S. Bach