SERVICE FOR THE LORD’S DAY
4th Sunday in Lent
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH (USA)
March 14, 2021 Ten Thirty in the morning
Minister: The Reverend Aaron Ochart
Liturgist: Margaret Corcoran
Please silence all cell phones.
Bold face indicates congregational participation.
GATHERING
WORDS OF WELCOME
MINUTE FOR MISSION
PRELUDE O Gott, du Frommer Gott! Partita I & VI – Bach
ADORATION
CALL TO WORSHIP (responsive)
The journey to Jerusalem is long.
This is a wilderness journey and we are not always comfortable. But we trust and we persevere.
We are pilgrims on a journey.
We are travelers on the road.
God’s people are familiar with wilderness. After Egypt, they wandered in hunger and thirst—confused and tired—waiting for the promised land. Our destination is different.
We aim for Jerusalem—where it all ends—and where there will be new beginnings.
We are pilgrims on a journey.
We are travelers on the road.
Let us pray.
God of the wilderness, give us strength when we wander.
When we stray and grieve, hunger and thirst, you have promised to make water spring up in the desert. Quench our thirst. Feed us with manna.
Strengthen us when we are tired or lack trust.
In the name of Jesus we pray, Amen.
1 In the cross of Christ I glory,
Towering o’er the wrecks of time;
All the light of sacred story
Gathers round its head sublime.
2 When the woes of life o’ertake me,
Hopes deceive, and fears annoy,
Never shall the cross forsake me:
Lo! it glows with peace and joy.
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 Hebrews 3:7-19
Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says,
“Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion,
as on the day of testing in the wilderness,
where your ancestors put me to the test,
though they had seen my works for forty years.
Therefore I was angry with that generation,
and I said, ‘They always go astray in their hearts,
and they have not known my ways.’
As in my anger I swore,
‘They will not enter my rest.’”
Take care, brothers and sisters, that none of you may have an evil, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” so that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partners of Christ, if only we hold our first confidence firm to the end. As it is said, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.” Now who were they who heard and yet were rebellious? Was it not all those who left Egypt under the leadership of Moses? But with whom was he angry forty years? Was it not those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, if not to those who were disobedient? So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.
ANTHEM “Poor Man, Lazrus” Arr. Jester Hairston
Poor man, Lazrus, sick and disabled.
Put your finger in the water come and cool my tongue ‘cause I’m tormented in the flame
He had to eat crumbs from the rich man’s table.
Put your finger in the water come and cool my tongue ‘cause I’m tormented in the flame
I’m tormented in the flame, I’m tormented in the flame.
Put your finger in the water come and cool my tongue ‘cause I’m tormented in the flame .
Rich man, Divies, he lived so well; And when he died he went straight to hell.
I love to shout, I love to sing. I love to praise my heavenly King!
SECOND LESSON Luke 16:19-31
“There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who longed to satisfy his hunger with what fell from the rich man’s table; even the dogs would come and lick his sores. The poor man died and was carried away by the angels to be with Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried. In Hades, where he was being tormented, he looked up and saw Abraham far away with Lazarus by his side. He called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am in agony in these flames.’ But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that during your lifetime you received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner evil things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in agony. Besides all this, between you and us a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who might want to pass from here to you cannot do so, and no one can cross from there to us.’ He said, ‘Then, father, I beg you to send him to my father’s house— for I have five brothers—that he may warn them, so that they will not also come into this place of torment.’ Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; they should listen to them.’ He said, ‘No, father Abraham; but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’”
SERMON “Consequences” Rev. Aaron Ochart
RESPONSE
THE AFFIRMATION OF FAITH Confession of 1967
God’s redeeming work in Jesus Christ embraces the whole of man’s life: social and cultural, economic and political, scientific and technological, individual and corporate. It includes man’s natural environment as exploited and despoiled by sin. It is the will of God that his purpose for human life shall be fulfilled under the rule of Christ and all evil be banished from his creation.
Biblical visions and images of the rule of Christ, such as a heavenly city, a father’s house, a new heaven and earth, a marriage feast, and an unending day culminate in the image of the kingdom. The kingdom represents the triumph of God over all that resists his will and disrupts his creation. Already God’s reign is present as a ferment in the world, stirring hope in men and preparing the world to receive its ultimate judgment and redemption.
With an urgency born of this hope, the church applies itself to present tasks and strives for a better world. It does not identify limited progress with the kingdom of God on earth, nor does it despair in the face of disappointment and defeat. In steadfast hope, the church looks beyond all partial achievement to the final triumph of God.
“Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to do far more abundantly than all we ask or think, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”
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
on thy people pour thy power;
crown the ancient church’s story;
bring its bud to glorious flower.
Grant us wisdom, grant us courage,
for the facing of thls hour,
for the facing of thls hour.
2. Lo! the hosts of evil round us,
scorn thy Christ, assail his ways!
From the fears that long have bound us,
free our hearts to love and praise.
Grant us wisdom, grant us courage,
for the living of these days,
for the living of these days.
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 Dialogue sir les grands jeux- Couperin