[0:00] I have to say it louder. Good morning, everyone. It doesn't make any difference. It's good to see everybody here for worship this morning.
[0:16] And oh my goodness, is it a beautiful day? Anybody thinking of going to the beach this afternoon? No coats. You will have to wear rubber boots.
[0:28] That I can tell you. It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood. It's a beautiful day to celebrate God and our sense of that's who we belong to.
[0:40] And we are, this is the first weekend of Lent. And so we are going on the way. And if you, you should have received, you or someone with you should have received a card with a shell on it.
[0:56] Many of you know that I was on a bit of a pilgrimage for the month, a lot of the month of February and part of January.
[1:07] And there's, it was a time of refreshment and renewal. It was also a time of searching. But it wasn't just about me. It was about you.
[1:18] It was about you. Because as the person who's appointed to be the lead pastor, part of my prayer life is how to serve, how to lead.
[1:30] Where is God calling us to go as a congregation? What is the calling of God on our lives as people in March 2022?
[1:41] What is the name of God calling us to be thecous какое-là, part of my prayer life is called unknowledge?
[1:58] We decided there before we call it sherry quay 않아. And the silence of coins asked us to go to free and ask yourself to Agora, part of our spiritual journey is about craft garner. Which we just made it of course not useful to move beyond thataalit!
[2:11] because there were not enough of the big, beautiful scallop shells that some of you got that were intact, and so those I picked out, not picked up.
[2:23] The symbol for the Camino de Santiago is the scallop shell. And when I ask the question, why is that the symbol?
[2:35] And it is everywhere throughout the pilgrimage, the 35-day walk from France across, all the way across Spain to the coast, and it is marked like if you're a hiking person, the more places the trail is marked, the more successful you are going to be at not getting lost.
[2:56] And you can imagine if it's a 35-day pilgrimage walking, then you don't want to lose your way. And so the symbol of the Camino de Santiago, the scallop shell, is found everywhere.
[3:11] And the question about why, why? Some say that the lines that go up the scallop shell always point in the direction to God.
[3:28] And now in German and in maybe Spanish, I'm not sure if I remember correctly, the name, the translation has the name James in it.
[3:41] And St. James is one of the churches that is a part of the Camino de Santiago. And so it's like that points to the end. So sometimes it's often this way and not this way.
[3:56] So it's pointing to the way, the rays and my take and many people's take is that keep going until you encounter Jesus Christ and his will for you in this world.
[4:12] And so we journey, and you don't even need hiking boots. So we go on our way not to find out who we should be. I don't know.
[4:23] We could take account. I bet you've got enough shoulds in your life that you could just like be buried by them if you thought about it too much. Lent shouldn't be about shoulds.
[4:34] It's about peeling away the layers of shoulds and shouldn'ts. The yeses and the nos and the maybes until it's just you, the person that God made in God's image and said, this is my beloved, my son, my daughter made in my image.
[4:59] That's what we're looking for, is to just go and see who we can find in the name of Jesus Christ.
[5:10] Let's pray. Lord, guide us and take us. Show us your way. For in fact, you are the one way.
[5:22] And we are grateful for your word that proclaims it. May we be faithful. May we be freed. And may we find you along the way.
[5:35] In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Good morning.
[5:51] And good morning to our online family. Our first hymn is, Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing. And there's a very peculiar word that some of you may be familiar with, but I thought maybe I'd share a little bit before we sing to give us some perspective.
[6:06] In the second verse, it says, Here I raise my Ebenezer. Anybody know Ebenezer? Kelly does. I've heard two things.
[6:18] They say it's a memorial stone. In Hebrew, it meant stone of help. So I'm going to share just a little bit before we sing. It says, When the Philistines neared Israel, a great thunder scared and shook up the Philistines.
[6:32] This is from 1 Samuel. He was a prophet. The state of dismay allowed Israel to prevail. Samuel memorialized the victory and set a stone, the Ebenezer, between Mitzpah and Shen.
[6:45] 1 Samuel 7.12 tells us he named it Ebenezer, saying, Thus far the Lord has helped us. Because of Samuel's faithfulness and Israel's repentance and newfound faith in the one true Lord, the hand of the Lord was against the Philistines all of the days of Samuel.
[7:05] So I invite you to stand as we sing our first hymn. Amen. Teach me some of the Lord has done it, sung by flaming tongues above.
[7:47] Praise the mount, I'm fixed upon it, mount of thy redeeming love.
[7:57] Here I raise my Nebenezer, hither by thy help I'm calm.
[8:08] And I hope by thy good pleasure, safely to arrive at home. Jesus saw me when a stranger, wandering from the cold of God.
[8:29] He to rescue me from danger interposed his precious blood.
[8:40] Oh, to grace, how great a debtor, in thee I'm constrained to flee.
[8:51] Let thy goodness, like a letter, ride my wandering heart to thee. Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it.
[9:07] Prone to leave the God I love. Here's my heart, Lord, take and seal it.
[9:18] Seal it for thy courts of love. You may be seated. Good morning, church.
[9:35] Good morning. As we think about how the ways in which God has touched our lives with so much and has been so kind to us, we come now to our time of sharing, our time of giving. And during this particular season in the calendar of the church, we're going to be using these rice bowls as a way to document our giving.
[9:54] And we have a video that will explain what these rice bowls are about. Open your hearts as God is moving in you and in your world and share some of what God has shared with you.
[10:07] This is Violet and her husband Abraham. And these are the children they call their own. Before Violet and Abraham took them in, many were abandoned, abused, and malnourished, fighting for survival on the streets.
[10:22] So she took them in and loved them like they've never been loved before. And the children began to grow and get stronger. As they grew, so did their appetites.
[10:36] Which created a big problem. Fortunately, rice bowls partners with loving grassroots children's homes around the world to cover 100% of their food budgets.
[10:50] Rice bowls started over 35 years ago using a plastic piggy bank in the shape of a bowl of rice to fight world hunger. To ensure thousands of orphaned children enjoy delicious, locally sourced meals every single day.
[11:05] By removing the financial burden on these homes, you enable them to focus on loving, teaching, protecting, and providing for the children in their care.
[11:17] Every one of the kids we serve is a hero who has already overcome so much. They have the potential to make a real difference in the world. Let's give them a boost.
[11:27] Let's give them a boost.
[11:57] Let's give them a boost. Let's give them a boost. sometimes reveal unexpected blessings and discoveries, maybe shells to share with a congregation that you're leading in love, maybe rediscovering God's love for you. The song that I'm going to share with you this morning is a song that I wrote a number of years ago that I brought to Matt and the rest of the band, and we took an unexpected journey as he looked at me and said, Nance, this sounds really familiar to one you wrote a couple months ago. I'm like, probably.
[12:33] And he said, if you trust me, I'm thinking of a radical shift. So we finished the song, and it's called Light in the Darkness. It's about being lost and found, and I want to give John the mic for a second because he has a short testimony that he would like to share with you.
[12:51] Yeah. Good morning, everybody. You all know me as the silent one, the strummer. I've been up here for a long time and I've probably said 10 words through the microphone, maybe when I'm not singing, but God has really been on this pilgrimage with me. The last few days, I've gone through a valley of darkness, and it was really challenging at times, but God is just so good and always so near and willing to forgive. And the light in the darkness is never snuffed out, not ever. And he's just given me the strength to just open my eyes and be in fellowship with him. And some wonderful people have helped me this week. And I'm so grateful that God has put his Christian people around me. And even when I don't always feel like a strong Christian, you know that you all lift me up. But I just want to give all the praise to God and that he's so wonderful. And he gave me a verse this morning when I was doing my meditations from Psalm 89. It says, blessed are those who have learned to acclaim you. They walk in the light of your mercy,
[14:09] I believe it is, all day. And sometimes, of course, the devil's snatching it away from me a little bit. But I'm just so grateful that God has not abandoned me and has brought me back to the light of his joy. And now I've said 20 times more words than I have the entire time you've known me and my faith. And thank you for your indulgence. Amen, Brother John.
[15:00] I'm covered by this cloud of pain. So dark I cannot see. So numb I cannot even feel the love you have for me.
[15:20] You seem so many miles away I'm lost within the storm. I need a light that's bright enough to lead me home. You are the light in the darkness, my safe passage home. You are the one who reminds me I am never alone.
[15:47] I wish I could snap my fingers. I think it all just disappear.
[16:05] I think the sorrow and despair. It all seems so unclear. I'm looking for a lighthouse in the middle of a storm I can't see my way to safety, my way back home You are the light in the darkness, my safe passage home You are the one who reminds me I am never alone You are the lighthouse that nights me Take me to the shore You are the light in the darkness I want to know you more Your word reveals your love for me Your faithfulness is true
[17:06] My chains can all be broken When I believe in you You are the light that fills my heart If I could only be Open to the love you have And always had for me You are the light in the darkness My safe passage home You are the one who reminds me I am never alone You are the lighthouse that guides me Safeway to the shore You are the light in the darkness I want to know you more
[18:09] I want to know you more I want to know you more And then what you want to know you'll also Thank you.
[19:12] Thank you.
[19:42] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
[20:14] Thank you. Thank you. And everyone that was there, yes. Thank you, guys. Thank you. Yes. Thank you.
[20:25] Thank you. We want to thank everyone who helped or came and ate. It truly was a great experience, and people were commenting on how happy they were to be there and be able to celebrate and eat dinner with friends and new friends and make new friends.
[20:42] There's also a sign-up on the back to help for future weeks, and coming up April 9th is the Easter egg hunt. So we have sign-up sheets to not only donate items but to help with that.
[20:56] So we hope that you sign-up on our sheets. Does anybody have joys or concerns that they would like to bring this morning? Oh, I'm going to walk back here.
[21:15] I missed what? Oh, a new grandbaby! That's definitely a celebration. Do we have any other joys or concerns?
[21:31] I know Nancy lost her aunt last week, so we want to continue to keep her family in our prayers. Joy of her story development. How about that?
[21:42] Yeah. All right. Please pray with me. Heavenly Father, flooding our emails, screaming to us from the television, crowding up our mailboxes.
[22:00] The offers for millions of dollars, the dream of great wealth, and it ravages our lives. We're struggling, and we've finished the season devoted to commercialization of giving.
[22:13] We're entering into a time in which we are called to put aside our desire for wealth, status, power, and enter into a journey of faith with you.
[22:25] This call is not an easy one to follow. It's so much easier to succumb to the temptations of culture and greed. But we know that your love and power are never obsolete.
[22:40] That you are with us always, lifting, healing, restoring, and encouraging us to move forward on our journey of service and compassion.
[22:52] We bring our prayers today, the needs of others in situations which are difficult and sorrowful. We thank you for those who are able to share their testimonies with us.
[23:05] We pray for the people of Ukraine and our military who are unsure of what their status are going to be. We pray for the families that were involved in the school shootings in Kansas last week and the accident of the youth in Lancaster.
[23:22] We pray for our missions team today who are looking for other ways to show your love out in the world. Help us, God, to remember that you are in the midst of these times, giving us hope and love.
[23:37] Enable us to feel the power of your love in our own lives and empower us to share this love with others. God, we're amazed that you should love us so much that you sent your Son to be our Savior, to be wounded on our account, and to die of death on our behalf and rise again so that by grace through faith in you we have been redeemed, healed of our wounds, set free from slavery to sin, and we've been given a new life in you.
[24:16] May we live our life in humble dependence upon you day by day. In your name we pray. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.
[24:32] Amen. Amen. Good morning.
[24:46] Good morning. Our scripture reading today is from the book of Luke, chapter 4, verses 1 through 13. Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil.
[25:05] He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry. The devil said to him, If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.
[25:16] Jesus answered, It is written, Man shall not live on bread alone. The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world.
[25:29] And he said to him, I will give you all their authority and splendor. It has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. If you worship me, it will all be yours.
[25:42] Jesus answered, It is written, Worship the Lord your God and serve him only. The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple.
[25:55] If you are the Son of God, he said, throw yourself down from here. For it is written, He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully. They will lift you up in their hands so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.
[26:10] Jesus answered, It is said, Do not put the Lord your God to the test. When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.
[26:23] This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Okay.
[26:38] Here we go. Here we go. Here we go.
[27:16] You know what to do with it when you get there. You where? Cruz de Ferro. It's on the Camino. You'll be there a month from now. You can read about it in the guide. It's a place of much significance.
[27:31] Mr. Avery, do you know why you're walking the way? I suppose I'm doing it for Daniel. You walk the way for yourself, only for yourself. Well, then I guess I don't have a clue, Captain.
[27:44] Mr. Avery, I have also lost a child. I wish you a good Camino. Enjoy your pilgrimage. Both of you.
[27:57] Thank you. Come. This is the way. The end.
[28:20] Thank you.
[28:50] On journeys, we find things. Maybe you pick up rocks. Maybe you pick up shells. I remember being in California, and my husband picked up a giant pine cone and then hid it in his luggage, because you're not supposed to bring anything that's like that out of California.
[29:12] You're not supposed to bring anything in either. But we travel these roads, and some of the things that we find, I did not find this on this trip, because they don't grow scallops this big too close to the East Coast.
[29:28] But these are some of the amazing shells. And I think about, for example, this one that we might discard because it's broken.
[29:42] But look at how beautiful it is. Look at how beautiful God's creation is in there. And now you'll hear some of my own prejudices, because this one I did find on my walk.
[30:00] And it is absolutely perfect. In fact, what used to live in there had died in there. And I brought it home with me. Both of them.
[30:11] Yes, it got kicked out of the car into a sealed plastic container on the way home. But some of what we do on a pilgrimage isn't about the beautiful.
[30:32] These are the ones that wouldn't fit on a card. But look at this one full of barnacles and things like that. And the woman that I was with, she wanted to understand more about what was I doing.
[30:46] And I explained to her about walking on the Camino and walking on the Camino, which I would love to do. And the discovery, as I said, not of what I should take on, but what we should take off.
[31:08] The burdens, the things that we carry. And we walk with Tom Avery on this journey of the Camino.
[31:22] And we think, well, what does that have to do with Jesus going off into the wilderness? The sand is forever.
[31:36] Jesus went walking into the wilderness 40 days and 40 nights. And we think about, well, why did he do that? Why did God call him to do that?
[31:48] There's nothing like, as we will find out as we walk this journey, there's nothing like spending time away from the things that distract us.
[31:59] The things that suck us over this way. You know, anytime people are thinking about cleaning their whole house, they find themselves, maybe you don't find yourself sucked into a closet.
[32:13] Maybe when I asked Dan Putney for these backpacks, I don't know, did you look inside them? You didn't.
[32:27] Oh, I'm not looking. I'm not looking. This is... Jax, yes. I saw that, and the picture will be up here in a little bit. But the...
[32:37] I had teenage boys too. Yeah, we don't look. Sometimes we don't even get near. But we tend to find things.
[32:50] Like, if my husband was going looking for his Boy Scout backpacking pack, or Adirondack backpacking pack, which are all the same thing, invariably there would be things tucked in the pockets, a card of this, or a rock of that, and we get sidetracked.
[33:12] Oh, wait. Was I supposed to be organizing? I got sucked into a backpack. I got sucked into looking at the clothes that my children wore when they were little.
[33:25] I got sucked into picking something up that's handmade. This is a walking stick that my husband made for me, and I've yet to use it for walking because I don't really know how you use a walking stick.
[33:39] I just walk. So I just touch it. It's soft. This is... happens to be a stick that honeysuckle vine grew around the tree.
[33:49] It did not kill the tree, but it did force the tree to grow in a different way. And then when you peel off the honeysuckle vine, you get this spiral pattern.
[34:01] And it just so happened that the honeysuckle, the tree that the honeysuckle vine grew around was on my grandparents' property. We get sucked in.
[34:12] We get distracted. Am I the only one? So when Jesus is going in the wilderness and he deals with temptation, and then we have the human level of Jesus who actually encounters the devil and has to deal with these temptations, who after 40 days and 40 nights of not eating wouldn't be really hard-pressed not to take the bread?
[34:41] Like turn rock into bread and just shove it into your mouth? That is where we see the human Jesus.
[34:52] And we often don't look at the human Jesus. We look at the God Jesus. So of course Jesus would not succumb to the temptation of the rocks into bread and the being thrown off the side and surviving it and all the things that he is tempted to do.
[35:12] When our lives get complicated, when our lives, when we are looking and we're frustrated and we are not finding what we want or maybe our lives have shifted and there's a hole where there wasn't a hole before, and it might be the loss of a person.
[35:34] It might be the loss of a job. It might be retirement. It might be, it might be, it might be, and our lives don't feel the same. And so we then find ourselves with this hole.
[35:52] And one of the first things that we sometimes do is try to fill it. Sometimes we look for something to fill us up when we feel empty.
[36:05] I'm good for Dove chocolate instead of Godiva. I'm good for potato chips. I'm good for french fries. Those kinds of things are some of the best things to look for for me when there's something like I just need something.
[36:21] I need something. Some people, whether it's in midlife or trouble or distress, alcohol, abandoning relationships, abandoning their sense of who they were with God when life was what it should be.
[36:44] We look for so many different things because when we're in the 40 days of wilderness, we're tempted to not look at what is missing, to not look at what we discover in the 40 days of wilderness because life will change.
[37:05] We will lose people. We will lose jobs. We will lose friends. We will lose. But so often, we want to leap over it and fix it somehow just like we want to leap over Lent.
[37:22] If we could just go from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday, we'd be all set. People struggle with what we should do with Lent if it means that we have to look more closely at ourselves because we don't do very well.
[37:43] When we look closely at ourselves, we are often disappointed, unhappy, critical. Tom Avery, he went on the Camino to try, initially his reason, to try to fill the hole that his son left.
[38:03] But it really wasn't that. He went looking for reconciliation because his son wanted to experience the world after his mother died.
[38:16] He was going through a Ph.D. program. He decided, I'm not doing this, Dad. I'm not doing this. Not right now. I need to see things. We never got to see things together.
[38:28] Mom never got to see things. And so he decides to go and experience the world. And when Tom says he's going to take his place, what Tom doesn't know yet is that Tom is not only going to discover some things about his son, he's going to discover something about himself.
[38:53] That life, faith, equal marks, golf, alcohol, money, isn't what God had in mind.
[39:05] that God gave us this life to live. That God gave us this life to live. And what Tom was looking for, what did he want?
[39:18] He wanted to fill the hole of his son. Who doesn't? Who doesn't want to fill the place that a person used to be in and they're no longer there?
[39:30] But what is it that sends us wandering in the first place? Dissatisfaction? Something? There are things and wandering doesn't always mean that we do something that we shouldn't.
[39:45] Wandering just means that we kind of turn from the life that we know and the things that we knew the way they were and we wander a bit.
[39:56] And you heard Nancy say, not all who wander are lost. Some are. People do get lost. I ask people on social media, tell me about when you were lost.
[40:07] Oh my goodness, people got lost going someplace they went 500 times. People got lost thinking they knew exactly where they were going. And here we find Tom thinking he knows what he's doing.
[40:24] And so when we feel like we're lost and we're unsure in our relationships sometimes it's aging and health people don't realize that there are some health conditions that can turn people into a person who's more angry and resentful because they're trapped in a body that they can't escape.
[40:50] That they're trapped in a circumstance a diagnosis a stage of life that they can't change. you cannot roll back the clock no matter how much L'Oreal or whoever thinks we can.
[41:06] Family, employment or job, financial and sometimes faith. Sometimes we miss the days when our whole heart believed.
[41:18] Sometimes we never had the day that we believed with our whole heart. Tom went looking for all of this without even knowing what it was he was looking for.
[41:33] In our wilderness places that's when we're most vulnerable to temptation. That's when we're most vulnerable to temptation and what are the temptations that we experience?
[41:46] I mean when you're more tired, when you're more stressed, when you're more this or you're more that, that's when we're likely to indulge maybe. Maybe that's just me.
[42:01] But that's when God is inviting us to just like a hunger pang tells us we're hungry. What is that saying to us?
[42:12] What is that empty feeling, that place of I need to satisfy this? Sometimes it's just potato chips. I'm just going to tell you. Sometimes that's just what it is. Sometimes it's a need to feel connected to another person, to God, to be reassured that we're who we're supposed to be, that we are the people God made us to be and we sometimes need to get our way back to that place.
[42:44] in asking and the question about where do we go? What does it mean to go looking, to go on the way, to find ourselves?
[43:00] And so I invited people to give some pictures of some of the high places, the high points, the finding places in their lives and what you see is in the middle a bunch of men finding their way to Jesus in a mechanic's garage and you'll see Walt Holmes over there in the back of the picture because what better place is there than to go to an auto mechanic's garage and find Jesus.
[43:31] Right, Walt? A pregnancy and the couple on the far right, they are friends of Brian and Cindy Neese and when they talked about what we were doing in Lent they were like oh we did that!
[43:48] They haven't done the whole thing but it's on their bucket list, right? To walk the whole way and our son Marty is going wherever he wants with his stick and a dog.
[44:01] It's just how it goes sometimes. There are and we live in a season and a time when people planned things, wanted things, people, one person wrote about the fact that we have been captured in our homes, in our masks, in the lives that we have had and that all of a sudden there have been opportunities along the way that burst into our life and remind us of places we've been and yes, places we can go again and relationships, family members not seen for years and years a marriage as the high point of someone's life and a trip to the Grand Canyon and on his way doesn't he look ready?
[44:49] Dan and Jack are going to go 15 miles in hiking in, where was it? Allegheny National Park and then there's Charlie, my grandson there who has, his shirt says Heart Warrior and some of you know that he had life-saving heart surgery when he was about eight weeks old and look at him now, now he's walking, walking in a walk for heart health for Children's Hospital in Cleveland and these are some of the things that we consider high points, high places.
[45:29] beautiful places, light, the day because the things and the places that we go, they don't have to be magnificent.
[45:41] I stepped outside with the dog this morning and didn't even need a coat. In the days prior to this, it was sweatshirt and then a jacket and gloves before go outside.
[45:56] So can't today even all by itself be that place, that shining story that tells us that God is real, God is present and you've heard it, you've heard it, you've heard it from John, you've heard it from Nancy and I pray that you hear it from God's word.
[46:21] So, some of the choices when we feel those lost places, do we hang up our boots and give up?
[46:33] Go back to the old ways that we have lived, self-medicate, do those kinds of things.
[46:44] Jesus went into the wilderness to get closer to God and God's will and to prepare himself for this journey of these days. The season is Lent and historically, it was a season to get ready for the resurrection.
[47:02] It was. And it was a season of getting ready for baptism, getting ready for church membership, examining your heart, but not examining your heart to beat on it.
[47:14] My goodness, anybody and everybody who looks in the mirror is like, part of what I see Lent is maybe the chance to stop doing some of that.
[47:37] The chance to stop thinking that we need to criticize, examine with a microscope, find what's wrong with us and beat it out.
[47:49] That's Old Testament work. Jesus came to be with us, to look at us and to look at us in the face and say, I took dust of the earth and breathed life into it and I made you in my image.
[48:09] So why would we criticize ourselves? Why would we criticize each other? Because surely if I am made from the dust of the earth and God breathed life into me to be made in the image of God, then that's the same for all of you.
[48:25] For all of you. And maybe you don't believe it yet. Well then, let's keep walking. Let's keep walking together so that maybe by Easter morning, truly, there will be a sense of new life as you rise up and shed the ashes, the darkness, the death, the fumbling, the thinking, I should, could, would do all these things.
[48:59] And remember and recognize that in you is the life of God made known in Jesus Christ. What better day to celebrate the beginning of it than today?
[49:12] So I invite us as the stones say, keep walking, keep looking, keep traveling the life that we didn't choose.
[49:30] Because unless I'm confused, none of us made an appointment before we were born and said, God, I pick this one or that one.
[49:42] We get the life we get, but do we live it? And God doesn't want us to waste a minute living and loving and laughing and finding and communicating and teaching and preaching and baptizing and loving.
[50:01] May it be so. Amen. The dog is terrified of this.
[50:28] I don't know what it is. With our hearts open and truly inspired, let us ready ourselves to come to the table.
[50:49] As we prepare to attend the heavenly feast, feast, we especially pray for those who have no earthly table or no place at a table and so little daily bread along the journey.
[51:04] In silence, let us offer up prayers of confession. hear this good news.
[51:36] God has loved you from the very beginning. The invitation of Christ is never ending. The Holy Spirit is transforming you even now.
[51:49] And in the name of Jesus Christ, you are forgiven. In the name of Jesus Christ, you are forgiven. Glory to God. Amen.
[52:00] The Lord be with you. And also with you. Lift up your hearts. We lift up the Lord. Let us give thanks to the Lord, our God. It is right and a good and joyful thing.
[52:15] Always and everywhere to give thanks to you, Almighty God, creator of all that was and is and is to come. You formed us in your image, creating all in goodness, asking us to walk with you in love.
[52:32] When we held back from your invitation, you sought us out, encouraging us on our way time and again. You led those who could not see by a road they did not know.
[52:47] You have turned nighttime before them into light. You have smoothed out the rough places and made them plain. You have released the prisoners from the dungeon.
[52:58] You have made all things new. And so, with your people on earth and all the company of heaven, we praise your name and join their unending hymn.
[53:11] Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might, heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
[53:25] Hosanna in the highest. Holy are you and blessed is your son, Jesus Christ. Your spirit anointed him to walk with the poor, the captive, and the oppressed and to proclaim freedom and abundance in your name.
[53:43] On dusty paths and lakeside shores, he encountered friends, strangers, and enemies, inviting them to journey with him and to eat with him.
[53:54] He offered newness of life and renewed covenants of love by water and the spirit. On the night in which he gave himself up for all, he was at a table with his friends.
[54:09] He invited them and he invites us to pause in our quest for destinations and savor each other's company and the ways in which he is still present in our gathering together.
[54:23] He took the bread, he gave thanks to you and he broke the bread saying, do this in remembrance of me.
[54:38] He took the cup, he poured into it, he blessed it and he shared it and said, do this in remembrance of me.
[54:52] Even when Jesus' disciples thought he was dead and the cave was closed, he met them and walked with them on the road to Emmaus and when he broke the bread with them, their eyes were opened.
[55:09] He invited them and he invites us all to keep walking together and to keep offering his body which we remember in the breaking and the taking of this bread for the grace and the love of all.
[55:26] Likewise, he invited them and he invites us all to offer this one cup of forgiveness, of grace, of new life, remembering his blood shed for us.
[55:41] And so, in remembrance of these, your mighty acts in Jesus Christ, we offer ourselves as a holy and living sacrifice in union with Christ's offering for us as we proclaim the mystery of faith.
[55:56] Christ has died, Christ has risen, Christ will come again. Pour out your Holy Spirit on us gathered here and on these gifts of bread and cup. Make them be for us the body and blood of Christ that we may be for the world the body of Christ redeemed by his blood.
[56:15] By your Spirit, make us one with Christ, one on this Lenten journey with one another until Christ comes in final victory and we feast at his heavenly banquet.
[56:28] Through your Son, Jesus Christ, with your Holy Spirit and in your Holy Church, honor and glory is yours, Almighty God, now and forever.
[56:38] Amen. And now let us pray together the prayer that Jesus taught us to pray. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
[56:50] 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 trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.
[57:05] And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
[57:15] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.
[57:26] Amen.
[57:37] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Would those serving today please come forward.
[58:10] Thank you.
[58:40] Thank you.
[59:10] Thank you.
[59:40] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
[59:52] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. but this is about who Jesus is and Jesus' own worth.
[60:04] So come and receive what God has freely given. We ask that you use the center aisles. Come to the front, receive your elements, and then exit by the sides. There's a gluten-free station here on the far side of the sanctuary.
[60:17] Please come as the Spirit leads. Amen.
[61:00] Amen. Amen.
[62:00] Amen. Amen.
[63:00] Amen. Amen.
[64:00] Amen. Amen.
[65:00] Amen. Amen.
[65:40] So whatever this journey of Lent reveals to each one of us, the blessings, the joys, the needs, the requests, let's bring them to the Lord in prayer, remembering that he forever reigns.
[65:54] I invite you to stand for our closing two songs. Let's sing. Let's sing. Let's sing. Let's sing.
[66:05] Let's sing. Let's sing. What a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear.
[66:18] What a privilege to carry, everything to God in prayer.
[66:32] Oh, what peace we often forfeit. Oh, what needless pain we bear.
[66:44] Is there trouble anywhere? Oh, what a privilege to carry. Oh, what a privilege to carry. Oh, what a privilege to carry. Everything to God in prayer. Oh, what a privilege to carry. Everything to God in prayer. Have we trials and temptations?
[67:07] Is there trouble anywhere? We should never be discouraged.
[67:20] Take it to the Lord in prayer. Can we find a friend to faithful?
[67:33] Who will all our sorrows share? Jesus knows our every weakness.
[67:47] Take it to the Lord in prayer. And we'll be right back.
[68:01] While John's getting to his drum set, you might remember Pastor Gene with this song on Forever Rain. The chorus is, Oh, I'm running to your arms. So just picture Pastor Gene up here.
[68:13] You are good.
[68:29] You are good. When there's nothing good in me. You are love. You are love. I'm displayed for all to see. You are light.
[68:41] You are light. When the darkness closes in. You are hope. You are hope. You have covered all my sin.
[68:53] You are peace. You are peace. You are peace. You are peace. When my fear is crippling. You are true.
[69:05] You are true. Even in my wandering. You are joy. You are joy. You're the reason that I sing. You are light.
[69:16] You are light. In you death has lost its sting. You are pain. We will always rise to your grace And I win.
[69:27] On your bene. I've run into yours The riches of your love Will always be enough Nothing compares to your love and grace Light of the world forever reigns You are more, you are more Than my words will ever say You are Lord, you are Lord All creation will proclaim You are here, you are here In my presence I'm made full You are God, you are God Of all else I'm letting go Oh, I'm running to your love I'm running to your own The riches of your love Will always be enough
[70:28] Nothing compares to your love and grace Light of the world forever reigns I'm running to your love I'm running to your own The riches of your love Will always be enough Nothing compares to your love and grace Not all the world forever reigns My heart will sing No other name Jesus, Jesus My heart will sing No other name Jesus, Jesus My heart will sing No other name
[71:30] Jesus, Jesus Jesus, Jesus I know I'm running to your love I'm running to your love The riches of your love and grace The riches of your love will always be enough Nothing compares to your love and grace I know I'm running to your love and grace I know I'm running to your love and grace I know I'm running to your love and grace I know I'm running to your love and grace I know I'm running to your love and grace I know I'm running to your love and grace I know I'm running to your love and grace I know I'm running to your love and grace I know I'm running to your love and grace I know I'm running to your love and grace
[72:30] I'm running to your love and grace I know I'm running to your love and grace You would 150 you are held in love in prayer and on this way in the name of the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit go in peace you are held in love in peace you are held in love in peace