For the week of February 18 – 1st Sunday in Lent
Morning prayer: God of wilderness and water, Your Son was baptized and tempted as we are. Guide us through this season, that we may not avoid struggle, but open ourselves to blessing, through the cleansing depths of repentance and the heaven-rending words of the Spirit. Amen. (Lectionary Prayers)
Opening Hymn: #61 Come, Thou Almighty King
- Come, Thou almighty King, help us Thy name to sing, help us to praise!
Father all glorious, o'er all victorious, come and reign over us, Ancient of Days! - Come, Thou incarnate Word, gird on Thy mighty sword, our prayer attend!
Come, and Thy people bless, and give Thy word success,
Spirit of holiness, on us descend!
- Come, holy Comforter, Thy sacred witness bear in this glad hour.
Thou who almighty art, now rule in every heart, and ne'er from us depart,
Spirit of power!
- To Thee, great One in Three, eternal praises be, hence, evermore.
Thy sovereign majesty may we in glory see, and to eternity love and adore!
Genesis 9:12-16
God said, “This is the sign of the covenant that I make between Me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: I have set My bow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between Me and the earth. When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, I will remember My covenant that is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.”
Children’s Time PURPLE Exodus 25:1-4
The Lord said to Moses: Tell the Israelites to take for Me an offering; from all whose hearts prompt them to give you shall receive the offering for Me. This is the offering that you shall receive from them: gold, silver, and bronze, blue, purple, and crimson yarns and fine linen,
Children’s Message
This Lenten season we are to take a look at God’s love of color and this first Sunday of Lent is purple.
I just read the first mention of purple in scripture. Purple is mentioned 70 times throughout the Bible with its last reference being Revelation 17:4. Purple is the color of royalty. The Tabernacle of the Lord was adorned in purple yarns and linens. Jesus was clothed in purple as He was mocked before the crucifixion. Paul encountered Lydia, who was a dealer of purple.
So what makes purple so special?
Because it is expensive. It isn’t like today, where we can go to Walmart and buy synthetic dyes and turn anything we want purple. In Biblical times, to make linen or yarn purple you had to dye it with sea snails. It took about 12,000 sea snails just to dye the edges of a garment. Another reason it was expensive was because sea snails were only found by the sea. If you lived in the desert and wanted something purple, it had to be shipped and traded for you to get it.
This is why it was such a big ask of God for the Israelites to give their purple yarn and linens for the decorating of the Tabernacle. Most of the purple they would have had would have been precious to them and would have been given to them as gifts. That is why purple plays such a big part in the colors of our worship during Advent and Lent. Anything purple would be for a king.
Prayers of Intercession: Thank You, Lord, for hearing our prayers for those dear to our hearts. We now pray as You have taught us: 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 sins, as we forgive those who sin against us. Lead us, not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
Offering spotlight: We will continue to remind of the two Lenten challenges: Give “30 Pieces of Silver” to finance building a bathhouse for Withrow University College. Pray for the administrators, staff and students of Withrow University College and our scholarship students: Emmanuella and Ebenezer.
This morning we anticipate a great time of love and laughter at the corn hole tournament. Your tithes provide a safe space for the youth to gather and build relationships.
Offering prayer: Holy God, we bring our tithes and offerings to Your altar, understanding that on the journey in Lent, we can’t avoid or detour around the wilderness. It is essential that we hear Jesus call us to repentance! Bless our gifts for Your unfinished kingdom work. Remind us, as we worship here, that this redemption of our lives did not come without a price; without our own repentance, we can miss the enormity of the gift Jesus gave. Knowing we cannot earn this redemption and forgiveness, this wiping clean of our ledger, we can only hope to reflect such grace and compassion in our encounters with others. In Christ’s name, we pray. Amen. (Discipleship Ministries)
Hymn of preparation: #451 Be Thou My Vision
- Be Thou my vision, O Lord of my heart; Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art;
Thou my best thought, by day or by night, Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light. - Be Thou my Wisdom, and Thou my true Word;
I ever with Thee and Thou with me, Lord;
Thou and Thou only, first in my heart, great God of heaven, my treasure Thou art.
- Great God of heaven, my victory won,
may I reach heaven’s joys, O bright heaven’s Sun!
Heart of my own heart, whatever befall, Still be my Vision, O Ruler of all.
Message Scripture: Mark 1:9-15
In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And just as He was coming up out of the water, He saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on Him. And a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my Son, the Beloved; with You I am well pleased.’
And the Spirit immediately drove Him out into the wilderness. He was in the wilderness for forty days, tempted by Satan; and He was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on Him.
Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.’
Message: Pastor Becky
We are off to a fast start to Lent! That is what happens when it is Mark’s turn to tell the story. Immediately will be a word we will encounter often. Mark doesn’t take the time to paint us a word picture. His gospel reads more like marching orders, so off we march.
For the most part, I rather like immediate responses. The less waiting the better for me. For many of us gathered here this morning, it is unbelievable that there was a time when lunch wasn’t able to be warm in less than a minute or that internet access wasn’t instantaneous. We waited; dial up took forever and the chance of not connecting the first time or staying connected was a reality. Technology and kitchen appliance progress has certainly changed how we see immediate response. Texting means I don’t have to wait for you to get home and listen to my phone message and reply to me. Our communication is instant.
Yet, I remember when my definition of immediately and my parents’ idea of immediate were different. While I am certain they wanted me to respond in microwave time, I’d do everything from C to Z, before I would do the A to B they were looking for. I think it is just the human condition. Urgency is dependent on the one giving the orders, not on the one receiving them.
Mark wants us to feel urgency, because the good news is urgent. God sending Jesus into the world is something that needed to be proclaimed NOW! The NOW of Mark’s day and the NOW of our day. The wait is over, this day the Kingdom of God has come near, turn around, refocus, and believe in the good news.
Why is it important, why is it so urgent? Because in Jesus, there is new life, when we turn from our sin, we get a clean slate. Yesterday I did this or that, became convicted of my sin, repented. Now today I move forward, not unaccountable for my past sin, but not buried or identified with my past. How many people need to hear that message? God loves them so much that Jesus was sent to bring the message of new life, abundant life, and eternal life. Yes, we can see this as a message for out there, yet that is a message for this room, this morning.
In Jesus, we claim new life, being born again. This is a death to our old selves and for each of us that death will look different and our new life will differ also. New life is what we rely on, what we believe in, and it is the responsibility of the church – this body of believers – to cultivate.
It is letting each of our dead selves stay dead. That means not recalling what is dead, but speaking of what is emerging. Seeing all the beauty and possibilities and fostering that growth. It is removing from ourselves the malice, gossip, and tally keeping and replacing it with kindness, generosity and encouragement. We will be held responsible for the new lives unfolding in our midst.
New life leads to abundant life. A life not full of things, but a life full of gratitude, love, and grace. Building each other up, growing deeper in love with God and each other. Being identified by the way we walk with each other and the community around us. I desire this for you and for me, to be known for giving beyond need, seeing another in their personhood not by what we feel they lack. Seeing not the gap, but a bridge between us. This bridge is Jesus: the reconciler and redeemer of the entire world, so that we would have eternal life – a life with God that is never ending and our eternal life begins, sprouts in our new life. It is here now, there is no reason to hold off. Embrace the immediate. Step into life, so we may together foster all that God has, God is, and will do in and through each of you.
Closing Hymn: #395 Take Time to Be Holy
abide in Him always, and feed on His word.
Make friends of God's children, help those who are weak,
forgetting in nothing His blessing to seek.
- Take time to be holy, the world rushes on; spend much time in secret with Jesus alone.
By looking to Jesus, like Him thou shalt be;
thy friends in thy conduct His likeness shall see.
- Take time to be holy, let Him be thy guide, and run not before Him, whatever betide.
In joy or in sorrow, still follow the Lord, and, looking to Jesus, still trust in His word. - Take time to be holy, be calm in thy soul,
each thought and each motive beneath His control.
Thus led by His spirit to fountains of love, thou soon shalt be fitted for service above.
Go into your week with the blessings of The Father, The Son, The Holy Spirit.
