Home Worship for the week of March 1 – 2nd Sunday in Lent
Morning Prayer: O God, our Deliverer, You led Your people of old through the wilderness and brought them to the Promised Land. Guide now the people of Your church, that following our Savior, we may walk through the wilderness of this world toward the glory of the world to come through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God now and forever. Amen. (UMH 268)
Morning Hymn: #117 O God, Our Help in Ages Past
- O God, our help in ages past, our hope for years to come,
our shelter from the stormy blast, and our eternal home. - Under the shadow of Thy throne, still may we dwell secure;
sufficient is Thine arm alone, and our defense is sure. - Before the hills in order stood, or earth received her frame,
from everlasting, Thou art God, to endless years the same. - A thousand ages, in Thy sight, are like an evening gone;
short as the watch that ends the night, before the rising sun. - Time, like an ever rolling stream, bears all who breathe away;
they fly forgotten, as a dream dies at the opening day. - O God, our help in ages past, our hope for years to come;
be Thou our guide while life shall last, and our eternal home.
Old Testament Lesson: Psalm 121
121 I raise my eyes toward the mountains.
Where will my help come from?
2 My help comes from the Lord,
the maker of heaven and earth.
3 God won’t let your foot slip.
Your protector won’t fall asleep on the job.
4 No! Israel’s protector
never sleeps or rests!
5 The Lord is your protector;
the Lord is your shade right beside you.
6 The sun won’t strike you during the day;
neither will the moon at night.
7 The Lord will protect you from all evil;
God will protect your very life.
8 The Lord will protect you on your journeys—
whether going or coming—
from now until forever from now.
Prayers of Intercession: (CORE, adapted) Let us lift our hearts and voices to the Lord in prayer, as we pray to God together.
Dearest heavenly Father, we know John 3:16 by heart. Thank You for its truth. You do so love the world! You gave Your only Son! We have everlasting life, not death! Thank You for Your love. By Your Spirit, let our lives reflect that love – to You, each other and to all people who don’t yet know Your love.
Let the wind of Your Spirit blow through Your Church. Breathe Your life and love through it, to revive everyone who is wounded and dying from the assaults of sin and death. Make the Church Your “wounded healer,” able to draw broken and sinful people close to Jesus.
Fill this congregation with the Holy Spirit, so that day by day, our hearts, minds, words, and works are reborn as instruments of Your will. Use us to bring Your redeeming love to those who need it most.
We pray for the most vulnerable, the youngest of children and the most advanced in age. Let them find protection and security from within Your church, knowing You value every living soul.
We lift up the leadership of our Conference. Be with the Bishop and the Cabinet as they discern Your call for our church and our next pastor. Remind us to not be faint of heart, but faithful to our call to prayer in this Lenten season.
Be the shield and strength of those who risk their lives on our behalf. Do not let their foot be moved. Deliver them from evil. Use them to bring safety and help in dangerous situations. Restore them to their loved ones when their task is done. Grant honor to the fallen, healing to the wounded, and peace to all.
Watch over everyone who endures pain, sorrow, fear, doubt, loneliness, or despair. Be their shade and shelter. Give hope to their hearts, health to their bodies, confidence to their minds, and faith to their souls.
Into Your hands, gracious Father, we commend all for whom we pray, trusting in Your mercy; for the sake of Your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who taught us to pray by saying …
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: This is the second Sunday in Lent. If your Lenten journey includes a financial offering, take a look at the 30 Pieces of Silver offering supplies at the rear.
Judas Iscariot betrayed our Savior for money. But when he realized the impact of his betrayal, he confessed and tried to return the money. When considering the sin in your life, confess and ask our LORD how you can sacrifice. What sacrifice of time, repentance and money will atone? What sacrifice will bring you close to the body of Christ, help you in your journey to become more like Jesus and will bless the world.
Offering prayer: Faithful God, As Nicodemus discovered, Your love is not earned but freely given. Receive now these gifts we offer—not as payment or proof, but as signs of our belief, our hope, and our gratitude. Use them to share Your transforming love with a world still searching in the dark. In the name of Your Son, given in love, we pray. Amen. (Discipleship Ministries – adapted)
Hymn of Preparation: #546 The Church’s One Foundation (Adapted Lyrics)
- The church’s one foundation is Jesus Christ our Lord;
We are His new creation by water and the Word.
From heaven He came and sought us that we might ever be
His living servant people, by His own death set free.
- Called forth from every nation, yet one o’er all the earth;
Our charter of salvation: one Lord, one faith, one birth;
One holy name professing and at one table fed,
To one hope always pressing, by Christ’s own Spirit led.
- Though with a scornful wonder the world sees us oppressed,
By schisms rent asunder, by heresies distressed,
Yet saints their watch are keeping; their cry goes up, “How long?”
But soon the night of weeping shall be the morn of song.
- Mid toil and tribulation, and tumult of our war,
We wait the consummation of peace forevermore;
Till with the vision glorious our longing eyes are blest,
And the great church victorious shall be the church at rest.
- We now on earth have union with God the Three in One,
And share through faith communion with those whose rest is won.
Oh, happy ones, and holy! Lord, give us grace that we
Like them, the meek and lowly, on high may dwell with Thee.
Scripture: John 3:1-17
3 There was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a Jewish leader. 2 He came to Jesus at night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher who has come from God, for no one could do these miraculous signs that You do unless God is with him.”
3 Jesus answered, “I assure you, unless someone is born anew, it’s not possible to see God’s kingdom.”
4 Nicodemus asked, “How is it possible for an adult to be born? It’s impossible to enter the mother’s womb for a second time and be born, isn’t it?”
5 Jesus answered, “I assure you, unless someone is born of water and the Spirit, it’s not possible to enter God’s kingdom. 6 Whatever is born of the flesh is flesh, and whatever is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Don’t be surprised that I said to you, ‘You must be born anew.’ 8 God’s Spirit blows wherever it wishes. You hear its sound, but you don’t know where it comes from or where it is going. It’s the same with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
9 Nicodemus said, “How are these things possible?”
10 “Jesus answered, “You are a teacher of Israel and you don’t know these things? 11 I assure you that we speak about what we know and testify about what we have seen, but you don’t receive our testimony. 12 If I have told you about earthly things and you don’t believe, how will you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? 13 No one has gone up to heaven except the one who came down from heaven, the Human One. 14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so must the Human One be lifted up 15 so that everyone who believes in Him will have eternal life. 16 God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him won’t perish but will have eternal life. 17 God didn’t send His Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.
Message: Pastor Becky
In John 3:1–17, we encounter Nicodemus, a Pharisee and respected leader among the Jews. He comes to Jesus at night—perhaps out of caution, perhaps because the questions stirring in his heart could not wait until morning. Nicodemus begins with a statement of respect: “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher who has come from God.” Yet Jesus responds not with polite small talk, but with a startling declaration: “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.”
This conversation is more than a theological debate—it is a divine invitation. This passage is a rich tapestry of God’s grace at work: prevenient grace drawing us, justifying grace saving us, and sanctifying grace transforming us. It is a reminder that salvation is not simply about (1) believing certain truths or (2) salvation is a destination. Salvation is about entering into a new life entirely – to be transformed.
Nicodemus’s nighttime visit is not random. He is coming looking for answers. It is an example of prevenient grace. Prevenient grace is the grace that “goes before”—God’s loving initiative that stirs our hearts towards God before we are even aware of it. Nicodemus’s curiosity, his willingness to seek Jesus despite the risks, is evidence of God already at work in his life.
Before Nicodemus can even address Jesus, grace is at work in Nicodemus. Just like in each of us. God drew each of us toward him. Grace is at work for everyone. It is a gift to each of us. God knows us and loves us.
John Wesley described prevenient grace as the light that shines into every human heart, awakening a desire for God and enabling us to respond to God. It is the reason no one is beyond hope—because God is always reaching out first and continually. There will never be a time when God is not reaching out to us.
This is why we should never assume that someone is too far from God to be reached. The Spirit is whispering to them in ways we cannot see. Our role is to be ready to meet people in their questions, to walk with them as they respond to God.
When we respond to God, we are born anew, brought into a new life.
When Jesus speaks of being “born of water and the Spirit,” He is not talking about adding a religious layer to an unchanged life. He is speaking of a radical transformation—a new creation. Wesley taught that the new birth is a supernatural change of heart, where the love of God is poured into us by the Holy Spirit.
This love changes how we see the world and how the world sees us. When God’s love enters our lives, our focus transforms. We no longer tolerate injustice and oppression. We long to see love lived out as mercy and compassion. We aim to ease suffering and affirm human worth and dignity. Once we see how God sees, we cannot go back to our old way of seeing. A veil is lifted and we are new creations.
Nicodemus struggles to understand: “How can anyone be born after having grown old?” Jesus points him beyond human logic to the mystery of the Spirit’s work. Just as the wind blows where it will, the Spirit moves in ways we cannot control or predict, bringing life where there was none.
Being a disciple of Jesus is not about self-improvement projects or moral checklists. It is about surrendering to the Spirit’s transforming power, allowing God to make us new from the inside out.
The heart of the gospel is captured in verse 16: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him may not perish but may have eternal life.” It is the most recognized verse in all Scripture. We may have memorized it a bit differently, depending on the Bible translation – I miss “the only begotten Son” and the whosoever of the King James version. Yet, it is the verse we are never surprised by when we see it out in the world. It is the promise of God’s love for the whole world.
No one is excluded from the offer of salvation, no one is turned away from Jesus, because of God’s love for us. It is the grace that justifies us. God’s justice is worked out through Jesus.
Justifying grace is God’s act of pardoning our sins and reconciling us to Himself through Christ. It is received by faith, not earned by works. For Wesley, this was the moment when the believer’s relationship with God is restored, when guilt is removed and peace with God begins. For John Wesley, it was the moment his heart was strangely warmed, when he knew for himself – intimately, that God had forgiven him, which led to his transformation.
We are called to proclaim this good news without partiality. The gospel is not for a select few—it is for every person, in every place, in every circumstance. God’s love, God’s grace, and God’s forgiveness is for every person. There is nothing God cannot forgive (except blaspheme of the Spirit – and idk what that would or could even be).
Upon justification – realizing your sins are forgiven – we move into new life.
The new life is the beginning of the Christian journey, not the end. Wesley taught that God’s grace continues to work in us after we are justified, shaping us into the likeness of Christ. This is sanctifying grace—the Spirit’s ongoing work to perfect us in love.
Jesus’s image of the wind reminds us that the Spirit’s movement is alive. Sanctification is not static; it is a lifelong process of being conformed to Christ’s character, growing in love for God and neighbor. God’s grace never leaves us. We continue with God and God continues with us.
Lent reminds us of this constant cycle of grace. We fall away, God calls us back. God forgives us and redeems us for Kingdom living.
Nicodemus and Jesus’ conversation gives us the opportunity to see and enter God’s Kingdom. It gives us permission to ask questions and know that we will be held and not sent away empty.
This week, look for those Holy Spirit moments of nudging and growing, respond to them. God is grace is transforming you for the Kingdom now, embracing Jesus who came to save us all.
Hymn of preparation: #369 Blessed Assurance
- Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine! O what a foretaste of glory divine!
Heir of salvation, purchase of God, born of His Spirit, washed in His blood.
Refrain:
This is my story, this is my song, praising my Savior all the day long;
this is my story, this is my song, praising my Savior all the day long.
- Perfect submission, perfect delight, visions of rapture now burst on my sight;
angels descending bring from above echoes of mercy, whispers of love.
(Refrain) - Perfect submission, all is at rest; I in my Savior am happy and blest,
watching and waiting, looking above, filled with His goodness, lost in His love.
(Refrain)
The blessing: May the Lord bless you as you repent of sins and make Lenten sacrifices.
Go Now in Peace: Go now in peace. Never be afraid. God will go with you each hour of ev’ry day. Go now in faith, steadfast strong and true. Know He will guide you in all you do. Go now in love and show you believe. Reach out to others, so all the world can see. God will be there, watching from above. Go now in peace, in faith, and in love.
