First Sunday of Lent | February 21, 2021

Worship

This week’s service is both live-streaming and in-person.

Live-Stream

Order of Worship

Prelude: Jesus Loves Me

Call to Worship: Psalm 139:1-14

O Lord, you have searched me and known me.
You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
   you discern my thoughts from far away.
You search out my path and my lying down,
   and are acquainted with all my ways.
Even before a word is on my tongue,
   O Lord, you know it completely.
You hem me in, behind and before,
   and lay your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
   it is so high that I cannot attain it.

Where can I go from your spirit?
   Or where can I flee from your presence?
If I ascend to heaven, you are there;
   if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.
If I take the wings of the morning
   and settle at the farthest limits of the sea,
even there your hand shall lead me,
   and your right hand shall hold me fast.
If I say, ‘Surely the darkness shall cover me,
   and the light around me become night’,
even the darkness is not dark to you;
   the night is as bright as the day,
   for darkness is as light to you.

For it was you who formed my inward parts;
   you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

Hymn #775: I Want Jesus to Walk with Me

Prayer of Confession & Assurance of Forgiveness

Gloria Patri

Circle Time

Prayer of Illumination

Scripture Reading: Jonah 1

Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai, saying, ‘Go at once to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before me.’ But Jonah set out to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid his fare and went on board, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the Lord.

But the Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea, and such a mighty storm came upon the sea that the ship threatened to break up. Then the mariners were afraid, and each cried to his god. They threw the cargo that was in the ship into the sea, to lighten it for them. Jonah, meanwhile, had gone down into the hold of the ship and had lain down, and was fast asleep. The captain came and said to him, ‘What are you doing sound asleep? Get up, call on your god! Perhaps the god will spare us a thought so that we do not perish.’

The sailors said to one another, ‘Come, let us cast lots, so that we may know on whose account this calamity has come upon us.’ So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah. Then they said to him, ‘Tell us why this calamity has come upon us. What is your occupation? Where do you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you?’ ‘I am a Hebrew,’ he replied. ‘I worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.’ Then the men were even more afraid, and said to him, ‘What is this that you have done!’ For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them so.

Then they said to him, ‘What shall we do to you, that the sea may quieten down for us?’ For the sea was growing more and more tempestuous. He said to them, ‘Pick me up and throw me into the sea; then the sea will quieten down for you; for I know it is because of me that this great storm has come upon you.’ Nevertheless, the men rowed hard to bring the ship back to land, but they could not, for the sea grew more and more stormy against them. Then they cried out to the Lord, ‘Please, O Lord, we pray, do not let us perish on account of this man’s life. Do not make us guilty of innocent blood; for you, O Lord, have done as it pleased you.’ So they picked Jonah up and threw him into the sea; and the sea ceased from its raging. Then the men feared the Lord even more, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows.

But the Lord provided a large fish to swallow up Jonah; and Jonah was in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights.

Sermon: “Tarshish Moments”

Handbell Ensemble: Lord, Who Throughout These Forty Days

Affirmation of Faith: 1 Corinthians 1:18, 26-31

For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. Consider your own call, brothers and sisters: not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are, so that no one might boast in the presence of God. He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, in order that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

Welcome & Announcements

Prayers of the People

Benediction

Postlude: I Want Jesus to Walk with Me

CCLI License #768739

Ash Wednesday | February 17, 2021

Our Ash Wednesday Service will first broadcast at 10:00 a.m. on Ash Wednesday. Come by Circle Drive between 12:30 and 1:00 p.m. for drive-through ashes.

Update: Ashes are still available in the church office until 4:00 this afternoon. You can park in Circle Drive and ring the bell on Door C, or call the church office and we will bring them out to you.

Service of the Lord's Day | February 14, 2021

Worship

This week’s service is both live-streaming and in-person.

Live-Stream

Order of Worship

Prelude: Transfiguration

Call to Worship: Psalm 84

How lovely is your dwelling place,
   O Lord of hosts!
My soul longs, indeed it faints
   for the courts of the Lord;
my heart and my flesh sing for joy
   to the living God.
Even the sparrow finds a home,
   and the swallow a nest for herself,
   where she may lay her young,
at your altars, O Lord of hosts,
   my King and my God.
Happy are those who live in your house,
   ever singing your praise.
Happy are those whose strength is in you,
   in whose heart are the highways to Zion.
As they go through the valley of Baca
   they make it a place of springs;
   the early rain also covers it with pools.
They go from strength to strength;
   the God of gods will be seen in Zion.
O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer;
   give ear, O God of Jacob!
Behold our shield, O God;
   look on the face of your anointed.
For a day in your courts is better
   than a thousand elsewhere.
I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God
   than live in the tents of wickedness.
For the Lord God is a sun and shield;
   he bestows favor and honor.
No good thing does the Lord withhold
   from those who walk uprightly.
O Lord of hosts,
   happy is everyone who trusts in you.

Hymn #490: God of Grace, God of Glory

Prayer of Confession & Assurance of Forgiveness

Gloria Patri

Circle Time

Prayer of Illumination

Scripture Reading: Esther 4:10-5:3

Then Esther spoke to Hathach and gave him a message for Mordecai, saying, ‘All the king’s servants and the people of the king’s provinces know that if any man or woman goes to the king inside the inner court without being called, there is but one law—all alike are to be put to death. Only if the king holds out the golden scepter to someone, may that person live. I myself have not been called to come in to the king for thirty days.’ When they told Mordecai what Esther had said, Mordecai told them to reply to Esther, ‘Do not think that in the king’s palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews. For if you keep silence at such a time as this, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another quarter, but you and your father’s family will perish. Who knows? Perhaps you have come to royal dignity for just such a time as this.’ Then Esther said in reply to Mordecai, ‘Go, gather all the Jews to be found in Susa, and hold a fast on my behalf, and neither eat nor drink for three days, night or day. I and my maids will also fast as you do. After that I will go to the king, though it is against the law; and if I perish, I perish.’ Mordecai then went away and did everything as Esther had ordered him.

On the third day Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the inner court of the king’s palace, opposite the king’s hall. The king was sitting on his royal throne inside the palace opposite the entrance to the palace. As soon as the king saw Queen Esther standing in the court, she won his favor and he held out to her the golden scepter that was in his hand. Then Esther approached and touched the top of the scepter. The king said to her, ‘What is it, Queen Esther? What is your request? It shall be given you, even to the half of my kingdom.’

Sermon: “Again and Again” Lisa Kaufer, Director of Faith Formation

Solo: My Heart Ever Faithful played by Tom Sobieski on violin

Affirmation of Faith: Apostles’ Creed

I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord; who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; he descended into hell; the third day he rose again from the dead; he ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead. I believe in the Holy Ghost; the holy catholic Church; the communion of saints; the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting.  Amen.

Welcome & Announcements

Prayers of the People

Benediction

Postlude: Love Divine, All Loves Excelling played by Tom Sobieski on violin

CCLI License #768739

Burning of the Palms

This prayer service prepares us for Lent, which begins next week on Ash Wednesday, February 17. See our schedule for Lent.

Here is the prayer offered in the service:

Living God, in their life these palms drew life from the earth and gave it back to our air and the animals they hosted and sheltered. In the worship of our community, they helped us offer festive joy: Grant now, O God, that these palms, reduced to ashes, may be for us a sign of your power to purify our hearts, that we may recognize death at work in us, and replant our lives in the sure and humble soil of your truth and grace. Through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, One God, now and forever. Amen.

Service of the Lord's Day | February 7, 2021

Worship

Worship is live-streaming and in-person. We are having communion. Please prepare some bread and a cup for the service.

Live-Stream

Order of Worship

Prelude: What Wondrous Love Is This?

Call to Worship: Psalm 147:1-11, 20c

   Praise the Lord!
     How good it is to sing praises to our God;
          for he is gracious, and a song of praise is fitting.
 The Lord builds up Jerusalem;
          he gathers the outcasts of Israel.
  He heals the brokenhearted,
          and binds up their wounds.
  He determines the number of the stars;
          he gives to all of them their names.
  Great is our Lord, and abundant in power;
          his understanding is beyond measure.
  The Lord lifts up the downtrodden;
          he casts the wicked to the ground.

  Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving;
          make melody to our God on the lyre.
  He covers the heavens with clouds,
          prepares rain for the earth,
          makes grass grow on the hills.
  He gives to the animals their food,
          and to the young ravens when they cry.
  His delight is not in the strength of the horse,
          nor his pleasure in the speed of a runner;
  but the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him,
          in those who hope in his steadfast love.

  Praise the Lord!

Hymn #834: Precious Lord, Take My Hand

Prayer of Confession & Assurance of Forgiveness

Gloria Patri

Prayer of Illumination

Scripture Reading: Isaiah 40:21-31

  Have you not known? Have you not heard?
          Has it not been told you from the beginning?
          Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?
  It is he who sits above the circle of the earth,
          and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers;
     who stretches out the heavens like a curtain,
          and spreads them like a tent to live in;
  who brings princes to naught,
          and makes the rulers of the earth as nothing.

  Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown,
          scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth,
     when he blows upon them, and they wither,
          and the tempest carries them off like stubble.

  To whom then will you compare me,
          or who is my equal? says the Holy One.
  Lift up your eyes on high and see:
          Who created these?
     He who brings out their host and numbers them,
          calling them all by name;
     because he is great in strength,
          mighty in power,
          not one is missing.

  Why do you say, O Jacob,
          and speak, O Israel,
     “My way is hidden from the LORD,
          and my right is disregarded by my God”?
  Have you not known? Have you not heard?
     The LORD is the everlasting God,
          the Creator of the ends of the earth.
     He does not faint or grow weary;
          his understanding is unsearchable.
  He gives power to the faint,
          and strengthens the powerless.
  Even youths will faint and be weary,
          and the young will fall exhausted;
  but those who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength,
          they shall mount up with wings like eagles,
     they shall run and not be weary,
          they shall walk and not faint..

Scripture Reading: Mark 1:29-39

As soon as they left the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told him about her at once. He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them.

That evening, at sundown, they brought to him all who were sick or possessed with demons. And the whole city was gathered around the door. And he cured many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him.

In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed. And Simon and his companions hunted for him. When they found him, they said to him, “Everyone is searching for you.” He answered, “Let us go on to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came out to do.” And he went throughout Galilee, proclaiming the message in their synagogues and casting out demons.

Sermon: “Turn to Mark 17”

Duet: How Beautiful sung by Phil and Sarah Thornberry

Welcome & Announcements

Affirmation of Faith: Apostles’ Creed

I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord; who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; he descended into hell; the third day he rose again from the dead; he ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead. I believe in the Holy Ghost; the holy catholic Church; the communion of saints; the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting.  Amen.

The Lord’s Supper

Please provide your own bread and cup. We will share in the meal together.

Benediction

Postlude: God Who Stretched the Spangled Heavens

CCLI License #768739