Order of Service / Lent 3 / March 23, 2025

*Gathering Hymn Open My Eyes, That I May See (#371 VU)

Welcome & Land Acknowledgement

Lighting the Christ Candle

Call to Worship

One: We come together to praise our God.

All: God leads us and God preserves us.

One: We remember times of both pain and plenty.

All: God did not abandon us in any of those times.

One: God pays attention and does not reject our prayers.

All: Let us raise to God our joyful praise.

*Wanda Winfield. Gathering LE  2025. Page 30.

Opening Prayer

*Opening Hymn Jesus, Stand among Us (#396 VU)

Prayer of Confessional and Renewal (Unison)

Loving God, we are like children who have erred and find themselves in front of a loving, understanding parent. We are shy to name our mistakes and quick to find excuses. Mistakes are hard to confess, because they cause us pain, pain in acknowledgement and pain for disappointing you. Yet, without confession, how might we learn? How might we be freed from our past and opened to the new possibilities? In these silent moments, we pass through the pain and make our mistakes known to you. (a time of silent confession) Amen.

*Ryan McNally. Gathering LE 2025. Page 33.

Words of Assurance

One: Friends, hear the good news: Love is stronger than our fear, and grace is deeper than our failings.

All: We are held in God’s mercy and embraced by unconditional love.

One: When we open our hearts in honesty, God meets us with compassion, not condemnation.

All: In Christ, we are forgiven, renewed, and called to begin again. Amen.

Announcements and Minute for Mission

Time for God’s Children (VU#577)

I‘ve got faith like a mountain, I‘ve got faith like a mountain,

I‘ve got faith like a mountain, in-a my soul. (Hallelujah) x2

Prayer for Illumination

Proclaiming the Scriptures

Isaiah 55:1-9 Come, buy wine and milk without money!

Psalm 63:1-8 (VU p. 781) I long for you, O God.

Luke 13:1-9 The parable of the barren fig tree.

This is the Good News from the Bible.

  Thanks be to God.

Anthem

Sermon

*Hymn Jesus Christ Is Waiting (#117 VU)

*Offering

*Offertory Hymn (#581 VU, v. 2 | When We Are Living)

Through all our living, we our fruits must give.

Good works of service are for offering.

When we are giving, or when receiving,

We belong to God, we belong to God.

*Offertory Prayer (Unison)

Generous and loving God, all that we have is a gift from you. In gratitude, we bring our offerings—our time, our resources, and our hearts. Bless these gifts, that they may be used to bring hope where there is despair, love where there is loneliness, and peace where there is conflict. May our giving be a reflection of your abundant grace. Amen.

Prayers of the People and Lord’s Prayer

*Closing Hymn Your Hand, O God, Has Guided (#274 VU | vs. 1,3,5)

*Commissioning

One: The road stretches before us, a path of reflection and renewal.

All: We walk with Christ, trusting in love’s embrace.

One: The Spirit calls us to mercy, to justice, to grace.

All: We walk with Christ, bearing light in the shadows.

One: Go now, with open hearts and willing hands.

All: We go with God, into the world.

*Commissioning Song May God’s Sheltering Wings (#214 MV)

May God’s sheltering wings, her gathering wings protect you,

May God’s nurturing arms, her cradling arms sustain you,

And hold you in her love, and hold you in her love. 

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