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Service Documents to view/print at home, we will display these on the screen at the virtual service.
Lent 1 Communion 21 February 2021
MUSICAL PRELUDE
WORDS OF WELCOME
CALL TO WORSHIP
Christ is the Light of God, Light from Light.
The Light shines in the Torah,
the Light is heard through the Prophets,
the Light is incarnate in Jesus of Nazareth,
the Light has come and evil cannot extinguish it.
People of the Light, let us worship God.
INTROIT (three times)
In the midst of darkness, the Light of Christ is shining,
Faithful, faithful is our God!
In the midst of darkness, the Light of Christ is shining,
Faithful, faithful is our God!
PRAYER OF APPROACH and the LORD’s PRAYER (# 960 in Voices United)
Creative God, renovating and rejuvenating humanity,
grant us the imagination we need to envision a world redeemed by love,
revealed to us through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who taught us to sing to You in these words,
OUR FATHER WHO ART IN HEAVEN
PRAYER OF CONFESSION
God of forgiveness and hope,
hear the prayers, both silent and spoken,
that flow through from your people in worship.
Lift from us the burdens we bear,
heal all that is hurtful,
free us from fear,
and clear the clouds that hide You from us and us from You.
Into your hands we commend our spirits,
through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.
SILENT CONFESSION and ASSURANCE OF PARDON
CANTICLE (three times)
Your Word is a lamp for our feet and a light for our path.
SCRIPTURE LESSONS
Genesis 9: 8-17
Psalm 25: 1 – 14
In you, O Lord my God, I put my trust,
do not let me be put to shame, nor let my enemies triumph over me.
God is loving and faithful, responding to prayers of our heart.
3 No one who has found hope in You will ever be put to shame,
4 Show me your ways, O Lord, teach me to walk in your paths.
5 Guide me in your truth, instruct me in your righteousness,
for you are my God and my Saviour, my hope is in you all day long.
God is loving and faithful, responding to prayers of our heart.
6 I remember, O Lord, your great mercy and love, how you loved the people of old
7 Do not remember the sins of my youth! Do not remember my rebellious ways.
You are good and upright, You instruct sinners in your ways,
9 You guide the humble in what is right and teach them the ways of righteousness.
God is loving and faithful, responding to prayers of our heart.
10 All the ways of the Lord are loving and faithful.
God loves those who keep the demands of his covenant.
11 For the sake of your name, O Lord, forgive my iniquity.
God is loving and faithful, responding to prayers of our heart.
12 Who, then, among you are those who fear the Lord?
God will instruct you in the ways you should choose.
13 With God as your guide, you will spend your days in prosperity,
and your descendants will inherit the land.
14 The Lord confides in those who honour the covenant;
God is loving and faithful, responding to prayers of our heart.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end, Amen.
1 Peter 3:18-22
Mark 1: 9-15
A TEACHING TIME (a time of learning for younger folk)
TEACHING PRAYER
In peace, dear God, I come to You through Jesus Christ who makes me new
And while I run or play or rest, be with those whom I love best,
Guide me in your Holy Way, as You walk with me each day, AMEN.
STATEMENT OF FAITH (en français à page 919 dans Voices United)
We are not alone. We live in God’s world.
We believe in God:
Who has created and is creating,
Who has come in Jesus, the Word made flesh,
To reconcile and make new;
Who works in us and others by the Spirit.
We trust in God.
We are called to be the Church;
To celebrate God’s Presence, To live with respect in creation,
To love and serve others, To seek justice and resist evil,
To proclaim Jesus, Crucified and risen, our judge and our hope.
In life, in death, in life beyond death, God is with us. We are not alone.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
REFLECTION on the Scriptures
HYMN # 108 (VU) THROUGHOUT THESE LENTEN DAYS AND NIGHTS
Throughout these Lenten days and nights we turn to walk the inward way,
where, meeting Christ, our guide and light, we live in hope till Easter Day.
The pilgrim Christ, the Lamb of God, who found in weakness greater power,
embraces us, though lost and flawed, and leads us to his Rising Hour.
We bear the silence, cross and pain of human burdens, human strife,
while sisters, brothers help sustain our courage till the Feast of Life.
And though the road is hard and steep, the Spirit ever calls us on
through Calvary’s dying, dark and deep, until we see the coming Dawn.
So let us choose the path of One who wore, for us, the crown of thorn,
and slept in death that we might wake to life on Resurrection Morn!
Rejoice, O sons and daughters! Sing and shout hosannas! Raise the strain!
For Christ, whose death Good Friday brings, on Easter Day will rise again!
Throughout These Lenten Days and Nights. Words: James Gertmenian. Music: Musikalisches Handbuch. Words Copyright © 1993 Hope Publishing Company. All Rights Reserved. Reprinted with permission under License # A-734202. All rights reserved.
OFFERTORY PRAYER
Receive the offerings of our voices and our lives
along with our bread of life and the cup of covenant.
Employ both for your glory and the good of your people.
In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.
SACRAMENT OF COMMUNION
The LORD is with you
And also with you.
Lift up your hearts.
We lift them up to the LORD.
Let us give thanks to the LORD our God.
It is right to give God thanks and praise.
It is indeed right that we should in all places and at all times
offer God praise and thanksgiving.
Therefore, we join our voices with the angels and the archangels
and all the company of the redeemed, in whom your Spirit dwells, on earth and in heaven, to sing the glory of your Name.
(singing)
Holy, Holy, Holy LORD, God of power and might.
Heaven and earth are full of your Light,
Glory to You our God!
Blessed is HE, blessed are we, blessed are all who come.
Hosannas ring, Archangels sing, Blessed are all who come.
Holy, Holy, Holy LORD, God of power and might.
Heaven and earth are full of your Light,
Glory to You our God!
We remember with joy, the grace by which You created all things.
……………………………….. Through Jesus Christ, You bestow on us the gift of your Spirit, uniting your Church, empowering our mission,
and leading us into the new creation that You have promised.
Help us to proclaim our faith.
(Singing)
Christ is our life, God’s Incarnated WORD.
Jesus Christ died and entered into death.
Christ has arisen, death has lost its sting,
Christ comes again to meet us in this Feast.
Loving God,
pour out your Holy Spirit upon our offerings of bread and wine.
Grant that they may be for us the Body and Blood of our Saviour Jesus Christ.
Loving God,
pour out your Spirit on all who share this Feast that we may be for the world, the Living Presence of Christ, serving and reconciling all people to you.
Remember your Church scattered on the face of this earth,
gather her in unity and preserve her in truth.
Remember our friends who have gone before us into the richness of your Presence, especially ——- and ——– and all those whom we mention in silence.
In communion with them and with all creation, we worship and glorify You always.
Through your Son, Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit, in your Holy Church,
all glory and honour is yours, Almighty God, now and forever,
(singing)
Amen! Amen! Amen!
SHARING THE SACRAMENT
HYMN # 115 (VU) JESUS TEMPTED IN THE DESERT
Jesus, tempted in the desert; lonely, hungry, filled with dread:
“Use your power,” the tempter tells him, “Turn these barren rocks to bread!”
“Not alone by bread,” he answers, “Can the human heart be filled.
Only by the Word that calls us is our deepest hunger stilled!”
Jesus, tempted at the temple, high above its ancient wall:
“Throw yourself from lofty turret, angels wait to break your fall!”
Jesus shuns such empty marvels, feats that fickle crowds request:
“God, whose grace protects, preserves us, we must never vainly test.”
Jesus, tempted on the mountain by the lure of vast domain:
“Fall before me! Be my servant! Glory, fame, you’re sure to gain!”
Jesus sees the dazzling vision, turns his eyes another way:
“God alone deserves our homage! God alone will I obey!”
When we face temptations power, lonely, struggling, filled with dread,
Christ, who knew the tempter’s hour, come and be our living bread.
By your grace, protect, preserve us lest we fall, your trust betray.
Yours, above all other voices, be the Word we hear, obey.”
Jesus, Tempted in the Desert. Words: Herman Stempfle. Music: The Sacred Harp. Words copyright © 1993 GIA publications, Inc. Harmony copyright © 1978 Lutheran Book of Worship. All Rights Reserved.
Reprinted with permission under License # A-734202. All rights reserved.
EXTINGUISHING OF THE CHRIST CANDLE
We are reminded that the Light of Christ is not in candles nor institutions
but within each of us. We are the Light of the World
BENEDICTION
May the blessing of the Maker be yours,
Encircling us, above us and within us.
May the blessing of the Son be yours,
The Wine and the water, the Bread and the stories, to feed us and remind us.
May the blessing of the Spirit be yours,
The wind & the fire, the still small voice of calm, to comfort us & disturb us.
May the blessing of God, Three-in-One and One-in-Three,
be yours, this day and every day,
To protect us, defend us, encourage us and strengthen us.
And may we bless each other,
A blessing rooted in our common pilgrimage,
the blessing of a friend.
EXCHANGING OF THE PEACE OF CHRIST
Mention someone’s name and hold them in your heart.
CHORAL PRAYER (Singing – Tune is at # 298 in Voices United)
When you walk from here,
When you walk from here,
Walk with Justice, walk with Mercy,
And with God’s Humble Care. Linnea Good 1991
Permission to podcast / stream the music in this service obtained from ONE LICENSE,
License # A-734202. All rights reserved.