Little Current United Church Pastoral Charge www. littlecurrent-sheguiandah-unitedchurch .org
Box 254, Little Current ON P0P 1K0 368-2941 Worship Leader: Gail Cronin + Camera: Scott Mosher Music Ministry: Judith Mosher, (Ruth McDonald & Choir)
Liturgy & Sermon - Joy Bott, LLWL United in Worship ** an invitation to stand in body or spirit in the service
~ BOLD PRINT- Congregational Participation
First Sunday of Lent (Remote)
On-line February 28th, 2021, 10:00 am
WELCOME: a special welcome to guests worshiping with us today. May our time together be a mutual blessing.
Gathering
Announcements - The Life & Work of the Church
We Approach God
Lighting of the Christ Candle (UiW)
The Christ candle’s flame is a reminder that we carry Christ in our whole selves
that we are the hands and feet of Christ on earth now.
We light this candle as a symbol of our faith in Jesus Christ To remind us of God’s covenants, God’s gifts to us,
and our responsibility to continue to be faithful.
(The Christ candle is lit)
2.
Acknowledgement of Traditional Territory
For thousands of years First Nations people have walked in this land; their relationship with the land is at the centre of their lives and spirituality. We are gathered on the traditional territory locally of the Whitefish River, Aundeck Omni Kaning, and Sheguiandah First Nations (Ojibway, Odawa and Pottawatomi) and acknowledge their stewardship of this land throughout the ages. Let us live with respect for creation.
Call to Worship: (UiW) (adapted Psalm 22:23-31) You who fear God, praise the Eternal One. All you offspring of Jacob, give praise!
All you followers of Jesus, shout your praise.
Praise! Praise!
All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the God of unconditional Love. All the families of the nations shall worship before the Three in One,
Generation after generation!
Future generations will be told about God’s covenants
over the ages, and proclaim deliverance to a people yet unborn.
In the presence of your people, We will praise your name. Opening Prayer: UiW
Holy One, generation after generation,
through history, you have shared covenants with your people, and remind us with rainbows, with stories of Jesus,
with your mission on earth, of that gift.
Open our hearts and minds so that we can see you, everlasting and through the ages to today.
In this season of Lent, we reflect on our part in those
covenants, the promises our ancestors made, to work to be faithful, the promises some of us have made through
Baptism and Affirmation. Sit with us today, hear our praise, listen to our deepest yearnings in our prayers,
and hear our re-affirmation
3.
**Opening Hymn: “Faith of Our Fathers” (VU 580)
Prayer of Confession (UiW) & MV 83 – Let my Spirit Always Sing Timeless God, we have wandered from you.
Our daily lives call us to the world around us and we begin to cope with busyness, illness and stress with worldly solutions. We convince ourselves that this works yet we feel shut in, disempowered, unhappy. We can’t seem to find time to rest in you.
Take this burden from us. Shelter us.
Open our eyes, ears and hearts to see the world you have created for us and
remind us of your promise to always walk with us.
MV 83 - Though my body be confined,
let your word engage my mind.
We find it so easy to forget that you are there, to look about and see the desecrated world, to be complaining, whining creatures.
MV 83 - Give me thoughts to welcome change,
to accept, and not estrange.
There are fewer and fewer of us now, the faithful ones. Yet we find it difficult to tell your story,
to lift others up to feel your blessings.
MV 83 - Through the silence, through the pain
know my hope is not in vain. Amen
Assurance of God’s Grace
Your Spirit answers and my soul sings! Your love is worthy of trust
through life and death.
Listening
Hymn of Illumination (MV 28 vs 1)
God of the Bible, God in the Gospel, hope seen in Jesus, hope yet to come, you are our centre, daylight or darkness, freedom or prison, you are our home.
4. Holy Scripture: -
Genesis 17:1-7, 15,16 Covenant between Abram, Sarai and God . Mark 8:31-38 Lose your life for the gospel, and you will find it.
Hear what the Spirit is saying to the church.
Thanks be to God. Reflection: “Discipleship: Our Legacy”
- Joy Bott, LLWL – Marathon, ON.
** Hymn: “I Have Called You by Your Name” (MV 161 vs 1)
I have called you by your name, you are mine; I have gifted you and ask you now to shine.
I will not abandon you; all my promises are true. You are gifted, called, and chosen you are mine.
Responding to the Word
Offering Invitation:
Gift Giving and Faithful God, giving us daily gifts to sustain us. And we remember the gift of your beloved Son, given for us. Please accept the gifts we offer here today, may they bring Glory to your name. (The offering will now be brought forward)
Offertory: (VU 540)
Grant us God, the grace of giving, with a spirit large and free,
that ourselves and all our living we may offer faithfully.
Offering Prayer: (UiW)
Our offering seems so little and the world is so big and overwhelming right now.
5. Offering Prayer: (UiW)
Our offering seems so little and the world is so big and overwhelming right now.
Take what we offer and bless it for your mission of love. May these gifts and we ourselves, become agents of change and transformation in Jesus’ name of self-giving love. Amen.
Prayers of the People & the Lord’s Prayer: (UiW) God of all generations hear our prayers today.
As people who are called to live in the presence and promise of God, we raise our prayers to you, thankful that you are our God forever. For the earth you have entrusted to us, we raise our prayers. Help us to find ways to restore and re-create. That destroyed to be part of the rebuilding.
God, there are people who live in poverty and hunger, in areas of war and famine. Those for whom a bowl of rice is a luxury, a roof is longed for, or peace a dream.
Guide us into ways of peace. Show us how to take what we have and use it for others. For each person who needs your care, from the new generations just being born to the oldest at the end of their days and all in-between, may all receive compassion, care, and hope.
Our governments are complex, and our leaders are many. Their decisions affect all the generations living in ways good and bad. Guide those who lead your people. We pray that they will follow your ways of peace, justice, mercy, and hope. For those living in areas of political unrest and turmoil, be a balm on hurting souls.
Closer to home, we pray for our friends, neighbours, communities, families, and all who are in need. For those suffering in body or spirit, send your healing mercies. For those who are anxious about upcoming procedures, or awaiting results, give peace. For caregivers who work unseen day in and day out, send respite and rest.
God, we lift these prayers on behalf of all of your people, from the ones who have but an hour left to live
to those who have been alive for but an hour.
We offer them all in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen
6.
And now…… We pray together the prayer given by Jesus…. “Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be they 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 trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom, and the power and the glory forever and ever.” Amen.
Going Forth Into The World
**Closing Hymn: “God Says” (MV 172)
** Commissioning and Blessing
We go wrapped in the knowledge that you promised Abraham and Sarah a new future and we are part of that future. We go knowing that your promise through Jesus and the Holy Spirit gives us companions on the way. You keep your promises throughout time.
We will find ways to share those promises with the world.
May the love of our God rest upon your soul,
May the love of the Three in One dwell in you throughout every day. May the Eternal One’s countenance shine upon you and be gracious to you as you leave this place.
Choral Benediction (MV 214)
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.
Go In The Peace of Christ
Sourced Resources: used with permission.
Sunday Smile
BEING THANKFUL
A Rabbi said to a precocious six-year-old boy, 'So your mother says your prayers for you each night? That's very commendable.
What does she say?'
The little boy replied, 'Thank God he's in bed!
'
Welcome to Worship
With
Little Current and Sheguiandah
Pastoral Charge
.
“Second Sunday of Lent”
February 28, 2021 – Worship Service
(Remote)
#1 VU 580 “Faith of Our Fathers”
1.Faith of our fathers, living still
in spite of dungeon, fire, and sword; O how our hearts beat high with joy, whene’er we hear that glorious word: faith of our fathers, holy faith, we will be true to you till death.
2. Faith of our mothers, daring faith,
your work for Christ is love revealed, spreading God’s word from pole to pole, making love known and freedom real: faith of our mothers, holy faith, we will be true to you till death.
3. Faith of our sisters, brothers too,
who still must bear oppression’s might, raising on high, in prisons dark,
the cross of Christ still burning bright: faith for today, O living faith,
we will be true to you till death.
4. Faith born of God, O call us yet;
bind us with all who follow you, sharing the struggle of your cross until the world is made anew. Faith born of God, O living faith, we will be true to you till death.
~ ~ ~
#2. (MV 161 vs 1) “I Have Called You by Your Name”
I have called you by your name, you are mine; I have gifted you and ask you now to shine. I will not abandon you;
all my promises are true.
You are gifted, called, and chosen you are mine.
~ ~ ~
#3. MV 172 “God Says,”
1.God says, “Be still so you may hear
the words I whisper in your ear. If you will listen, you will know I’m with you always where you go.”
2. God says, “Look up and see the prize
I’ve placed here right before your eyes find beauty in the things of earth, a cause for wonder and rebirth.”
3. God says, “Come here! I need your voice.
Please teach my people to rejoice. In who you ae, in what you do, your life will show my love for you.”
4. God says, “Reach out! The world’s I need
and wants a word, a song, a deed. I send you forth to speak, to sing, to act for Christ in everything.”
