Welcome to St. Martin s United Church Lent 1
Community News
Words of Welcome and Lighting the Affirming Candle
In the spirit of reconciliation let us acknowledge our relationship with the Indigenous people of this land. We acknowledge that we are gathering for worship on the traditional lands of the First Nations and the homeland of the Metis. We are all Treaty people bound by the understandings made in the agreement known as Treaty Six.
Lighting the Peace Candle
We Sing.. Dona Nobis Pacem (Give Us Peace on Earth) VU #955 (repeat) Dona nobis pacem in terra, dona nobis pacem, Domine. [pronounced: Don-nah noh-bees pah-chem Doh-mee-nay] Music: 1995 WGRG, The Iona Community (Glasgow, Scotland), G.I.A. Publications, Inc. Chicago, IL, exclusive agent. Music: WGRG, The Iona Community., G.I.A Publications Inc. One License A-722238
Gospel of Mark 1:12-13 And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. He was in the wilderness for forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him.
Lenten Candle Liturgy
time of silence to enter into worship
Invitation to Worship
Invitation to Worship We are a people with history, a people with a great inheritance. We gather to praise God for the promises made to our faith ancestors. As we worship, we offer to God all that we have been, all that we are, and all that we will become.
Opening Prayer God of renewal, today we remember how Jesus was filled with the Spirit and led into the wilderness for many days and nights of prayer, fasting, reflection, wrestling, and growth. When he came out the other side, he was ready to share the good news you had given him. As we enter the season of Lent, may this be for us a time when we will wrestle and grow, pray and reflect, so that when we emerge from this season, we too will be ready to share the good news that you have entrusted to us. As followers of your Way, we pray. Amen.
As Long As We Follow More Voices #140 (please stand as you are able) Words and music: Joseph Kabemba, Congo Words, music and English translation copyright 2004 General Board of Global Ministries, GBGMusik, 475 Riverside Dr., New York, NY 10115. One License A-722238
Prayer of Reconciliation
As we begin our Lenten journey, O God, we must come to terms with the times we did not trust you, when we did not act according to our faith, when we twisted your Word for our own ends, when we followed paths that took us away from you. Give us your Spirit of truth that we might honestly face our past, so that we might move wholeheartedly into our future. [Silence]
Sung response Senzeni Na? More Voices #66 (repeat) One: Senzeni na? All: Senzeni na? Senzeni na? (One: Senzeni na?) Senzeni na? Senzeni na? [Translation from Zulu: What have we done?] Words and music: traditional song, South Africa; arr. More Voices, 2007 Arrangement copyright 2007 The United Church of Canada.
Story Time with Darren
Minute for Mission GO Project Special Guest Mark Anderson
Children and Youth are invited downstairs
Offering Our Gifts
Offering Song Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow Voices United #541 (please stand if you are able) Praise God from whom all blessings flow; praise God, all creatures high and low; give thanks to God in love made known: Creator, Word and Spirit, One. Words: Thomas Ken ca. 1674. Music: Genevan Psalter 1551. Public Domain.
Prayers of the People and the Lord s Prayer This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA
Faithful God, look mercifully, we pray, on the broken body of your church. Heal our divisions, strengthen those who are persecuted, correct us where we have gone astray, unite us in your service. Passionate God, we pray for the peace of the world. Kindle desire for peace in the hearts of all humanity. Teach us the ways of justice, that we might build true and lasting peace. Creator God, we pray for the earth. Change our lives for the sake of your wounded earth, that we may cherish creation and use your gifts with reverence and care.
Compassionate God, comfort all who suffer oppression, exile, discrimination or injustice, that they may be empowered for a new future. Transform our hearts, that we may expose and confront the ways that we are complicit in the suffering of others. Tender God, pour out your healing Spirit on all who know pain, sickness, loneliness, fear, or grief, that all those whose names we speak aloud or in our hearts may find courage and hope.
We pray, O God, for those who have died and are now at rest in you. And we pray for those who are yet to come. Into your hands we commit ourselves, our church, and all for whom we pray, trusting in your compassionate and lifegiving power, as together we say: Our Mother and 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 trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead is not into temptation but deliver us from evil; for thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen.
Love Us Into Fullness More Voices #81 (please stand as you are able) Words and music: Daniel Charles Damon, 2002 Words and music copyright 2006 Hope Publishing Company, Carol Stream, IL 60188. One License A-722238
Listening for God s Word
Deuteronomy 26:1-11 When you have come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance to possess, and you possess it, and settle in it, you shall take some of the first of all the fruit of the ground, which you harvest from the land that the Lord your God is giving you, and you shall put it in a basket and go to the place that the Lord your God will choose as a dwelling for God s name. You shall go to the priest who is in office at that time, and say to him, Today I declare to the Lord your God that I have come into the land that the Lord swore to our ancestors to give us.
When the priest takes the basket from your hand and sets it down before the altar of the Lord your God, you shall make this response before the Lord your God: A wandering Aramean was my ancestor; he went down into Egypt and lived there as an alien, few in number, and there he became a great nation, mighty and populous. When the Egyptians treated us harshly and afflicted us, by imposing hard labour on us, we cried to the Lord, the God of our ancestors; the Lord heard our voice and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression. The Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with a terrifying display of power, and with signs and wonders; and brought us into this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey.
So now I bring the first of the fruit of the ground that you, O Lord, have given me. You shall set it down before the Lord your God and bow down before the Lord your God. Then you, together with the Levites and the aliens who reside among you, shall celebrate with all the bounty that the Lord your God has given to you and to your house. This is testimony from our ancestors in faith. Thanks be to God.
Band Together
Response to the Reading
.time for silent reflection
God of the Bible More Voices #28 (please stand as you are able) Words: Shirley Erena Murray, 1995 Music: Tony E. Alonso, 2001 Words copyright 1996 Hope Publishing Company, Carol Stream, IL 60188. Music copyright 2001 by GIA Publications, Inc. 7404 S. Mason Ave., Chicago, IL 60638. www.giamusic.com. 800-442-1358. One License A-722238
Words of Blessing
Amen Voices United #967 (please stand if your are able) Amen, amen, a--men. (repeat) *
Thanks for coming see you next week! Portions from this service were adapted from materials found in Gathering L/E 2018-19 and Worship for All Seasons II year A.