Long Green Valley Church of the Brethren
Long Green & Kanes Rds., near Glen Arm, Md.
February 25, 2007
Worship 10:00 am, Sunday School 11:10 am

The First Sunday of Lent

  Morning Praise (9:45 am)                                                             Praise Band
  Announcements
  Prelude“The Promises”  Panchenko

*Journeying with Jesus songs                                                       Praise Band
                                                "Bound Together"
                                  "Brethren, we have met to worship"

*Call to Worship & Prayer

*Doxology                                                                                            119a

  Scripture                                    Luke 4:1-13

  Wellness Moment

  Sharing a joy, a concern, a word of testimony or praise

  Hymn                            "Oh, how wondrous the grace"                           147
                         (Our younger children leave for bell practice & Sunday School)

  Pastoral Prayer

  Scripture                            Deuteronomy 26:1-11

  Returning our Tithes and Offerings

  Offertory                                      “Prelude”                                  Concone
                                        (Please sign the attendance pad and pass it on)

*Response                        (vs. 1) "God, whose giving"                             383

*Dedication

  Scripture                                 Romans 10:5-13

  Message                 "Wandering about Servanthood"

*Hymn                                    "Be thou my vision"                                   545

*Benediction

*Postlude

#'s are from Hymnal: A Worship Book

Worship leaders - see basic guidelines

Call to Worship & Prayer

Call to Worship

"Come away to the wilderness with me," says the Savior.
In the wilderness,
         we do not live by bread alone.
In the wilderness,
         there are angels who lift us and sustain us.
In the wilderness,
         we are led by the Holy Spirit of God.
In the wilderness,
         we worship God alone.

Invocation

God, our world is a lonesome and bewildering one.
We are famished for friendships.
We hunger for bread to nourish our souls.
Lost, we wander, wondering where we are.
Lead us, feed us, free us from fear,
that we may fall to the grace of Jesus,
trusting our Savior and our Friend. Amen.

Melanie Jones, pastor
Carlisle, PA Church of the Brethren
Church of the Brethren Living Word Bulletin
Anchor/Wallace, Sleepy Eye MN 56085, "The Living Word Series"
   

Wellness Moment

         Our Wellness Team has chosen a focus for each month of the year. On February's theme of Caring for our Heart, Gail Hanna (a cardiac nurse), will share some wellness insights every week. A challenge for the congregation this month is to collectively "walk" the distance between where Gail and another deacon grew up on the lower eastern shore of Maryland, to the the farm where another deacon grew up in Garrett County on Maryland's far western border. Toward tabulating this figurative walk across our state, pedometers have been made available, and folks are invited to share their distances every week. Exercise builds up the heart, one of the important ways by which we can care for this organ given us by our Creator.
   

Pastoral Prayer

written closer to the time (if not at the moment)

Returning our Tithes and Offerings

         Our offering today, the "fruit of the ground that God has given" us, may look different than that of those who first followed this commandment, but our setting it "down before the Lord" is - like theirs - an act of faith. Our giving is connected to the ongoing story of God’s people, undergirded by our creed, our "this I believe." With these offerings may you "rejoice in all the good which the Lord your God has given to you and to your house."... Ushers?
   

Dedication

         You have been so good to us, O Lord, even when we have wandered through rough times. You remain faithful even when we have our doubts. Don’t give up on us, God. Help us not to give up on you. Bless these offerings in Christ’s name, that we may wisely put to use what you have provided, for your glory and our neighbor’s good. Amen
   

Benediction

Go now, confessing Christ as Lord, in word and deed.
Worship and serve the Lord your God and no other.
Stand firm when you are tempted to fall;
tell the story of God’s goodness,
and trust in the Lord whose saving word is always with you.

And may God re-orient your life into that of a servant.
May Christ Jesus be your magnetic north;
And may the Holy Spirit strengthen you along the way.

heavily adapted from www.laughingbird.net,
©2001 Nathan Nettleton