Long Green Valley Church of the Brethren
Long Green & Kanes Rds., near Glen Arm, Md.
March 22, 2009
Worship 10:00 am, Sunday School 11:10 am

Fourth Sunday of Lent 

  Morning Praise (9:45 am)
  Announcements
  Prelude

  Call to Worship

*Hymn                            "Come, we that love the Lord"                               14

*Opening Prayer

  Sharing a joy, a concern, a word of testimony or praise
                                 (please be brief, and aware of God’s listening presence)

  Hymn                                 "My Jesus, I love thee"                                   522

  Pastoral Prayer

  Scripture                                    John 3:16-17

  Traveling with children (mp3)

  Song                             "Jesus loves the little children,
                                        All the children of the world.
                                     Red and yellow, black and white,
                                       They are precious in his sight –
                               Jesus loves the little children of the world."

(link is to whole hymn, of which we'll only sing the refrain)

  Prayer before returning our Tithes and Offerings

  Offertory              (Please sign the attendance pad and pass it on)

  Scripture                                Ephesians 2:1-10

  Message                            "Dead as a doornail" (mp3)

  A Time of Prayer for our Lenten Journey                               (back of bulletin)

*Hymn                           "Oh, how wondrous the grace"                              147

*Benediction

*Rise in body or in spirit

#'s are from Hymnal: A Worship Book

Worship leaders - see basic guidelines

Call to Worship
(adapted from Psalm 107:1-3, 17-22)

One:       Give thanks to God, for God is good;

Many:   God’s steadfast love endures forever!

One:       God has gathered us in from many places,

Women: from the east and the west,

Men:      from the north and the south.

One:        In times of sickness and health,

   wandering and sin, hunger and thirst,

Many:   God has sent out God’s word to deliver us.

One:        Let us thank God for God’s steadfast love,

   for God’s wonderful works to humankind.

Many:   We will tell of God’s deeds with songs of joy!

borrowed from Worship Ways.
written by the Rev. Kathryn Matthews Huey and the Rev. Susan A. Blain
of the Congregational Vitality and Discipleship Ministry Team
of the United Church of Christ.
   

Opening Prayer

O God of mercy and abiding love
Your desire is for all your people
To know fullness of life,
abundant life,
eternal life.
Meet us here today with grace
That forgives and heals,
So that we may lift up our hearts to you, and live.
In the name of Jesus, sent from your own heart.

borrowed from Worship Ways.
written by the Rev. Kathryn Matthews Huey and the Rev. Susan A. Blain
of the Congregational Vitality and Discipleship Ministry Team
of the United Church of Christ.
   

Prayer before returning our Tithes and Offerings

            God of Light, you gave us your only son so that we may experience eternal life. We humbly give these offerings as a faithful response to this gift. Money seems so insignificant when compared to your gift of life. Yet we place this money before you as a sacrificial gesture of our gratitude. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

from Offertory Prayers for March 2009,
Copyright 2009 David S. Bell,
former Director of Stewardship with GBOD.
He currently serves as Vice-President of Stewardship
with the United Methodist Foundation of Michigan.
  

Pastoral Prayer

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

A Time of Prayer
for our Lenten Journey
By Grace we have been saved

Call to Worship (based on Ephesians 2)

One:       We were dead in our trespasses and sins, following the
               course of this world, following the ruler of the power of the air.

All:         Once we followed the desires of flesh and senses,
               and were by nature children of wrath.

                       (a moment for silent prayer of confession)

One:       Lord, Have mercy.
All:         Christ, have mercy.
Unison:   Lord, have mercy.

Words of Affirmation of God's Grace (based on Ephesians 2)

All:         But God, who is rich in mercy, loved us even when we
               were dead in our trespasses.

One:       God made us alive together with Christ - by grace we
               have been saved - and raised us up with him, and
               seated us with him in the heavenly places.

All:         So that in the ages to come, God might show the riches
               of God's grace toward us in Christ Jesus.

One:       For by grace we have been saved through faith, and
               this is not our own doing, it is the gift of God! Not the
               result of works, so that no one may boast.

All:         For we are what God has made, created in Christ Jesus
               for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be
               our way of life.

by Mark Flory Steury, Union, Ohio
district executive, Southern Ohio District
Church of the Brethren Living Word Bulletin
Anchor/Wallace, Sleepy Eye MN 56085, "The Living Word Series"
 

Benediction

Go out into the world in peace.
      Be intolerant of evil but treat no person as worthless trash.
      Bless those who curse you and pray for those who abuse you.
      Trust not your own goodness but the grace of God.
      In every situation give thanks. 

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit
will be with us now and always.
Amen!

by Bruce Prewer, Uniting Church in Australia