Worship Order for Sunday

Long Green Valley Church of the Brethren
Long Green & Kanes Rds., near Glen Arm, Md.
March 28, 2010
Worship 10:00 am              Sunday School 11:10am

Palm Sunday 

      He humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death - even death on a cross. Therefore God also highly exalted him... (Philippians 2:8-9a)

  Beginning with Praise (9:50 am)
  Announcements
  Prelude                                 "Jesu meine Freude"             Cruger/Bach/Hassler

  Responsive Call to Worship                                                             (see insert)

*Hymn                                "Praise him, praise him!"                                    100

*Opening Prayer

  Scripture                                  Luke 19:28-40

  For Children                        "Shouting stones"

  Hymn                            (vs. 1) "Hosanna, loud hosanna"                               238

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

  Pastoral Prayer

  Seraphim                                   "By your side"                     (10th Ave. North)

  Returning our Tithes and Offerings

  Offertory         "INTERLUDE on a theme of Louis Bourgeoise"             Clokey
                                        (Please sign the attendance pad and pass it on)

  Scripture                                 Philippians 2:5-11

  Song                                      "The Christ Hymn"                             (see insert)

  Message                       "From grasping to giving" (mp3)

*Hymn                       "When I survey the wondrous cross"                          259

*Benediction

*Postlude                                 "Rathbun" (#566)                                   Conkey


*Rise in body or in spirit

#'s are from Hymnal: A Worship Book

Worship leaders - see basic guidelines

Responsive Call to Worship
Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29

O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his steadfast love endures forever!

Let Israel say, “His steadfast love endures forever.”

Open to me the gates of righteousness, that I may enter through them and give thanks to the Lord.

This is the gate of the Lord; the righteous shall enter through it.

I thank you that you have answered me and have become my salvation.

The stone that the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.

This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.

This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.

Save us, we beseech you, O Lord! O Lord, we beseech you, give us success!

Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord. We bless you from the house of the Lord.

The Lord is God, and he has given us light. Bind the festal procession with branches, up to the horns of the altar.

You are my God, and I will give thanks to you; you are my God, I will extol you.

O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.

The New Revised Standard Version,
copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education
of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.
  

Opening Prayer

            Holy God, your love goes beyond all limits. In the passion of your true Son, you take us beyond our highest ideals and beneath our deepest fears. We thank you for the sweet-sour celebration of Palm Sunday; for both the joy and the tears. Foster in us the desire and the will to follow Jesus without reserve, that we may be led into a peace that holds in time of trouble, and into a love that persists far beyond the outer rim of our present understanding.  In the name of Christ Jesus our Savior. Amen!

from Resources: Based on the Revised Common Lectionary
by Bruce Prewer, Uniting Church in Australia.
 

For Children
"Shouting stones"

            Teresa Albright will share with the children this message, borrowed from from “Scolding the Snakes” by Ruth Gilmore, ©2000, Augsburg Fortress, Minneapolis, pp. 54-55.
 

Pastoral Prayer

 

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

 

Returning our Tithes and Offerings

            This time of worship has shifted direction. Did you sense it? Actually, it is all the same movement in Christ. Yes, we remembered the triumphant entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, and we waved our palms and sang our praise and hosanna. After all, if we didn’t, even the stones would cry out. But the path into the city of David is also the journey toward the cross, the words, “Hosanna! Save us!,”  hold new meaning. A shout of praise is a cry of the heart, as we seek the One who comes in the name of the Lord – a Savior who rides a donkey and not grand stallion, a Redeemer who pays for our freedom not with money or fame or fortune but with his very life.

            The path from Palm Sunday to Easter travels through the valley of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday. We dare not leap from triumph to triumph, as if all of life is a parade, for it is not. The journey of being of disciple of Jesus involves dying to sin that we might rise to new life in Christ, every day. And this week lies at the heart of that daily shifting of direction. Do you sense it?

            Use the following moments during the Offertory, as you return your monetary commitment, to reflect quietly upon your path of discipleship this week. Consider the palm branch you hold in your hand. Allow the words, “Hosanna! Save us!,” to mingle with your thoughts – perhaps repeating them over and over in your mind. Look up at the cross. Is it a meaningless symbol to you when you survey it or does it, as we’ll sing in our final hymn this morning, “demand your soul, your life, your all”?

            Ushers, would you guide our giving as we ponder our dying and living?
  

Benediction

            Let the following encouragement from the apostle Paul be our benediction. These words immediately follow the Christ Hymn that was the focus of this morning’s message. I again use the “Laughing Bird” paraphrase from Australia, for it helps us hear what Paul was trying to say, a good word for today. Listen, be blessed, and be sent forth.

“Therefore, my dear friends, there is work to do. You have always stuck to the agenda that was set for you, so keep it up, not only when I am around but even more when I am gone. Continue to work at living the life for which you are being saved, and do so with such an awareness of how high the stakes are, that it fills you with awe and makes the hair stand up on the back of your neck. For this is awesome stuff: it is God who is at work within you, making it possible for you to set your mind on what God wants and to work for those things which are ultimately pleasing to God.”

Philippians 2:12-13, ©2002 Nathan Nettleton, LaughingBird.net
   

(para traducir a español, presione la bandera de España)

 

Interested in Sunday School?
Below is a growing list of possible sites to visit. As you discover others, please let us know.

International Lesson:
Faith and Life Resources

Mennonite Publishing House

International Lesson:
Mennonite Weekly Review

(scroll down on left to "Sunday School lessons)

International Lesson:
Christian Standard
(one week ahead)

International Lesson:
Living Web Sunday School Project

 
International Lesson:
Adult Bible Studies
from The United Methodist Publishing House
(click "supplemental resources" and "current events supplement" under both the "Student" and "Teacher" sections in the left hand column)
  

While one of our adult classes follows the International lesson above (see also), using
A Guide for Biblical Studies,
published quarterly by our denomination,
another class often uses one of the
Good Ground series.

For children and youth, we use the new
Gather Round curriculum
(developed jointly by the Church of the Brethren and the Mennonite Church)

 

©2010 Peter L. Haynes
(unless otherwise stated, worship resources were written by him)

 

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