Long Green Valley Church of the Brethren
Long Green & Kanes Rds., near Glen Arm, Md.
April 3, 2011
Worship 10:00 am              Sunday School 11:10am

The Fourth Sunday of Lent 

  Beginning with Praise (9:50 am)
  Announcements
  Prelude                        "From the Depths of My Heart"                            Bach

  Call to Worship                      Ephesians 5:8-14

*Hymn                                   "Awake, O sleeper"                             (see insert)

*Opening Prayer

  Unison Scripture Reading                                                                          814

  For Children                  "Not alone in the dark" (mp3)               Ed Lewis

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

  Prayer Hymn                    "The Lord's my shepherd"                                 578

  Pastoral Prayer

  Scripture                                1 Samuel 16:1-13

  Returning our Tithes and Offerings

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

  A Dramatic Reading                    John 9:1-41
                           (interspersed with this refrain from "Amazing Grace" #143)
                                  "I once was lost, but now am found,
                                          was blind, but now I see."

  Message                  "Though I was blind, now I see" (mp3)

*Hymn                           "Open my eyes, that I may see"                             517

*Responsive Benediction                                                   (see back of bulletin)

*Postlude                          "Rejoice, the Lord is King"                           Darwall

*Rise in body or in spirit

#'s are from Hymnal: A Worship Book

Worship leaders - see basic guidelines

Opening Prayer

            Source of Light, God of great mercy and love, we come to you this day seeking restoration of our sight. Clear away our blindness, and give us a new vision of all that we can accomplish in your name. Give us strength and confidence to truly witness to your abiding love and faithfulness. For we offer this prayer in Jesus’ Name. AMEN.

from Cokesbury.com written by the Rev. Nancy Townley
     

Unison Scripture Reading
Psalm 23

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want;
      he makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters;
      he restores my soul.
He leads me in paths of righteousness
      for his name's sake.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
            I fear no evil;
      for thou art with me;
      thy rod and thy staff,
            they comfort me.

Thou preparest a table before me
            in the presence of my enemies;
      thou anointest my head with oil,
            my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
            all the days of my life;
      and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Hymnal #814
from the Revised Standard Version.
Copyright 1946, 1952, 1959, 1973
by the Division of Christian Education of
the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America.
All rights reserved. Used by permission.
  

Pastoral Prayer

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

Returning our Tithes and Offerings

Earlier in worship we read together a Psalm attributed to David who, when Samuel came looking for a successor to King Saul, was out keeping the sheep. Here, then, was a young shepherd anointed for a new responsibility much further down the road. It was a task far beyond the green pastures and still waters of David’s experience. As the youngest son, his future probably lay with his father’s herd. Not much was expected of him. And yet, the One who does not look on outward appearance but on the heart, chose David. “Thou anointest my head with oil,” the psalm sings.

Lord God, we can only see so far. The human heart, from the depths of its depravity to the height of its aspiration, often seems way beyond our ability to comprehend. And yet, you see us fully. In these moments of wonder, being thankful and sharing our offerings, open our eyes to see the depths and heights of your unlimited grace and power. Open our eyes to see the width and breadth of your awesome purpose and calling. Open our eyes to see a bit of where we might fit into all that, even as we are out standing in our field. In the name of our shepherd, Jesus, we pray. Amen.

Ushers?

John 9:1-41
(a dramatic reading)

Characters:                                                                    
N - Narrator                              
D - Disciple                               
J - Jesus                                   
T - Townspeople                       
B - man Born Blind                   
P - Pharisee                              
A - man's parents (Abba/Imma)

                      Scene 1

N - As Jesus walked along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him,

D - "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"

N - Jesus answered,

J - "Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God's works might be revealed in him. We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world."

N - When he had said this, he spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva and spread the mud on the man's eyes, saying to him,

J - "Go, wash in the pool of Siloam"

N - (which means Sent). Then he went and washed and came back able to see.

Refrain – from "Amazing grace!" (2^nd half of vs. 1)
"I once was lost, but now am found,
was blind, but now I see."

                      Scene 2

N - The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar began to ask,

T - "Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?"

N - Some were saying,

T - "It is he."

N - Others were saying,

T - "No, but it is someone like him."

N - He kept saying,

B - "I am the man."

N - But they kept asking him,

T - "Then how were your eyes opened?"

N - He answered,

B - "The man called Jesus made mud, spread it on my eyes, and said to me, 'Go to Siloam and wash.' Then I went and washed and received my sight."

N - They said to him,

T - "Where is he?"

N - He said,

B - "I do not know."

Refrain – from "Amazing grace!" (2^nd half of vs. 1)
"I once was lost, but now am found,
was blind, but now I see."

                      Scene 3

N - They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. Now it was a sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. Then the Pharisees also began to ask him how he had received his sight. He said to them,

B - "He put mud on my eyes. Then I washed, and now I see."

N - Some of the Pharisees said,

P - "This man is not from God, for he does not observe the sabbath."

N - But others said,

P - "How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs?"

N - And they were divided. So they said again to the blind man,

P - "What do you say about him? It was your eyes he opened."

N - He said,

B - "He is a prophet."

N - The Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight and asked them,

P - "Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?"

N - His parents answered,

A - "We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; but we do not know how it is that now he sees, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age. He will speak for himself."

N - His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews; for the Jews had already agreed that anyone who confessed Jesus to be the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue. Therefore his parents said,

A - "He is of age; ask him."

N - So for the second time they called the man who had been blind, and they said to him,

P - "Give glory to God! We know that this man is a sinner."

N - He answered,

B - "I do not know whether he is a sinner. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see."

N - They said to him,

P - "What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?"

N - He answered them,

B - "I have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples?"

N - Then they reviled him, saying,

P - "You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from."

N - The man answered,

B - "Here is an astonishing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners, but he does listen to one who worships him and obeys his will. Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing."

N - They answered him,

P - "You were born entirely in sins, and are you trying to teach us?"

N - And they drove him out.

Refrain – from "Amazing grace!" (2^nd half of vs. 1)
"I once was lost, but now am found,
was blind, but now I see."

                      Scene 4

N - Jesus heard that they had driven him out, and when he found him, he said,

J - "Do you believe in the Son of Man?"

N - He answered,

B - "And who is he, sir? Tell me, so that I may believe in him."

N - Jesus said to him,

J - "You have seen him, and the one speaking with you is he."

N - He said,

B - "Lord, I believe."

N - And he worshiped him. (pause for a moment) Jesus said,

J - "I came into this world for judgment so that those who do not see may see, and those who do see may become blind."

N - Some of the Pharisees near him heard this and said to him,

P - "Surely we are not blind, are we?"

N - Jesus said to them,

J - "If you were blind, you would not have sin. But now that you say, 'We see,' your sin remains…"

Refrain – from "Amazing grace!" (2^nd half of vs. 1)
“I once was lost, but now am found,
was blind, but now I see.”

from 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.
  

Benediction

One:     Brothers and Sisters:
                        We have seen the light this day.
                        We have recognized it in the word.
                        We've caught its glow in our fellowship.
                        We've seen it radiant in the eyes of another.

All:       We come to the light.
            We are at home in the light.
            We will share the light wherever we go.

One:     We know the vacuum of light's absence.
            We know the brokenness it conveys out there
                        and in here.
            We go from this worship
                        awake to the life that shines with light.
            We go from the sweetness of Sabbath
                        into the fullness of our week
                                    with eyes wide open to the light.

by Glenn Mitchell, Spring Mills, Pennsylvania
Church of the Brethren Living Word Bulletin
Anchor/Wallace, Sleepy Eye MN 56085, "The Living Word Series"