Long Green Valley Church of the Brethren
Long Green & Kanes Rds., near Glen Arm, Md.
February 17, 2013
Worship 10:00 am          Sunday School 11:10am

The First Sunday of Lent

   Beginning with Praise (9:50 am)        "Guide me, O thou great Jehovah"         582
  Announcements
  Prelude                     "Ave Verum (Jesus, Word of God)"                     Mozart

   Call to Worship             "There is a place of quiet rest"                                   5
                                    (interspersed with Romans 10:8-13)

*Hymn                       "From all that dwell below the skies"                            49

*Opening Prayer

  Scripture                             Deuteronomy 26:1-11

  Affirmation of Faith                                                                                    710

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

  Hymn                           "Lord, I want to be a Christian"                              444

  Pastoral Prayer

  Some thoughts on entering the wilderness of Lent

  Scripture                                    Luke 4:1-13

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

  Scripture                              Psalm 91:1-2, 9-16

  Message                                        "Still"

*Hymn                               "God will take care of you"                           (insert)

*Benediction

*Postlude                                       "Postlude"                                          Rinck

*Rise in body or in spirit

#'s are from Hymnal: A Worship Book

Worship leaders - see basic guidelines

Call to Worship
(in hymn and scripture)

Hymn      (vs. 1) "There is a place of quiet rest"     5

1 - The word is near you, on your lips and in your heart

2 - The word is near you, on your lips and in your heart

1 - The word

2 - (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim)

1 - is near you, on your lips and in your heart

Hymn      (vs. 2) "There is a place of quiet rest"      5

2 - The word is near you, on your lips and in your heart;

1 - because if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord

2 - and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead,

1 - you will be saved.

2 - For one believes with the heart and so is justified,

1 - and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved.

2 - The scripture says, “No one who believes in him will be put to shame.”

Hymn      (vs. 3) "There is a place of quiet rest"     5

1 - For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek;

2 - the same Lord is Lord of all,

1 - and is generous to all who call on him.

2 - For, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

(both motion for all to rise as organ plays intro to next hymn)

Scripture text is Romans 10:8-13
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
   

Opening Prayer

Holy God, Refuge of desert wanderers:
      as the seeds of grace
            you have planted within us
                  bear an abundant harvest,
      we would offer the first fruits
            in thanksgiving to you
                  and in service to others.

Jesus Christ, Companion of Lenten pilgrims:
      you understood
            that God alone feeds us,
                  and so became the broken Bread;
      you knew that the power
            to transform our lives
                  comes from God alone,
                        and so became our Servant;
      you did not ignore
            the warning not to test God,
                  and so became our Hope.

Holy Spirit, Leader of Christ's apprentices:
      you fill the hungry
            with the Bread of hope;
      you fill the arrogant
            with the Servant's humility;
      you fill the hopeless
            with that trust which endures.

God in Community, Holy in One,
      in our hearts, and on our lips,
            we pray as Jesus taught us, saying,
                  Our Father . . .

by Thom M. Shuman,
currently serving as Interim Pastor at
Immanuel Presbyterian Church, Cincinnati, Ohio
  

Affirmation our faith

Leader: We affirm that the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,
                 Miriam, Hannah, and Mary is our God.
People: We affirm that God has come to us in our likeness,
                taking the form of a servant in Jesus of Nazareth.
Leader: We believe that god, in Christ, suffered the pain and agony
                of the cross to provide for our salvation.
People: We believe that God demonstrated power over sin and death
                by raising Jesus from the dead
                and declaring that the risen Christ is Lord.
Leader: God has given us new life and freedom
                    in the fullness of the Holy  Spirit,
                who is the guide and power of the community of believers.
ALL:  We believe that in the end, God's rule of peace and justice
               will be fully established
               and that Jesus Christ will reign forever and ever.

Hymnal #710
Adapted from a liturgy of baptism by Assembly Mennonite Church, Goshen, Ind.,
Baptism and Church Membership, Worship Series 3, ed. James H. Waltner,
copyright © 1979 Faith & Life Press/Mennonite Publishing House.
    

Pastoral Prayer

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

Some thoughts on entering the wilderness of Lent

             Recall the story. After he was baptized, Jesus entered the wilderness and dwelt there alone for 40 days.  During the season of Lent, we are invited to enter into the wilderness with Jesus. This forty day span from Ash Wednesday to Palm Sunday provides an opportunity, as sister Dana Cassell puts it in this year’s Lenten devotional booklet, “to train our eyes and our minds and our hearts to be aware of God at work within us and among us. And how does this happen?” she asks. “We practice paying attention in many ways: through prayer, through scripture, through eliminating distractions, through slowing down and noticing just one thing at a time.”*

             I have been meeting with a group of our youth the past month in preparation for baptism. Along the way, I have challenged them to pay attention every day to a portion of scripture, to read it several times and see what grabs them, and to write this down in a journal and talk with God about it. We have thus far listened to Jesus’ sermon on the mount, and are now traveling through the rest of his story. Paying attention is hard work, not just for them, but for all of us. Our lifelong journey with Jesus involves paying attention every day. Lent is an intentional time to kick-start us back into habits we may have laid aside, or to step into them for the first time.

             Speaking of baptism, it’s important to note that following his time at the Jordan river with John the Baptist, Jesus faced into temptation, a story we will shortly hear one more time. If you think that making a covenant with God through baptism is the finish line of your life of faith, and that it will be smooth sailing from this point forward, let this scripture quickly erase that notion. Even Jesus was tempted following his baptism. We warn people that reality steps in with a vengeance when we step out of the water, that the evil One (who speaks so eloquently) and the mad rush of the world waits for us, ready to draw us away from God, to get us to stop paying attention.

             Of course, Jesus intentionally journeyed into the wilderness and faced temptation head on. This is part of the Lenten experience for those willing to step into it. Many folks give up something for these forty days, not to willfully see if they can do it, but to pay attention to their own inner demons. I have some young friends who are giving up texting or Facebook for Lent. I wonder what God will do in that wilderness for them. Are any of you laying aside anything? Lent can be a tremendously valuable time for us, if we enter the wilderness with Jesus and allow it to be.

             Let me now read the story as told by gospel storyteller Luke. After I finish, the ushers will collect our offerings while we pay attention to a creative video that portrays, through a series of 40 drawings, the journey of Jesus into the wilderness….    Listen.

Luke 4:1-13

             Ushers?

*from "The Practice of Paying Attention,"
©2013, Brethren Press, introduction.
   

Benediction

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

And may God instruct angels to guard you wherever you go;
May Christ Jesus be your refuge and stronghold;
And may the Holy Spirit lead you
........and put God’s Word on your lips and in your hearts. 

©2001 Nathan Nettleton Laughingbird.net