Fourth Presbyterian Church: A Light in the City

Bulletins are posted on the day prior.

Sunday, March 22
9:30 a.m. Worship Service

Gather around the Word

PRELUDE

Ah, Holy Jesus
Johannes Brahms
A Bridge Called Faith
Fred Gramann

INTROIT
What Wondrous Love Is This
American Folk Hymn

What wondrous love is this, O my soul! What wondrous love is this that caused the Lord of bliss to bear the dreadful curse of my soul!

DOXOLOGY
Praise God, from whom all blessings flow; praise God, all creatures here below; praise God above, ye heavenly host; Creator, Christ, and Holy Ghost.† Amen.

*CALL TO WORSHIP (responsively)

One: God calls us to service,

All: rather than honor.

One: God calls us to love the unknown,

All: rather than the familiar.

One: We come to this time of worship,

All: people trusting in the grace of Jesus Christ,

One: who is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

*Hymn 83

“O God, Who Gives Us Life”

1. O God, who gives us life and breath, who shapes us in the womb, who guards our lives from birth to death, then leads us from the tomb: deliver us from fears that kill the life we have from you. Help us to know your Spirit still is making all things new.

2. O God, who calls your people out to venture and to dare, to plumb the bleak abyss of doubt and find you even there: when we despair in wandering through wastes of empty lies, refresh us with the living spring of hope that never dies.

3. O God of covenant and law, revealed in cloud and flame, your mighty deeds evoke our awe; we dare not speak your name. Yet we by faith are drawn to you and will your people prove, as on our hearts you write anew the covenant of love.

PRAYER OF CONFESSION

Redeemer God, you lift the dead to life, the burdened to freedom, and the wounded to healing. Yet we would rather live in tombs. We chase the shadows of what we think will satisfy, whether possessions or attention. But they do not have the power to give us light. Often through our action and inaction, we keep others entombed in poverty, war, and isolation. Turn us around from these dead ends. Forgive our apathy, animosity, and selfishness. Lead us into life. Amen.

Extinguishing the First Lenten Candle

Kyrie, Hymn 551

Lord, have mercy; Christ, have mercy; Lord, have mercy upon us. Lord, have mercy; Christ, have mercy; Lord, have mercy upon us.

DECLARATION OF PARDON

One: Friends, believe the good news.

All: In Jesus Christ, we are forgiven.

SHARING THE PEACE OF CHRIST
One: The peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.

All: And also with you.

We invite you to greet those around you, wishing them “peace” or “the peace of Christ,” and encourage those online to text or email someone to let them know you are thinking of them.

TIME WITH CHILDREN

(9:30)

WELCOME AND ANNOUNCEMENTS

Anthem

Out of the Deep (from Requiem)
John Rutter

Out of the deep have I called unto thee, O Lord: Lord, hear my voice O let thine ears consider well: the voice of my complaint. If thou, Lord, wilt be extreme to mark what is done amiss: O Lord, who may abide it? For there is mercy with thee: therefore shalt thou be feared. I look for the Lord; my soul doth wait for him: In his word is my trust My soul fleeth unto the Lord: Before the morning watch I say, before the morning watch O Israel, trust in the Lord, for with the Lord there is mercy: And with him is plentеous redemption. And he shall rеdeem Israel from all his sins.

Listening for the Word

Prayer for Illumination

First Scripture Reading
Romans 8:6-11

To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For this reason the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law—indeed it cannot, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you.

One: The Word of the Lord.

All: Thanks be to God.

*Gloria Patri

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost:† as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen. Amen.

Second Scripture Reading
John 11:35

Jesus began to weep.

Sermon
Unlikely Friends: Tears

Nancy Benson-Nicol

Responding to the Word

*Hymn 194
“O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing”

1. When Jesus wept, the falling tear in mercy flowed beyond all bound. When Jesus groaned, a trembling fear seized all the guilty world around.

*Affirmation of Faith (unison)
Apostles’ Creed

We believe in one God, who gave birth to the cosmos and to us, creating, out of nothing but God’s own will, a world of rocks, plants and human longing; whose eyes will not fail to cry for it all. We believe in one God, who redeems the waste of all things good, weaving, from the griefs of our freedom, new and unhoped-for things; whose mercy will not fail to heal it all. We believe in one God, who lives among all people in all places, calling us from our despair and sleep to live out Easter in our generation; whose love will not fail to hold us all.

Prayers of the People

The Lord’s Prayer (unison)

Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

Call to Offering
Offertory Anthem

In Paradisum (from Requiem)

John Rutter

May angels lead you into paradise: may the martyrs receive you at your arrival, and lead you to the holy city Jerusalem. May choirs of angels receive you, and with Lazarus, once a poor man may you have eternal rest.

OFFERTORY RESPONSE, Hymn 652, v. 1

A grateful heart is what I bring, a song of praise, my offering. Among the saints I lift my voice: in you, O God, I will rejoice.

*Prayer of Dedication (unison), from The Worship Sourcebook

God of all, accept our offering of money this day, but also the offering of our lives. Help us to live simply, generously and courageously, that our lives may point to you. Amen.

Bearing the Word into the World

HYMN 282
“The Lord’s My Shepherd, I’ll Not Want”

1. Come down, O Love Divine; seek out this soul of mine, and visit it with your own ardor glowing. O Comforter, draw near; within my heart appear, and kindle it, your holy flame bestowing.

2. O let it freely burn, till earthly passions turn to dust and ashes in its heat consuming. And let your glorious light shine ever on my sight, and clothe me round, the while my path illuming.

3. And so the yearning strong, with which the soul will long, shall far outpass the power of human telling. For none can guess God’s grace, till Love creates a place wherein the Holy Spirit makes a dwelling.

*Charge and Benediction

Choral Benediction

Amen

John Rutter

Postlude

Toccata and Fugue in D Minor

J. S. Bach

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