Time to Bear Fruit

Sunday March 21, 2021

Time to Bear Fruit

Prelude

Words of Welcome

Announcements                           

Call to Worship 

Leader:           Let us gather to worship.

People:          (Out loud, but muted) O God, we wish to see the Living Christ among                           us! We come to worship, to pray, and learn.            

Leader:           We come looking for Jesus in Scripture lessons, in our own life

experiences, in helping our world, in prayers for each other.

People:          (Out loud, but muted) We seek to follow in the way of Jesus.

Leader:           We lay bare before God and one another our own wilderness journey
filled with some gladness and hope, with reluctance and sorrow, with fear                          and confusion.

People:          (Out loud, but muted) O God, speak to us, show us, touch us with your                        presence! Let our Lenten journey lead us to Jesus, so that we may  show Jesus forth in our lives, our faith community, and our world.                             

Amen.

Opening Prayer   Unison (Out loud, but muted)

God of the journey,
you invite us, the church,
“to accept the cost and joy of discipleship”
and “to be your servants in the service of others.” 
In so doing, may your presence be our guide and Jesus Christ our model. 
May we respond to you in loving faithfulness. Amen

Hymn # 189: Down at the Cross

(Please see separate attachment for the score)

1) Down at the cross where my Savior died,
down where for cleansing from sin I cried,
there to my heart was the blood applied–
Glory to Christ’s name.

Refrain:
Glory to Christ’s name,
glory to Christ’s name;
There to my heart was the blood applied;
glory to Christ’s name.

2) I am so wondrously saved from sin,
Jesus so sweetly abides within;
there at the cross where Christ took me in–
Glory to Christ’s name. [Refrain]

3) O precious fountain that saves from sin,
I am so glad I have entered in;
there Jesus saves me and keeps me clean–
Glory to Christ’s name. [Refrain]

4) Come to this fountain so rich and sweet,
cast your poor soul at the Savior’s feet;
plunge in today and be made complete–
Glory to Christ’s name. [Refrain]

Pastor’s Call to Confession

Sisters and Brothers, in our daily lives we need the gift of the season of Lent.
These 40 days can help us restore right relationships with God and with others.
This is a fine time to focus,
clear our hearts and minds of distractions, and re-orient and restore our whole selves.
May God be with us. Let us join in our unison Prayer of Confession.

Prayer of Confession Unison (Out loud, but muted)

God, we are at so many junctures in our lives. Too often we can’t see around the corner of what’s coming our way. Each of these crossroads of life can feel like pressure points related to changes bringing about things we barely understand in detail while also only minimally comprehending their wider sweep of consequences.  We can feel uprooted from past securities. Help us to find, practice, and share your presence on this vast journey into our shared journey.  Amen.

Silent Prayer

Assurance of Pardon

People of God take what God has written in your hearts. We can all know this presence just as Jeremiah wrote to his people. Each one of us in different ways can hear the Good News that God is with us. In our actions we will allow this blessing to be expressed. From all kinds of life experiences God is still speaking among us. Amen.

Passing of the Peace (unmute for Passing of the Peace)

Pastor:            The Peace of Christ be with you

People:          And also with you!

Reading                                                                                                      Carol Bellamy

Jeremiah 31:31-34 (NIV)

31:31 The days are surely coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah.

31:32 It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt–a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says the LORD.

31:33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

31:34 No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, “Know the LORD,” for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the LORD; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.

Special Music                                                                                             Carol Bellamy                      

Gospel Reading 

John 12:23-33 (NIV)

12:23 Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.

12:24 Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.

12:25 Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.

12:26 Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor.

12:27 “Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say–‘ Father, save me from this hour’? No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour.

12:28 Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.”

12:29 The crowd standing there heard it and said that it was thunder. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.”

12:30 Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not for mine.

12:31 Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out.

12:32 And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”

12:33 He said this to indicate the kind of death he was to die.

Musical Interlude

Sermon: Time to Bear Fruit

Rev. Curtiss DeMars-Johnson

Music for Meditation

Prayers of the People (unmute yourself to offer a request, giving first names only, please)

Hymn #508 Prayer Is the Soul’s Sincere Desire (verses 1 and 5)

(sung muted but together, Wei Der playing)

            Prayer is the soul’s sincere desire, unuttered or expressed;

The motion of a hidden fire that trembles in the breast.

            O Christ, by whom we come to God, the Life, the Truth, the Way,
The path of prayer you too have trod: Christ, teach us how to pray.

Pastoral Prayer

The Lord’s Prayer Unison (Out loud, but muted)

Offering Invitation

Jesus compels us to join with Christ in service to others.
Our church accepts the invitation and challenge
to show Jesus’ Way using the resources we share.
Let us give as we are able to the ministries of our church.

Offering and Dedication Unison (Out loud, but muted)

God, there are many who “wish to see Jesus.”
In joy and celebration of the many gifts that we share,
we ask you to bless all of our offerings. 
May Jesus shine in all the world.  Amen.

Blessing and Benediction  Unison (Out loud, but muted)

Dear God.  We thank you for today,
for being with us, accepting our worship and prayers,
and for guiding us on our way.
Bless us as we go, and in turn, may we bless others.
In Jesus’ name. Amen.