Order of Worship
Let us be as open vessels that God’s spirit may enter.
The Community Gathers: Experience God’s presence in the assembly. Please greet one another with joy and welcome new friends into our community of love.
You are welcome here…come and worship!
Opening: Procession with Palms “Prepare Ye The Way of the Lord” from Godspell
Welcome: We stand at the precipice of Lent and Holy Week. This day moves from shouting and praising to a time of crying and lament. The drama of the story of Jesus’ last week reads like the book of our lives. Feeling hopeful one moment, we plummet the next as we deal with disappointment, danger, and grief. God’s incarnation on earth was not immune from this roller-coaster we call life. When life gets difficult, we can feel overwhelmed: we just want to survive, to be comforted, to have our pain known and embraced. And so we turn toward love, the love of one another and the tender love of our creator in the hardest times and in all times of our lives, confident that our Creator walkswith us always.
Gathering Music: Good Enough (Marcia McFee/Marsha Moors/Chuck Bell) Michelle Currie
Call To Worship:
One: Hosanna, hosanna, loud Hosanna!
Many: Blessed is the one who comes.
One: Hosanna, hosanna, loud Hosanna!
Many: May the rivers of justice run.
One: Children singing, families dancing,
Many: The elders give a shout!
One: Peace in heaven, glory in the highest!
Many: Even the stones cry out!
One: Hosanna, hosanna, loud hosanna!
Many: May our refrain never cease.
One: Not by power nor by might,
Many: But the way that makes for peace.
Opening Hymn: Hosanna, Loud Hosanna #197
Opening Prayer: Based on Psalm 118
Let us pray together: Holy One, God of Goodness,
we call out to you at the Gates of Righteousness,
sometimes in praise, sometimes in distress–sometimes both at once. Open us this day to your love in and through the webs of our relationships–and in the simple and good enough moments that fill our days. Amen.
Lord’s Prayer
Awakening: Hosanna (by Brooke Fraser) -Michelle Currie
Scripture: A Reading of the Passion: The Palm Parade, The Anointing and The Last Supper Rev. Lamar Robinson and Sharon Gaudin
Reader One -Rev. Lamar Robinson
The Palm Parade Mark 11:1-11
They were looking for answers. So, they went to Jerusalem. They gathered in the streets to make a way for peace. On the other side of the city, there was another procession. Pontius Pilate, governor of Judea, rode into Jerusalem with an army of horses, armored soldiers and waving banners.
On the other side of the city, near the Mount of Olives, Jesus had sent two of his disciples to go into the village and find tied there a colt that has never been ridden; untie it and bring it. He instructed them, “If anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ just say this, ‘The Lord needs it and will send it back here immediately.'” They went away and found a colt tied near a door, outside in the street. As they were untying it, some of the bystanders said to them, “What are you doing, untying the colt?” They replied with the answer Jesus had given. “The Lord needs it,” they said.
Then they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it; and Jesus sat on it. Many people spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut in the fields. Then those who needed answers, those who had come looking for peace, began shouting, “Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our ancestor David! Hosanna in the highest heaven!”
Come. Join in the parade, you who need answers, you who came looking for peace.
Reader Two: Sharon Gaudin
The Anointing Mark 14:1-9
It was two days before the Passover and the festival of Unleavened Bread. The chief priests and the scribes were looking for a way to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill him; for they said, “Not during the festival, or there may be a riot among the people.”
They were looking for their own answers. They thought they knew how the world worked. While they worried, Jesus sat at the table in the house of Simon the leper. A woman came with an alabaster jar of very costly ointment of nard, and she broke open the jar and poured the ointment on his head.
But some were there who said to one another in anger, “Why was the ointment wasted in this way? For this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii, and the money given to the poor.” And they scolded her. She did not reply. She continued with her task. She did what she could; she anointed his body beforehand for its burial. Jesus spoke, where she did not. “Truly I tell you,” he said. “Wherever the good news is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in remembrance of her.”
Come. Kneel beside her. Do not speak but remember what your hands have done to proclaim the good news.
Silence
Reader 1: Rev. Lamar Robinson
The Last Supper Mark 14:10-25
Then Judas Iscariot, who was one of the twelve, went to the chief priests in order to betray him to them. When they heard it, they were greatly pleased, and promised to give him money. So he began to look for an opportunity to betray him.
They didn’t understand his way. They didn’t understand all that he taught but when it came time to share in the Passover feast, they turned to Jesus. On the first day of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover lamb is sacrificed, his disciples asked, “Where do you want us to go and make the preparations for you to eat the Passover?”
So he sent two of his disciples, saying to them, “Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you; follow him, and wherever he enters, say to the owner of the house, ‘The Teacher asks, Where is my guest room where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’ He will show you a large room upstairs, furnished and ready. Make preparations for us there.” The disciples set out and went to the city, and found everything as he had told them; and they prepared the Passover meal. When it was evening, he came with the twelve. And when they had taken their places and were eating, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me, one who is eating with me.” They began to be distressed and to say to him one after another, “Surely, not I?” He said to them, those looking for answers, those who came looking for peace, “It is one of the twelve, one who is dipping bread into the bowl with me. For the Son of Man, the Human One, goes as it is written of him, but woe to that one by whom the Human One is betrayed! It would have been better for that one not to have been born.”
While they were eating, he took a loaf of bread, and after blessing it he broke it, gave it to them, and said, “Take; this is my body.” Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he gave it to them, and all of them drank from it. He said to them, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many. Truly I tell you, I will never again drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.”
Come. Find your place at this table, you who need answers, you who came looking for peace.
Music: Meditative Instrumental ~ Michelle Currie
Musical call to Prayer: (two times) Hush now in quiet peace, be still your mind at ease. The Spirit brings release, so wait upon the Lord. Michelle Currie
Prayers of the People
Silent Prayers Pastoral Prayer
Scripture: The Story Continues: The Garden, The Betrayal, The Arrest, The Denial Paul Schlaver and Rev. Paula Norbert
The Story Continues
Reader Three: Paul Schlaver
The Garden Mark 14:32-40They went to a place called Gethsemane; and he said to his disciples, “Sit here while I pray.” He took with him Peter and James and John, and began to be distressed and agitated. And said to them, “I am deeply grieved, even to death; remain here, and keep awake.” And going a little farther, Jesus threw himself on the ground and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. He said, “Abba, for you all things are possible; remove this cup from me; yet, not what I want, but what you want.” He came and found them sleeping; and Jesus said to Peter, “Simon, are you asleep? Could you not keep awake one hour? Keep awake and pray that you may not come into the time of trial; the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
And again he went away and prayed, saying the same words. And once more he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were very heavy; and they did not know what to say to him. They had no answers.
Come. Rest in the garden, you who are weary, you who don’t have any answers.
Reader Two: Rev. Paula
The Betrayal Mark 14:43-50
Immediately, while he was still speaking, Judas, one of the twelve, arrived; and with him there was a crowd with swords and clubs, from the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders. He was confident in his own answer. He thought he knew how this must end. So, he had told the chief priests, the scribes and the elders, “Now the betrayer had given them a sign, saying, “The one I will kiss is the man; arrest him and lead him away under guard.” When he came, he went up to Jesus at once and said, “Rabbi!” and kissed him. Then they laid hands on him and arrested him.
But one of those who stood near drew his sword and struck the slave of the high priest, cutting off his ear. They had come looking for answers. They had come looking for peace. This wasn’t the way. They didn’t understand. And so, they deserted him and fled.
Come. Run into your fears, you who need answers, you who came looking for peace.
Silence
The Arrest Paul Schlaver Mark 14:53-65
They took Jesus to the high priest; and all the chief priests, the elders, and the scribes were assembled. Now the chief priests and the whole council were looking for testimony against Jesus to put him to death; but they found none.
The chief priests, the elders and the scribes knew their answer. They thought they knew the ways of God. They thought they knew all that God could do. There was nothing that could convince them otherwise. They spit on him and blindfolded him. They beat him for the words he said.
Come. Listen to what God might be saying.
Listen to what God might be doing
that doesn’t fit with everything that you have been taught about this world.
Listen for God to speak.
Silence
The Denial Paula Mark 14:66-72
While Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the servant-girls of the high priest came by. When she saw Peter warming himself, she stared at him and said, “You also were with Jesus, the man from Nazareth.” He answered, “I do not know or understand what you are talking about.”
Then the cock crowed. And the servant-girl, on seeing him, began again to say to the bystanders, “This man is one of them.” But again he denied it.
Then after a little while the bystanders again said to Peter, “Certainly you are one of them; for you are a Galilean.” But he began to curse, and he swore an oath, “I do not know this man you are talking about.” At that moment the cock crowed for the second time. Then Peter remembered that Jesus had said to him, “Before the cock crows twice, you will deny me three times.” And he broke down and wept.
Come. Join those who wander through courtyards, court rooms, streets and gardens.
Join the crowds who have come looking for answers, looking for peace.
Closing Music: All Glory, Laud, and Honor #196
A Blessing for When You Feel Lonely
“Blessed are we who cry out,
‘God, I need a friend to share the simple unaffected joys that come, the troubles unbidden, those too heavy to sustain…’Blessed are we, opening our hands in readiness,
to risk intimacy, to receive the gift of friendship, and give it in return.”
Benediction
And now, may the God who loves all of creation, especially the lonely bits, and Jesus, our companion along this crooked path called life, and the Holy Spirit, who loves to improvise in surprising ways, go with you, dwell among you, and give you joy. Amen.
Postlude: Good Enough (Benediction)
God is still here and some – how, this faith is good enough.
God is still here and some – how, this faith is good rnough.
Many thanks to Michelle Currie, Music Director, our Zoom Host and Readers today. Pastor Contact info: Cell: 207205-4951, pnorbert1217@gmail.com