We Gather Together to Worship Our God
Prelude: Ah, Holy Jesus/ Johann Cruger (1640)
Gathering Hymn: Blessed Is He (Kids’ Quest Kids)
Announcements:
Today:
- 9:00 Sunday School for all ages. Pre-k – 7th meet downstairs, the High School class meets in the Fireside Room, and the Adult Class meets in the Sanctuary.
- 10:30 Worship in the sanctuary.
- 5:30 pm, Tonight, Young Adult Bible Study at Jay and Kayla’s. (Address in bulletin) Meal provided.
- 5:30 pm, Tonight, “Who Is the Holy Spirit?” community groups at the church. We will enjoy a fellowship potluck together and sing as a large group. Then we will break into smaller groups for study and prayer.
- 6:00 pm, Tonight, Piedmont Area “Who Is the Holy Spirit?” community group (address in bulletin).
This Week:
- 4:30 pm, Wednesday, Music Practice.
- 5:00 pm, Wednesday, Son Light Puppeteer practice.
- 5:30 pm, Wednesday, Kids’ Quest for grades pre-k-4th and the Middle School Youth for grades 5th-7th begin. Meal provided.
- 6:15 pm, Wednesday, High School Youth Group at the Community Center for grades 8th-12th. Meal provided.
- 6:15 pm, Wednesday, “The Study of Eschatology”
- 6 am, Thursday, Men’s Prayer-time and Bible Study.
- 7:00 pm, Friday, Good Friday Service.
- 8 am, Saturday, Men’s Prayer-time and Bible Study.
General:
- March 31st, there will be no Sunday School.
- 9 am- 10 am, March 31st (Easter Sunday), the youth will be serving a pancake breakfast as a fundraiser for their trip to the Creation Museum/Ark in August.
- March 31st, there will be no Toddlers’ or Children’s church.
- 8:45 am, April 5th, MOPS meets at the church.
- Following worship, April 7th, Communicants’ Class begins. Meal will be provided.
- 6:00 pm, April 12th, Men’s Evening.
- 6:00 pm, April 15th, Session Meeting.
- April 21st, we will celebrate the Lord’s Supper.
- 6:00 pm, April 21st, Kids’ Quest Program.
- April 24th-26th, Presbytery.
- 9 am – noon, June 3rd-6th, Vacation Bible School for ages pre-k –7th! Please register ahead of time.
- Someone from our congregation has graciously offered to match contributions up to $1500 at the Pancake breakfast fundraiser which will support the High Schoolers’ upcoming trip to the Creation Museum and Ark this summer. If you would like to support the high schoolers’ upcoming trip, please join us for the fundraiser breakfast Easter morning at 9 am and indicate on the memo line of your check that it is for the Ark Trip.
Responsive Call to Worship: Psalm 24: 7 – 9
Leader: Lift up your heads, O gates! And be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in.
All: Who is this King of glory? The Lord, strong and mighty, the Lord, mighty in battle!
Leader: Lift up your heads, O gates! And lift them up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in.
Prayer of Adoration
Hymn of Praise: Hymnal #2 (verses 1, 2, 5, 6) O Worship the King
Responsive Reading: Zechariah 9:9; Matthew 21: 7 – 9
Leader: Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout, Daughter Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
All: They brought the donkey and the colt and placed their cloaks on them for Jesus to sit on. A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road.
Leader: The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted,
All: “Hosanna to the Son of David!” “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Hosanna in the highest heaven!”
Hymn of Praise: Trinity #295 Crown Him With Many Crowns
We Confess Our Sin
Call to Confession:
Leader: Like the people who greeted Jesus as he entered Jerusalem and later pronounced, “Crucify him,” we are fickle people who often deny Christ in our thoughts, words, and deeds. Remembering the events of Jesus’ last week helps us see ourselves for what we are: sinners in need of a savior, a savior—praise God—we have in Christ. In honesty and hope, we confess now our sins to God.
Silent Confession of Sin
Responsive Prayer of Confession: I Have Betrayed (With selected passages from Psalm 51)
Leader: Lord, I have betrayed you by following my own way.
All: I have denied you by fearing to follow yours.
Leader: And I have mocked you by not taking your death seriously.
All: Lord, I am lost. Let your forgiveness find me.
Leader: Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions.
All: Wash away all my iniquity, cleanse me from my sin, and give me your new life.
Leader: Wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
All: Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Leader: Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.
All: Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
Responsive Assurance of Pardon: Isaiah 53:1 – 5
Leader: He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.
All: Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted.
Leader: But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.
Hymn of Assurance: Hymnal #461 Not What My Hands Have Done
We Give Thanks To The Lord
Responsive Reading: Ephesians 1: 3 – 6
Leader: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,
All: Even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.
Tithes and Offerings
Offertory: All Glory, Laud and Honor/ Melchior Teschner
This traditional Palm Sunday hymn was likely written about 820 AD by Theodolph of Orleans, France, while he was imprisoned at Angers. He was a close friend of the King of Charlemagne. Originally there were 78 verses. The composer was Teschner in 1613. His melody was considered by J.S. Bach to be so good, that he borrowed it for use in his St. John Passion. Teschner studied at Cambridge, was a prolific writer, in addition to knowledge of 20 languages.
Doxology
We Hear God Speak
Small Talk
(Following this time, a nursery is available, Toddlers’ Church for ages 2-4, and Children’s Church for ages 5-8.)
Prayer of God’s People
The Lord’s Prayer
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, The power, and the glory, forever. Amen.
Striving Together In Prayer Romans 15: 30 – 33
A copy of the sermon notes is available: 3-24-24 sermon notes
For a copy of the Striving Together in Prayer List: Striving Together in Prayer
Audio only:
Hymn of Response: Hymnal #642 Be Thou My Vision
We Are Dismissed with God’s Blessing
Benediction
Hymn: We Will Glorify
Postlude: All Praise to God, Who Reigns Above/Mlt Freuden (1566)