Lent 2C
Lent 3C
Lent 4C
Lent 5C
Palm/Passion Sunday Year C
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Lent 4C LECTIONARY GENERATED LITURGY Fourth Sunday in Lent Year C Joshua 5:9-12; Psalm 32; 2 Corinthians 5:16-21; Luke 15:1-3,11b-32. Rec text - NRSV. Hymns are from the Australian Hymn Book (AHB) or Together in Song (TIS) unless otherwise indicated. Worship Leader - normal type. Congregational responses - bold type. Permission is granted to churches to use this material in services of worship. This liturgy remains the property of Moira B. Laidlaw Additional resources for Lent 4C: All Together OK, Openbook Publishers, Adelaide, South Australia, 1996; New Journeys Songbook ,The Joint Board of Christian Education, Melbourne, 3000, Australia, 1991; Be Our Freedom, Lord, Terry C. Falla, Openbook Publishers, Adelaide, South Australia, 1994. CALL TO WORSHIP: Either read Psalm 32 responsively, or use the following which is based on these verses: Happy are those whose sins are forgiven. Happy are those to whom God attributes no wrong, those in whose heart there is no deceit. When we keep silent about our wrongdoings, our lives disintegrate with worry and guilt; when we struggle to hide from God, the heaviness in our hearts consumes our strength. But when we seek your truth, O God, and acknowledge our sin, we experience your forgiveness. Let all people reach out to you in prayer, O God, and know your protection and strength. Surrounded by your grace-filled presence and filled with your undeserved forgiveness, we sing your praise; we shout for joy. Stubbornness melts away and tempers are controlled when we listen for God’s word and follow God’s direction for our lives. When we fail to listen, and persist in following other than God’s way, our hearts are hardened and our lives tormented. But when we put our trust in God, we are surrounded and filled with God’s steadfast love. Rejoice and shout for joy all those who are upright in heart. TIS 111/AHB 28: “ Praise to the Lord, the Almighty” TIS 20: “How blest are those whose great sin has freely been forgiven” TIS 201/AHB 129: “ King of glory, King of peace” TIS 112/AHB 34: “Through all the changing scenes of life” PRAYER OF ADORATION AND PRAISE God of steadfast love, you give us so many reasons to rejoice - the best reason of all is having been brought so close to you in Jesus . Through him you enable us to be new people - part of your new creation. And you have entrusted us with the task of continuing to give shape to this new creation by commissioning us as ambassadors of Christ. By aligning our hearts with yours, we can speak the words to others which you have spoken to us in Christ: “You are loved. You are forgiven. You are saved.” We praise you and adore you, O God, as we offer this prayer in Jesus’ name. Amen GOSPEL: Luke 15:1-3,11b-32 SUGGESTED CHILDREN’S TALK Divide the children/young people into three groups. Those who are the youngest in their family, those who are the oldest and those either in-between or without brothers or sisters. The last group represent the ‘father’. Retell the gospel but addressing the first part to the ‘younger’ group. Ask them what they would spend their inheritance on... Ask them how they would feel when their money ran out etc. How would they feel about going back home and confessing that they had messed up their lives and spent all the money. Turn to the group of ‘fathers’ and ask them how they might welcome their spendthrift child home.... Point out how the father in the story welcomed his son and went to prepare a welcome-home party for him. Turn to the ‘older’ children and remind them that they have been working faithfully on the farm all the time their ‘brother’ has been away enjoying himself. Ask them how they would feel about their father organising a party etc. to welcome him home. Listen to their responses. Read the father’s response in the gospel. Ask them what might happen from that moment on or - if their responses are radically different from the gospel, point out how God’s actions can be very different and very much more gracious than ours. TIS 129/AHB 56: “Amazing grace” TIS 229/AHB 166: “Jesus loves me” TIS 693: “Come as you are” OLD TESTAMENT: Joshua 5: 9-12 EPISTLE: 2 Corinthians 5:16-21 INTRODUCTION TO PRAYER OF CONFESSION: Dictionaries define an ambassador as a person given power to represent the interests of their country or sovereign in another country. An ambassador for Christ, therefore, is a Spirit-empowered person who represents Christ’s interests among those to whom Christ’s ways are foreign. PRAYER OF CONFESSION: Merciful God, you have brought our lives into harmony with yours through the sacrificial love, life, and death of Jesus Christ. You have created us anew in Christ and have entrusted us with the task of living out this newness of life so that others will also come to know you through Christ. We confess that we readily accept the privilege of being a new creation in Christ but all too often we fail to live up to the responsibility which that brings. When we are content to enjoy newness of life in Christ as a personal experience only, and fail to accept the challenge of sharing this experience with others. Forgive us, O God Being a new creation in Christ means having our identity shaped by Christ himself. When we believe that our identity is shaped by what we do and how well we do it. Forgive us, O God Being a new creation in Christ means accepting others in love as we are accepted by him. When we allow prejudice and judgmental attitudes to undermine our call to be agents jof reconciliation. Forgive us, O God Being a new creation in Christ means being commissioned to spread the good news of peace and love, justice and mercy, to a world sorely in need of such news. When we fail to live out the values of the gospel, forgetting the high cost to Jesus when he showed us just how much he values and loves us. Forgive us, O God We come to you, merciful God, in penitence and faith, praying that you will heal us and forgive us in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen All Together OK 354: “Change my heart, O God...” Sung while seated as a continuation of the prayer. ASSURANCE OF FORGIVENESS If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! We have been reconciled to God through Christ and all this is from God who does not count our trespasses against us - but entrusts us with the message of reconciliation. (Based on 2 Corinthians 5:17, 18,19) The good news therefore is this: In Jesus Christ we are renewed and we are forgiven. Thanks be to God! New Journeys Songbook 89: “Let there be peace on earth...” TIS 607: Make me a channel of your peace” PASSING THE PEACE The peace of the Lord be always with you And also with you (Invite people to share a sign of peace with folk round about) SERMON TIS 136: “There’s a wideness in God’s mercy” TIS 526/AHB 451: “Lord Jesus Christ, you have come to us” TIS 619/AHB 552: “Have faith in God my heart” PRAYERS OF THANKSGIVING AND INTERCESSION: ‘There is a new world’ (partly based on the epistle for today)- page 51 and ‘Choices’ - page 305 in Be our Freedom, Lord THE LORD’S PRAYER OFFERING OFFERTORY PRAYER: Lord Jesus Christ, you gave yourself to us at such huge cost, to reconcile us to God and to create us into new people. In thanksgiving, we offer these gifts and the service of our lives to you, to be used to further the task of reconciling the world to God. Strengthen us with your Spirit that we may be your faithful ambassadors and eager agents of reconciliation. Amen TIS 210/AHB 41: “O for a thousand tongues to sing” TIS 442/AHB 367: “All praise to our redeeming Lord” TIS 563/AHB 146: “Let him to whom we now belong ...” BENEDICTION Go into the world Surrounded by the protective love of God, Embraced by the reconciling love of Jesus Christ Renewed by the empowering love of the Holy Spirit. THREEFOLD AMEN |