Grace Presbyterian Church
Meeting in the Chapel at Union Congregational Church
Serving people, through Christ, to meet the spiritual, physical, and emotional needs of the community and the world around us.
Welcome
Prelude “Interlude VII” Mark Hayes
Call to Worship based on the Psalm 126
One: No matter what you are going through at the moment, remember!
All: We remember who and whose we are.
One: The psalmist writes: When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion,
All: we were like those who dreamed.
One: Our mouths were filled with laughter,
All: our tongues with songs of joy.
One: It was said among the nations,
All: The Lord has done great things for them.
One: The Lord has done great things for us
All: We remember, and we are grateful.
Opening Prayer
Hymn * “Day by Day” into “Open Our Eyes, Lord”
Day by day, Day, by day,
O, dear Lord, three things I pray:
to see thee more clearly,
love thee more dearly,
follow thee more nearly,
day by day.
Open our eyes, Lord,
we want to see Jesus,
to reach out and touch him,
and say that we love him.
Open our ears, Lord,
and help us to listen.
Open our eyes, Lord,
we want to see Jesus.
Prayer for Illumination
Scripture Lesson (in Unison) John 12:1-8
Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those reclining with him.
Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus’s feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said, “Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?” (He said this not because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; he kept the common purse and used to steal what was put into it.) Jesus said, “Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.”
Time With Children
Call to Confession
Unison Prayer of Confession
God who calls us to be born again, we confess that we do not like change. We resist it. We resist you. We ask for transformation in our lives and in the lives of our loved ones and, yes, maybe even more fervently in the lives of those for whom we harbor great disdain, and yet, still, we don’t like change. We resist it. We resist you. Help us to let go of things that lead to death and embrace the things that lead to new life. Give us discernment and wisdom; faith, that doesn’t need to know the end of the story but trusts in the process which is to say, you. In great humility, we know that some of this work can only be accomplished through your Spirit. So be it, we pray. Amen.
Assurance of Forgiveness
Praise Be To God in Song “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.
Passing of the Peace
Scripture Lesson Isaiah 43:16-21
Message I Am About to Do a New Thing (You, too!) The Rev. Robin Miller Currás
Hymn 359 * “More Love to Thee, O Christ”
Affirmation of Faith * from A Brief Statement of Faith
We trust in God, whom Jesus called Abba, Father. In sovereign love God created the world good and makes everyone equally in God’s image male and female, of every race and people, to live as one community. But we rebel against God; we hide from our Creator. Ignoring God’s commandments, we violate the image of God in others and ourselves, accept lies as truth, exploit neighbor and nature, and threaten death to the planet entrusted to our care. We deserve God’s condemnation. Yet God acts with justice and mercy to redeem creation. In everlasting love, the God of Abraham and Sarah chose a covenant people to bless all families of the earth. Hearing their cry, God delivered the children of Israel from the house of bondage. Loving us still, God makes us heirs with Christ of the covenant. Like a mother who will not forsake her nursing child, like a father who runs to welcome the prodigal home, God is faithful still.
Choir Anthem “Give ear unto my prayer” Jacob Arcadelt
Call to Offering
Offertory
Doxology Old 100th
Praise God from whom all blessings flow;
Praise him, all creatures here below;
Praise him above, ye heavenly host;
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
Prayer of Thanksgiving
Pastoral Prayer concluding with 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 and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
Hymn 339 * “Be Thou My Vision”
Announcements and Benediction
Mark your calendars:
Today, Memorial Service for Jane Leggett, 3 PM, Presbyterian Church of Upper Montclair, 53 Norwood Ave.
Youth Group, 3-5 PM serving at Toni’s Kitchen at St Luke’s
Tuesday, April 8, 7:30 PM Reach Meeting online
Wed, April 9, 10:00 AM Norma’s Bible Study UCC Learning Ctr
Thu, April 10, 10 AM Rebuild meeting at manse and online
Thu, April 10, 7:30 PM Choir
Daily Devotionals online Monday-Friday 9:00 AM. Check out www.gracemontclair.org for more information.
The next Friends of Grace community dinner is this Sunday, April 13, 5 – 6:30 at St John’s Episcopal. If you can provide salad or an appetizer to feed 30 guests, please let the church office know.
Food for the Little Pantry: Please consider picking up non-perishables on your next grocery trip. Food may be dropped off at the Manse or placed in the basket as you enter or leave the chapel on Sunday.
