Grace Presbyterian Church
Serving people, through Christ, to meet the spiritual, physical, and emotional needs of the community and the world around us.
Welcome and Announcements
Prelude “Lenten Prelude” Jonathan Battishill
Responsive Call to Worship inspired by Psalm 22
One: You who fear the Lord, praise Jesus! Glorify him!
All: We stand in awe of Immanuel, God-with-us.
One: The Holy One sees you—all that you are and all that you are suffer.
All: Divinity’s face is never hidden from us. The Author of Compassion hears when we cry out.
One: Let us praise God together!
All: To the ends of the earth, we shall remember and turn to our Creator.
One: God’s reign is, was, and forever shall be!
All: We live in God, and we live for God.
One: Praise the Lord! Let us worship the Living God!
Opening Prayer
Song* “Will You Come and Follow Me”
Will you come and follow me
If I but call your name?
Will you go where you don’t know
And never be the same?
Will you let my love be shown,
Will you let my name be known,
Will you let my life be grown
In you and you in me?
Will you leave yourself behind
If I but call your name?
Will you care for cruel and kind
And never be the same?
Will you risk the hostile stare
Should your life attract or scare?
Will you let me answer prayer
In you and you in me?
Will you let the blinded see
If I but call your name?
Will you set the prisoners free And never be the same?
Will you kiss the leper clean,
And do such as this unseen,
And admit to what I mean
In you and you in me?
Will you love the ‘you’ you hide
If I but call your name?
Will you quell the fear inside
And never be the same?
Will you use the faith you’ve found
To reshape the world around,
Through my sight and touch and sound
In you and you in me?
Lord, your summons echoes true
When you but call my name.
Let me turn and follow you
And never be the same.
In your company I’ll go
Where your love and footsteps show.
Thus I’ll move and live and grow in you and you in me.
Prayer for Illumination
Scripture Lesson (Unison) Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16
When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said to him, “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless. And I will make my covenant between me and you, and will make you exceedingly numerous.” Then Abram fell on his face; and God said to him, “As for me, this is my covenant with you: You shall be the ancestor of a multitude of nations. No longer shall your name be Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you the ancestor of a multitude of nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you. I will establish my covenant between me and you, and your offspring after you throughout their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. I will bless her, and moreover I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall give rise to nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.”
Time with Children
Song “Jesus Loves Me”
Unison Prayer of Confession followed by Silent Personal Confession
Motivating and Invigorating God, you challenge us to walk a difficult path. Show us, as Jesus did, that letting go of our own security and comfort is the only way to create space for your justice to move over the earth. You require sacrifice. In this moment of quiet, we lift up to you those things we’d like to give up for good… for the sake of The Good.
Responsive Assurance of Pardon Psalm 22, excerpts
One: …In the name of Christ, we are forgiven.
All: In the name of Christ, we are forgiven. Glory to God, Amen!
Gloria Patria
Passing of the Peace
Scripture Reading Mark 8:31-38
Message Take Up! The Rev. Robin Miller Currás
Hymn 371* “Lift High the Cross”
Affirmation of Faith (in unison)
from the Book of Order of the PCUSA G-1.0304 The Ministry of Members
Membership in the Church of Jesus Christ is a joy and a privilege. It is also a commitment to participate in Christ’s mission. A faithful member bears witness to God’s love and grace and promises to be involved responsibly in the ministry of Christ’s Church. Such involvement includes: proclaiming the good news in word and deed, taking part in the common life and worship of a congregation, lifting one another up in prayer, mutual concern, and active support, studying Scripture and the issues of Christian faith and life, supporting the ministry of the church through the giving of money, time, and talents, demonstrating a new quality of life within and through the church, responding to God’s activity in the world through service to others, living responsibly in the personal, family, vocational, political, cultural, and social relationships of life, working in the world for peace, justice, freedom, and human fulfillment, caring for God’s creation, participating in the governing responsibilities of the church, and reviewing and evaluating regularly the integrity of one’s membership, and considering ways in which one’s participation in the worship and service of the church may be increased and made more meaningful.
Installation of Officers
Offertory “We Bow Down” Twila Paris arr. Mark Hayes
Doxology (sung to the tune LASST UNS ERFREUEN, LM with Allelluia)
What are you up to for my sake?
What are you up to “for the Good”
Would you come now, follow, join up?
Let us take up, wake up anew,
Let us build up, fill up with you!
Let us lift up, gifts we raise up,
for the sake of, for the shape of,
Heaven on earth.
Prayer of Thanksgiving
Pastoral Prayer/The Lord’s Prayer
Hymn 391* “Take My Life and Let It Be”
Benediction
Mark your calendars:
Wednesday, February 28, Norma’s Bible Study, 10:00 am at Union Congregational Church’s Learning Center
Thursday, February 22, 10:00 am Church Rebuild online
7:30 pm Choir Rehearsal at Union Cong Chapel
Daily Devotionals online Monday-Friday 9:00 AM. Check out www.gracemontclair.org for more information.
Food for the Little Pantry is always wanted. Non-perishables only please. Food may be dropped off at the Manse or placed in the basket as you enter or leave the chapel on Sunday. Donations of socks, hats, gloves and new or gently used and washed blankets are wanted for Friends of Grace. Bring them to church on Sundays and we will bring them to the manse for storage.
The next Friends of Grace Community Meal is on March 10. If you can provide an entree, appetizer, or salad to feed 30 guests, please let a Friends of Grace member or the church office know.