Prelude Calvary Richard Billingham
Welcome And Opening Prayer
Hymn I Want Jesus to Walk with Me
I want Jesus to walk with me;
I want Jesus to walk with me;
all along my pilgrim journey,
Lord, I want Jesus to walk with me.
In my trials, Lord, walk with me;
in my trials, Lord, walk with me;
when my heart is almost breaking,
Lord, I want Jesus to walk with me.
When I’m in trouble,
Lord, walk with me;
when I’m in trouble,
Lord, walk with me;
when my head is bowed in sorrow,
Lord, I want Jesus to walk with me.
Confession of Sin/Assurance of Pardon
Listening God, Take what is closed in us and open it.
Take what is distracted in us and settle it.
Take what is hurting in us and hold it.
Take any and all parts of us that create distance from you.
For we are like Peter, O God.
We argue what we don’t know. We fear what we cannot see.
And we almost always speak sooner than we listen.
So open us, settle us, hold us, and forgive us.
We long to hear you more clearly.
We long to know you more fully.
With hope we pray,
And with gratitude we confess.
Scripture Reading Mark 8:31-38
Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”
He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.
Sermon “Whose Cross will Christ Help Carry?” Pastor Margo Walter
Offertory Go Down, Moses
Gwen Blackman, vocals Liz Moulthrop, violin
Affirmation of Faith
We believe.
Sometimes our belief is confident,
Like a child on a dance floor—
Unashamed and wildly genuine.
We believe.
Sometimes our belief is distant,
Flickering and calling out to us
Like a lighthouse on the sea.
We believe.
Sometimes our belief shows up as passion,
Guiding the way we vote, shop, give, live, trust, and hope.
We believe.
Sometimes our belief is like a shadow—
Faith stitched to our heels, unmoveable, unloseable,
A gift for winding journeys.
We believe.
Sometimes our belief exists like growing pains.
We step forward. We fall back.
But again and again,
Jesus invites us to listen,
To grow, and to take another step.
So again and again,
We speak these truths out loud:
We believe.
We believe.
Again and again, we believe.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
Lenten Testimony Heather Kennedy
Pastoral Prayer/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 “Take up your Cross,” the Savior Said
“Take up your cross,” the Savior said,
“If you would my disciple be;
take up your cross with willing heart,
and humbly follow after me.”
Take up your cross–let not its weight
fill your weak spirit with alarm;
his strength shall bear your spirit up,
and brace your heart, and nerve your arm.
Take up your cross, heed not the shame,
and let your foolish heart be still;
the Lord for you accepted death
upon a cross, on Calvary’s hill.
Take up your cross, then, in his strength,
and calmly every danger brave:
he guides you to abundant life
and leads to victory o’er the grave.
Take up your cross and follow Christ,
nor think till death to lay it down;
for only they who bear the cross
may hope to win the glorious crown.
Benediction
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