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 “Andante Tranquillo” Christoph Willibald Gluck arr. S. Drummond Wolff
Call to Worship based on Psalm 63
One: O God, you are my God, I seek you, my soul thirsts for you;
All: My flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
One: So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory.
All: Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you.
One: So I will bless you as long as I live;
All: I will lift up my hands and call on your name.
Opening Prayer
Hymn * “All Who Are Thirsty” into “Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing”
All who are thirsty, all who are weak,
come to the fountain,
Dip your heart in the stream of life.
Let the pain and the sorrow be washed away
in the waves of his mercy
as deep cries out to deep
We sing Come, Lord Jesus, come
Come, Lord Jesus, come
Come, Lord Jesus, come
Come, Lord Jesus, come
All who are thirsty, all who are weak,
come to the fountain,
Dip your heart in the stream of life.
Let the pain and the sorrow be washed away
in the waves of his mercy
as deep cries out to deep
We sing Come, Lord Jesus, come
Come, Lord Jesus, come
Come, Lord Jesus, come
Come, Lord Jesus, come
Come, Thou Fount of every blessing,
Tune my heart to sing Thy grace;
Streams of mercy, never ceasing,
Call for songs of loudest praise.
Teach me some melodious sonnet,
Sung by flaming tongues above;
Praise the mount! I’m fixed upon it,
Mount of God’s unchanging love!
O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be!
Let that grace now, like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee:
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above.
Prayer for Illumination
Scripture Lesson (in Unison) Isaiah 55:1-9
Hear, everyone who thirsts; come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread and your earnings for that which does not satisfy? Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. Incline your ear, and come to me; listen, so that you may live. I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David. See, I made him a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander for the peoples. Now you shall call nations that you do not know, and nations that do not know you shall run to you, because of the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, for he has glorified you. Seek the LORD while he may be found; call upon him while he is near;
let the wicked forsake their way and the unrighteous their thoughts; let them return to the LORD, that he may have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Time With Children
Call to Confession
Unison Prayer of Confession
Turn us, O Lord, from these ways that lead to perishing. Lead us, O Lord, in your ways that lead to abundant life.
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 Luke 13:1-9
Message With a Gardener’s Eye The Rev. Robin Miller Currás
Hymn 276 * “Great Is Thy Faithfulness”
Affirmation of Faith (in Unison) * taken from The Confession of 1967
God’s sovereign love is a mystery beyond the reach of the human mind. Human thought ascribes to God superlatives of power, wisdom, and goodness. But God reveals divine love in Jesus Christ by showing power in the form of a servant, wisdom in the folly of the cross, and goodness in receiving sinful men and women. The power of God’s love in Christ to transform the world discloses that the Redeemer is the Lord and Creator who made all things to serve the purpose of God’s love. God has created the world of space and time to be the sphere of God’s dealings with humankind. In its beauty and vastness, sublimity and awfulness, order and disorder, the world reflects to the eye of faith the majesty and mystery of its Creator.
Choral Anthem “Trust Me” Richard Smallwood
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 Prayers 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 538 * “Lord, Dismiss Us with Thy Blessing”
Announcements and Benediction
The liturgy today was created by Pastor Robin and Tommy Carrico writing for Presbyterian Outlook. Pastoral prayers are often informed by the World in Prayer, an online ministry resource
Mark your calendars:
Today, Deacon’s Meeting after Worship service
Wednesday, March 26, 10:00 AM, Norma’s Bible Study at the Manse
Thursday, March 27, 10:00 AM, Church rebuild meeting online and at the Manse
Choir Rehearsal 7:30 PM, in the chapel at Union Congregational
Saturday, March 29, 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM, Crafting Meet Up, at the Manse
Sunday, March 30, after worship, Book Group meeting at the Manse
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.
