Sunday, May 14, 2023
LOVELY LANE UNITED METHODIST CHURCH
MOTHER’S DAY
MAY 14, 2023
10:15 A.M.
Organ Prelude
Welcome and Announcements John Strawbridge
Choral Introit “O Raise Your Glad Voices” (trad. Welsh)
O raise your glad voices, all people, and sing
Bring sweet Easter praises to Jesus, the King.
Call to Worship
Come to worship, people of God, with praises on your lips.
Even when we are feeling isolated and fearful,
we can glorify the One who holds our hands in our loneliness.
Come into the presence of the One who makes holy
every place, every space, holy and sacred.
Even where we continue to stay safe in our homes,
the doors of grace are flung wide open for us.
Come and hear the stories of the One who loves you.
We will sing our songs and tell those tales
of the peace and of the hope which is ours.
Opening Hymn “His Eye Is on the Sparrow” TFWS 2146 1. Why should I feel discouraged, why should the shadows come,
Why should my heart be lonely, and long for heaven and home,
When Jesus is my portion? My constant friend is He:
REFRAIN: His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me;
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me. I sing because I’m happy, I sing because I’m free,
For His eye is on the sparrow, And I know He watches me.
2. “Let not your heart be troubled,” His tender word I hear,
And resting on His goodness, I lose my doubts and fears;
Though by the path He leadeth, but one step I may see; REFRAIN
3. Whenever I am tempted, whenever clouds arise,
When songs give place to sighing, when hope within me dies,
I draw the closer to Him, from care He sets me free; REFRAIN
Epistle Lesson 1 Peter 3:15-18 NIV
15 But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, 16 keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander. 17 For it is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. 18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit.
The Word of God…..THANKS BE TO GOD
Call to Confession (leader)
What is our hope? Simply put, it is that God has not abandoned us. With such good news, we can dare to bring our prayers to the One who will not cast aside our words or our hearts. Please join me as we pray together, saying,
Prayer of Confession (All)
We must tell you, God who knows us better than we think, how easy it is to put our trust in those who offer easy fixes, quick solutions, cures and tests and false hope in these days. It is easier to believe the glib words of politicians, the conspiracies of all the theorists, rather than to those who are rational and based in science. All too easily, we can buy into the notion that the economy is more important than safety, that jobs matter more than the lives of the most vulnerable, that our so-called rights trump the need to be a community of compassion and grace.
Forgive us, God of mercy. You are not found in political rhetoric, but in the child who holds our hand. You are not a simple tweet, but the Word that can transform our very lives. You are not a disembodied, constantly recalculating voice, but the One who calls us to life, through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. Amen.
Assurance of Pardon
L: Despite everything we do, God loves us. This is grace, pure and simple. This grace is why, when everything says we should not, we can dare to hope.
P: We will witness to this grace with every breath we take, with every gift we offer, with every word we share with others. Thanks be to God, we are forgiven. Amen.
Sharing Joys and Concerns Pastoral Prayer Lord’s Prayer
Choral Response “Cares Chorus” TFWS 2215
I cast all my cares upon You
I lay all of my burdens down at Your feet
And any time I don’t know just what to do,
I will cast all my cares upon You.
Gospel Lesson John 14:15-21 New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. 17 This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him because he abides with you, and he will be in you. 18 “I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. 19 In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. 20 On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. 21 They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me, and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them.”
The Word of God for the people of God….Thanks be to God
Sermon “Unconditional Love” Rev. Debbie Scott
Invitation to Offering
Offertory “Thy Perfect Love” (Rutter)
Jesu, my love, my joy, my rest
Thy perfect love close in my breast
That I thee love and never rest
And make me love thee of all things best
And wound my heart in thy love free
That I may reign in joy evermore with thee
Jesu, my love, my joy, my rest
Thy perfect love close in my breast
That I thee love and never rest
And make me love thee of all things best
And wound my heart in thy love free
That I may reign in joy evermore with thee.
Offering Prayer (All)
Abandoned by hope, forsaken by others, left behind by those who said they loved them – there are orphans all around us, Holy God. May the gifts we offer be a home, a family, a rest, a respite for them and all the others around us. This we ask in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Closing Hymn “You Are Mine” TFWS 2218
1. I will come to you in the silence
I will lift you from all your fear
You will hear My voice
I claim you as My choice
Be still, and know I am near. (No Refrain)
2. I am hope for all who are hopeless
I am eyes for all who long to see
In the shadows of the night,
I will be your light
Come and rest in Me
Refrain: Do not be afraid, I am with you
I have called you each by name
Come and follow Me
I will bring you home
I love you and you are mine
3. I am strength for all the despairing
Healing for the ones who dwell in shame
All the blind will see, the lame will all run free
And all will know My name. REFRAIN
Benediction
Wherever you are, continue to speak of what God has done.
We will remind everyone that, despite everything, God loves us.
Wherever you find yourself, continue to sing of what God is doing.
We will rejoice that God has not left us orphaned, but makes us one with everyone around us.
Whenever you can, continue to imagine what God will do.
We will witness to that hope which seems to distant, yet is as close to us as our hearts.
Choral Benediction “Christ Is Arisen From the Dead!” (German round)
Christ is arisen from the dead!
Ringing the Bicentennial Bell
Organ Postlude
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