Westminster United Church

“We are journeying together in God’s love . . .

 to discover, nurture and share our gifts.”

February 10, 2008

Lent 1— Communion

Lent opens with stories of testing and trusting. In parched wilderness and in lush gardens, temptation comes. Sin or faithfulness follows, not because of the testing itself, but by what gets chosen in response. Trust God’s steadfast love. Rely on divine grace that ministers to our needs.

If you would like to stay seated for any or all of the “standing” parts of the service, please feel free to do so.

Prelude

Sharing Announcements

A Time of Greeting

A time of silent preparation—Lighting the Christ Candle

Call to Worship (Responsive)

One:     We gather with the disciples. The enthusiastic crowds of  Judea and Galilee are behind us.

All:       May we be filled with thankfulness for Jesus: skilled  healer, wise teacher, close friend.

One:      The highway to Jerusalem stretches ahead of us.

All:       May we have the courage to walk the challenging  Lenten Way with Jesus.

One:      At the end of the journey there is a hill and a cross.

All:       May we wonder at what sacrificial love will do, and  respond to Christ’s love in practical ways.

Opening Prayer (Unison)

Holy Mystery of all our journeys, we are called out from where we are into a wilderness where everything longs to be restored and held afresh. May we have the strength to journey this Lenten season. May we have new hearts to discover blessings along the roadway, and a new calling to follow Jesus in all of our wilderness. Amen.

Hymn # 120 “O Jesus I Have Promised”

 Conversation Time

The Sunday School & Youth leave for their classes.

Let us go out with Jesus to the desert, and know his temptations; the Devil said, “Turn these stones into bread.” Food and drink will only go so far to satisfy; we need spiritual food. The Devil said, “Throw yourself down from this pinnacle of the Temple.” We do not need miracles to save us; we will find the Divine within as we loyally serve day by day. The Devil said, “All the world’s power and influence you need, I will give to you.” We do not need power over others; rather we seek to work with others for justice, freedom, and peace…(time for silent reflection)

Words of Assurance (One)

The darkness will overcome by the Light. Rejoice! Evil is powerless; peace is your reality. Amen.

Prayer of Illumination

Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7 From the Hebrew Scriptures Pg. 5,6

Other lessons for your personal consideration from today’s lections are: From the Psalms – Psalm 32 & From the Epistle – Romans 5:12-19.

Anthem “At This Table”

Matthew 4:1-11 From the Christian Scriptures Pg. 6

Reflection: Rev. Leroy Angle; “Times of Testing”

Hymn # 226 “For the Beauty of the Earth”

Our Church Tithes and Offerings

Offertory

Dedication #539 “God of All Good” vs 1

God of all good, our gifts we bring to you,

Use them your holy purpose to fulfill;

Tokens of love and pledges brought anew

That our whole life is offered to your will.

Prayer of Dedication (One)

May these gifts be blessed. Blessed through honest questioning, blessed through a quest for meaning, blessed through gentle encouragement, blessed through serving the downhearted, blessed through facing temptation, blessed in common endeavour. Amen.

Invitation to the Service of the Table

Hymn # 467 “One Bread, One Body”

The Peace & Thanksgiving

One:  May the peace of God be with you.

All:  And within this community always.

One:  Let us lift up our hearts.

All:  We lift up our hearts in faith and longing.

One:  Let us give thanks to God.

All:  We offer our lives in joy and promise.

One:  Therefore with all creation we raise our voices to proclaim

     Holy, holy, holy, God of glory and grace.

     Heaven and earth are full of your blessing.

     Hosanna, Blessed is the One who comes in the name of God.

     Hosanna, all creation sings.

One:  God our Creator, we offer our thanks as we greet each other around this table. We remember that you blessed human life with the Divine Presence in many traditions and with many names. But always it is in the ordinary signs of life that your Sacred Presence is revealed. In stinging sandstorms and Arctic blizzards your people have sought you, only to lose sight of you again. You call us in famine and feast to recognize your abiding love that wills abundant life for all people. In this time of pausing, teach us to see the pathway of your call and grant us what we need to follow your Beloved.

All:  At the time of Passover, your Beloved, Jesus, became Christ for us so that this community might become Christ in the World. We remember the gift of that life when we learned the power of naming and challenging, the power of healing and solidarity. Jesus showed us how to act as one body and how to see our community as one family, his lifeblood.

One:  One night in Bethany, Jesus sat down with his family and friends. A woman prophet anointed Jesus with oil to recognize the unique gift of his life.

All:  We remember this woman, the first witness to resurrection within this life.

 One:  Before his trial, while everyone was eating, Jesus took bread and blessed it. Then, looking at his friends and family, he said for them to receive the sign of the bread: “This, my body.”

All:  For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in the one Spirit, we were all baptised into one body.

 One:  Then Jesus took a cup of wine and after giving thanks, he gave it to them and all of them drank from it, like one family. And he said to them, ‘In sharing this cup is the covenant I make with you.’

All:  You are the vine, we are the branches, may your joy abide in us so that we may be one family, offered for love of the world and chosen to bear the fruit of justice and peace-making.

One:   And Jesus prayed, “As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sakes, I bless myself, so that they may also be blessed in truth. I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their words, that they may all be one.”

All:  May we all be one in purpose and many in inspiration.  May we all be one in compassion, although diverse in understanding.

 One:  Bless these, the signs of Christ for the community of hope as we unite in the prayer Jesus, who imaged God as Father, taught us to pray: “Our Father…”

(The elements are distributed)

Prayer after Communion (Unison: Please Stand)

Life-giving God, may we who share Christ’s body live his risen life; we who drink his cup bring new life to others; we whom the Spirit lights, give light to the world.  Keep us firm in the hope you have set before us, so we and all your children shall be free, and the whole earth live to praise your name.  Amen

Commissioning (One)

The way we will go. The wilderness we will journey. Jesus, we will follow.

Choral Amen

#649 “Walk With Me”

Walk with me, I will walk with you and build the land that God has planned where love shines through. Through.

Postlude

         The Life And Work Of The Congregation

 This Week at Westminster (February 10 – February 16)

Next Week at Westminster  (February 17 – February 23)

Friendship Rosters: Please sign the Friendship Roster this morning. It is a helpful record of your worship presence and a way to share special concerns (ie. Prayer requests, name tag requests, etc.)

 Hope & Healing After Suicide Support Group. This 9-week support group will provide you with an opportunity to explore and share your feelings with others who have also experienced a loss due to suicide.  Group will meet from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. every Tuesday from February 5 to April 1, 2008.  There is a $5 registration fee. Call Heatheror Debbie at Canadian mental Health Association 504-1811 to register.

 Lenten Study 2008: This year you are invited to participate in a study featuring Walter Brueggemann. Countering Pharaoh’s Production-Consumption Society Today. “It is a journey from slavery to covenant that we keep making over and over again…[because] Pharaoh has immense power always to draw us back to slavery.” The Study will begin this Wednesday. You are asked to gather in the Lounge prepared to begin at 7 p.m.. This video study will run for 5 Wednesday evenings. Interested folks please speak to James so printed materials may be circulated to participants.

Celebrations This Week

 Birthdays: Danielle Weiss, Keara Glasser, Timora Hardiker, Adam O’Reilly, Logan/Jenna Spruyt, Vivian Bergstreser, Earl Carlson, Donna Scharf, Doris Gibson, Eileen Lange, Jacquie Heard, Pat Bohnet.

 Anniversaries: Ralph and Lois Clarkson.

 Flowers are placed in the Sanctuary this morning in loving memory of loved ones, by Bill and Lorraine Scott

Our Order of Ministry This Morning

Sunday School Co-ordinators......................................           Jackie Schlenker, Kim Hanson

Greeters & Ushers.......................................................           TBA

Nursery Convenor.......................................................           Tanya Hoffarth

Coffee Hosts...............................................................           Ken & Bev Empey & Friends

Scripture Reader..........................................................           TBA

Elder-in-Charge............................................................           Ted Sherring

Next Week’s Readings from: Genesis 12:1-4a, Psalm 121, Romans 4:1-5, 13-17, John 3:1-17, Matthew 17:1-9.