* Denotes all are invited to stand.
Bold text indicates portions of the service to be spoken or sung by the congregation.
March 9, 2025
First Sunday in Lent
Music for Gathering:
Brian Jay
Organist
Welcome & Announcements:
Rev. Aaron J. White, Pastor
Call to Worship:
You who live in the shelter of the Most High, say to the Lord:
My refuge and my fortress; my God, in whom I trust.
For God will protect us from evil and commands angels to guard us in all our ways.
God rescues those who love God and is present with us in trouble.
God answers when we cry out and reveals our salvation to us.
Let us worship God!
* Hymn 410 “God Is Calling through the Whisper”
Please see screens for lyrics.
Confession of Sin:
Andy Cook, Worship Leader
As Lent unfolds before us, great God, we see how far we have to go to Jerusalem. The road is long, our sins are many, and our burdens are heavy. We can’t imagine new life, Easter life, because our current lives are filled with bad choices and failed efforts. Meet us in our weakness. Take up our sins. Ease our burdens. Carry us on the way. Bring us to Jerusalem, at last. Show us a love that is stronger than death, a love no tomb can hold.
Silence for personal confession
* Assurance of Pardon:
Walking this earth, facing temptation, defeating sin, Jesus has done for us
what we could never do for ourselves. This is good news!
In Jesus Christ we are forgiven!
* Song of Praise #695 “Change My Heart O God”
Please see Sanctuary screens for lyrics.
* Passing the Peace
Prayer for Illumination:
Andy Cook, Worship Leader
First Scripture:
Deuteronomy 26:1-11
1 Once you have entered the land that YHWH, your God, is giving to you as your inheritance, and you have taken possession of it and settled in it,
2 take some of the firstfruits of all that you produce from the soil of the land that YHWH, your God, is giving to you, and put them in a basket. Take them to the place which YHWH, your God, will choose as a dwelling place for God’s Name
3 and say to the priest in office at that time, “This day I declare to YHWH, our God, that I have come to the land YHWH swore to our ancestors to give us.”
4 The priest will then receive the basket from you and will set it in front of the altar of YHWH.
5 Then you will declare before YHWH, “My ancestor was a wandering Aramean who went down to Egypt with a small household and lived there as an alien. There they became a nation great, strong and numerous.
6 When the Egyptians mistreated and oppressed us, imposing hard labor upon us,
7 we cried to YHWH, the God of our ancestors, who heard our cry and saw our affliction, our toil and our oppression.
8 YHWH brought us out of Egypt with a strong hand and outstretched arm, with terrifying power, with signs and wonders;
9 YHWH gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey.
10 Therefore, I have brought now the first fruits of the products of the soil that you, O God, have given me.” Then you must set them before YHWH, and bow down before YHWH.
11 Then you all, along with the Levites, and the foreigner that live among you, will feast on all the good things that YHWH, your God, has given to you and your household.
The word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
Anthem: “For Eternity”
PCM Chancel Choir
Second Scripture:
Luke 4:1-13
1 Jesus returned from the Jordan filled with the Holy Spirit, and she led him into the desert
2 for forty days, where he was tempted by the Devil. Jesus ate nothing during that time, at the end of which he was famished.
3 The Devil said to Jesus, “If you are God’s Own, command this stone to turn into bread.”
4 Jesus answered, “Scripture has it, ‘We don’t live on bread alone.’ ”
5 Then the Devil took Jesus up higher and showed him all the nations of the world in a single instant.
6 The Devil said, “I’ll give you all the power and the glory of these nations; the power has been given to me and I can give it to whomever I wish.
7 Prostrate yourself in homage before me, and it will all be yours.”
8 In reply, Jesus said, “Scripture has it: ‘You will worship the Most High God; God alone will you adore.’ ”
9 Then the Devil led Jesus to Jerusalem, set him up on the parapet of the Temple and said, “If you are God’s Own, throw yourself down from here,
10 for scripture has it, ‘God will tell the angels to take care of you;
11 with their hands they’ll support you, that you may never stumble on a stone!’ ”
12 Jesus said to the Devil in reply, “It also says, ‘Do not put God to the test.’ ”
13 When the Devil had finished all this tempting, Jesus was left alone. The Devil awaited another opportunity.
The word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
Time for the Children:
Chuck McGavren
Sermon:
Rev. Aaron J. White
* Hymn 165 “The Glory of These Forty Days”
Please see screens for lyrics.
Pastoral Prayer:
Congregation Response: Hear our 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 sins as we forgive those who sin against us.
And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom and the power, and the glory forever. Amen.
Invitation to Discipleship:
* Hymn #712 “As Those of Old Their Firstfruits Brought”
Please see screens for lyrics.
* Charge & Blessing
* Music for Departing