Back to School, kinda…


Service of Worship

Prelude – Hani

All Glory, Laud, and Honor
Melchior Teschner
© Public Domain


Welcome and Opening Prayer

Opening Prayer
Compassionate God,
the wind of your Spirit is the very sign of life
for all who long for you.
One breath from you and we are rescued
from the arid valley of dry bones,
given muscles and sinews and joy with which to praise you,
and filled with the holy hope you grant to all your faithful children.
Let our whole lives be filled with the life-breath of the Spirit,
that what has lain dormant may burst into bloom,
and what looks to us to be death
may be revealed as but sleep
before the emergence of new life. Amen.


Opening Hymn — #521 I Want Jesus to Walk with Me

1. 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.

2. 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.

3. When I’m troubled,
Lord, walk with me.
When I’m troubled,
Lord, walk with me.
When my head is
bowed in sorrow,
Lord, I want Jesus
to walk with me.

I Want Jesus to Walk with Me
Words: Traditional
Music: Adapt. William Farley Smith
© 1989 The United Methodist Publishing House
CCLI License # 656051


Scripture Reading – John 11:1-21 (NRSV)

1   Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 Mary was the one who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair; her brother Lazarus was ill. 3 So the sisters sent a message to Jesus, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.” 4 But when Jesus heard it, he said, “This illness does not lead to death; rather it is for God’s glory, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” 5 Accordingly, though Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus, 6 after having heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.

7   Then after this he said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.” 8 The disciples said to him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just now trying to stone you, and are you going there again?” 9 Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Those who walk during the day do not stumble, because they see the light of this world. 10 But those who walk at night stumble, because the light is not in them.” 11 After saying this, he told them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going there to awaken him.” 12 The disciples said to him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will be all right.” 13 Jesus, however, had been speaking about his death, but they thought that he was referring merely to sleep. 14 Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead. 15 For your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.” 16 Thomas, who was called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”

17   When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. 18 Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, some two miles away, 19 and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them about their brother. 20 When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, while Mary stayed at home. 21 Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.


Children’s Time with Ms Becky


Joys and Concerns — Pastoral Prayer

Pastoral Prayer

Gracious and eternal God,
you have raised up your name and your word
above everything;
your steadfast love endures for ever.
In a world where every day
some division or strife arises
we bring our prayers for others
and for ourselves.
Do not turn from the work of your hand,
your human creation
and the world in which you have set us:
by your holy breath
comfort the lonely;
bind up the broken-hearted
and those who mourn;
calm the fearful;
rejoice with those who celebrate;
be present to those who call on your name,
to those we named on our lips,
and in the silence of our hearts,
those whose concerns are known only to you;
in Jesus’ name we pray, amen.


Offering Our Gifts to the Lord
For those who are called and able, gifts and tithes can still be made through online giving, by mailing them in, and by dropping them off to the office through the secure mail slot to the left of the double door entry to the church hallway.


Offertory – Megumi


Doxology

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. Amen.

Praise God From Whom All Blessings Flow (Old 100th)
Louis Bourgeois | Thomas Ken
© Public Domain


Offertory Prayer

O Lord, you are the mighty One who commands the armies of heaven! Yet you know and care for the poor and grieving. Your Son Jesus wept at the death of his friend, Lazarus. We rejoice that you have destroyed the power of death forever in Christ’s resurrection. Thank you for the new life and hope that you so freely give. We dedicate our offerings for the work of this church. May you wipe away the tears from the eyes of all who mourn in our community. We pray in your holy name. Amen.


Sermon – Pastor Stacy Dickson
Back to School, kinda…


Closing Hymn — #377 It Is Well with My Soul

1. When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
when sorrows like sea billows roll;
whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to say,
It is well, it is well with my soul.

Refrain
It is well with my soul,
it is well, it is well with my soul.

2. Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
let this blest assurance control,
that Christ has regarded my helpless estate,
and hath shed his own blood for my soul.

Refrain

3. My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!
My sin, not in part but the whole,
is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,
praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!

Refrain

4. And, Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight,
the clouds be rolled back as a scroll;
the trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,
even so, it is well with my soul.

Refrain

It Is Well With My Soul
Horatio Gates Spafford | Philip Paul Bliss
© Public Domain


Benediction

Come out! Jesus commands,
And calls us from the tombs of our existence
into the brightness of a new day.
Come out! Jesus cries,
And unbinds us from the chains of our past.
Come out! Jesus calls,
And entices us into a world filled with grace and possibility.
So:
Go out!
Into a world that needs our life, our breath, our spirit!
Go out!
Into a world that needs the Spirit of God,
carried on our lips and in our loving arms.
Go out!
Into the world to live as God’s resurrected people!
Go out: and go on the breath of God’s holy wind!


Postlude – Hani

March
Henry Purcell
© Public Domain