Metropolitan United Church London, Ontario, Canada

Organ Prelude: Through Adam's Fall, Mankind did Fall – Heinrich Scheidemann

Welcome & Announcements

The Christ Candle

Call to Worship - The Grace 

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ 

the love of God

and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit 

be with you.

All:  And also with you. 

Hymn VU#114 – F0rty Days and Forty Nights

Opening Prayer

The Apostles' Creed:  Let us declare our faith together:

I believe in God, the Father Almighty,      creator of heaven and earth.

I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,      who was conceived by the Holy Ghost      and born of the virgin Mary.      He suffered under Pontius Pilate,      was crucified, died, and was buried;      he descended to the place of the dead.      The third day he rose again from the dead.      He ascended to heaven and is seated

at the right hand of God, the Father Almighty.      From there he will come

to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Ghost,      the holy catholic church,      the communion of saints,      the forgiveness of sins,      the resurrection of the body,      and the life everlasting. Amen.

SanctusHoly, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty

Early in the morning our song shall rise to Thee

Holy, holy, holy, merciful and mighty

God in three persons, blessed Trinity!

Circle Time – giving up something for Lent

beginning of Lent – time when we get ready for Good Friday and Easter, a time when people pray and ask God to help them be like Jesus.

Children's Prayer

Anthem – The Jubilate Bells - Jerusalem

Pastoral & Lord's Prayer

…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 trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory, forever. Amen.

Call for the Offering

Offertory Prayer

O Lord, giver of life and source of freedom

We know that all we have received is from your hand.

You call us to be stewards of your abundance,

the caretakers of all you have entrusted to us

Help us to always use your gifts wisely

and teach us to share them generously.

May our faithful stewardships bear witness

to the love of Jesus Christ in our lives.  Amen.

Doxology (VU#541)

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.

VU#116 – Giver of the perfect gift

The Scriptures – Isaiah 58:1-14 – Christine Spicer

58 Shout out, do not hold back!    Lift up your voice like a trumpet!Announce to my people their rebellion,    to the house of Jacob their sins.2 Yet day after day they seek me    and delight to know my ways,as if they were a nation that practised righteousness    and did not forsake the ordinance of their God;they ask of me righteous judgements,    they delight to draw near to God.3 'Why do we fast, but you do not see?    Why humble ourselves, but you do not notice?'Look, you serve your own interest on your fast-day,    and oppress all your workers.4 Look, you fast only to quarrel and to fight    and to strike with a wicked fist.Such fasting as you do today    will not make your voice heard on high.5 Is such the fast that I choose,    a day to humble oneself?Is it to bow down the head like a bulrush,    and to lie in sackcloth and ashes?Will you call this a fast,    a day acceptable to the Lord?

6 Is not this the fast that I choose:    to loose the bonds of injustice,    to undo the thongs of the yoke,to let the oppressed go free,    and to break every yoke?7 Is it not to share your bread with the hungry,    and bring the homeless poor into your house;when you see the naked, to cover them,    and not to hide yourself from your own kin?8 Then your light shall break forth like the dawn,    and your healing shall spring up quickly;your vindicator shall go before you,    the glory of the Lord shall be your rearguard.9 Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer;    you shall cry for help, and he will say, Here I am.

If you remove the yoke from among you,    the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil,10 if you offer your food to the hungry    and satisfy the needs of the afflicted,then your light shall rise in the darkness    and your gloom be like the noonday.11 The Lord will guide you continually,    and satisfy your needs in parched places,    and make your bones strong;and you shall be like a watered garden,    like a spring of water,    whose waters never fail.12 Your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt;    you shall raise up the foundations of many generations;you shall be called the repairer of the breach,    the restorer of streets to live in.

13 If you refrain from trampling the sabbath,    from pursuing your own interests on my holy day;if you call the sabbath a delight    and the holy day of the Lord honourable;if you honour it, not going your own ways,    serving your own interests, or pursuing your own affairs; 14 then you shall take delight in the Lord,    and I will make you ride upon the heights of the earth;I will feed you with the heritage of your ancestor Jacob,    for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

Message: What are you giving up for Lent? And, Why?

Rev. Dr. David McMaster

VU#457 – As we gather at your table

The Sacrament of Holy Communion

Instructions:

We come forward for Communion

Choir

Come up centre aisle - Stations:

For those in the balcony, there will be a station up in the corner

If not able to come: put hand up – rover

Not able to come up – we will bring to you

Gluten Free

Greeting

More than ever at the beginning of the Lenten season,

let us return to the Lord, God of all mercies,

for a feast of love has been prepared for His own.

I will bless the Lord at all times.  His praise shall be continually in my mouth.

Oh taste and see the goodness of the Lord.

Happy are they who take refuge in God.

Come, magnify the Lord with me,

And let us exalt God's name together.

Prayers of Confession and Pardon

Brothers and sisters, Christ shows us his love by becoming a humble servant.  Let us draw near to God and confess our sin in the truth of his Spirit.

Most merciful God,

We your church confess

that often our spirit has not been that of Christ.

Where we have failed to love one another as He loves us,

Where we have pledged loyalty to Him with our lips 

and then betrayed, deserted or denied Him.

Forgive us, we pray, and by Your Spirit

make us faithful in every time of trial;

Through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Who is in a position to condemn?  Only Christ.

But Christ suffered and died for us,

was raised from the dead and ascended on high for us,

and continues to intercede for us.

Believe the good news:

In Christ, those who turn away from sin are forgiven!

The Great Thanksgiving

It is right and a good and joyful thing,

always and everywhere to give thanks to You,

Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth.

From the earth you bring forth bread

and create the fruit of the vine.

You formed us in Your image,

delivered us from captivity,

and made covenant to be our Sovereign God.

You fed us manna in the wilderness,

and gave grapes to evidence the promised land.

And so, with your people on earth

and all the company of heaven,

we praise Your name and join their unending hymn:

Choir: Sanctus

Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might,

heaven and earth are full of Your glory.

Hosanna in the highest.

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

Hosanna in the highest.

Holy are you and blessed is your Son Jesus Christ.

When we had turned aside from your way, 

You gave us, in Him, your crowning gift.

Emptying himself, that our joy may be full,

He fed the hungry, healed the afflicted,

ate with the scorned and forgotten,

washed his disciples" feet,

and gave a holy meal as the pledge of his abiding presence.

By the baptism of his suffering, death and resurrection

You gave birth to your church,

delivered us from slavery to sin and death,

and made with us a new covenant, by water and the Spirit.

On the night in which he gave himself up for us,

Jesus took bread, gave thanks to you, broke the bread,

gave it to His disciples saying:

"Take, eat; this is my body which is given for you.

Do this in remembrance of me."

When the supper was over, he took the cup, 

gave thanks to you, gave it to his disciples and said:

"Drink from this, all of you;

this is my blood of the new covenant,

poured out for you and for many

for the forgiveness of sins.

Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me."

And so,

in remembrance of these your mighty acts in Jesus Christ,

we offer ourselves in praise and thanksgiving

as a holy and living sacrifice,

and proclaim the mystery of faith.

Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again.

Prayer:

Pour out Your Holy Spirit on us, gathered here,

and on these gifts of bread and wine.

Make them be for us the body and blood of Christ,

that we may be for the world the body of Christ,

redeemed by his sacrifice.

By your Spirit make us one with Christ,

one with each other,

and one in ministry to all the world,

until Christ comes in final victory

and we feast at his heavenly banquet.  Amen.

Come for all is now ready.

Anthems: I will worship – George Dyson

      Nunc dimittis – George Dyson

Prayer after Communion

We thank You, holy God,

for giving us this meal, shared in the Spirit,

which sustains us with the food and drink of Your life.

Grace our lives that we may at the last come to share

in the heavenly banquet of Your kingdom,

through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

VU#111 – As the sun with longer journey

Commissioning & Benediction

Choral Amen

Musical Postlude: As Jesus on the cross did stand – Marcel Dupre