Who Do You Say That I Am? – A Bible Study Sermon

Who Do You Say That I Am? – A Bible Study Sermon

Westport Presbyterian Church—5th SUNDAY OF LENT
Season of Self Examination! Taking Self Inventory! Repentance! Making Amends!
March 26 , 2023, 11:00 am

(Video will be posted LIVE on the church’s FB page at 11am and then cross-posted here.  If the video doesn’t load properly here, you should be able to click on the Watch on Facebook link and watch as a guest, even if you don’t have Facebook)

PRELUDE: Corrente—Domenico Zipoli
WE RETURN TO OUR SOULS THROUGH A LENTEN SCRIPTURE READING

Pastor: The hand of the ETERNAL was upon me, And brought me out by the Spirit of the LORD, And set me down in the midst of the valley!—Full of dry bones. And the Eternal said to me, “Can these bones live?”I answered, “You, God, know this.” Then replied the Eternal: I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. And you shall know that I am the ETERNAL ONE.
—THE ENCOURAGING VOICE OF EZEKIEL, A WISE PROPHET IN A TIME OF WAR AND REFUGEES

CONGREGATIONAL HYMN: #611 Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee
CONFESSION OF SINS OF SELF HARMING FEAR & DESPAIR—COMMITMENT TO LIFE OF COURAGE AND HOPE

Leader: In the stillness of the quiet, if we listen,we can hear the whisper of the heart giving strength to weakness,
People: Courage to fear, hope to despair.
Leader:There is something in every one of us that waits and listens for the sound of the genuine in ourselves
People: It is the only true guide we will ever have.
Leader: And if we cannot hear it, then all of our life we will spend our days on the ends of strings that somebody else pulls.
People: Listen to the long stillness: New life is stirring.
Leader: New dreams are on the wing.
People: New hopes are being readied.
Leader: God is at work.
People: This is the season of Promise. Amen.
—Dr. Howard Thurman

SUNG BLESSED ASSURANCE OF GOD’S LOVING GRACE: #465 What a friend we have in Jesus
BIBLE READINGS: John 11:1-7, 17-23 Mark 8: 22-38 Jennifer Weiman
ANTHEM: Didn’t My Lord Deliver Daniel?—Patti Drennan, The Westport choir
PRAYER BEFORE SERMON

Pastor: May the words of my mouth
People: And the meditations of our hearts
Pastor: Be acceptable to you, O Lord
People: Our Strength and our Redeemer. Amen.

MESSAGE: “Who Do You Say That I Am?” – A Bible Study Sermon
CONGREGATIONAL HYMN: #728 Somebody’s Knockin’ At Your Door
WELCOMING
PRAYER:
Merged Pastoral Prayer, Matthew 25 Prayer, Lord’s Prayer SUNG RESPONSE #851  Come, Bring Your Burdens to God
OFFERTORY: Sheep My Safely Graze—J.S. Bach, Emma WitbolsFeugen, mezzo soprano
                 Offering link

SUNG PRAYER OF DEDICATION

Pastor: We dedicate our offerings today with a song from Zimbabwe, Africa
#392 Jesus, We Are Here (English and Shona)

CONGREGATIONAL HYMN:  Bring Forth the Kingdom
BENEDICTION
SUNG BENEDICTION RESPONSE:
 Bring Forth the Kingdom

You are stars in the night, O people!
Stars that light the City of God!
Shine so brightly with joy, O people!
Shine for the Kingdom of God! –creative 5th stanza, folk music style

POSTLUDE: How Firm a Foundation—setting by Mark Patterson

CHURCH AND COMMUNITY NEWS
· Bread, water, fruit, sandwich meat are always needed for the Interrupt Hunger work we are doing here! Thanks to all who have been generously giving.
· Sign up for the PASSOVER SEDER on Thursday, April 6, 6:00 p.m. The focus of this Seder will be on SPIRITUALITY—person-to-person, person-to-God—person-to-self spirituality. We need 15 people to sign up to attend this Holy Week service and bring some food for the Seder pot luck. We are going to hold the Seder around tables at the back of the sanctuary. Sign up sheet at the back.
· ILLUMINATED GOOD FRIDAY SERVICE is at 7:00 p.m. on Friday, April 7. Global Art, Songs, Spoken Gospel tell & interpret the Passion of Jesus story.
· Palm/Passion Sunday Service, April 2, 11:00 am (Holy Communion too)
· Easter Sunday, April 9, 11:00 am – Celebration of the Resurrection

· #GoodTrouble KC has a re-scheduled meeting tomorrow with the President of the Fraternal Order of Police and the Sergeant of Arms (who also also a Diversity responsibility). We are discussing and thinking together about how to hire and promote more Black and Brown police officers, especially women, and how to achieve an audit that will change what the police chief herself has called “the good ol’ boy” culture in the KCPD, plus local control and gun control (a/k/a common sense gun reform) and ban on sale of assault weapons, and more. Stan Morgan, Rev Scott, Marian Thomas, Karen Daniels, Brother John Anderson, Doug Kinney are the catalysts for this DIALOGUE experimental method of social change and transformation.
· We are involved with Steptoe Lives in an effort to honor and preserve WHAT remains of the historic Black Westport community of Steptoe. A major event now being planned is Juneteenth in Steptoe, on the Sunday afternoon, June 18, the day before the new national holiday. Events will be held in the neighborhood (parade), at the St. James Missionary Baptist Church (music and Dancing Word) and here at Westport Presby (film) Want to join in the effort? Stan Morgan & Rev Scott are participating so far.
· Want to join folks here for a group visit to a world class art exhibit coming to the Nelson-Atkins Art Museum? The exhibit is—Alberto Giacometti: Toward the Ultimate Figure—next Sunday, April 2 after church. Sign up sheet on the back table for some Sunday after the opening. We need as many people who have memberships to sign up so you can bring someone who doesn’t have a membership. If we need some extra tickets, we can use “arts and spirituality” funds in the budget to supplement. We haven’t done this in some time. Sign up. It will be fun!

0 Comments

Add a Comment

Your email address will not be published.