Sunday, March 20, 2022 - How can you realize your hopes in the midst of life's challenges?
Theme: How did Jesus live through….. Despair vs. Hope
(Have you ever felt despair taking over your life while fiercely wanting to have a hope that is more real than wishful thinking?)
Hymn We Are Marching in the Light of God (In Person Only)
Welcome
Awakening to God’s Presence (In Person Only)
Hymn Lord, Listen to Your Children Praying (In Person Only)
Prayer for God’s Guidance
Luke 22:39-43 Common English Bible Translation
Jesus left and made his way to the Mount of Olives, as was his custom, and the disciples followed. Him. When he arrived, he said to them, “Pray that you won’t give in temptation.” He withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, knelt down, and prayed. He said, “Father, if it’s your will, take this cup of suffering away from me. However, not my will but your will must be done.” Then a heavenly angel appeared to him and strengthened him. (Question: How is your prayer life impacted when you feel like despair is closing in on you?)
Hymn Thy Word Is a Lamp unto My Feet (In Person Only)
Luke 22:44-46
He was in anguish and prayed even more earnestly. His sweat became like drops of blood falling on the ground. When he got up from praying, he went to the disciples. He found them asleep, overcome by grief. He said to them, “Why are you sleeping? Get up and pray so that you won’t give in to temptation.” (Question: When do you find it hardest to have hope?)
Luke 22:47-48
While Jesus was still speaking, a crowd appeared, and the one called Judas, one of the Twelve, was leading them. He approached Jesus to kiss him. Jesus said to him, “Judas, would you betray the Human One with a kiss?” (Question: Have you ever felt like you can’t catch a break in life?)
Luke 22:49-51
When those around him recognized what was about to happen, they said, “Lord, should we fight with our swords?” One of them struck the high priest’s servant, cutting off his right ear. Jesus responded, “Stop! No more of this!” He touched the slave’s ear and healed him. (Question: Have you ever been faced with knowing the right decision is the hardest one to make?)
Special Music
Luke 22:52-53
Then Jesus said to the chief priests, the officers of the temple guard, and the elders who had come to get him, “Have you come with swords and clubs to arrest me, as though I were a thief? Day after day I was with you in the temple, but you didn’t arrest me. But this is your time, when darkness rules.” (Question: How do you keep your composure in stressful situations?)
Hymn As the Deer In Person Only
Reflection Together (In Person Only)
Offering Ourselves to God
During this time let us reflect upon the words from the former Archbishop of Canterbury by Rowan Williams
Hope, when it comes to birth, is not just a confidence that there is a future for us; it’s also a confidence that there’s a continuity such that the future is related to the same truth and living reality as the past and present. Hope, like faith, is hope in relation; relation to that which does not go away and abandon, relation to a reality that knows and sees and holds who we are and have been. You have an identity not because you have invented one, or because you have a little hard core of selfhood that is unchanged, but because you have a witness of who you are.
Hymn My Hope Is Built on Nothing Less (In Person Only)
Prayers of the People and 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 debts, as we forgive our debtors;
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil
For thine is the kingdom and the power
and the glory, forever. Amen
Benediction
Closing Hymn Blessed Assurance, Jesus Is Mine! (In Person Only)
Hymn List
353 My Hope Is Built on Nothing Less
458 Thy Word Is a Lamp unto My Feet
469 Lord, Listen to Your Children Praying
626 As the Deer
839 Blessed Assurance, Jesus Is Mine!
853 We Are Marching in the Light of God
Lent Sermon Series: How did Jesus live through…
March 27th – Frustration vs. Peace
April 3rd – Fear vs. Courage
April 10th – Domination vs. Liberation