5th Sunday in Lent

CALL TO WORSHIP (Psalm 126)

When the LORD restored the fortunes of Zion,

then were we like those who dream.

Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy.

Then they said among the nations, "The LORD has done great things for them."

The LORD has done great things for us, and we are glad indeed.

Restore our fortunes, O LORD, like the watercourses of the Negeb.

Those who sowed with tears will reap with songs of joy.

Those who go out weeping, carrying the seed, will come again with joy, shouldering their sheaves.

GATHERING SONG “Christ, the Life of All the Living” #339

CONFESSION AND FORGIVENESS

In the Name of the Father, and the Son, + and the Holy Spirit. Amen

The Lord is about to do a new thing,

we his people are about to be rescued,

let us prepare our selves for this grace.

(pause for self-examination)

Merciful God...

Oh how we are tempted to seek to save ourselves.

We forget your faithfulness saves us.

Save us from our self-deception.

forgive us our arrogance in sin.

(pause for reflection)

God does a new thing in Jesus Christ, making a way in the wilderness of our infidelity,

for the restoration of right-relationship. For Christ's sake your sins are forgiven.

By the power of the Holy Spirit, with clean hearts, turn to the Lord in a worship of purest gratitude. In the name of the Father, and the Son, + and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

PRAYER OF THE DAY

Let us pray. Creator God, you prepare a new way in the wilderness, and your grace waters our desert. Open our hearts to be transformed by the new thing you are doing, that our lives may proclaim the extravagance of your love given to all through your Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

THE FIRST LESSON: Isaiah 43:16-21

Thus says the LORD, who makes a way in the sea, a path in the mighty waters, who brings out chariot and horse, army and warrior; they lie down, they cannot rise, they are extinguished, quenched like a wick: Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old. I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. The wild animals will honor me, the jackals and the ostriches; for I give water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give drink to my chosen people, the people whom I formed for myself so that they might declare my praise.

Word of God, word of life. Thanks be to God.

THE SECOND LESSON: Philippians 3:4-14

If anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.

Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ. More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.

Word of God, word of life. Thanks be to God.

THE GOSPEL FOR THE DAY: John 12:1-8

The holy gospel according to Saint John. Glory to you, O Lord.

Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him. Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus' feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said, "Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?" (He said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; he kept the common purse and used to steal what was put into it.)

Jesus said, "Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me."

The gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, O Christ.

SERMON “Costly” Pastor Phil Wold

HYMN OF THE DAY “Jesus Keep Me Near the Cross” #355

THE APOSTLES’ CREED

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

I believe in Jesus Christ, God's only Son, our Lord,

who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary,

suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried;

he descended to the dead.

On the third day he rose again; he ascended into heaven,

he is seated at the right hand of the Father,

and he will come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic church,

the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins,

the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.

PRAYERS OF INTERCESSION

THE SIGN OF PEACE IS SHARED

The peace of Christ be with you always. And also with you.

THE OFFERING AND OFFERING PRAYER

Let us pray. Blessed are you, O God, maker of all things. Through your goodness you have blessed us with these gifts: our selves, our time, and our possessions. Use us, and what we have gathered, in feeding the world with your love, through the one who gave himself for us, Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.

THE LORD'S PRAYER

BLESSING

SENDING SONG “In the Cross of Christ I Glory” #324

SENDING

Go in peace. Live the gospel. Thanks be to God.

License #26385. New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved