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Worship notes are also included at the bottom of this page.
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Prelude
“Sarabande” from Partita No. 1 by J.S. Bach, Karen Kline, piano Call to Worship Opening Sentences Today we enter Holy Week with its cycle of life, death, and new life. Hosannah! Blessed is the one who comes in God’s name. Jesus, the holy one, the whole one, enters Jerusalem as he rides on the back of a donkey colt. Crowds wave palm branches and cry out, Hosannah! Blessed in the one who comes in God’s name. Jesus, holy one, enter the gates of our hearts today as we join you in the time of Passion. With you, let us remember and celebrate your birth, your calling, your ministry. Hosannah! Blessed is the one who comes in God’s name. Jesus our mentor of wholeness, guide us through the streets of our journey. Open our eyes and our ears to the guiding of God’s spirit who calls us to costly faithfulness and joyous wholeness. Let us sing with all our selves. Hosannah! Blessed is the one who comes in God’s name. Hosannah is the highest heaven. Amen. Scripture Lesson: Matthew 21:1-11 Time for Children Call to Confession Unison Confession
Thou who art the soul and heart of life, save us from fear - the fear of days and nights yet to be, the fear of the known and the unknown, the fear that builds high walls around our spirits and our lives, the fear that closes in and envelopes us, the fear that nibbles at the edges of every satisfaction. Free us from fear of failure and success, of shame and pain, of death and fear of life as well. Open our eyes that we may see thy glory in humbleness and simplicity, commonness strewn generously across our path all our days. May we recognize thee riding upon a simple beast of burden, down the crooked streets of Jerusalem. May we not require the palms of victory and praise, the accolades and shouts of the multitude to see thy glory in gentleness, patience, loving kindness and, yes, pain and sometimes death. Thy way of peace - of faith, hope, and love - still is our path, our joy, our way. Amen. Special Music Sterling Alexander on clarinet. Nora Bennett on piano.
“Jesus was killed. This is one of those facts that everybody knows, but whose significance is often overlooked. He didn’t simply die; he was executed. We as Christians participate in the only major religious tradition whose founder was executed by established authority. And if we ask the historical question, “Why was he killed?” the historical answer is because he was a social prophet and movement initiator, a passionate advocate of God’s justice, and radical critic of the domination system who had attracted a following. If Jesus had been only a mystic, healer, and wisdom teacher, he almost certainly would not have been executed. Rather, he was killed because of his politics - because of his passion for God’s justice.”
Marcus J. Borg
Scripture Lesson: Matthew 27:11-54 |
Proclamation
Prayer Blessing When the World is Ending Look, the world is always ending somewhere. Somewhere the sun has come crashing down. Somewhere it has gone completely dark. Somewhere it has ended with the gun, the knife, the fist. Somewhere it has ended with the slammed door, the shattered hope. Somewhere it has ended with the utter quiet that follows the news from the phone, the television, the hospital room. Somewhere it has ended with a tenderness that will break your heart. But, listen, this blessing means to be anything but morose. It has not come to cause despair. It is simply here because there is nothing a blessing is better suited for than an ending, nothing that cries out more for a blessing than when a world is falling apart. This blessing will not fix you, will not mend you, will not give you false comfort; it will not talk to you about one door opening when another one closes. It will simply sit itself beside you among the shards and gently turn your face toward the direction from which the light will come, gathering itself about you as the world begins again. —Jan Richardson
Invitation Prayer of Dedication Brief was his triumph, followed swiftly by his anguish! Yet we can hear hosannas still, echoing to us through the centuries, and when we remember him, love takes possession of our hearts. Affirmation of Faith Through Jesus’ life and teachings we see that God’s power consists not in coercion but in God’s willingness to forgive and have mercy. God wills nothing less than that we should love our enemies and forgive one another. Jesus challenged both the militaristic and ritualistic notions of what God’s kingdom required. He issued this challenge not only through his teaching but through his life. The announcement of the reality of the kingdom, its presence here and now, Is embodied in life. In him we see that living a life of forgiveness and peace is not an impossible ideal but an opportunity now present. Music “Blest Be the Tie That Binds” members of the Covenant Singers. You are invited to sing. Blest be the tie that binds
Our hearts in Christian love; The fellowship of kindred minds Is like to that above. Before our Maker’s throne, We pour our ardent prayers; Our fears, our hopes, our aims are one, Our comforts, and our cares. We share our mutual woes, Our mutual burdens bear; And often for each other flows The sympathizing tear. When we asunder part, It gives us inward pain; But we shall still be joined in heart, And hope to meet again. Benediction And so, be at peace. And as you abide in peace, dwell also in holy outrage at the injustice in this world. Cling to compassion as you care and connect while protecting the safety of all. Hold to love, live it and breathe it now and forevermore. Amen Postlude “Adagio” from Sonata No.14 in C minor by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Natalia Escobar Mejia, piano. |
Worship Notes
The worship leader is Beverly Rodgers.
The prelude is played by Karen Kline, piano.
The Call to Worship is adapted from The Politics of Jesus: Rediscovering the True Revolutionary Nature of Jesus’ Teachings and How They Have Been Corrupted by Obery Hendricks, Jr.
The Opening Sentences are from “Passion Sunday” by Beth Richardson, reprinted in Imaging the Word, Volume I, edited by Kenneth T. Lawrence
The Unison Confession is a Palm Sunday Prayer by David A. Johnson.
Sterling Alexander, clarinet.
Nora Bennett, piano.
"Blessing When the World is Ending" is by Jan Richardson from Circle of Grace: A Book of Blessings for the Seasons.
The Prayer of Dedication is an adapted prayer of A. Powell Davies in Celebrating Easter and Spring: An Anthology of Unitarian Universalist Readings compiled and edited by Carl Seaburg and Mark Harris.
The Affirmation of Faith is adapted from “Jesus and the Kingdom of God” in The Peaceable Kingdom by Stanley Hauerwas.
"Blest Be the Tie That Binds"is sung by members of the Covenant Singers.
The postlude is played by Natalia Escobar Meija, piano.
The worship leader is Beverly Rodgers.
The prelude is played by Karen Kline, piano.
The Call to Worship is adapted from The Politics of Jesus: Rediscovering the True Revolutionary Nature of Jesus’ Teachings and How They Have Been Corrupted by Obery Hendricks, Jr.
The Opening Sentences are from “Passion Sunday” by Beth Richardson, reprinted in Imaging the Word, Volume I, edited by Kenneth T. Lawrence
The Unison Confession is a Palm Sunday Prayer by David A. Johnson.
Sterling Alexander, clarinet.
Nora Bennett, piano.
"Blessing When the World is Ending" is by Jan Richardson from Circle of Grace: A Book of Blessings for the Seasons.
The Prayer of Dedication is an adapted prayer of A. Powell Davies in Celebrating Easter and Spring: An Anthology of Unitarian Universalist Readings compiled and edited by Carl Seaburg and Mark Harris.
The Affirmation of Faith is adapted from “Jesus and the Kingdom of God” in The Peaceable Kingdom by Stanley Hauerwas.
"Blest Be the Tie That Binds"is sung by members of the Covenant Singers.
The postlude is played by Natalia Escobar Meija, piano.
Copyright (c) 2020, Covenant Church
