Covenant Church
an ecumenical liberal baptist congregation
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A Service of Worship for
The Fifth Sunday of Lent

March 21, 2021


Picture
"What message have you for young people?"
asked Carl Stern of NBC in concluding a television interview with
Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel shortly before his death.
Rabbi Heschel replied, "Let them remember
that there is a meaning beyond absurdity.
Let them be sure that every deed counts,
that every word has power,
and that we all can do our share to redeem the world
in spite of all absurdities and all frustrations
and all disappointments.
And above all, [let them] remember...to build a life
as if it were a work of art."


Worship Order
Worship notes are included at the bottom of this page and in the Worship Order located at the link below.
With this link you can make a donation to Covenant through PayPal or a credit card. 
Adult Education - TODAY, 9AM
​In keeping with both the Lenten Season and Covenant's determination to give sustained attention to the problems of racism and white supremacy, the adult education class for Sunday, March 21, will feature a video of a lecture by the late Dr. James Cone, the American theologian best known for his advocacy and Black liberation theology, and the author of The Cross and the Lynching Tree, which is also the topic of this 2017 lecture.
​
​​Zoom link is available on the Online Gatherings page on our website: https://www.covenanthouston.org/covenant-gatherings.html

Full worship service video:

COFFEE TIME Gathering on Zoom
Today, 11AM

We will begin as a large group before we transition into “rooms" for coffee time. 
​Log in details on the Online Gatherings page. 

RSVP for a Deacon Sponsored Gathering Outside at Covenant 
Many people who responded to the deacon survey mentioned how much they liked gathering together, outside, with appropriate precautions. You can help the deacons try out this idea by signing up to gather at the church Sunday afternoon, March 21 at 3pm. You must sign-up to attend so we ensure the space for physical distancing.
RSVP here: 

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeZmvxGSxQxjbj9EjieCt6IbaBCBvJKifsVklQnwwcDS_CLGA/viewform?gxids=7628


Following the outdoor meeting guidelines put together by council, we request that you:
• wear a mask
• dress for the weather 
• bring something to sit on
• bring something to drink or eat for yourself 
​


Prelude
"Adagio" in C Minor by Benedetto Marcello. Andrew Bowen, organ.

​Call to Worship

Opening Prayer
In community we affirm
that our lives take on deeper meaning
through relationship.

In community we affirm
that we become the people we want to be
mostly as a result of love.

​Scripture Lesson: John 12:20-33
​
​Hymn

"My Faith Looks Up to Thee" by Lowell Mason and Ray Palmer. The Covenant Singers. Andrew Bowen, organ.

​Time for Children

Confession
Unison Confession
We live, O God, as if we shall never die.
Our friends and relatives die and we deny the reality of death in us.
     Forgive us our fears which blind us to our inevitable destiny.
We fill our days with trivia and allow our potential for meaning and love to pass us by.
We become so busy that we forget to enjoy the beauty of life about us.
     Forgive us for the selfishness which chokes us with small, unfulfilled lives.
May we see life clearly, Gracious God.
May we move towards death courageously.
May we life and die with the awareness that:
     It is out of your great love that we have come, and
     It is into your unending love that we shall return.

​
​Music

"There Is a Balm In Gilead" by William L. Dawson. The Covenant Singers, directed by David Lee. 
Proclamation

​​​Prayer
We pray for Asian American and Pacific Islander persons, families, communities and businesses that have been targeted and mistreated over the past year because of inflammatory and xenophobic rhetoric. We particularly lift the families of the victims of the senseless violence in Atlanta on Tuesday. As followers of Jesus, we are committed to inclusion and belonging, liberation and justice for people of all races, national origins and ethnicities. Amen.
​

​Invitation
​
​Prayer of Dedication

We spend so much time running from ourselves
fleeing for what we know
about the goodness in our hearts
we think we can escape
the intelligence of our loving.

Imagine 
you are standing before a bodhisattva-
Jesus, Buddha, the first mother
it does not matter what you call the holy one-
he had dust on his shoes
chaff clings to her
the smells of being alive-
Shining from their faces is the beam of
all their questions
the compassion of their living

Can you see yourself through those eyes?
​Can we know each other like this? 
(We who no longer believe in messiahs
can hardly believe in each other.)

Can we
know ourselves seen
and know each other this same way
until our restless hearts
learn to abide
in this knowing and this love?
Can we live in this gaze of blessing?

Doxology

Affirmation of Faith
Our shared search
is part of the human condition.
​Some of us know what we seek
and others stumble along unsure.

Yet we all come to this place
with a yearning-
to find or make meaning,
to live conscious lives,
to grow in kindness,
to renew and remake the world
     in the image of love.

Today we affirm
not that we are all the same
or that we know exactly what we are doing
but that we are resolved
to ask, seek, and knock
Together.

Today we affirm
that whatever God is
is revealed to us slowly,
in increments,
patches and scraps of light
pricking the shadowns
glimpsed only
by the wide-eyed
and the curious. 


Benediction

Postlude
"In Peace and Joy I Now Depart" by Healey Wilian. Andrew Bowen, organ.

Worship Notes

The worship leader is Jay Hooker.

The guest proclaimer is Chris Nagel. 

The Lent banner was created by Nancy Henry.

The prelude is played by Andrew Bowen, organ.

The Call to Worship is "Snow Geese" by Mary Oliver.

The Opening Prayer is from Jeannette Dixon and Jeremy Rutledge.

The Unison Confession is from an unknown source.

"There is a Balm In Gilead" is sung by The Covenant Singers, directed by David Lee, September 29, 2019. Artwork by Laura Jeanne Grimes, https://www.laurajeannegrimes.com/

The Prayer of Dedication is "Blessing" from Morning Watch: Meditations by Barbara Pescan. 

The Affirmation of Faith is by Jeremy Rutledge.

The postlude is played by Andrew Bowen, organ. 


Sunday schedule for today: 
9:00 - Adult Education with Zoom
10:00 - Worship via videos on the Worship Page
11:00 - Transition from worship to coffee time with Zoom

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Covenant Church
4949 Caroline St., Houston, TX 77004
office@covenanthouston.org
713-668-8830
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