Community

Good Morning and Welcome to Worship! Worship is often the first place that new people come into contact with this growing community of faith. And so, if you are joining us for the first time, I say to you what is said every Sunday: You are welcome here. Here is a place where all are welcome. For such is the love of God for God’s Very Good Creation.

Praise God from whom all blessings flow; praise God, all creatures here below; praise God above, ye Heav'nly host: praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.

Creator God, you have formed us in your image and have called us your own, so whether we are weeping or laughing, dreaming or shouting for joy, we are always with you. For this life lived together in love, we give you thanks. Amen.

God the source of all life and love. You cause life to spring forth from barren landscapes. You hear our cries and receive our tears; you restore us to joy and laughter. You have done great things for us, and are continually making all things new. We thank you, O God.

We thank you for the gift of your Son Jesus, whose life an teachings have guided us through this season of kindness and guide us in every season of life. In his suffering and sacrifice, Jesus knew full well the troubles and pains of this earthly life. In his resurrection is the hope of our own. Surrounded by your overflowing love, we are not alone.

With thanksgiving we celebrate your care and the gift of newness in our lives: for recovery from illness or injury; for calm after a time of unrest; for a sense of direction after uncertainty; for new life; for new opportunities.

We pray for people who live in difficult places. For those who are suffering and those at life’s end; for people struggling with employment and financial worries; for those trapped in the grip of addiction; for people enduring emotional or spiritual turmoil. Because you are able to make a way in every wilderness, we thank you O God.

We pray for the needs of the world. May peace overwhelm places of war and justice cloud out oppression and cruelty. Protect soldiers and citizens alike from mar’s way and make all conflicts cease. Bless the leaders of communities, states, and nations, that they make speak truth and work with one another for the common good. Pour out healing upon the earth that has been depleted and injured by our careless consumption and intentional greed. Comfort those devastated by natural disasters; strengthen those supplying shelter, food, and aid. Amid the chaos of this world, your Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words.

We pray for the church, the body of Christ in the world, that we may be your love in the world and act with holy boldness!. Lead us by the presence of your Holy Spirit, to witness to your way of love, in our lives, in the church and in the world.

We ask all this in the name of Jesus. Amen.

The LWCC Vocal Quartet joins us today in memory of Joanna Matos, courtesy of The Matos Family.

Holy Spirit, open the Scripture this day, that it may be poured out over us until its fragrance fills our hearts and lives. Then, anointed in your Word, send us out to share the good news we have received. We ask this in the name of Jesus. Amen.

¹Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. ²There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him. ³Mary 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. ⁴But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said, ⁵‘Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?’ ⁶(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.) ⁷Jesus said, ‘Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. ⁸You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.’ ⁹When the great crowd of the Jews learned that he was there, they came not only because of Jesus but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. ¹⁰So the chief priests planned to put Lazarus to death as well, ¹¹since it was on account of him that many of the Jews were deserting and were believing in Jesus.

Community may be a bad word at the moment, but it is foundational to who we are as the body of Christ. Community is about inclusion, but it does not mean uniformity. Jesus was present at the dinner with Mary and Lazarus but so was Judas. Indeed, Judas was never told to leave, he was welcomed even as he was turning away from Jesus to follow his own greed. Community is challenging, indeed — inclusiveness is challenging. Where do you see community/inclusion being challenged? Where are you challenged by community? How might your life in Christ help you to see with new eyes the inclusive community God has established and seeks to establish again?

Here at Community Church, we celebrate “Open Communion.” Anyone who wishes to commune may come to God’s Table. You do not have to be sinless; God forgives you. You do not have to be perfect; God encourages you to grow. You need not belong to any church; God invites all people to this meal. It is enough to love and follow God with all your heart. This is what God asks us to do. Come to God’s Table in faith this day. Go from this place to live, and never be the same again. Let us commune as siblings in Christ.

The Lord be with you. And also with you.

Lift up your hearts. We lift them up to the Lord.

Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.

It is right to give our thanks and praise.

It is right, and a good and joyful thing, always and everywhere to give thanks to you, Almighty God, creator of heaven and earth.

Before the mountains were brought forth, or you had formed the earth, from everlasting to everlasting, you alone are God. You created light out of darkness and brought forth life on the earth. You formed us in your image and breathed into us the breath of life. When we turned away from your way of love, and our love for you and your creation failed, your love for us remained steadfast.

And so, with your people on earth and all the company of heaven we praise your name and join their unending hymn: Holy are you, and blessed is your Son Jesus Christ. Your Spirit anointed him to preach good news to the poor, to proclaim release to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, and to announce that the time had come when you would save your people.

He healed the sick, fed the hungry, and ate with sinners. By his teachings and practice of your way of love, he knit together this new body we call the church.

He prayed that we might be one, as he is one with you, and he asked that we might be known by the love we have for one another.

On the night in which he gave himself up for us, he took bread, gave thanks to you, broke the bread, gave it to his disciples, and said: “Take, eat; we are one body as we share in the bread together. Do this in remembrance of me.”

When the supper was over, he took the cup, gave thanks to you, gave it to his disciples, and said: “Drink from this, all of you; this is the cup of the new covenant, an ongoing sign of God’s love for you and all of God’s very good creation. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”

And so, in remembrance of these your teachings and acts of love in Jesus Christ, we recommit ourselves to your way of love and pledge to live by the leading of your Holy Spirit, as we proclaim the mystery of faith.

Pour out your Holy Spirit on us gathered here, and on these gifts of bread and fruit of the vine. Make them be for us the symbols of your love and desire for us to be your body knit together to build the new creation, your paradise here with us.

By your Spirit help the body of Christ be one. Help the left hand and the right hand work as one in ministry to all the world. Help the eyes and the ears sense your present and coming kin-dom. Bring the blessing of the diversity of the body to bear fruit until Christ comes in final victory and we feast at his heavenly banquet.

Through your Son Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit in your holy church, all honor and glory is yours, Almighty God, now and forever. Amen.

Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf.

The bread which we have eaten is a sharing in the bread of Christ. The cup over which we give thanks is the sharing in the cup of Christ.

Eternal God, we give you thanks for this holy mystery in which you have given yourself to us. Grant that we may go into the world in the strength of your Spirit, to give ourselves for others, in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

As it is written in the book of Deuteronomy: “Since there will never cease to be some in need on the earth, I therefore command you, ‘Open your hand to the poor and needy neighbor …’” Through the gifts we bring today, we can generously give as Mary did and continue to support the community. As we open wide our hands, we attend to Christ himself, who is present among all including the least and the lost. Amen.

Jennifer Rudy, soprano Kara Brouelette, alto Jim Orr, bass Dave Albulario, tenor John Fluker, pianist

Abundant God: you cause water to flow in desert places. You provide flowing wine at the wedding feast, and food to feed thousands gathered on the hillside. Your generosity astounds and teaches us. We come before you in gratitude and awe, asking you to receive what we have brought in response. May these gifts be a pleasing and fragrant offering, for the sake of the world you came to save. We pray in your holy name. Amen.

As the season of Kindness turns toward Palm Sunday and the events of Holy Week, go forth remembering both Mary’s faithfulness and Judas’s betrayal as you consider your own life of discipleship and may God guide you through the desert places, Christ lead you into following him more fully and the Holy Spirit fill you with love overflowing; that as you share in Christ’s suffering you will also share in his resurrection. Amen.