This is part of the worship series,
"Grief Over Injustice, Hope for Wholeness”
Introduction
Lent 1 | Lent 2 | Lent 3 | Lent 4 | Lent 5
Palm/Passion Sunday | Good Friday | Easter Sunday
POVERTY (Palm/Passion Sunday)
The advice to “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” is impossible to follow for many living in poverty. The vast majority of people living in poverty are unable to work for a variety of reasons, including mental or physical health. In this service we focused on the systems of oppression that drive poverty as well as on our call to be community to those around us. We considered how we could move beyond offering handouts and come to a holistic understanding of why people end up in poverty and how to help without harming.
GATHERING
Welcome
Call to Worship
Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.
We bless you from the house of the Lord.
The Lord is God,
and he has given us light.
Bind the festal procession with branches,
up to the horns of the altar.
You are my God, and I will give thanks to you;
you are my God; I will extol you.
O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good,
for his steadfast love endures forever.
—Psalm 118:26–29 NRSVUE
God Greets Us
God’s People Greet Each Other
Songs
“Praise is Rising (Hosanna)” Brown and Baloche
“Mighty to Save” Fielding and Morgan
“Holy Lord” Steve Bell
RENEWAL
Call to Confession
We shout “Hosanna! Jesus is King!”—but we don’t always treat him as king over our lives or treat others as if they are sons and daughters of the king. We all have sinned, and we all need to ask God for forgiveness.
Prayer of Confession
Holy and loving God,
You love us so much that you sent your Son to save us.
We love you, and we wave our palm branches in praise of you as king over all.
Sometimes we are selfish, or we say mean things about others.
That hurts other people, and it hurts you.
We are sorry, Lord—
sorry for all the times we don’t treat others as loved children of God.
We want to serve you and to love others as you have loved us.
Help us, God, to love as you love,
and to serve as you serve.
Amen.
Song
“His Mercy Is More” Boswell and Papa
Assurance of Pardon
For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world but in order that the world might be saved through him.
—John 3:16–17 NRSVUE
We can trust that these words are true: God loves us so much that he sent his only Son to die for our sins.
Song
“At the Cross (Love Ran Red)” Tomlin et al.
Children are dismissed for Children’s Worship.
WORD
Prayer for Illumination
Scripture
Deuteronomy 15:1–11; Matthew 26:6–13
Message
“True Community Eliminates Poverty”
Song of Response
“Lord, Whose Love in Humble Service” Bayly
Prayers of the People
We Give Our Offerings of Thanks
SENDING
Call to Discipleship
We go from here into the week known as Holy Week, the week leading up to Easter.
As we go:
The cross, we will take it.
The bread, we will break it.
The pain, we will bear it.
The joy, we will share it.
The gospel, we will live it.
The love, we will give it.
The light, we will cherish it.
The darkness, God shall perish it.
—Stages on the Way, p. 72 © 2000, 1998, by WGRG The Iona Community (Scotland), GIA Publications, Inc., agent. Used by permission. Reprints permitted with a license from ONE LICENSE, onelicense.net
God’s Parting Blessing
Song
“Lift High the Cross” (st. 1, 3, 4, 7) Kitchin
Postlude
Revised Common Lectionary
Year A: Lent—Liturgy of the Passion
