Worship I 3/29/20

Even though we aren’t gathering in person today, we invite you to join your SSUMC community by reading through this worship guide. Together, we’ll say the same prayers, read the same scripture, and reflect on where God is calling us in this wilderness season of Lent and Coronavirus pandemic. May we pray and worship without ceasing. This is the day the Lord has made: Let us rejoice and be glad in it! 

The Worship of God
Sandy Springs UMC

Online Worship Guide
March 29, 2020 | 5th Sunday of Lent

Today we’ll hear the story about Lazarus, who died, and his sisters Mary and Martha who weep and mourn for him. Jesus encounters these three--his good friends--and weeps himself with grief. Then he raises Lazarus from the dead saying: unbind him and let him go. How can our own encounters with Jesus help unbind us and set us free for love? 

Call to Worship 

Lazarus, though dead, was called to life by Jesus. 
May we be called to the light of righteousness. 
As others witnessed this resurrection, they believed in Jesus. 
May we, who have heard, believe in the power of Jesus to conquer our fears and doubts. 
Praise be to God who has given us Jesus. 
Praise be to Jesus who has given us life. AMEN.

Opening Song - Be Thou My Vision

Children's Moment

Consider making this Lazarus craft, either using their face template or drawing one of your own:

Prayers of the People and The Lord’s Prayer

And now let us pray together the prayer that Jesus taught us, saying: 

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.  Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.  Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever, Amen.

If you have a prayer request, submit it HERE. Prayers will be e-mailed on Fridays, except those marked confidential.

Scripture: John 11:1-45

Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. Mary was the one who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair; her brother Lazarus was ill. So the sisters sent a message to Jesus, ‘Lord, he whom you love is ill.’ But when Jesus heard it, he said, ‘This illness does not lead to death; rather it is for God’s glory, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.’ Accordingly, though Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus, after having heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.

Then after this he said to the disciples, ‘Let us go to Judea again.’ The disciples said to him, ‘Rabbi, the Jews were just now trying to stone you, and are you going there again?’ Jesus answered, ‘Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Those who walk during the day do not stumble, because they see the light of this world. But those who walk at night stumble, because the light is not in them.’ After saying this, he told them, ‘Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going there to awaken him.’ The disciples said to him, ‘Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will be all right.’ Jesus, however, had been speaking about his death, but they thought that he was referring merely to sleep. Then Jesus told them plainly, ‘Lazarus is dead. For your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.’ Thomas, who was called the Twin, said to his fellow-disciples, ‘Let us also go, that we may die with him.’

When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, some two miles away, and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them about their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, while Mary stayed at home. Martha said to Jesus, ‘Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Your brother will rise again.’ Martha said to him, ‘I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.’ Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?’ She said to him, ‘Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.’

When she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary, and told her privately, ‘The Teacher is here and is calling for you.’ And when she heard it, she got up quickly and went to him. Now Jesus had not yet come to the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. The Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary get up quickly and go out. They followed her because they thought that she was going to the tomb to weep there. When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said to him, ‘Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.’ When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. He said, ‘Where have you laid him?’ They said to him, ‘Lord, come and see.’ Jesus began to weep. So the Jews said, ‘See how he loved him!’ But some of them said, ‘Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?’

Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. Jesus said, ‘Take away the stone.’ Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, ‘Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead for four days.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?’ So they took away the stone. And Jesus looked upwards and said, ‘Father, I thank you for having heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me.’ When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, ‘Lazarus, come out!’ The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, ‘Unbind him, and let him go.

This is the Word of God, for us, the people of God: Thanks be to God!

Reflection

Reflection Questions:  Spend some time in silence reflecting on scripture and answering the following questions:

What is binding me up? (fear, grief, pain, anxiety, etc.) 

How can I trust God to set me free? What do I need to do to be unbound?

Song: Come and Find the Quiet Center

Prayer of Confession 

Revitalizing God, your power goes far beyond our own, and yet still we act as though the pains of this world have final claim upon us. We give in to the despair and hopelessness of death, not trusting in your ability to call forth new life from the tombs of our lives. Forgive us for doubting your power to raise up new life in the midst of all the deaths we experience. Forgive us for wanting to limit you to “the last day” or “the world beyond this one”, not trusting you to move and act among us, within us, through us. Forgive us, and open our eyes to the wonder of new life sprouting into being in our very midst.

Offering

We encourage your generosity in giving to the ministries of the church. The building may be closed, but the church isn't! People continue to serve one another and the community and your giving sustains these ministries during this time. Last Sunday, volunteers continued to gather (at a safe distance) for Feed n' seed, making sure our neighbors had not only bagged lunches but also extra non-perishable food to take for the weeks ahead. You are the hands and feet of Jesus, and we are grateful. We are working to have online giving up and running in the next week or two. In the meantime, we encourage you to write a check and mail it to the church, or set-up with your bank to mail a check to the church on a recurring schedule.

Offertory Song

Benediction

Benediction Response - Sanctuary