Lent 2: Under God's Wing

Sunday, March 13, 2022
10:30 AM 11:30 AM 10:30 11:30

Union Presbyterian Church 200 E Main St Endicott, NY, 13760 United States (map)

Google Calendar ICS

Jesus, seeing a city roiling with trouble, longs to care for its people. He uses an image that surprises and delights…God’s love as the love of a mother hen.

Join us throughout this grace-filled season of Lent! Worship with us in our sanctuary, or join us right here by live-stream. You are invited to join us as we discover a season filled to the brim with God’s extravagant love!

Online Bulletin

Full to the Brim

Lent 2: Under God’s Wing

Union Presbyterian Church

March 13, 2022

Sharing the Light of Christ, Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow

Liturgist: Doug Moore Preacher: Rev. Pat Raube

Prelude Chris Bartlette

“Safe in His Arms,” Tom Birchwood

Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE.    

Welcome Rev. Pat Raube

Call to Worship Doug Moore

If God is a hen,

we are under God’s wing.

If God is a table,

we each have a seat.

If God is a house,

we are safe from the storm.

If God is a party,

we’re invited to dance.

If God is a melody,

our names are the lyrics.

If this is God’s house,

then all are welcomed. All are loved. All belong.

Let us worship Holy God.

Hymn # 376 PH

“Love Divine, All Loves Excelling”

(Public Domain)

Love divine, all loves excelling,
Joy of heaven to earth come down,
Fix in us Thy humble dwelling,
All Thy faithful mercies crown!
Jesus, Thou art all compassion,
Pure, unbounded love Thou art;
Visit us with Thy salvation,
Enter every trembling heart.

Breathe, O breathe Thy loving Spirit
Into every troubled breast!
Let us all in Thee inherit,
Let us find that second rest;
Take away the love of sinning;
Alpha and Omega be;
End of faith, as its beginning,
Set our hearts at liberty.

Come, Almighty to deliver,
Let us all Thy life receive;
Suddenly return, and never,
Nevermore Thy temples leave.
Thee we would be always blessing,
Serve Thee as Thy hosts above,
Pray, and praise Thee without ceasing,
Glory in Thy perfect love.

Finish, then, Thy new creation;
Pure and spotless let us be;
Let us see Thy great salvation
Perfectly restored in Thee;
Changed from glory into glory,
Till in heaven we take our place,
Till we cast our crowns before Thee,
Lost in wonder, love, and praise.

Call to New Life  

Prayer for Wholeness and Peace  

When the religious leaders tried to stop Jesus, Jesus said,

“I will keep on.”

I will keep on healing.

I will keep on teaching.

I will keep on preaching.

I will keep on flipping the tables of injustice.

I will keep on treating every person like a child of God.

I will keep on believing that the world can change.

I will keep on

and keep on

and keep on until God’s promised day.

Forgive us, God, for the times when we stop.

Amen.

Assurance of God’s Love 

Family of faith, because Jesus’ love just keeps on going,

we can trust that love and grace exist for us.

So rest in this good news.

No matter what we do wrong,

or what we leave undone,

we are under God’s wing.

We are loved, held, and our hearts are healed.

Thanks be to God for a love like that! Amen.

Sharing of the Peace

If love and grace exist for us, can peace be far behind?

Ease your hearts, beloveds.

You are under God’s wing, where all is perfect peace.

May the peace of God be with you.

And also with you.

Let us offer one another a sign of God’s peace.

Scripture Psalm 27

A reading from the Book of Psalms, Psalm 27.

The Lord is my light and my salvation;

whom then shall I fear?

The Lord is the stronghold of my life;

of whom then shall I be afraid?

When evildoers close in against me to devour my flesh,

they, my foes and enemies, will stumble and fall.

Though an army encamp against me,

heart will not fear.

Though war rise up against me,

my trust will not be shaken.

One thing I ask of the Lord; one thing I seek;

that I may dwell in the house of the Lord

all the days of my life,

to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord

and to seek God in the temple.

For in the day of trouble God will give me shelter;

hide me in the hidden places of the sanctuary,

and raise me high upon a rock.

Even now my head is lifted up

above my enemies who surround me.

Therefore I will offer sacrifices in the sanctuary,

sacrifices of rejoicing;

I will sing and make music to the Lord.

Hear my voice, O Lord, when I call;

have mercy on me and answer me.

My heart speaks your message: “Seek my face.”

Your face, Lord, will I seek.

Hide not your face from me,

turn not away from your servant in anger.

Cast me not away: you have been my helper;

forsake me not, O God of my salvation.

Though my father and my mother forsake me,

the Lord will take me in.

Teach me your way, O Lord;

lead me on a level path, because of my oppressors.

Subject me not to the will of my foes,

for they rise up against me,

false witnesses breathing violence.

This I believe—that I will see the goodness of the Lord

in the land of the living!

Wait for the Lord and be strong.

Take heart and wait for the Lord!

Children’s Message Rev. Pat Raube

(Music: “Vine and Fig Tree,” Israeli folk song)

Scripture Luke 13:31-35

A reading from the Gospel according to Luke, beginning at chapter 13, verse 31.

At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to him, “Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.” He said to them, “Go and tell that fox for me, ‘Listen, I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I finish my work. Yet today, tomorrow, and the next day I must be on my way, because it is impossible for a prophet to be killed outside of Jerusalem.’ Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! See, your house is left to you. And I tell you, you will not see me until the time comes when you say, ‘Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.’”

Response Holy Wisdom, Holy Word:

Thanks be to God!

Meditation “Under God’s Wing” Rev. Pat Raube

Anthem “Christ of the Sad Face,” Shirley Erena Murray

Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE.    

Christ of the sad face, Christ who will weep

Tears for the city, tears for the earth,

How can you love us, feeling our hate,

Stoning the prophets, scheming your death?

Torture and terror darken the light,
Justice imprisoned struggles to plead,
Older the world is, yet little wise,
Deaf to your story, blind to your lead.

Christ who would mother, feathers outspread,
All of God's people under your wing,
Over and over speaking your love—
Let your compassion now in us sing.

Peace is your longing: peace be our way,
Peace is your greeting: peace be our word,
Peace for the children, peace without tears,
Peace of the spirit centered in God.

Prayers of the People

The Lord’s Prayer

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 debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.

Prayer Response #450 W & R

“Be Still and Know,” Jack Schrader

Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE.    

Be still and know that I am God,

Be still and know that I am God.

Call for Offering   

Doxology  

“Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow”

Tune: Public Domain 

Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE.    

Praise God from whom all blessings flow; 

Praise God, all creatures high and low. 

Praise God, in Jesus fully known: 

Creator, Word, and Spirit one. 

Prayer of Dedication   

Hymn  #446 W & R

“O Love, That Will Not Let Me Go”

(Public Domain)

O Love that will not let me go,
I rest my weary soul in thee;
I give thee back the life I owe,
That in thine ocean depths its flow
May richer, fuller be.

O Light that followest all my way,
I yield my flickering torch to thee;
My heart restores its borrowed ray,
That in thy sunshine’s blaze its day
May brighter, fairer be.

O Joy that seekest me through pain,
I cannot close my heart to thee;
I trace the rainbow through the rain,
And feel the promise is not vain
That morn shall tearless be.

O Cross that liftest up my head,
I dare not ask to fly from thee;
I lay in dust life’s glory dead,
And from the ground there blossoms red
Life that shall endless be.

Benediction  

As you leave this place,

may you be awestruck by the beauty of the world.

May you laugh, and may it be contagious.

May you overflow with love for those around you.

May you be effusive with hope, and quick to point out joy.

And in all of your living, and breathing, and being,

may you find yourself full to the brim with God’s Holy Spirit,

and may it change your life.

In the name of the Lover, the Beloved, and Love itself,

go in peace, full to the brim.

Thanks be to God. Amen.

Postlude Chris Bartlette

“How Deep the Father’s Love For Us,” Molly Ijames

Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE.    

Portions of liturgy taken or adapted from “A Sanctified Art.” Used with permission.