Lent 4: More Than Meets the Eye

Sunday, March 19, 2023
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

We find Jesus this morning in a healing mode—healing a man’s blindness, but also offering wisdom about why bad things happen to good people.

Join us for worship this morning in our beautiful sanctuary or here, online, if you are at home or on the road. You are invited! We will be witnesses to a sign, a miracle, disclosing the power of God in Jesus.

Lent 4: “More Than Meets the Eye”

Psalm 23; John 9:1-12

March 19, 2023

Union Presbyterian Church 

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

Liturgist: Joan Kellam Preacher: Rev. Pat Raube  

Prelude Chris Bartlette

“My Shepherd Will Supply My Need,” Matt Limbaugh

Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE.

Welcome Rev. Pat Raube

Call to Worship Joan Kellam

In the beginning, when it was very dark,

God said, “Let there be light,”

And there was light.

In the beginning, when it was very quiet,

the Word was with God.

And what God was, the Word was.

When the time was right, God came in the Son.

He came among us; he was one of us.

* Hymn #171 PH “The King of Love My Shepherd Is” (Public Domain)

* Call to New Life

* Prayer for Wholeness and Peace (unison)

O God, you are always true to us in love, but we are left wanting to tell you we are sorry… for our faithlessness to you and to one another…for our forgetting the poor and the broken… for our failure to cherish creation. Give us life, O God, to change, and enable us to change, that we may live. Amen.

* Words of Assurance

With the whole church:

We affirm that we are made in God’s image,

befriended by Christ, and empowered by the Spirit.

With people everywhere:

We affirm God’s goodness at the heart of humanity,

planted more deeply than all that is wrong.

With all creation:

We celebrate the miracle and wonder of life and the unfolding purposes of God, forever at work in ourselves and the world. Thanks be to God. Amen!

Sharing of the Peace

May the peace of God be with you.

And also with you.

Let us offer one another a sign of peace.

Scripture Reading Psalm 23

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.
You make me lie down in green pastures,
and lead me beside still waters; you restore my soul.
You lead me in right paths for your name’s sake.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil; for you are with me;

your rod and your staff—they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Time for Young Disciples Rev. Pat Raube 

Music: “Siyahamba,” Hal H. Hopson

Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE.      

Scripture Reading John 9:1-12 

As [Jesus] walked along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him. We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” When he had said this, he spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva and spread the mud on the man’s eyes, saying to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). Then he went and washed and came back able to see. The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar began to ask, “Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?” Some were saying, “It is he.” Others were saying, “No, but it is someone like him.” He kept saying, “I am he.” But they kept asking him, “Then how were your eyes opened?” He answered, “The man called Jesus made mud, spread it on my eyes, and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ Then I went and washed and received my sight.” They said to him, “Where is he?” He said, “I do not know.” 

Response We do not live by bread alone,

but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. 

Thanks be to God! 

Sermon ”More Than Meets the Eye” Rev. Pat Raube  

Affirmation of Faith from the Iona Community, Scotland

We believe in God,

whose love is the source of all life,

and the desire of our lives;

whose love was given a human face in Jesus of Nazareth;

whose love was crucified by the evil that waits to enslave us all;

and whose love, defeating even death, is our glorious promise of freedom.

Therefore, though we are sometimes fearful,

and full of doubt, in God we trust;

and, in the name of Jesus Christ, we commit ourselves,

in the service of others, to seek justice and to live in peace,

to care for the earth and to share the commonwealth of God’s goodness,

to live in the freedom of forgiveness,

and the power of the Spirit of love,

and in the company of the faithful,

so to be the church,

for the Glory of God.

Amen.

Anthem Choir

“Open the Eyes of My Heart,” Mark Hayes

Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE.      

(2x:)

Open the eyes of my heart, Lord,

Open the eyes of my heart.

I want to see You, I want to see You.

To see You high and lifted up,

Shining in the light of Your glory.

Pour out Your power and love

As we sing, “Holy, holy, holy.”

(2x:)

Open the eyes of my heart, Lord,

Open the eyes of my heart.

I want to see You, I want to see You.

To see You high and lifted up,

Shining in the light of Your glory.

Pour out Your power and love

As we sing, “Holy, holy, holy.”

(2x:)

Holy, holy, holy,

I want to see You.

Be Thou my vision, O Lord of my heart;

Naught be all else to me save that Thou art:

Thou my best thought, by day or by night,

Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.

Holy, holy, holy,

I want to see You.

Prayers of the People 

The Lord’s Prayer (Traditional Version) 

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  #166 W & R      

“Wait for the Lord,” Taizé Community

Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE.      

(Sing two times:)

Wait for the Lord, whose day is near.   

Wait for the Lord: be strong, take heart.

Call for Offering 

Doxology     

“Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow”  

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 #502 W & R

“Be Thou My Vision,” Jack Schrader

Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE.      

Be thou my Vision, O Lord of my heart;
Naught be all else to me, save that thou art--
Thou my best thought, by day or by night,
Waking or sleeping, thy presence my light.

Be thou my Wisdom, and thou my true Word,
I ever with thee and thou with me, Lord;
Thou and thou only, first in my heart,
High King of heaven, my Treasure thou art.

High King of heaven, my victory won,
May I reach heaven's joys, O bright heaven's Sun!
Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,
Still be my Vision, O Ruler of all.

* Benediction

Postlude Chris Bartlette   

“We Bow Down,” Joel Raney

Used by Permission. CCLI License #CSPL068847

Where an * is indicated, please rise in body and/or in spirit.      

“W & R” ~ the red Worship and Rejoice hymnal.     

“PH” ~ the blue Presbyterian Hymnal  

Portions of today’s liturgy were taken or adapted from the Iona Community Worship Book.