Lent 1: Jesus sought me...

Sunday, February 18, 2024
10:30 AM 11:30 AM 10:30 11:30

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

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We begin Peter’s story where the gospels begin it: he encounters Jesus, and his life is changed forever.

Join us throughout the season of Lent as we participate in the Sanctified Art Series “Wandering Heart: Figuring out faith with Peter.” Join us in our beautiful sanctuary, or right here online. Worship is live-streamed; videos are available here or on Youtube following the service.

Wandering Heart

First Sunday in Lent

Jesus Sought Me

Psalm 25:1-10; Luke 5:1-11

Union Presbyterian Church

February 18, 2024

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

Liturgist: Elder Doug Moore Preacher: Rev. Pat Raube

Welcome

Announcements Doug Moore

Prelude Colin DeLap

“Oceans,” Joel Houston, Matt Crocker, Salomon Lighthelm.

Used by permission, CCLI License #CSPL068847

* Call to Worship (responsive) Doug Moore

Feel your feet on the floor. Settle your worries.

Take a deep breath. Dust the cobwebs from your ears.

Relax the tension in your jaw,

for Christ is here.

God never stops seeking us.

We have been found.

Let us find God in return.

Let us worship the God of deep waters.

Amen.

* Hymn #506 W & R “I Want Jesus to Walk with Me” (Public Domain)

I want Jesus to walk with me;
I want Jesus to walk with me;
All along my pilgrim journey,
Lord, I want Jesus to walk with me.

In my trials, Lord, walk with me;
In my trials, Lord, walk with me;
When my heart is almost breaking,
Lord, I want Jesus to walk with me.

When I’m in trouble, Lord, walk with me;
When I'm in trouble, Lord, walk with me;
When my head is bowed in sorrow,
Lord, I want Jesus to walk with me.

* Call to New Life

* Prayer for Wholeness and Peace

Loving God,

You call us by name.

You join us in the deep waters of life.

You invite us to drop our nets and follow you,

and yet, more often than we’d like to admit, we are like Peter.

Over and over again, we stand slack jawed and surprised

to find you in our midst.

Forgive us for drowning out your voice with our own.

Forgive us for assuming that we can tackle deep waters by ourselves.

Forgive us for forgetting that you will never stop climbing into our boat.

Turn our hearts, our minds, and our spirits toward you,

for you are the Lord our God, and it is in your name that we pray.

Amen.

* Words of Assurance

Friends, Peter didn’t exactly make a good first impression when Jesus got into his boat. He questioned dropping his nets, as they hadn’t caught any fish all night. He was oblivious to who Christ was for quite some time, and once he realized the Divinity standing in his boat, he quickly deemed himself unworthy.

And even still, Jesus called Peter a disciple and a friend.

Church family, hear and believe this good news:

We can make a thousand bad impressions.

We can make every mistake in the book, roll our eyes, and assume we know better.

And even still, Christ will forgive you, claim you, and continue to seek your heart. That is the good news of the gospel. Rest, celebrate, and trust in that.

Thanks be to God! Amen.

* Sharing of the Peace

May the peace of God be with you.

And also with you.

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

Scripture Psalm 25:1-11

To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.

    My God, I put my trust in you;
let me not be put to shame;
    nor let my enemies triumph over me.
Let none who look to you be put to shame;
    rather let those be put to shame who are treacherous.

Show me your ways, O Lord,
and teach me your paths.

Lead me in your truth and teach me,
for you are the God of my salvation;
in you have I trusted all day long.

Remember, O Lord, your compassion and love,
    for they are from everlasting.
Remember not the sins of my youth and my transgressions;
    remember me according to your steadfast love
    and for the sake of your goodness, O Lord!

You are gracious and upright, O Lord;
    therefore you teach sinners in your way.
You lead the lowly in justice
    and teach the lowly your way.
All your paths, O Lord, are steadfast love and faithfulness,
    to those who keep your covenant and your testimonies.

Time for Young Disciples Rev. Pat Raube

Music: “Holy Ground,” Geron Davis.

Used by permission, CCLI License #CSPL068847

Anthem Choir

“Right by the Water,” Hans Peterson

Used by Permission. CCLI License #CSPL068847

You are a tree right by the water

With roots that came from a small seed.

Drink deep from the source, sons and daughters.

Bear fruit, reach for who you can be.

Come one and all, lost, lonely, poor.

Blest are you; God’s realm is yours.

All hungry souls you will be fed.

All you who weep will laugh instead.

You are a tree right by the water

With roots that came from a small seed.

Drink deep from the source, sons and daughters.

Bear fruit, reach for who you can be.

Christ stands beside, calls out your name:

“I am with you in your pain.”

May living waters make you whole.

May you find peace for your soul.

You are a tree right by the water

With roots that came from a small seed.

Drink deep from the source, sons and daughters.

Bear fruit, reach for who you can be.

The river brings a prophet’s dream:

“Let justice flow like a stream.”

Love has come so all may live.

Inspired we joyfully give.

You are a tree right by the water

With roots that came from a small seed.

Drink deep from the source, sons and daughters.

Bear fruit, reach for who you can be.

Scripture Luke 5:1-11

Once while Jesus was standing beside the Lake of Gennesaret and the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he saw two boats there at the shore of the lake; the fishermen had gotten out of them and were washing their nets. He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little way from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.” Simon answered, “Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets.” When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to burst. So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both boats, so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’s knees, saying, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!” For he and all who were with him were astounded at the catch of fish that they had taken, and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. Then Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.” When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him.

Response Holy Wisdom, Holy Word:

Thanks be to God!

Sermon “Jesus Sought Me”

* Statement of Faith From the Confession of 1967

God’s sovereign love is a mystery beyond the reach of the human mind. Human thought ascribes to God superlatives of power, wisdom, and goodness. But God reveals God’s love in Jesus Christ by showing power in the form of a servant, wisdom in the folly of the cross, and goodness in receiving sinful humanity. The power of God’s love in Christ to transform the world discloses that the Redeemer is the Lord and Creator who made all things to serve the purpose of his love.

* Hymn #68 W & R

“Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing”

(Public Domain)

Come, thou Fount of every blessing,

Tune my heart to sing thy grace;

Streams of mercy, never ceasing,

Call for songs of loudest praise.

Teach me some melodious sonnet,

Sung by flaming tongues above;

Praise his name—I'm fixed upon it—

Name of God's redeeming love.

Here I raise to thee an altar,

Hither by thy help I've come;

And I hope, by thy good pleasure,

Safely to arrive at home.

Jesus sought me when a stranger,

Wand'ring from the fold of God;

He, to rescue me from danger,

Bought me with his precious blood.

O to grace how great a debtor

Daily I'm constrained to be!

Let thy goodness, like a fetter,

Bind my wandering heart to thee;

Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,

Prone to leave the God I love;

Here's my heart, O, take and seal it;

Seal it for thy courts above.

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

“Jesus, Remember Me,” Jacques Berthier

Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE.

Jesus, remember me when you come into your Kingdom.

Call for Offering

* Doxology

“Lenten Doxology,” R.G. Huff, Pat Raube

Used with permission.

Lord, we are wand’ring through these forty days,

Walking with Peter as he walks with you.

We tune our hearts, lift them to you in praise:

Come now, our fount of all that’s good and true.

We praise the Father, we praise you the Son,

We praise the Spirit, our God, Three in One.

* Prayer of Dedication

* Hymn #574 W & R

“I’m Gonna Live So God Can Use Me”

(Public Domain)

I'm gonna live so God can use me
Anytime and anywhere.
I'm gonna live so God can use me anywhere,
Any time and anywhere.

I'm gonna work so God can use me
Anytime and anywhere.
I'm gonna work so God can use me anywhere,
Any time and anywhere.

I'm gonna pray so God can use me
Anytime and anywhere.
I'm gonna pray so God can use me anywhere,
Any time and anywhere.

I'm gonna sing so God can use me
Anytime and anywhere.
I'm gonna sing so God can use me anywhere,
Any time and anywhere.

* Benediction

…Go trusting that good news.

Amen.

Postlude Colin DeLap

“River of Glory,” Dan Schutte.

Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE.

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

“Words for Worship” by the Rev. Sarah Are Speed, A Sanctified Art LLC | sanctifiedart.org.

HYMNS THROUGHOUT THE MONTH OF FEBRUARY We continue with African-American Spirituals in our celebration of Black History Month. Our opening hymn today, “I Want Jesus to Walk With Me,” is an anonymous spiritual, most likely of the African-American tradition. One author categorizes the song as a “communal lament” (Paul Westermeyer, Hymnal Companion to Evangelical Lutheran Worship, p. 115-116). Another writes, “This text is categorized as a 'sorrow song,' meant for individual rather than group singing” (Robert L. Anderson, The New Century Hymnal Companion, p. 456). What both concur on is that this is not a happy song. The three stanzas in common use are “I want Jesus to walk with me,” “In my trials,” and “When I'm in trouble” (or sometimes “In my sorrows”). All of them focus on a plea for the companionship of Jesus throughout life, using the metaphor of a journey on foot. This spiritual's tune is also anonymous. It is named after Sojourner Truth, the freed slave woman who publicly spoke for freedom and equality for all. (Courtesy of hymnary.com)

Origins of the spiritual “I’m Gonna Live so God Can Use Me” are hazy. For every age, it is a vibrant song, easy to learn as each verse is identical to the one before, with the exception of one word—a word that makes all the difference. By the end, the singer has pledged their life to live, work, pray, and sing so that the Word of God—and the message of liberation for enslaved people—would go out into the world, unstoppable.