First Presbyterian Church of Niles Morning Worship
Fourth Sunday in Lent
10:00 A.M. March 30, 2025
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(* = stand if you are able)
PRELUDE
REFLECTION TEXT 2 Corinthians 5:17
So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; look, new things have come into being.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
PREPARATION FOR WORSHIP Our Father in Heaven Bach
CALL TO WORSHIP (Responsive)
In times of trouble, in days of fear,
Steadfast love surrounds those who trust in the Lord.
When we are lost and lonely, not sure of our place,
Steadfast love surrounds those who trust in the Lord.
When we are hard-hearted and cynical,
Steadfast love surrounds those who trust in the Lord.
When we struggle to believe God’s promise of redemption,
Steadfast love surrounds those who trust in the Lord.
Together we look to God to teach us the way we should go.
Steadfast love surrounds us, as together we place our trust in the Lord.
OPENING PRAYER
*HYMN Come, O Fount of Every Blessing NETTLETON
Come, O Fount of every blessing; tune my heart to sing your grace;
Streams of mercy, never ceasing, call for songs of endless praise.
Teach me some melodious sonnet, sung by flaming tongues above;
Praise the mount; I’m fixed upon it, mount of God’s unfailing love.
Here I pause in my sojourning, giving thanks for having come,
Come to trust, at every turning, God will guide me safely home.
Jesus sought me when a stranger, wandering from the fold of God,
Came to rescue me from danger, blessed body, precious blood.
O to grace how great a debtor daily I am drawn anew!
Let that grace now, like a fetter, bind my wandering heart to you.
Prone to wander, I can feel it, wander from the love I’ve known:
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it, seal it for your very own.
CALL TO CONFESSION
PRAYER OF CONFESSION (In Unison)
Almighty and merciful God, we have erred and strayed from your ways like lost sheep. We have followed too much the devices and desires of our own hearts. We have offended against your holy laws. We have left undone those things which we ought to have done; and we have done those things which we ought not to have done. O Lord, have mercy upon us. Forgive those who confess their faults. Restore those who are penitent, according to your promises declared to the world in Christ Jesus our Lord. And grant, O merciful God, for his sake, that we may live a holy, just, and humble life to the glory of your holy name.
MOMENT OF SILENT AND PERSONAL CONFESSION
ASSURANCE OF PARDON (Responsive)
Psalm 32 says: “Happy are those whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.” Through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, we are those happy people whose sins have been forgiven. Believe in the good news of the gospel and rejoice!
Thanks be to God.
PASSING THE PEACE
As God has forgiven us in Christ let us also forgive one another.
The peace of Christ be with you all.
And also with you.
Please share the sign of peace with one another.
The sharing of Christ’s peace.
RESPONSE Peace is Flowing Like a River TRADITIONAL
Peace is flowing like a river flowing out to you and me.
Flowing out into the desert, setting all the captives free.
His love is flowing like a river flowing out to you and me.
Flowing out into the desert, setting all the captives free.
PRAYER OF ILLUMINATION
FIRST SCRIPTURE READING Psalm 32
SPECIAL MUSIC Fairest Lord Jesus Arr. Courtney
Chancel Choir
Fairest Lord Jesus, Ruler of all nations, O thou of God and man the Son, Thee will I cherish, Thee will I honor, Thou, my soul’s glory, joy, and crown. Fair are the meadows, fairer still the woodlands, robed in the blooming garb of spring; Jesus is fairer, Jesus is purer, who makes the woeful heart to sing. Fair is the sunshine, fairer still the moonlight, and all the twinkling starry host; Jesus shines brighter, Jesus shines purer than all the angels heaven can boast. Beautiful Savior! Lord of all the nations! Son of God and Son of Man! Glory and honor, praise, adoration, now and forever more be Thine!
SECOND SCRIPTURE Luke 15:11b-32 & 2 Corinthians 5:16-21
MESSAGE Reconciling With Others Rev. Christopher Mergener
*HYMN 774 There Is Now a New Creation STUTTGART
There is now a new creation through the grace of Jesus Christ,
peace and reconciliation with the God of endless life.
Call the lost and found together; tell the news to everyone:
now the past is gone forever and a new life has begun.
Wrap the prodigal in welcome; run to greet the wayward child.
All is finished and forgiven; let us now be reconciled.
Come and join the celebration; come and join this happy feast;
Jesus makes an invitation to the greatest and the least.
There is now a new creation through the grace of Jesus Christ.
Sing, with thanks and adoration, to the God of endless life!
AFFIRMATION OF FAITH (In Unison) A Brief Statement of Faith
We trust in Jesus Christ, fully human, fully God. Jesus proclaimed the reign of God: preaching good news to the poor and release to the captives, teaching by word and deed and blessing the children, healing the sick and binding up the brokenhearted, eating with outcasts, forgiving sinners, and calling all to repent and believe the gospel. In gratitude to God, empowered by the Spirit, we strive to serve Christ in our daily tasks and to live holy and joyful lives, even as we watch for God’s new heaven and new earth, praying, “Come, Lord Jesus!”
CALL FOR THE OFFERING
Offertory Softly and Tenderly Arr. Hayes
*DOXOLOGY A Lenten Doxology OLD 100TH
Praise God throughout these forty days. Praise Christ, our Lord, whom God did raise. And raise the Spirit who imparts God’s love in Christ into our hearts. Amen.
*PRAYER OF DEDICATION
PREPARATION FOR PRAYERS
695 Change My Heart, O God CHANGE MY HEART
Change my heart, O God, make it ever true.
Change my heart, O God, may I be like you.
You are the Potter, I am the clay.
Mold me and make me, this is what I pray.
Change my heart, O God, make it ever true.
Change my heart, O God, may I be like you.
PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE (Responsive)
Loving God,
hear our prayer.
THE LORD’S PRAYER (In Unison)
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.
*HYMN 756 (Vs. 1, 3, 4) O God of Every Nation LLANGLOFFAN
O God of every nation, of every race and land,
redeem the whole creation with your almighty hand.
Where hate and fear divide us and bitter threats are hurled,
in love and mercy guide us and heal our strife torn world.
Lord, strengthen those who labor that all may find release
from fear of rattling saber, from dread of war’s increase;
when hope and courage falter, your still small voice be heard;
with faith that none can alter, your servants undergird.
Keep bright in us the vision of days when war shall cease,
when hatred and division give way to love and peace,
till dawns the morning glorious when truth and justice reign
and Christ shall rule victorious o’er all the world’s domain.
*CHARGE AND BENEDICTION
POSTLUDE
All music is reproduced under permission from ccli.com License #11146543.