22 Mar Worship Bulletin – 3/22/20
McPherson First Church of the Brethren
We invite your active participation in the life of this congregation, as together we continue to grow in grace and seek justice for God’s creation.
Sunday, March 22, 2020
Gathering Music
Sharing Time
Focusing Music
Scripture Focus | John 9:1-15 | NRSV
As he 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 the man.”
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.”
They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. Now it was a Sabbath day when Jesus
made the mud and opened his eyes. Then the Pharisees also began to ask him how he had received his sight.
He said to them, “He put mud on my eyes. Then I washed, and now I see.”
Call to Worship | Blessing of Mud | inspired by John 9:1-41 | written by Jan L. Richardson
Lest we think the blessing is not in the dirt.
Lest we think the blessing is not in the earth beneath our feet.
Lest we think the blessing is not in the dust;
like the dust that God scooped up at the beginning
and formed with God’s two hands
and breathed into with God’s own breath.
Lest we think the blessing is not in the spit.
Lest we think the blessing is not in the mud.
Lest we think the blessing is not in the mire, the grime, the muck.
Lest we think that God cannot reach deep into the things of earth,
cannot bring forth the blessing that shimmers within the sludge,
cannot anoint us with a tender and grimy grace.
Lest we think that God will not use the ground to create us once again,
to cleanse us of our unseeing,
to open our eyes upon this ordinary and stunning world.
Opening Song | “Praise the One Who Breaks the Darkness”
1)
Praise the One who breaks the darkness with a liberating light.
Praise the One who frees the prisoners, turning blindness into sight.
Praise the One who preached the gospel, healing every dread disease,
calming storms and feeding thousands with the very bread of peace.
2)
Praise the One who blessed the children with a strong yet gentle word.
Praise the One who drove out demons with a piercing two-edged sword.
Praise the One who brings cool water to the desert’s burning sand.
From this well comes living water quenching thirst in every land.
3)
Praise the one true love incarnate: Christ, who suffered in our place.
Jesus died and rose for many that we may know God by grace.
Let us sing for joy and gladness, seeing what our God has done.
Praise the one redeeming glory; praise the One who makes us one.
Invitation to Give | Written by Thom Shuman
Day by day, God leads us: to deep, deep pools of peace, to green, lush lawns of grace.
Day by day, Jesus calls us: to pour out ourselves in service, to anoint the stranger with hope.
Day by day, the Holy Spirit shows us: the community we could be, the family we are called to become.
Giving Music
Giving Prayer
Special Music | “I Wonder as I Wander” | arr. Peter Amidon
Children’s Time
Scripture Focus | John 9:16-25 | NRSV
Some of the Pharisees said,
“This man [Jesus] is not from God, for he does not observe the Sabbath.”
But others said,
“How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs?”
And they were divided. So they said again to the blind man,
“What do you say about him? It was your eyes he opened.”
He said,
“He is a prophet.”
The Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they called the parents of the
man who had received his sight and asked them,
“Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?”
His parents answered,
“We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; but we do not know how it is that now
he sees, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age. He will speak for himself.”
His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews; for the Jews had already agreed that anyone who confessed Jesus to be the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue. Therefore his parents said,
“He is of age; ask him.”
So for the second time they called the man who had been blind, and they said to him,
“Give glory to God! We know that this man [Jesus] is a sinner.”
He answered,
“I do not know whether he is a sinner. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.”
Scripture Song | “He Healed the Darkness of My Mind”
VERSE 1
He healed the darkness of my mind, the day he gave my sight to me.
It was not sin that made me blind; it was no sinner made me see.
Scripture Focus | John 9:26-34 | NRSV
They said to him,
“What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?”
He answered them,
“I have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again?
Do you also want to become his disciples?”
Then they reviled him, saying,
“You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. We know that God has spoken to Moses,
but as for this man [Jesus], we do not know where he comes from.”
The man answered,
“Here is an astonishing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes.
We know that God does not listen to sinners, but he does listen to one who worships him and
obeys his will. Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of
a person born blind. If this man [Jesus] were not from God, he could do nothing.”
They answered him,
“You were born entirely in sins, and are you trying to teach us?”
And they drove him out.
Scripture Song | “He Healed the Darkness of My Mind”
VERSE 2
Let others call my faith a lie or try to stir up doubt in me.
Look at me now! None can deny. I once was blind, and now I see!
Scripture Focus | John 9:35-41 | NRSV
Jesus heard that they had driven him out, and when he found [the man], he said,
“Do you believe in the Son of Man?”
He answered,
“And who is he, sir? Tell me, so that I may believe in him.”
Jesus said to him,
“You have seen him, and the one speaking with you is he.”
He said,
“Lord, I believe.”
And he worshiped him. Jesus said,
“I came into this world for judgment so that those who do not see may see, and those who do see
may become blind.”
Some of the Pharisees near him heard this and said to him,
“Surely we are not blind, are we?”
Jesus said to them,
“If you were blind, you would not have sin. But now that you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.
Scripture Song | “He Healed the Darkness of My Mind”
VERSE 3
Ask me not how, but I know who has opened up new worlds to me.
This Jesus does what none can do; I once was blind, and now I see!
Message “How do we Cure our Blindness? | Jerry Bowen
Sending Song | “Healer of Our Every Ill”
Sending Words
Sending Music
Reminder: The bulletin announcements/weekly newsletter are sent to your email address every Friday with “COB Communications” caption in the address line.