27 Mar Worship Bulletin: 3/30/25
Welcome to Worship at the McPherson 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 30, 2025 @ 10:15 a.m. – Lenten Theme: Eco-Spirituality
Fourth Sunday of Lent – Prayer Pocket Prayer
Today I receive God’s peace as I breathe the fresh air of creation in and out – in and out.
♫Gathering Music | “Awake, Thou Wintry Earth” | arr. L. Smith
Ellen Gilbert, organ
Video Welcome
Sharing Time – Joys and Concerns | Roger Schrock
♫Centering Music | “Do Not Leave Your Cares at the Door” Elizabeth Alexander
Poem by Norman V. Naylor – Adapted by Elizabeth Alexander
Worship Choir with Cara Hudson, solo
Do not leave your cares at the door. Do not leave them there when you come into this place.
Be open to forgiveness and transformation — Come on in; you are welcome here;
And do not leave your cares at the door.
Bring your pain and sorrow and joy, there’s a place for them upon the altar of life.
Be open to forgiveness and transformation — Come on in; you are welcome here;
And do not leave your cares at the door.
This is a place of grace, of losing and finding the way upon the winding road,
Meeting and parting, stumbling and starting over. Every journey is sacred here, even yours.
Do not leave your cares at the door. Do not leave them there when you come into this place.
Be open to forgiveness and transformation — Come on in; you are welcome here;
And do not leave your cares at the door.
Unison Opening Prayer
Patient God, we want to follow you wherever you might lead;
please wait for us as our actions catch up to the commitment of our hearts and words.
Forgiving God, when we are distracted – when we stumble, stray and lose our way;
please extend to us your mercy as you lead us safely back to the fold.
God of grace and God of glory; give us wisdom and courage for the living of these days.
♫Opening Song | “God of Grace and God of Glory” | #366
Story for the Children | Dawn Hoffman
Video Invitation to Give
Give online or send a check made payable to “McPherson Church of the Brethren,” 200 N. Carrie, McPherson, KS 67460
♫Musical Offering | “Love Divine” | arr. Rowland Pritchard and Philip Sparke
Eric Goering, trombone; Ellen Gilbert, piano
Scripture Focus | Luke 15: 1-3; 11-19 | The Parable of the Lost Son
15 Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus.
2 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”
3 Then Jesus told them this parable:
11 Jesus continued:
“There was a man who had two sons. 12 The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’
So he divided his property between them.
13 “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living.
14 After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need.
15 So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs.
16 He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.
17 “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death!
18 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.
19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’
Scripture Prayer and Song | “Ah, What Shame I Have to Bear” | #531
Litany Words | Thom M. Shuman © 2007
Congregation, Unison words of Prayer; Song, Melia Jones, Becky Snell, Dan Lichty
Unison: God graciously provides. Yet hungering for more, we demand what we believe we are owed.
Soloist: ♫ Ah, what shame I have to bear, for I left my home to pursue an empty dream, spent my life in vain! ♫
Unison: We stuff ourselves on the empty husks of pleasure and selfishness; awakening with hollow hearts.
Soloist: ♫ In this hut I sleep and wake, taking care of swine. No one has pity on me. Loud blows the chilly wind. ♫
Unison: Then stumbling and stammering, we hunger to find our way back to God –
who sweeps us up and carries us home where we will hunger no more.
Soloist: ♫ Tattered sleeves are wet with dew when I think of home. Waking from my foolish dreams, to my home I’ll go.♫
Scripture Focus | Luke 15: 20-32 | The Parable of the Lost Son
20 So he got up and went to his father. “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him;
he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.
21 “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’
22 “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.
23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate.
24 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’
So they began to celebrate.
25 “Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing.
26 So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on.
27 ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’
28 “The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him.
29 But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders.
Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends.
30 But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’
31 “‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours.
32 But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”
♫Scripture Song | “Far, Far Away From My Loving Father”
Choir Members, verses; Congregation, refrain
Message | “When We Hit Rock Bottom” | Jerry Bowen
♫Sending Song | “Come, Come, Ye Saints” | #425
Sending Words
♫Sending Music | “Delight in the Lord” | Gregg Sewell
Ellen Gilbert, organ
Videography and Editing: Eric Goering
Music Coordinator: Ellen Gilbert
Choir Director: Becky Snell
Technical Crew: Eric Goering, Ryan Goering, Shane Kirchner, Steve Lolling & Chris Whitacre
Chancel Decoration Team: Jill Brax, Colleen Gustafson, Michele Johnson, Shane Kirchner & Lara Schoming