Order of Service – Sunday 16 March 2025 – LENT 2
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CALL TO WORSHIP
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you. And also with you.
The Lord strengthens those who are weak.
Even the young will faint and be weary and will fall exhausted.
But those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength.
Our God is the Creator of the ends of the earth, and it is this God we come to worship and praise.
HYMN: “When We Walk with the Lord”
PRAYER ON THE LENTEN SEASON
Dear God and our Heavenly Father, this morning we express our thanks for Your love, providence and redemption given freely to us through the death and resurrection of Your only Son, our Saviour and Lord. We ask You, O God, that You make this Lenten Season a vital period of spiritual and moral development. We pray that our hearts and minds, along with those multitudes, may in these weeks experience the blessing of true penitence, confession, restitution, and joy of salvation in Christ. Deliver us, good Lord, from the deadly sins of the soul; from pride and wrath; from envy and avarice; from lust and sloth; from lying and slander; from dishonesty and unfaithfulness; from cruelty and injustice. Deliver us from impenitence and rebellion against Your will; from indifference to spiritual things and disobedience to the heavenly vision; from false ambition and unholy desires. Amen! (Rev. Dr. Vahan Tootikian)
A LITANY FOR LENT
Our Heavenly Father, during this Lenten season, we remember Jesus’ days of temptation in the wilderness, withstanding the evil one and saying, “You shall worship the Lord your God and Him only shall you serve”.
Give us grace, O Lord, to look deeply inward. From the immediate and external, turn our eyes within.
Minister to our lives that we may have strength to rise above its temptations, and to keep faith, courage and honour high, even when the world seems against us.
Give us the grace to look not only inward, but upward. May we feel ourselves safe in Your loving hands.
O Lord, come close to us one by one. We would cleanse our own lives and have them redeemed and reinforced by Your grace.
Gracious Lord, quicken our awareness of Your presence and make us receptive and hospitable to Your Spirit within us.
Keep us safe from the power of evil and draw us ever close to You in the bond of love.
Strengthen us during this season of Lent to follow You ever more closely that we may truly be Your people.
All glory, honour, and dominion be to You, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen!
PRAYER OF CONFESSION
O Lord, You who have measured the heights and the earth in the hollow of Your hand, and created six-wing seraphim to cry out to You with an increasing voice Holy, Holy, Holy, glory to Your name.
Deliver me, from the mouth of the evil one, O Master. Forget my many evil deeds and through the multitude of Your compassions grant me daily forgiveness, for You are blessed unto the ages. Amen!
ASSURANCE OF FORGIVENESS
The good news in Christ is that when we face ourselves and God with the awareness of our need, we are given the strength to grow, and the courage carry on the Journey. Friends, believe the good news of the gospel.
In Jesus Christ we are forgiven. Amen!
HYMN: 52 “Let us Sing to the God of Salvation”
LENTEN PRAYER
Let us seek the living God whose love is close at hand.
Let us pray to the One who waits patiently to be found.
May we abandon our dishonest ways,
and give up our unrighteous thoughts.
Let us come back to God with repentant hearts.
Let us come fasting and weeping, sorry for our sins.
God is merciful and kind to those who return.
God’s love is extravagant and forgiving to all who come near.
Let us change our lives and not our clothes.
Let us come back to God who never leaves us.
Though our sins are like scarlet wounds,
they will be washed away and become white as snow.
(Pause to remind yourself of the places in which you have experienced God’s forgiveness & redemptive love)
Have mercy on us, O God, because of Your unfailing love.
Because of Your great compassion, blot out the sins that stain us.
Wash us clean from our guilt and purify our hearts from our sin.
Renew our inner spirit to become steadfast and unswerving, so that we will be willing to obey You.
Do not turn us away from Your loving presence, O God. Restore the joy of Your salvation within us.
The sacrifice You desire is a penitent spirit, You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God.
HYMN: 684 “Love Will be Our Lenten Calling”
BIBLE READINGS – Chris Butters
Psalm 27:1-11 (Page 546) Philippians 3:17-4:1 (Page 1163)
MUSICAL REFLECTION
PRESENTATION: “Buddhism and Christianity” Peter Hoare
HYMN: 15 “God is My Strong Salvation”
NOTICES –
- Interim Congregational Meeting Sun 23 March, during MT.
- Movie/Pizza Night – Tue 1 April 6:30 pm. “The Promise”.
- Elders’ & Council Meeting – Wed 2 April at 10:00 am.
OFFERING – Freely we have received; let us freely give.
HYMN: 738 “My Jesus, My Saviour”
THE LORD’S PRAYER
BENEDICTION
The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of God, and of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord; and the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, be among you and remain with you always. Amen!
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To contact Krikor call 0418 417 411
Church Website: http://www.longueville.unitingchurch.org.au
Church email: standrewsunite@tpg.com.au
Church Office phone: 9427 4740