Lakeview Presbyterian Church
April 2, 2023
Palm Sunday
Palm Sunday
Prelude “You Who Dwell in the Shelter of the Lord” (V1, C, V3, C,C) Psalm 91
Welcome:
Call to Worship (Matthew 21:5, 9)
Look, your king is coming to you, humble and mounted on a donkey.
Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!
Hosanna in the highest heaven!
*Hymn “O Sing to the Lord” GG #637
Call to Confession (unison)
As we enter Holy Week, let us prepare our hearts to follow Jesus to the cross by confessing all that turns us from our Savior’s path.
Prayer of Confession
Abba God, Father of Jesus, forgive our lack of respect and attention as your son enters this most painful of weeks. We, like the disciples, fall asleep when Jesus asks us to stay awake and pray. Our minds wander as he sets his path straight for Jerusalem to speak truth to power on our behalf. We are careless with our faith, while Jesus acts with extraordinary love. Forgive our apathy. Forgive our inattention. Forgive our careless and self-serving attitudes. Remind us, this Holy Week, of the salvation you offer in Jesus Christ. Let us not take this gracious gift for granted. Amen.
Assurance of Pardon (Psalm 118:1)
“O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his steadfast love endures forever!” In the name of Jesus Christ, know that you are forgiven and be at peace. Amen.
Prayer for illumination
Divine redeemer, center us today in your holy Word. Liberate us from the distractions of daily life and the sins which constrict and close our minds. Help us to hear the truth you intend for us today. Amen.
Old Testament Lesson Psalm 31:9-16
Be gracious to me, O LORD, for I am in distress; my eye wastes away from grief, my soul and body also. For my life is spent with sorrow and my years with sighing; my strength fails because of my misery, and my bones waste away. I am the scorn of all my adversaries, a horror to my neighbors, an object of dread to my acquaintances; those who see me in the street flee from me. I have passed out of mind like one who is dead; I have become like a broken vessel. For I hear the whispering of many—terror all around!—as they scheme together against me, as they plot to take my life. But I trust in you, O LORD; I say, “You are my God.” My times are in your hand; deliver me from the hand of my enemies and persecutors. Let your face shine upon your servant; save me in your steadfast love.
New Testament Lesson Matthew 21:1-17 When they had come near Jerusalem and had reached Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, “Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, just say this, ‘The Lord needs them.’ And he will send them immediately.” This took place to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet: “Tell the daughter of Zion, Look, your king is coming to you, humble and mounted on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them; they brought the donkey and the colt and put their cloaks on them, and he sat on them. A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. The crowds that went ahead of him and that followed were shouting,
“Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven!” When he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was in turmoil, asking, “Who is this?” this?” The crowds were saying, “This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee.” Then Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who were selling and buying in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it a den of robbers.” The blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he cured them. But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the amazing things that he did and heard the children crying out in the temple and saying, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” they became angry and said to him, “Do you hear what these are saying?” Jesus said to them, “Yes; have you never read, ‘Out of the mouths of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise for yourself’?” He left them, went out of the city to Bethany, and spent the night there.
Sermon Rev. Neddy Astudillo
Hymn please remain seated “O Worship the King” GG #41
Sharing of Joys and ConcernsPastoral Prayer
Invitation to Offering
God has given us everything, including the life of God’s son. Let us
honor
God by giving
generously of ourselves in return.
Donations can be placed in the offering plate near the baptismal font in the center of the sanctuary.
Or mailed to:
Lakeview Presbyterian Church, 1310 22nd Av S, St Petersburg, FL, 33705
or given online at: lakeviewpresbyterianchurch.org
Special Music “Living Hope”
Prayer of Dedication
God of grace, you amaze us with your grace and the depths of your love. Accept these offerings as signs of our gratitude and bless the energy, intelligence, imagination and love we put into furthering Christ’s ministry among your people. Amen.
THE SACRAMENT OF HOLY COMMUNION
The Invitation
We come again to the Lord’s Table, to celebrate, and to participate in this great feast which has been prepared for us. Once again, we confront again the power, the mystery, the wonder, the glory of Christ’s presence with us: the hope, the joy, the love and the peace that comes when God is present and guiding our lives. God is always with us, supporting and sustaining us, but sometimes the crush of circumstances causes us to forget. So, we come to this table, again and again, to rekindle the light of God’s presence so that it touches and changes our lives, and so that we carry that light out into the world with us. Come, for our Lord invites us.
The Words of Institution
On the night before he died, Jesus came to the table with those he loved. He took bread, and gave thanks to God. He broke the bread among his disciples and said: ‘Take this, all of you, and eat it. This is my body, given for you.’ When the supper was ended, he took a cup of wine and gave thanks to God. He passed the cup among his disciples and said, ‘Take this, all of you, and drink from it. This is the cup of the new covenant sealed in my blood for the forgiveness of sin. Do this in remembrance of me.’ Now, whenever we eat and drink at this table, we celebrate Christ’s death and resurrection until he comes again.
The Great Thanksgiving
The Lord be with you. And also with you.
Lift up your hearts. We lift them to the Lord.
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
It is right to give our thanks and praise.
Holy, holy, holy Lord, the Lord God Almighty, who was and is, and is to come. Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever!
In the fullness of time, you sent your Son, Jesus Christ, to preach good news to the afflicted, to break bread with the outcast and despised, and to ransom those in bondage to prejudice and sin. Remembering his love for us we proclaim the mystery of faith.
Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again.
Pour out your Holy Spirit on us and on these gifts of bread and wine. Reveal yourself to us in the breaking of the bread. Raise us up as the body of Christ for the world. Breathe new life into us. Send us forth, burning with justice, peace and love. With all your holy ones of all times and places, we praise you, O God, blessed and holy Trinity, now and forever. Amen.
We praise you for your love: bringing order out of chaos, breathing life into dust, leading captives into freedom, calling wandering children home, giving bread to the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, raising the dead to life. We thank you, Lord for Jesus: Word made flesh, light of the world, living water, shepherd and gate, way and truth, bread of heaven, cup of salvation, resurrection and life.
Spirit come – come and live in us: in this bread, in this cup, in your people, one in the body, one in the blood; one with Christ, one in ministry, in this place, in every place; in this world, in the world to come. Amen
Partaking the Elements
When we break bread, is it not a sharing in the body of Christ?
When we give thanks over the cup, is it not a sharing in the blood of Christ?
Jesus said: Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
Prayer after Communion
Holy God, we thank you for this feast of grace and life. Send us out to answer the summons of our Lord Jesus Christ to a new life, and to follow him with joy and gladness. Set our feet in his holy way, that our lives may be signs of his life and all we do may show forth his love. Amen
The Lord’s Prayer (sung)
*Hymn “Nearer My God to Thee” AAHH #163
Announcements
Charge and Benediction
Beloved people of God; I invite you, in the name of Christ, to observe this Holy Week by self-examination and penitence, by prayer and fasting, by works of love, and by meditating on Gods’ word.
May the grace, hope, peace and love of God our Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer be with us all, now and forever.
Amen.
Postlude “Great is the Lord” (V1, C, V2, C)
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