March 5

Lakeview Presbyterian Church
March 5, 2023
Second Sunday of Lent

Prelude                   “Finally, I Surrender”                                   Edwards        

Welcome:                                                                  

Call to Worship        (based on Psalm 121)                  Bob Ponder, Liturgist
I lift up my eyes to the hills – from where will my help come?
My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.
The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time on and forevermore.
Let us worship God.

*Hymn                          “Morning Has Broken”                                 GG #664

Call to Confession        (based on Psalm 121)
Our God does not slumber nor sleep. The Lord is your keeper and your shade at your right hand. Let us confess to our ever vigilant and ever faithful God.

Prayer of Confession
Gracious God, we are selfish and arrogant. We have overlooked human dignity; we ignore the needs of minorities, migrants, and immigrants. We hear the cries of the land, women, children, and young people, but we have not done enough to respond to the grace that we have received. These actions have caused some people to suffer and experience oppression.  Have mercy on us and forgive us.

Assurance of Pardon  (John 3:16-17)
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world but in order that the world might be saved though him.”
Let us walk I the light of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Amen.

Prayer for illumination
As these words are read and proclaimed, may we be compelled in these next moments amidst all the imperfections and misunderstandings that may come to be yet compelled into your will, your way, and your wisdom. May your grace and truth abound in our hearing and our doing your Word. Amen.

Reading from the Hebrew Scriptures                                 Psalm 121
I lift up my eyes to the hills—from where will my help come? My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth.  He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber.  He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.  The LORD is your keeper; the LORD is your shade at your right hand.  The sun shall not strike you by day nor the moon by night.  The LORD will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life.  The LORD will keep your going out and your coming in from this time on and forevermore.

Reading from the Gospel                                                       John 3:1-17
Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. He came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with that person.” Jesus answered him, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be astonished that I said to you, ‘You[c] must be born from above.’ The wind[e] blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?” Jesus answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things? “Very truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen, yet you[f] do not receive our testimony. If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. “Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world but in order that the world might be saved through him.

Hymn   please remain seated “Trust and Obey” (verses 1-4)   AAHH #380

Sermon     “A Talk with Nicodemus”                        Pastor Adam Gray

*Affirmation of Faith   (from Colossians 1:15-20)
Jesus Christ is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible. All things have been created through him and for him. He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together. He is head of the body, the church, he is the beginning, the firstborn of the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him God was pleased to reconcile all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross. Amen

Statement about Offering our Gifts 
All that we have and all that we are belongs to God. Every time we perceive our abundance and give out of it, we engage in an act of resistance against the forces of scarcity, cynicism, and hopelessness about the possibilities for the world around us. Let us resist, give, and participate in God’s transformation of us and our world.

 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

Prayer of Dedication

We return these gifts to you and relinquish our control over them. O God, that you may use them beyond us, beyond this place, and beyond self-interest that your love may abound in the flourishing of every living thing you have entrusted to us.

Special Music                “If You Want Me To”                                          Owens

Sharing of Joys and Concerns

Pastoral Prayer

The Lord’s Prayer     (This is the Ecumenical Version; feel free to use the words of your choice)
    Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come,
    your will be done on earth as in heaven.  Give us today our daily bread.   
    Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.
    Save us from the time of trial and deliver us from evil.
    For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours now and forever. Amen         

*Hymn               “I Have Decided to Follow Jesus”                       AAHH #400

Announcements

Charge and Benediction        May the grace, hope, peace and love of God our Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer be with us all, now and forever.  Amen.

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