Sunday March 8, 2026 Worship Service
Livestream at 11:10 a.m.

Gathering in God’s Name

Prelude — Arioso from Cantata No. 156 — J.S. Bach
As the prelude begins, you are invited to begin your personal preparation for worship.

Silent Meditation                                                                                                         
“Many things are possible for the person who has hope. Even more is possible for the person who has faith. And still more is possible for the person who knows how to love.  But everything is possible for the person who practices all three virtues.” — Brother Lawrence 

Call to Worship — Psalm 95:1-7a
O come, let us sing to the Lord; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!
       Let us come into God’s presence with thanksgiving; let us   make a joyful noise to God with songs of praise!
For the Lord is a great God, and a great ruler above all gods. In God’s hand are the depths of the earth; the heights of the mountains are God’s also.
       The sea is the Lord’s, for God made it, and the dry land, which God’s hands have formed. |
O come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker!
       For the Lord is our God, and we are the people of God’s pasture, and the sheep of God’s hand.                      

Praise and Adoration

*Hymn #400 — I Rejoiced When I Heard Them Say — ENGLAND   
(*Please stand, if you are able)

Confession and Pardon

Call to Confession

Prayer of Confession
Merciful God, we confess that we have been quick to judge others and slow to make changes in our own lives. We confess that we have focused on others’ shortcomings instead of reforming our own. Turn us, O Lord, from these ways that lead to perishing.  Lead us, O Lord, in your ways that lead to abundant life.

Silent Prayers of Confession and Petition

Kyrie Eleison #575 — Lord, Have Mercy upon Us — KYRIE ELEISON (Pardini)

Assurance of Pardon
In Lent, our congregation “buries the alleluias,” a tradition that dates back to the Middle Ages. This absence is meant to heighten Easter’s joy, when alleluias return in full force.

*Hymn #212 — Alas!  And Did My Savior Bleed — MARTYRDOM

*Welcome                            

Announcements

Fellowship of Prayer

Joys and Concerns

Prayers of the People
The Lord’s Prayer
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.  For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever. Amen.

Anthem — Abide with Me — Dave Gardner

Proclamation of God’s Word

Scripture Lesson — John 4: 5-42 — page 864 of the pew Bible

Sermon — “The Unlikely Herald” — Dr. Zieman

Our Response to God’s Word

*Affirmation of Faith — from The Confession of 1967
God’s reconciling act in Jesus Christ is a mystery which the Scriptures describe in various ways. It is called the sacrifice of a lamb, a shepherd’s life given for his sheep, atonement by a priest; again, it is a ransom of a slave, a payment of a debt, vicarious satisfaction of a legal penalty, and victory over the powers of evil. These are expressions of a truth which remains beyond the reach of all theory in the depths of God’s love for humankind. They reveal the gravity, cost, and sure achievement of God’s reconciling work.

*Sanctus (#569) — Holy, Holy, Holy — SANCTUS (Oliver)

Presentation of Tithes and Offerings

Offertory — Fairest Lord Jesus — Derek Hakes

Doxology #608 — Praise God, from Whom All Blessings Flow — PRAISE GOD (Hopson)

*Prayer of Dedication        
Good and gracious God, may these gifts be one of the ways your life -giving presence is experienced in our community. Use this money and use us to give hope to the hopeless, wholeness to the broken and fullness to the hungry. In Christ’s name we pray. Amen. 

*Hymn #81 — Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken — AUSTRIAN HYMN

*Charge and Benediction

Postlude — Fugue in F Major — Georg Philipp Telemann