Parking Lot Liturgy, Sunday, Feb 27 2021

February 27th, 2021 | April Karli

Come Thou Fount

Come, Thou Fount of every blessing, tune my heart to sing Thy grace; Streams of mercy, never ceasing, call for songs of loudest praise Teach me some melodious sonnet, sung by flaming tongues above; Praise the mount, I’m fixed upon it, Mount of God’s redeeming love.

Here I raise my Ebeneezer,
hither by Thy help I’m come
And I hope by Thy good pleasure safely to arrive at home.
Jesus sought me when a stranger, wandering from the fold of God He to rescue me from danger, interposed His precious blood

O to grace how great a debtor, daily I’m constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness like a fetter, bind my wandering heart to Thee: Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it; Prone to leave the God I love Here’s my heart, O take and seal it seal it for Thy courts above.

Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it; Prone to leave the God I love Here’s my heart, O take and seal it seal it for Thy courts above.

Call to Worship

Welcome to the liturgy of Austin Mustard Seed. The word liturgy means the work of the people. If you are new to our liturgy, we welcome you to be a full participant or a thoughtful observer. 

You can follow along with the liturgy today online at our blog at austinmustardseed.org/blog or we have hard copies available. Just raise your hand and let us know you need one and someone will bring one to you. We ask that everyone wears a mask and observes distancing today throughout our liturgy. 

The season of Lent is a time that is set aside to embrace our mortality, shortcomings and brokenness. Today we come as participants and hosts, whether passionate believer or hopeful skeptic, to share our hope that death ends in resurrection. 

If you are new to our liturgy, we welcome you to be a full participant or a thoughtful observer. Let us take a moment to still ourselves in silence. (Wait for a short moment of silence)

Come, all who are thirsty, says Jesus our Lord,
Come, all who are weak, taste the living water, that I shall give.

Dip your hands in the stream, refresh body and soul,
drink from it, depend on it; for this water will never run dry.

Let us worship God, who has done great things.
Let us rejoice in our God, who made a way through the desert of this world.

Let us worship God, who has caused streams of mercy
to flow in the wasteland.

We are the people God has formed through Christ;
we worship him, and we rejoice!

Let us worship God in spirit and in truth.
We praise God for the grace that has saved us.

We pray these things by:|
the humble power of God,
the quiet strength of Christ,
and the pervasive light of the Spirit,
Amen.

Jesus, Savior, Pilot Me

Jesus, Savior, pilot me over life’s tempestuous seas
Unknown waves before me roll, hiding rock and trech’rous shoal
Chart and compass came from Thee; Jesus, Savior, pilot me

As a mother stills her child, You can hush the oceans wild
Boist’rous waves obey Thy will when You say to them “be still”
Wondrous Sovereign of the sea; Jesus, Savior, pilot me

When at last I near the shore and the fearful breakers roar
Grant me long and peaceful rest, then while leaning on Your chest
May I hear You say to me “fear not, I will pilot thee”

Chart and compass came from Thee; Wondrous Sovereign of the sea
May I hear You say to me, “fear not, I will pilot thee”
Jesus, Savior, pilot me.

Great Are You Lord

You give life, You are love
You bring light to the darkness
You give hope, You restore
Every heart that is broken
And great are You, Lord

It’s Your breath in our lungs
So we pour out our praise
We pour out our praise
It’s Your breath in our lungs
So we pour out our praise to You only

You give life, You are love
You bring light to the darkness
You give hope, You restore
Every heart that is broken
And great are You, Lord

It’s Your breath in our lungs
So we pour out our praise
We pour out our praise
It’s Your breath in our lungs
So we pour out our praise to You only

And all the earth will shout Your praise
Our hearts will cry, these bones will sing, Great are You, Lord

And all the earth will shout Your praise
Our hearts will cry, these bones will sing, Great are You, Lord

And all the earth will shout Your praise
Our hearts will cry, these bones will sing, Great are You, Lord

It’s Your breath in our lungs
So we pour out our praise
We pour out our praise
It’s Your breath in our lungs
So we pour out our praise to You only

Prayer of Confession

Lent is a reminder to pull into perspective our short life that from dust we came and to dust we shall return. Let’s acknowledge together that we are only human and cry out to God, by whom we are beloved. Our response will be highlighted in bold

Gracious and merciful God,
we confess to you our reluctance to enter the wilderness places
where we are confronted with our true selves. 
Forgive us, O God, and increase our trust in you.

The places where we are tempted to put worldly values
before our desire for you,
and when our hunger for power and wealth is greater
than our hunger for seeking and doing your will:
Forgive us, O God, and increase our trust in you.

When we are tempted to use the gifts you give us
to benefit ourselves at the expense of serving others:
Forgive us, O God, and increase our trust in you.

When we are tempted to use sensational means
to increase people’s faith, rather than being guided
by the humility of Christ:
Forgive us, O God, and increase our trust in you. 

When we are tempted to use bribery to influence and control people:
Forgive us, O God, and increase our trust in you.
When we are tempted to manipulate you, O God, to satisfy our own needs:
Forgive us, O God, and increase our trust in you.

Merciful God, lead us in times of trial and deliver us from evil.
Forgive us our sins and fill us with the joy and peace of your salvation.
Strengthen us with your Spirit during this Lenten season
that we put our whole trust in you as confidently as Jesus did. 

Friends, This is the good news:
in Christ, God’s plan for salvation was accomplished.
We are forgiven, you are made new.
We will complete God’s joy
by sharing compassion, forgiveness, hope,
with everyone we meet.
Thanks be to God. Amen.

Scripture Reading: Second Week of Lent

The Gospel reading for the second week of Lent is from Mark 8:31-38

Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.

But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.” He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.

For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? Indeed, what can they give in return for their life?

Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”

The word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.

Prayers of the People

We now invite you into a time of prayer. This is an opportunity for us to support one another and participate by sharing our prayer requests. 

We have limited time and many may need to share. Please keep your prayers to a sentence or two so that others will have a chance to share as well. 

We welcome the guests among us and join together to pay attention to the needs of others. This way, you can continue to pray with them after Liturgy and throughout the week.

Begin by getting my attention from where you are, speaking up, and introducing yourself. 

If you have something you’re thankful for, end your prayer with…
“Let us bless the Lord” 

If you have something you’d like prayer for, end your prayer with…
“Let us pray to the Lord”  

I will briefly repeat your prayer in the mic so that all of us can hear

(Then start off with a brief prayer of your own as an example out loud.)

“With the prayers that have been spoken, and those that are unspoken, let us finish by praying the Lord’s prayer together…”

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come, your will be done,
on earth, as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.

For yours is the kingdom,
and the power, and the glory, forever and ever.  Amen.

Eucharist

(We now come to the center of our Liturgy, the Eucharist. So please examine your hearts and pray this prayer with me. During Lent our Eucharist prayers come from the Prayerbook of Kenya. Our responses will be highlighted in bold.)

The peace of the Lord be always with you.
And also with you.
All things come from you, O Lord,
And of your own have we given you.

Is God with us?
God is.
Is Christ among us?
Christ is.
Is the Spirit here?
The Spirit is.
We are God’s people.
We are redeemed.

It is right and our delight to give you thanks and praise, living God, supreme over the world, Creator, Provider, Savior and Giver. From a wandering nomad you created your family; for a burdened people you raised up a leader; for a confused nation you chose a king; for a rebellious crowd you sent your prophets. In these last days you have sent us your Son, your perfect image, bringing your kingdom, revealing your will, dying, rising, reigning, and remaking your people for yourself. Through him you have poured out your Holy Spirit, filling us with light and life. 

You made a covenant with our ancestor Abraham, promising to make of him a great nation, and a blessing to all the families of the earth. By faith, make us children of Abraham, justified by the righteousness and grace of Christ, so that we may share the blessings of your covenant people.

On the same night that he was betrayed he took bread and gave you thanks; he broke it and gave it to his disciples saying, “Take, eat; this is my body which is given for you.  Do this in remembrance of me.”
Amen. His body was broken for us.

In the same way, after supper he took the cup and gave thanks; he gave it to them, saying, “Drink this, all of you; this is my blood of the new covenant which is shed for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. Do this as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”
We are brothers and sisters through his blood.
We have died together, we will rise together, we will live together. 

Now come together to the table, passionate believers and hopeful skeptics alike.  Come because the Lord invites us to this remembrance of Jesus’ death, broken sinners in a disrupted world made right through the cross. Come as a people who expect that the Spirit who raised Jesus from that death is bringing new life.

Come and proclaim together that God’s work is not done. 

We invite one adult member of each household to come up and get the elements for yourself or your group. The elements are gluten and alcohol free so that all may participate. The table is now open.

 (Communion is served)

After Eucharist

Let us finish our time of communion together by reading aloud this prayer. 

Almighty and eternal God,
we have sat at your feet,
learned from your word,

and eaten from your table.
We give you thanks and praise for accepting us into your family.
Send us out with your blessing,
to live and to witness for you in the power of your Spirit,
through Jesus Christ, the firstborn from the dead. 

(The people accompany the first three responses with a sweep of the arm towards the cross at the table, and their final response with a sweep towards heaven.)

All our problems
We send to the cross of Christ.
All our difficulties
We send to the cross of Christ.
All the devil’s works
We send to the cross of Christ.
All our hopes
We set on the risen Christ.
Amen

Offering

We now come to the time where we remember that nothing in this life is truly ours, but that all is a gift from God. 

We understand that many are struggling under financial strain and we trust you to participate at a level that is meaningful and sustainable to you now. If you are able we encourage you to celebrate God’s generosity and to give back as God has given to us by donating online at- austinmustardseed.org(forward slash: giving). We also have placed a basket on the table if you prefer to give that way today. If you are new or visiting for the first time,please be our guest this morning. This time is now yours, and we invite you to participate in worship.

Doxology

Praise God, from Whom all blessings flow;
Praise Him, all creatures here below;
Praise Him above, ye heavenly host;
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

Praise God for whom all Saints proclaim
Praise Him with honor due his name
Praise Him who gave his Son to save
Praise God above the heavens reign

Amen.

Benediction

Austin Mustard Seed, as we leave today, Let’s go encouraging one another
to carry on in this somber season: 

 Go out into the world,
and labor to bring forth new lives
of humility, of peace and of grace. 

Dream dreams, pursue visions
and speak of God’s goodness and generosity
in the words of those who would hear.

And may our God who breathed life into creation be your delight.
May Christ Jesus give hope to your dreaming,
and may the Holy Spirit, your advocate and guide,
set your hearts ablaze with a passion for peace.

We pray these things
by the grace of God,
the empathy of the Son,
and the sustaining breath of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.

Go in Peace, Live the Church, See you throughout the week. Remember there is no liturgy tomorrow on YouTube. But next Sunday, March 7 we will be back on YouTube for liturgy. Watch your inbox and social media for other updates and info. 

We’re going to take a few moments to share the Passing of the Peace as we leave today:

The Peace of the Lord be always with you!