South Church in Andover
United Church of Christ

THE WORSHIP OF GOD
ORDER FOR THE SERVICE

March 12, 2006
Second Sunday of Lent

Let the prelude be a curtain of music which brings us into the sanctuary to worship God.
 Let necessary conversation be gentle and the preparation we make together be prayerful.

PRELUDE     Praeludium in E Minor (The Cathedral)     Bach

WELCOME       

Introduction of Visitors and Guests
Announcements  Nominating Committee Hugh Kelly

         Men’s Retreat  Steve Fink

Exchange of Peace

The peace of Jesus Christ be with you.

And also with you.

INTROIT     Almighty God, Who Hast Me Brought     Ford

CALL TO WORSHIP

Going through Lent is a listening.

When we listen to the word, we hear where we are not alive.

If we listen to the Word, and hallow it into our lives, we hear how we can so abundantly live again.

We gather here today to listen and to learn about life that is abundant.

Give us ears to hear and courage to follow Jesus.

Thank you, God! Amen!

*HYMN The God of Abraham Praise  #488 Red

PRAYER OF CONFESSION

God of compassion, you know how we rebel against you.  You know how we doubt and fear and hold back when you call us to freedom and to partnership in Jesus Christ.  God, forgive us.  Free us by the power of your cross, that we may serve you without fear.  Grant us your peace, through Jesus Christ who was faithful to the end.  Amen.

ASSURANCE OF FORGIVENESS

SCRIPTURE     Genesis 17:1-7,15-17 & Romans 4   (see insert)

LET THE CHILDREN COME            Jonathan Drury

Children in grades K-High School may move to their church school classrooms.
Parents of children up to age 7, please go to your child’s classroom after worship.

*HYMN  Before The Cross of Jesus    #161 Blue

scripture        Mark 8:31-38 (see insert)

REFLECTIONS      Covenants and Callings

               Kate Kallis and George Leger

PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE         

OFFERING OF OUR GIFTS IN THANKSGIVING

Invitation

Offertory Anthem               Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring  Bach      

*Doxology

*Dedication Prayer             

*HYMN Here I Am, Lord  #525 Red

*BENEDICTION

  RESPONSE  Choral Amen 

POSTLUDE   Grand Choeur Triomphal     Guilmant

*Those who are able may stand.

Participating in Today's Service:

Greeters: Cam, Diana, Annabel and Willie Mears

Acolytes: Charolette Ozirsky and Daniel Gendreau
Deacon: Sally Holm

Youth: Laura Massey

The flowers this morning are given in loving memory of Stuart Clough by his wife Anne and family.

 Scriptures For This Day        New Revised Standard Version

Genesis 17: 1-7

The Sign of the Covenant                   

When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said to him, ‘I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless. And I will make my covenant between me and you, and will make you exceedingly numerous.’ Then Abram fell on his face; and God said to him, ‘As for me, this is my covenant with you: You shall be the ancestor of a multitude of nations. No longer shall your name be Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you the ancestor of a multitude of nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you. I will establish my covenant between me and you, and your offspring after you throughout their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you.

  Genesis 17:15-17

God said to Abraham, ‘As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. I will bless her, and moreover I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall give rise to nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.’ Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said to himself, ‘Can a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Can Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?’  

The Example of Abraham                   

What then are we to say was gained by Abraham, our ancestor according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the scripture say? ‘Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.’ Now to one who works, wages are not reckoned as a gift but as something due. But to one who without works trusts him who justifies the ungodly, such faith is reckoned as righteousness. So also David speaks of the blessedness of those to whom God reckons righteousness irrespective of works:
‘Blessed are those whose iniquities are forgiven,
   and whose sins are covered;
blessed is the one against whom the Lord will not reckon sin.’

Is this blessedness, then, pronounced only on the circumcised, or also on the uncircumcised? We say, ‘Faith was reckoned to Abraham as righteousness.’ How then was it reckoned to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised. He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the ancestor of all who believe without being circumcised and who thus have righteousness reckoned to them, and likewise the ancestor of the circumcised who are not only circumcised but who also follow the example of the faith that our ancestor Abraham had before he was circumcised.

For the promise that he would inherit the world did not come to Abraham or to his descendants through the law but through the righteousness of faith. If it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. For the law brings wrath; but where there is no law, neither is there violation.

For this reason it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his descendants, not only to the adherents of the law but also to those who share the faith of Abraham (for he is the father of all of us, as it is written, ‘I have made you the father of many nations’)—in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. Hoping against hope, he believed that he would become ‘the father of many nations’, according to what was said, ‘So numerous shall your descendants be.’ He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was already as good as dead (for he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb. No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, being fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. Therefore his faith ‘was reckoned to him as righteousness.’ Now the words, ‘it was reckoned to him’, were written not for his sake alone, but for ours also. It will be reckoned to us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was handed over to death for our trespasses and was raised for our justification.

Mark 8:31-38

Jesus Foretells His Death and Resurrection         

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.’