South Church in Andover
United Church of Christ

THE WORSHIP OF GOD
ORDER FOR THE SERVICE

March 26, 2006
Fourth 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            From Violin Sonata in F major: Adagio, Allegro            Handel                                    Sally Lincoln-Vogel, violin

WELCOME                       

Introduction of Visitors and Guests
Announcement  Book Fair  Graham Long

Exchange of Peace    

The peace of Jesus Christ be with you.

And also with you.

INTROIT     Cast thy burden upon the Lord     Mendelssohn

CALL TO WORSHIP      From Psalm 107

Give thanks to the Lord

God is good,

God’s steadfast love endures forever.

We have cried to the Lord in our distress

And God has delivered us from trouble.

Let us ponder the mystery of God’s love and providence.

Praise and glory be to God our maker, to Jesus Christ our Savior, and to the Holy Spirit, our strength.

*HYMN  Open Now the Gates of Beauty #503 Blue

PRAYER OF INVOCATION AND THE LORD’S PRAYER

SACRAMENT OF CHRISTIAN BAPTISM

Laura Maeve Piekarski, daughter of Dawn and Matthew Pierkarski

Congregational Response         (in unison)

On behalf of the whole Christian Church, we now receive Laura into our love and care. We promise to uphold her and her parents in the fulfillment of their vows and to be a Christian community which encourages love for God and neighbor, and nurtures in their spiritual life a Christ centered faith, hope and joy.

*HYMN        With Grateful Hearts Our Faith Professing  #497 Red

SCRIPTURE     Numbers 21: 4-9     (see insert)

                                               Ephesians 2:1-10                      

                                               John 3:14-21                      

SERMON  What is so Amazing About Grace?     Dr. Mutti

PRAYER OF THE PEOPLE AND THE PASTORAL PRAYER     

OFFERING OF OUR GIFTS TO GOD IN THANKSGIVING

Invitation  “One Great Hour of Sharing”

Offertory Anthem   Lord, for thy tender mercies’ sake  Farrant

*Doxology

*Dedication Prayer             

*HYMN  Amazing Grace, How Sweet the Sound  #280 Red

*BENEDICTION           

  RESPONSE  Four Fold Amen  Barrows

POSTLUDE   From Violin Sonata  in F major     Handel

*Those who are able may stand.

Participating in Today's Service:

Greeters: Kim, Jim, Sam, and Jake Sheppard,

Acolytes: Samantha Sheppard and Daniel Gendreau
Deacon: Kathi Levine

Youth: Nic Gallat

The flowers today are given in  memory of beloved husband and father, Richard S. Barry, Mr. & Mrs. Start, and  Mr. & Mrs. Barry, parents and grandparents of Sue, Bob and Cindy Barry.

Scriptures For This Day                                               New Revised Standard Version

Numbers 21: 4-9

From Mount Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom; but the people became impatient on the way. The people spoke against God and against Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we detest this miserable food.” Then the Lord sent poisonous serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many Israelites died. The people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned by speaking against the Lord and against you; pray to the Lord to take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. And the Lord said to Moses, “Make a poisonous serpent, and set it on a pole; and everyone who is bitten shall look at it and live.” So Moses made a serpent of bronze, and put it upon a pole; and whenever a serpent bit someone, that person would look at the serpent of bronze and live.

Ephesians 2: 1-10

You were dead through the trespasses and sins in which you once lived, following the course of this world, following the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work among those who are disobedient. All of us once lived among them in the passions of our flesh, following the desires of flesh and senses, and we were by nature children of wrath, like everyone else.

But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God— not the result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.

John 3: 14-21

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 those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed. But those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God.