23A – Lent 5A

22A - Lent 4A24A - Passion Sunday OR 24A Palm Sunday
 
See also my post from 2014, 2017, 2020, 2023

 
PRAYER OF CONFESSION (From Psalm 130)
Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD.
Lord, hear my voice!
Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my pleading!
If you, O LORD, if you took our faults and wrong actions into account,
Lord, who could stand before you?
But in you there is a deep well of forgiveness,
so that you may be held in holy awe.
I wait for you, O LORD, I wait with deep longing,
and in your word I stand, waiting in hope.
My deep longing for the Lord
is more than those who watch for the morning,
more than those who wait for an end to the night.

ASSURANCE OF PARDON 
(from Psalm 130)
Our hope in you, O LORD!
For with you there is steadfast love,
and great power to save.
It is the LORD God who will save us from all our wrongdoing.
Thanks be to God.

OFFERING
Holy mystery we name God,
we bring our gifts
with hopeful and faithful spirits.
Bless the offering of these gifts
and our lives,
that new hope and new possibilities
are made real
in the lives of those
whom we serve
in following the way of Jesus. Amen

For use in worship, with acknowledgement. © Jeff Shrowder 1999.


A CREATIVE MOMENT – Ezekiel 37:1-14 and John 11:1-45
Continue using the purple cloth from last week. Perhaps you could have the hanging cloth continually disturbed by an electric fan, suggesting the breath coming from the four winds (Ezekiel 37:9).

The long gospel reading is ripe for dramatising in various ways. Be creative in wrapping Lazarus!

Click here for some ideas for worship in Lent and Easter gleaned from the pages of “On the Move” (now out of print) which was published by the Joint Board of Christian Education, Melbourne, Australia.


THE PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE
(A prayer, usually with connection to one or more of the lections for the day, to gather the spoken and silent concerns/joys/thanks expressed by the congregation and lead into a more structured Intercession. Sometimes this prayer also borrows lightly from other sources e.g. Uniting in Worship 2 or publications of the Iona Community.)

PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE
God of boundless love,
You have heard the cry of your people in every generation;
Hear our prayer
for those in our congregation; our community; our families
whom we name on our lips
and in the silence of our hearts
or whose trouble is known only to you …
         (The Prayers of the People continue)


Looking for contemporary music and song resources?
Try David MacGregor’s Together to Celebrate
Or metrical psalms? Try Dale A. Schoening’s Sing the Psalms

HYMN SUGGESTIONS FOR LENT 5A
Man more than man TIS 355
My song is love unknown TIS 341
O Jesus Christ, may grateful hymns be rising TIS 620
Our God, our help in ages past, TIS 47
Spirit, divine, attend our prayers TIS 406
What shall I do my God to love, TIS 122
Ezekiel 37:1-14
Breathe on me, breath of God TIS 407
Come, let us with our Lord arise TIS 375
Come, O God of all the earth TIS 181
Father of heaven, whose love profound TIS 131
In water we grow TIS 494
Now the green blade rises TIS 382
O Breath of life, come sweeping through us TIS 409
This is a day of new beginnings TIS 653
Psalm 130
God! When human bonds are broken TIS 683
Here hangs a man discarded TIS 356
How shall I sing to God TIS 667
O come, O come, Emmanuel TIS 265
Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord TIS 81
Sing a new song, sing a new song TIS 166
There’s a wideness in God’s mercy TIS 136
Romans 8:6-11
Come down, O Love divine TIS 398
Holy Spirit, come confirm us TIS 413
O for a thousand tongues to sing TIS 210
Come, Holy Spirit, our souls inspire TIS 396
Come, Spirit of God, holy Lord TIS 399
Holy Spirit, ever dwelling TIS 410
O Holy Spirit, enter in TIS 400
Thanks to God whose Word was spoken TIS 431
We give immortal praise TIS 118
John 11:1-45
Eternal Light, shine in my heart TIS 548
I am the Bread of life TIS 535
I greet you, my Redeemer sure, who lives TIS 198
Jesus the Lord said, ‘I am the bread’ TIS 239
Jesus! The name high over all TIS 218
Joyful the morning when Jesus Christ is TIS 383
Lord of the living, in your name assembled TIS 637
O Christ the healer, we have come TIS 638
We give immortal praise ; TIS 118

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