Fourth Sunday of Lent - March 30, 2025 - 1st Presbyterian Church of Hartford

Fourth Sunday of Lent - Sunday, March 30, 2025 First Presbyterian Church of Hartford - Rev. Nancy Baseel, Pastor GATHERING IN GOD’S NAME PRELUDE Softly and Tenderly Jesus Is Calling, Keveren WELCOME AND ANNOUNCEMENTS CALL TO WORSHIP One: Come, let us celebrate the forgiving, reconciling love of God. Many: For once we were lost and felt so far away; now we have been found and welcomed home. One: Know that God’s love is lavished upon you. Many: We rejoice at the news of forgiveness and hope! One: Come, let us celebrate and praise the God of Love. Many: Come, let us worship God! HYMN #409 God is Here CALL TO CONFESSION A TIME OF UNSPOKEN PRAYER PRAYER OF CONFESSION ALL: God of welcome, we confess that at times we have been content to exclude or neglect those our communities cannot use. We have been so wrapped up in status and symbol that we have constructed walls not out of wisdom or self-understanding, but out of feigned superiority and elitism. We have not loved well. We have prioritized the powerful and popular. We have neglected the friends who give more than they ever receive. We have forgotten the quiet. We have forgotten ourselves. Have mercy on us, that we might become faithful harbors for belonging in a dislocated world. As we gaze on the faces of the lonely, of the abandoned, forgive us. amen. ASSURANCE OF GRACE One: Let your souls receive this rest: the God whose friends fell asleep in the garden on the night he needed them desperately has mercy on you now. Just as this sacred company rose to be loved by God evermore, may you also know and receive this same forgiveness, extending it to all whom you've chosen to love and be loved by. ALL: Thanks be to God. Amen. SHARING THE PEACE OF CHRIST AND THE RITUAL OF FRIENDSHIP One: May the peace of Christ be with you, Many: and also with you! SONG OF COMMUNITY Lay Me Low Lay me low where the Lord can find me Lay me low where the Lord can teach me Lay me low where the Lord can bless me Lay me low, Lord lay me low PROCLAIMING GOD’S WORD EARLY WORD GOSPEL READING Luke 15: 1-3, 11b-32 SERMON Rev. Nancy Baseel RESPONDING TO GOD’S WORD HYMN # 795 Healer of Our Every Ill OFFERING INVITATION OFFERTORY ANTHEM Amazing Grace, arr. Jay Althouse DOXOLOGY: Praise God from whom all blessings flow, praise Christ all creatures here below. Praise Holy Spirit, evermore. Praise Triune God whom we adore. Amen. PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE & THE LORD’S PRAYER Prayer response: Kyrie Eleison, Christe Eleison GOING FORTH TO SERVE HYMN #415 Come, Ye Sinners, Poor and Needy BENEDICTION POSTLUDE Give Me Jesus, African American Spiritual Acknowledgements: Cover art: JESUS MAFA. Prodigal Son, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, N. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act- imagelink.pl?RC=54662 Original source: http://www.librairie-emmanuel.fr (contact page: https://www.librairie-emmanuel.fr/contact). Licenses for music use: CCLI: 3783268 and OneLicense: A-719942