Welcome and Announcements
We’re so glad you’re here. We offer online worship resources for those who are unable to attend our in-person worship services.
This week is the fifth Sunday in the season of Lent. Next Sunday is Palm Sunday–and the Sunday after that, is Easter! During Holy Week Grace Church and the downtown churches of Paris will be providing services to help us all mark this season and allow it to shape our faith all the more.
Rhonda Stanton and Zoë Pouliot have provided recorded hymns, the scriptures appointed for the day are provided below and read by Bruce and Dianne Carlisle. The sermon, recorded during the in-person service, will be available here later today.
HOLY WEEK SERVICES
Each of these services is significant in its own way, and each one builds toward Easter, step by step by step. We hope you will participate as much as you’re able.
3/28 Palm Sunday Worship Service: 10:30 AM, with Reverend Bill Burks
4/1 Maundy Thursday Worship Service – 7 PM, with Reverend Bill Burks
4/2 Good Friday Worship Service – 7 PM, with Reverend Dorothy Hartzog
4/4 Easter Sunday Worship Service: 10:30 AM, with Reverend Bill Burks
Additionally, the downtown churches are livestreaming devotional presentations midday each day during Holy Week on the Paris Chamber Facebook page, and the United Methodist Church is hosting a sunrise service at 6:30 AM on their lawn on Easter Sunday that will include all the downtown churches working together. We encourage everyone to make the most of these opportunities.
Maundy Thursday – Overnight Prayer Vigil — sign up to pray at the church between the hours of 9PM and 6AM. Some church members report this is a favorite Holy Week activity, so stretch and give it a try! Email Kathy if you want to sign up, or visit the private Grace Members Facebook Group to access the signup sheet directly.
Stations of the Cross: On Fridays at noon, members and visitors are invited to come and walk the Stations of the Cross, led by Pat Woods. In this traditional and meaningful Lenten devotion, we retrace Jesus’s last days on earth, the better to understand and prepare for his triumphant resurrection.
Children’s Resources
We believe children are important members of our church. Children are welcome in the worship service and they are welcome, as well, to join our Godly Play class when it is offered in our in-person worship.
The Fifth Sunday in Lent
Opening Hymn: #495 Hail Thou Once Despised Jesus
Hail, thou Galilean King!
Thou didst suffer to release us;
thou didst free salvation bring.
Hail, thou universal Savior,
bearer of our sin and shame!
By thy merit we find favor:
life is given through thy Name.
2 Paschal Lamb, by God appointed,
all our sins on thee were laid:
by almighty love anointed,
thou hast full atonement made.
All thy people are forgiven
through the virtue of thy blood:
opened is the gate of heaven,
reconciled are we with God.
3 Jesus, hail! enthroned in glory,
there for ever to abide;
all the heavenly hosts adore thee,
seated at thy Father’s side.
There for sinners thou art pleading:
there thou dost our place prepare;
ever for us interceding,
till in glory we appear.
4 Worship, honor, power, and blessing
thou art worthy to receive;
highest praises, without ceasing,
right it is for us to give.
Help, ye bright angelic spirits,
all your noblest anthems raise;
help to sing our Savior’s merits,
help to chant Emmanuel’s praise!
The Collect
Almighty God, you alone can bring into order the unruly wills and affections of sinners: Grant your people grace to love what you command and desire what you promise; that, among the swift and varied changes of the world, our hearts may surely there be fixed where true joys are to be found; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Old Testament Reading
Jeremiah 31:31-34
The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt—a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says the Lord. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, “Know the Lord,” for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.
The Psalm
Psalm 51:1-13
1 Have mercy on me, O God, according to your loving-kindness; *
in your great compassion blot out my offenses.
2 Wash me through and through from my wickedness *
and cleanse me from my sin.
3 For I know my transgressions, *
and my sin is ever before me.
4 Against you only have I sinned *
and done what is evil in your sight.
5 And so you are justified when you speak *
and upright in your judgment.
6 Indeed, I have been wicked from my birth, *
a sinner from my mother’s womb.
7 For behold, you look for truth deep within me, *
and will make me understand wisdom secretly.
8 Purge me from my sin, and I shall be pure; *
wash me, and I shall be clean indeed.
9 Make me hear of joy and gladness, *
that the body you have broken may rejoice.
10 Hide your face from my sins *
and blot out all my iniquities.
11 Create in me a clean heart, O God, *
and renew a right spirit within me.
12 Cast me not away from your presence *
and take not your holy Spirit from me.
13 Give me the joy of your saving help again *
and sustain me with your bountiful Spirit.
The Epistle
Hebrews 5:5-10
Christ did not glorify himself in becoming a high priest, but was appointed by the one who said to him,
“You are my Son,
today I have begotten you”;
as he says also in another place,
“You are a priest forever,
according to the order of Melchizedek.”
In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. Although he was a Son, he learned obedience through what he suffered; and having been made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him, having been designated by God a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek.
Gospel Hymn: 204 Now the Green Blade Riseth
1 Now the green blade riseth, from the buried grain,
Wheat that in dark earth many days has lain;
Love lives again, that with the dead has been:
Love is come again like wheat that springeth green.
2 In the grave they laid Him, Love who had been slain,
Thinking that He never would awake again,
Laid in the earth like grain that sleeps unseen:
Love is come again like wheat that springeth green.
3 Forth He came at Easter, like the risen grain,
Jesus who for three days in the grave had lain;
Quick from the dead the risen One is seen:
Love is come again like wheat that springeth green.
4 When our hearts are wintry, grieving, or in pain,
Jesus’ touch can call us back to life again,
Fields of our hearts that dead and bare have been:
Love is come again like wheat that springeth green.
The Gospel
John 12:20-33
Now among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks. They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor.
“Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say—‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” The crowd standing there heard it and said that it was thunder. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.” Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not for mine. Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” He said this to indicate the kind of death he was to die.
The Sermon for the 5th Sunday in Lent
Mother Dorothy’s sermon was not recorded this morning. Here it is in written form.
When the thought first came to me that God might be calling me to ordained ministry, all sorts of emotions surfaced: shock, excitement, nausea, confusion, joy – and all at the same time! I called my pastor and shared my news. As we talked, I asked the question, “I have no idea what to do – where should I start?”
He told me to read John 12:20-21, pray a lot and call him the next day. I thought to myself, that kind of advice I could have gotten from my doctor: “Take two aspirin and call me in the morning!”
But obediently, I got my Bible and turned to John 12:20-21:
“Now among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks. They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him, ‘Sir, we wish to see Jesus.’ ”
And then I understood. My call was clear. It was clear then and it remains clear to this day: Being in God’s ministry — as a clergy person or as a lay person — means that the entire world around you has a request of you: “[Sir or Ma’am], we wish to see Jesus!”
So what does it mean to see Jesus?
It means more than simply seeing Jesus in a visual sort of way. The Greeks who came to the Passover Feast in Jerusalem wanted more than the chance to get a “glimpse” of Jesus. They wanted to see Jesus in the sense of seeing what Jesus might mean for their lives.
“Seeing Jesus,” in the context of our gospel reading, means seeing who Jesus really is and what his mission and ministry are all about. It is “seeing” in the sense of when we want someone to understand something and we say, “Do you see what I mean?”
This passage in John gives us a wonderful opportunity to learn just what it means to “see Jesus,” because it is Jesus himself who answers the question.
When Philip and his brother Andrew come to Jesus and tell him that some Greeks want to see him, Jesus didn’t say, “Well, here I am, look all you want!” or “See my secretary and make an appointment.” Instead, he answered with some of the most profound comments in all of the Gospels about his ministry and coming crucifixion. And so it is Jesus who helps us understand what it means to “see Jesus.”
First, to “see Jesus” is to understand how Jesus is glorified. The amazing truth as John presents it is this: In his death, Jesus is glorified and honored. It is as though through Jesus’ death, God allows us to peek beyond real time into eternal reality, where we see that death is not final after all – it is not the last word. Jesus is the victor, the glory is his.
Secondly, to “see Jesus” is to understand what it means to be a follower of Jesus. For human beings, being honored or “glorified” involves receiving awards and recognition in this life. But at death, that’s all down the drain – it counts for nothing.
Jesus said, “Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also.” Basically, he is saying, “People who are so invested in the things of this life will lose sight of what life is really all about. They will wind up defeated by the finality of death.
People who follow me, on the other hand, will go through death as I am going to go through death — but they come through it and will be with me forever. They will share my fate, yes – but they will also share my future.“
And then, to “see Jesus” is to understand the purpose of Jesus’ death. Now Jesus is not saying this business of death and dying is enjoyable! In fact, about his own impending death, he said, “Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say– ‘Father save me from this hour?’
No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour.” And then something profound happens. The voice of God comes as an affirmation that in the process of Jesus’ arrest, crucifixion and death, God will be glorified; because it is in the crucifixion that the power to reconcile God and humanity is accomplished.
In other words, for Jesus and his followers, death is a gateway — not a dead end!
“We wish to see Jesus!”
Should not this be the desire that lies at the root of our own spiritual quest? To see Jesus — to really see Jesus — so as to understand the wonderful thing God has done in the life, death and resurrection of the Christ and what it means to our own lives?
Next Sunday is Passion Sunday, more popularly known as Palm Sunday. Yes, we Episcopalians will joyfully reenact Jesus’ final arrival at Jerusalem, shouting our “Hosannas” and waving our greenery. But very early in the liturgy the mood will begin to change; and Palm Sunday will become Passion Sunday, as we will dramatically begin our solemn walk in the way of the cross.
There are ecumenical services each day of Holy Week and evening services here at Grace on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, each different in liturgical style and mood, and culminating in the glorious celebration we call Easter Sunday – the Resurrection of our Lord. Will you examine your hearts and your priorities and come to worship as often as possible during Holy Week.
Come for one reason and one only: “I wish to see Jesus.” Amen.
The Nicene Creed
We believe in one God,
the Father, the Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all that is, seen and unseen.
We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,
the only Son of God,
eternally begotten of the Father,
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made,
of one Being with the Father.
Through him all things were made.
For us and for our salvation
he came down from heaven:
by the power of the Holy Spirit
he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary,
and was made man.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;
he suffered death and was buried.
On the third day he rose again
in accordance with the Scriptures;
he ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead,
and his kingdom will have no end.
We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son.
With the Father and the Son he is worshiped and glorified.
He has spoken through the Prophets.
We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.
We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
We look for the resurrection of the dead,
and the life of the world to come. Amen.
Prayers of the People
Father, we pray for your holy Catholic Church;
That we all may be one.
Grant that every member of the Church may truly and
humbly serve you;
That your Name may be glorified by all people.
We pray for all bishops, priests, and deacons;
That they may be faithful ministers of your Word and
Sacraments.
We pray for all who govern and hold authority in the nations
of the world;
That there may be justice and peace on the earth.
Give us grace to do your will in all that we undertake;
That our works may find favor in your sight.
Have compassion on those who suffer from any grief or trouble;
That they may be delivered from their distress.
Give to the departed eternal rest.
Let light perpetual shine upon them.
We praise you for your saints who have entered into joy;
May we also come to share in your heavenly kingdom.
Let us pray for our own needs and those of others.
Silence
The People may add their own petitions.
Closing Hymn: 158 Ah, Holy Jesus, verses 1 and 4
1. Ah, holy Jesus, how hast thou offended,
that we to judge thee hath in hate pretended?
By foes derided, by thine own rejected,
O most afflicted.
4. For me, kind Jesus, was thy incarnation,
thy mortal sorrow, and thy life’s oblation;
thy death of anguish and thy bitter passion,
for my salvation.
Go in peace to love and serve the Lord.
