Estes Park United Methodist Church
February 28, 2021
Second Sunday of Lent
Order of Worship
Prelude – The Mercy Tree
Greeting/Welcome
Call to Worship
Leader: Come along with me as a sojourner in faith. Bring along a sense of expectancy, a vision of high hopes, a glimpse of future possibility, a vivid imagination. For God’s creation is not done.
People: We are called to pioneer a new future with God. As we venture forward, we leave behind our desires for a no-risk life, worldly accumulations, and certainty.
Leader: Let us travel light on this Lenten journey toward the God of our hopes and dreams.
People: Come along together as sojourners in faith, knowing that God goes with us and God is here now!
Opening Prayer (Unison)
Merciful God, we embrace this season of Lent as we walk with Jesus to the cross. Speak to us, we pray, the solemn truth of Christ’s passion. Remind us that there is no life without death, no communion without separation, no glory without suffering. Give us courage and faith to receive these difficult truths and to align our hearts and lives with them. May we choose to lose our lives so that we may gain them; to endure the pain of separation that we might enjoy the fellowship of all your saints; to enter Christ’s suffering by entering the suffering of your children on earth that we may one day share in your eternal glory. For the sake of Christ, we pray. Amen.
Opening Hymn – Be Still My Soul
Prayer of Confession
Leader: Our God is ever more ready to listen than we are to pray. Let us bring our whole selves to this time of prayer, opening our hearts to God in honest acknowledgement of our shortcomings.
People: In these moments of stillness, let us think back to those wonderful resolutions that it seems we just made as the new year began. It is only February and yet, we confess those resolutions thoughtfully made were quickly broken. So we come to you again, accepting God, to admit we have fallen short and to give our good intentions another try. We confess that we have squandered our time instead of having meaningful interaction with the people in our lives. We regret that we have neglected our neighbors, our elderly church members, our homebound acquaintances. We are sorry for the times we have spoken in anger or impatience when a listening ear or kind word would have helped instead of hindered. In these moments of silent stillness, we offer our private confessions for those things which weigh down on our hearts and minds.
Silent Prayer
Assurance of Pardon
Leader: My friends know that God hears our prayers. Lent offers us a chance to begin again, knowing that God knows us through and through and loves us still. In the name of Jesus Christ, your sins are forgiven.
People: Thanks be to God! Amen!
Offering
Prayer of Blessing
Pastoral Prayer
Scripture Lesson – Mark 8:31-38
Sermon – Finding One’s Own Cross
Closing Hymn - Beneath the Cross of Jesus
Benediction
Postlude – I Will Rise
Service Participants:
Pastor: Rev. Ann Steiner Lantz
Preacher: Rev. Jeff Rainwater
Recorded Worship Liturgist: Cay Lacey
Zoom Worship Liturgist: Barbara Bailey
Director of Music: Jim Flanigan
Pianist: Nancy Gunter
Videographer: Jim Ecklund