Hampstead Congregational Church UCC

Hampstead Congregational Church
April 2, 2023
Palm Sunday with Communion

No Matter Who You Are or Where You Are on Life’s Journey,

You are Welcome Here!

Order of Worship

Prelude                                                                                                               Herb Tardiff

Greetings and Announcements

Passing of the Peace of Christ

“What does the Lord require of you?  What does the Lord require of you?

Justice, kindness, walk humbly with your God.
To seek justice and love kindness and walk humbly with your God.”

Call to Worship

Leader: Blessed is the leader who comes in the love of God.

All: Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven!

Amid the powers of this world, Christ comes humbly, riding on a donkey.

Christ alone is our savior and our sovereign.

Christ, we thank you. We honor you. We follow you.

God of love and justice, we worship you. God, save us!

Opening Prayer                                                                                                Dave Chin 

Let us pray,

Creator God, we praise you, for your Love rules over our lives with grace and beauty, creating us anew each moment. We thank you, for your Christ rules over us in humble tenderness, healing and redeeming us. We open our hearts to you, for your Spirit rules us from within with power, filling us with compassion. Grant that we will always turn to you alone for our salvation, and for the gift of life. Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in your name! Peace on earth, and glory in the highest! Grant us your salvation, we pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.             

Scripture Reading:  Matthew 21: 1-11          The Message

When they neared Jerusalem, having arrived at Bethphage on Mount Olives, Jesus sent two disciples with these instructions: “Go over to the village across from you. You’ll find a donkey tethered there, her colt with her. Untie her and bring them to me. If anyone asks what you’re doing, say, ‘The Master needs them!’ He will send them with you.”

This is the full story of what was sketched earlier by the prophet:

Tell Zion’s daughter,
“Look, your king’s on his way,
    poised and ready, mounted
On a donkey, on a colt,
    foal of a pack animal.”

The disciples went and did exactly what Jesus told them to do. They led the donkey and colt out, laid some of their clothes on them, and Jesus mounted. Nearly all the people in the crowd threw their garments down on the road, giving him a royal welcome. Others cut branches from the trees and threw them down as a welcome mat. Crowds went ahead and crowds followed, all of them calling out, “Hosanna to David’s son!” “Blessed is he who comes in God’s name!” “Hosanna in highest heaven!”

As he made his entrance into Jerusalem, the whole city was shaken. Unnerved, people were asking, “What’s going on here? Who is this?”

The parade crowd answered, “This is the prophet Jesus, the one from Nazareth in Galilee.”

Sermon                                                                                             Rev. Kathy Youzwak

Special Music 

Celebration of Holy Communion

Invitation to Holy Communion

On the first day of Holy week long ago, people throughout Judea arrived
at the dusty gates of Jerusalem, primed with “Hosanna” in their hearts
and Jesus asked to borrow a donkey.

On the Thursday that followed, Jesus used John Mark’s mother’s Upper Room to celebrate the Passover with the disciples.

On the afternoon of the resurrection, Jesus was invited into a house in Emmaus
and used the bread of that hospitality to break and bless.

Lend Christ your table, your bread, your cup and your heart,
for, as the disciples told the person who loaned the donkey, “The Lord has need of it.”

Prayer of Consecration

We are one bread, one body, one cup of blessing. Though we are many throughout the earth, we are one in Christ. Wherever we are, we take a moment to rest our hands upon these elements which we set aside today to be a sacrament. Let us ask God’s blessing upon them.

Gentle Redeemer, there is no end to your blessing nor to your grace. Send your Spirit of life and love, power and blessing, upon every table, that this Bread may be broken and gathered in love, and this Cup poured out to give hope to all. Risen Christ, live in us, that we may live in you. Breathe in us, that we may breathe in you.

Words of Remembering

We remember that Paul the apostle wrote letters to congregations throughout places we now call Greece, Turkey and Macedonia. The Communion words sent to the church at Corinth were these:

For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way he took the cup also, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

Sharing of the Elements—All are welcome to the table, always!

Sharing of the Bread (please come forward if you are able, and eat once you receive)

Let us share the bread. It is the gift that reminds us of our gifts.   

Sharing of the Cup (will be served to you; hold and we will drink together)

Let us drink deeply, that we may always travel on.

Prayer of Thanksgiving

Spirit of Christ, you have blessed our tables and our lives. May the eating of this Bread give us courage to speak faith and act love, not only in church sanctuaries, but in your precious world, and may the drinking of this Cup renew our hope even in the midst of trial. Wrap your hopeful presence around all whose bodies, spirits and hearts need healing, and let us become your compassion and safe refuge. Amen.

Call for Concerns & Celebrations

Pastoral Prayer

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.  And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen.    

Call to Offering

Prayer of Dedication

O God of Welcome and Waving Palms, as the crowd offered to you their praise and the palms on the road, so we share these gifts out of the abundance you have provided. May they be for the healing salvation and work of justice you are bringing about in the world through your unending love. Amen and Amen.

Hymn of Going Forth                                                                                               Chalice #192
                                                            

Benediction

Friends, Go forth humbly to serve the God whose love endures forever.
Go forth in the name of the Christ who entered Jerusalem on a lowly donkey.
Go forth in the strength of the Holy Spirit, that calls us to rejoice in this very day God has made. God’s love endures forever.

God’s love endures forever. Amen!

Music Usage permitted through OneLicense HCC License # A-730412 and CCLI License Number 2927783. All rights reserved.

Worship materials Copyright 2021 Faith INFO Ministry Team, 700 Prospect Avenue, Cleveland, OH 44115-1100. Permission granted to reproduce or adapt this material for use in services of worship or church education. All publishing rights reserved. Call to Worship, Opening Prayer from The Rev. Steve Garnaas-Holmes, https://unfoldinglight.net/worship-resources/.  Communion Liturgy from the Rev. Maren Tirabassi: https://giftsinopenhands.wordpress.com/2020/03/26/communion-for-palm-sunday-april-5-2020/

Announcements…

Service of Shadows -- At 7pm this Thursday, April 6th, we will hold a reflective Service of Shadows in person and online. We will hear scripture and music, and will reflect on Jesus' final days through the perspectives of those closest to him. Join us for this deeply meaningful and important service.  If you can't join live, please take some time on Good Friday to watch and reflect.

Easter Sunrise Service – Join us for our annual community Easter sunrise service! We will meet on the Sunset Lake shore at Camp Tel Noar at 6am on Easter Sunday. Please bring a chair if needed.

Easter Breakfast -- Come Celebrate the Rising of the Son!  Following the sunrise at Camp Tel Noar, we will be gathering for a potluck breakfast in Hadley Hall. Let that wonderful feeling of new life flow over to your new day by sharing a meal with friends and family.  You are invited to bring a breakfast dish or treat to share. Kari will have the ovens on before the service if you would like to drop of a casserole to keep warm. Muffins, pastries, hot cross buns, whatever we have, we will be glad of it and share.  

Steeple Lighting – Steeple Lit the week of April 1^st in Memory of Ezra Alvarez.

April 3rd Church Weekly Calendar