Palm/Passion Sunday Worship. Mar 28. Online & In-Person

 It is with our best diligence and care that we open our pews for your in-person attendance at both services. Our commitment to safe gathering doesn’t diminish. Between the 8 and 10 services, added is to spray a safe disinfectant registered on the EPA List N for use against Covid-19.

Of course, we can worship anywhere and anytime. However, corporate worship in a space that is set aside for such sacred gatherings leads each of us to a deeper experience of God’s presence
as it helps us make room for the Spirit to speak into our hearts and transform our lives.

Both 8 and 10AM services continue to be livestreamed https://www.facebook.com/LodiUMC
and are available on FM 103.5 channel in the church parking lot, perhaps all the city of Lodi.

This Sunday is special in the life of the Church, in the life of Jesus. It’s Palm/Passion Sunday.

Order of Worship
March 28, 2021

GATHERING      We Will Glorify the King of Kings              Susan Frankland, solo

PROCLAMATION OF THE ENTRANCE INTO JERUSALEM      Matthew 21:1-11

THE PEOPLE’S RESPONSE
Pastor: O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his steadfast love endures forever! (Psalm 118:1)
Liturgist: Hosanna to the Son of David!
All: Hosanna in the highest!
Pastor: This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it (Psalm 118:24).
Liturgist: Blessed is the One who comes in the name of the Lord.
All: Hosanna in the highest!

HYMN OF ADORATION       Hosanna, Loud Hosanna (United Methodist Hymn #278)
(While singing, you may wave palm branches, or lift your hands, in hope.)
1 Hosanna, loud hosanna, the little children sang;
through pillared court and temple the lovely anthem rang.
To Jesus, who had blessed them close folded to his breast,
the children sang their praises, the simplest and the best.
3 “Hosanna in the highest!” that ancient song we sing,
for Christ is our Redeemer, the Lord of heaven our King.
O may we ever praise him with heart and life and voice,
and in his blissful presence eternally rejoice!

OPENING PRAYER
Almighty God, on this day your Son Jesus Christ entered the holy city of Jerusalem
and was proclaimed King by those who spread their garments and palm branches along his way.
Let those branches be for us signs of his victory,
and grant that we who bear them in his name may ever hail him as our Lord,
and follow him in the way that leads to eternal life. In his name we pray. Amen.

SHARING JOYS AND CONCERNS   Please share your prayer requests and joys. Type them in the comment section.

PRAYER OF THE PEOPLE
One: When we face a complicated situation that challenges us to see what God wants us to do, help us O Lord, to remember Jesus saying to his friends, All: “I am the Way.”
One: When we find ourselves wondering if we’re really accepted by God, we can take comfort in remembering the grace embodied in Jesus who said, All: “I am the Way.”
One: When we are tempted to believe that we know who’s in and who’s out, we can remember that Jesus welcomed outsiders and outcasts and said, All: “I am the Way.”
One: When we fall into the trap of thinking that faith is about rules, we can remember the call to relationship found in Jesus’ words, All: “I am the Way.”
One: When we wake in the morning and wonder what God asks of us in that day’s encounters, we can find our model and our answer in the one who said, All: “I am the Way.”

TIME OF DEDICATION Thank you for sharing your gifts with God’s world through your church.
With these gifts we give thanks to You, O God, for You are good, and Your steadfast love endures forever. Open our hearts. Open our hands. Bless our gifts, in your name, Amen.

MUSICAL OFFERING             Above All              by Susan Frankland, solo

SCRIPTURE READING John 14:1-7
[Jesus said,] “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe[a] in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. And you know the way to the place where I am going.” Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”

REFLECTION Lenten Series: I AM (6). “I Am the Way, the Truth, and the Life”

PROCLAMATION OF THE PASSION STORY      Matthew 27:22-54
Reader: “Crucify him! Crucify him!” … … Those who passed by derided him, shaking their heads and saying,
People: You who would destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.
Reader: In the same way the chief priests also, along with …, were mocking him, saying,
People: He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel; let him come down from the cross now, and we will believe in him, for he said, ‘I am God’s Son.’
Reader: The bandits… About three o’clock Jesus cried, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” … When some of the bystanders heard it, they said,
People: This man is calling for Elijah.
Reader: Then Jesus cried again with a loud voice and breathed his last. … … Now when the centurion and those who with him, … saw the earthquake and what took place, they were terrified and said,
People: Truly this man was God’s Son!

DISMISSAL WITH CHARGE
some shout hosanna some shout crucify
some shout Jesus some shout Barabbas
some wave palms some shake their fists
today we choose…
some break bread some break silence
some proclaim Jesus some deny Jesus
some carry the cross some run from the cross
today we choose…
some weep some conspire
some follow some hide
some believe some betray
today we choose
to shout for life to follow the cross
to break bread to hold belief
to trust love and tell the world
we choose to follow Jesus

SONG OF COMMITMENT      I Have Decided to Follow Jesus
1 I have decided to follow Jesus; I have decided to follow Jesus;
I have decided to follow Jesus; No turning back, no turning back.
2 The world behind me, the cross before me, The world behind me, the cross before me;
The world behind me, the cross before me; No turning back, no turning back.
3 Tho’ none go with me, still I will follow, Tho’ none go with me, still I will follow,
Tho’ none go with me, still I will follow; No turning back, no turning back.