Lent

10 March: Liturgy & Set List

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  • TRISAGION

    Call to worship: Psalm 150

    Welcome to this fourth Sunday during Lent, and this family worship weekend. Throughout the Psalms, the Psalmist speaks to his own heart reminding it of what is true, because our hearts do not always tell us the truth we need to tell them what to believe. This next song is a new one that speaks to our hearts about who God is, what He has done, and who he has called us to be…

  • GOOD GOD

  • HOLY FOREVER

    Every week during the season of Lent we have taken time to confess our sins to God and to one another. Many times people believe they only need to confess their sin to God when they first accept they need a rescuer in Jesus. But the act of confession is not a one-time act, but the continual act of followers of Jesus. The Bible tells us that we are to confess our sins to God so that we might be forgiven and to our brothers and sisters so that we might be healed. Let’s confess our sins to God and one another:

LEADER:

Merciful God, for the wrong things that we have done,

ALL: 

Forgive us

LEADER:

For the right things that we have failed to do,

ALL:

Forgive us

LEADER:

For the times we have acted without love

ALL:

Forgive us

LEADER:

For the times we have reacted without thought

ALL:

Forgive us

LEADER:

For the ways we have not loved You with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength

ALL:

Forgive us

A prayer of confession, especially mindful of Children, The Worship Sourcebook

Brothers and sisters, hear the Good News: if we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Praise the Lord, amen.

Sermon: John 17:24

In the 1700s, Jonathan Edwards said:

God is the fountain of love, as the sun is the fountain of light. And therefore the glorious presence of God in heaven fills heaven with love, as the sun, placed in the midst of the visible heavens in a clear day, fills the world with light.

The apostle tells us that "God is love"; and therefore, seeing he is an infinite being, it follows that he is an infinite fountain of love.

Seeing he is an all-sufficient being, it follows that he is a full and overflowing, an inexhaustible fountain of love. And in that he is an unchangeable and eternal being, he is an unchangeable and eternal fountain of love.

There, even in heaven, dwells the God from whom every stream of holy love, yea, every drop that is, or ever was, proceeds. There dwells God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit, united as one, in infinitely dear, and incomprehensible, and mutual and eternal love...

And there this glorious fountain forever flows forth in streams, yea, in rivers of love and delight, and these rivers swell, as it were, to an ocean of love, in which the souls of

the ransomed may bathe with the sweetest enjoyment, and their hearts, as it were, be deluged with love.

Would you stand if you’re able as we sing to the fountain of all love…

  • DOXOLOGY (English/Spanish)

  • HYMN OF HEAVEN

    Benediction

3 March: Liturgy & Set List

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  • TRISAGION

    Call to Worship: Psalm 119:25-34

    Good morning, welcome to worship on this Lord’s Day, and this third Sunday in the season of Lent. Often one of the ways people observe this season is through fasting. Giving up temporary pleasures, small comforts, little places we seek to find life - but we also feast on the place we find true and abundant life - God’s Word. So let’s sing God’s word, read, pray, preach, and live God’s Word…

  • THE SOLID ROCK

  • KING OF KINGS

    BCP Corporate Confession

    Sermon: 2 Peter 1:16-21

    The Apostles’ Creed

    Communion

  • I STAND AMAZED (HOW MARVELOUS)

    Benediction

25 February: Liturgy & Set List

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  • GLORIOUS DAY

    Call to Worship:

    Welcome to worship on this Lord’s Day, and this second Sunday in the season of Lent. During Lent we reflect upon and repent of our sin, we reflect on te cross, and look with joy to the hope of the resurrection. So if you are here as a follower of Jesus you can sing words like ‘I ran out of the grave…’ not because of something you have done, but because of Christ’s completed work on your behalf. Let’s celebrate who Jesus is and what he’s done as we sing:

  • O PRAISE THE NAME (ANASTASIS)

  • TRISAGION

    Take a few moments now to name and confess your sin to the Lord, turning from your sin, and turning toward Christ…

    Let’s confess our sin to God and to one another:

  • Book of Common Prayer Corporate Confession

  • Sermon: Mark 15:40-16:8

    Would you stand if you’re able? Buried with Christ in baptism into death, raised to newness of life - this is what we witness in baptism. And if you’re here as a follower of Christ, we are going to confess what we believe about our faith in the words of the Apostles’ Creed.

    The Apostles’ Creed

    Baptism Affirmations

    Baptisms

  • NO BODY

    Benediction

13 February: Tuesday Refocus

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“Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him.”- John 13:1-5

“…the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Mark 10:45

Jesus is both servant and savior. Not one or the other, but both at once. This has always been true of His identity even before he took on flesh and stepped into the world. We behold the servant savior with piercing clarity at the cross. But even in the waning hours before the cross, Jesus continues to serve His disciples - a meal, praying for them, sharing with them, and washing their feet. The One who empties himself by taking on the form of a servant performs the act of the lowliest servant - stooping to washing the feet of the cowardly and fearful, the deniers and the betrayer.

Father, on the eve of this Lenten season, may we behold the servant savior with piercing clarity. In Jesus name, amen.

Beholding,

AB

What Is Lent?

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God has designed our world to be shaped by seasons: Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter. Our lives are also shaped by seasons - made up of times of abundance, joy, and celebration, as well as times of suffering, pain, and loss.

This is why our calendars are filled with holidays, literally meaning holy days. These are days set apart from all the rest. We mark the days that have marked us. These holidays remind us every season of who we are, where we have been, and who we desire to be. So too with the Church calendar. Followers of Jesus have designed and followed the Church calendar to mark their lives and days by the arrival, life, death, resurrection, ascension, and return of Christ.

Beginning on Ash Wednesday, for forty days during Lent, we strip away some of our usual comforts (often through fasting) to create more space for reflection, repentance, and refining. These days ready our hearts to gaze upon the gore of Good Friday, and the glory of Resurrection Sunday.

Although there is no biblical mandate to celebrate the season of Lent, there are countless calls to remember. During Lent we remember our sin, we remember the suffering of our Savior, we remember his triumph of Christ over satan, sin, and death - and that is why Lent is not sullen, but sobering.

Beginning on Ash Wednesday, Lent is the period of forty days (excluding Sundays) leading up to Resurrection Sunday. These forty days represent the forty days Jesus spent facing temptation in the wilderness preparing for His earthly ministry and the ultimate purpose of his Advent: his death, and resurrection (John 6:38, Matthew 20:28). We trace the shadow of our sin through the shadow of Christ’s cross and empty tomb. This season invites us to acknowledge, expose, grieve, lament, and repent of our sin, and to our Savior once again.

2 April: Liturgy + Set List

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  • BE THOU MY VISION

    Good morning Life Church and welcome to this first Sunday in Holy Week - Palm Sunday. A day when we remember the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, and how He was met with shouts of praise and worship. But we know that the events of Holy Week escalate and praise quickly turns to protest. It can be easy to stand on this side of the cross and wonder how people got it wrong. But truthfully, we can do the same. Happy to praise and worship the Lord when we feel like our lives are going to plan - but how quickly we move to protest, anger, and bitterness when we feel that God has done us wrong. But it is precisely because Jesus laid aside what was rightfully his that you and I never receive what is rightfully ours - death and hell. This is the wondrous mystery of Holy Week - let’s be reminded of who Jesus is and what He has done as God calls us to worship from His Word, this is from Philippians 2:

    Call to Worship: Philippians 2:5-11

  • COME BEHOLD THE WONDROUS MYSTERY

  • ALL HAIL KING JESUS

Corporate Confession:

Merciful God,
We confess that we have sinned against You
in thought, word, and deed,
By what we have done,
and by what we have left undone.
We have not loved You with our whole heart and mind and strength. We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves.

In Your mercy forgive what we have been,
help us amend what we are,
And direct what we shall be,
So that we may delight in your will and walk in Your ways, To the glory of Your holy name.

Through Christ, our Lord. Amen. [From the Book of Common Prayer]

Sermon: Mark 6:14-29

  • GOODNESS OF GOD

  • ABIDE

Benediction

26 March: Liturgy + Set List

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  • BEFORE THE THRONE

    Call to Worship: Psalm 16:7-11

Welcome to worship on this fifth Sunday in Lent. I learned this week that Eastern Orthodox Christians call Lent the Season of Bright Sadness. It is bright because we know that the tomb is empty. It is sad because we know that it is our sin that Christ took upon Himself at the cross. The majority of the American Church is really good at the brightness - really good at the celebration. The majority of the American Church is not as good at sadness. We don’t like to sit in the loss, grief, lament, and mourning. But I think that is one of the gifts of the season of Lent to us - that we are forced not to rush the Resurrection. We spend these forty days considering our sins, confessing our sins, and repenting of our sins - looking ahead to the hope of the life of Christ. But truthfully, bright sadness is not just true of how we live during the season of Lent, but it is how we live every moment of our lives. Because we know that Jesus has defeated satan, sin, and death - but we still live in a fallen and broken world. We still feel the effects of sin in our lives. But we sit in this sadness knowing that there is a day coming when Christ will fully banish all darkness and sadness, and it will always, only, and forever be bright - because the Lord Himself will be our light. And this morning we’re going to teach you a new song that I think will help us acknowledge the bright sadness of this life, but also how we will respond on that day, and today. This is All Hail King Jesus - we’ll teach you the chorus first:

  • ALL HAIL KING JESUS

  • GREAT ARE YOU LORD

    Sermon: Mark 6:1-13

    Corporate Confession:

Merciful God,
We confess that we have sinned against You
in thought, word, and deed,
By what we have done,
and by what we have left undone.
We have not loved You with our whole heart and mind and strength. We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves.

In Your mercy forgive what we have been,
help us amend what we are,
And direct what we shall be,
So that we may delight in your will and walk in Your ways, To the glory of Your holy name.

Through Christ, our Lord. Amen. [From the Book of Common Prayer]

Communion

  • IS HE WORTHY

Benediction

19 March: Liturgy + Set List

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  • GRACE ALONE

    Good morning and welcome to worship with us, welcome to this fourth week of Lent. If you know anything about Lent you probably know that one of the rhythms of this season is fasting, fasting from sugar, alcohol, social media, or spending money. And as we fast we are reminded of our need for rescue because we often give up things that we use to comfort or reward ourselves, numb or distract ourselves. But we don’t just fast from, we feast on. We run to the Savior and feast on the goodness, beauty and truth of the person and work of Christ. And in some small way, that is what we do together - a micro fast from all the things that we could be filling our time with this morning, but instead gathering with the people of God and feasting on the goodness, beauty, and truth of the Gospel. Don’t just go through the external motions of fasting, feast on the beauty of Jesus this morning. Let’s hear God call us to worship from His Word…

    Call to Worship: Psalm 34:1-8

  • WE ARE SAVED

  • JESUS PAID IT ALL

    Sermon: Mark 5:21-43

    Corporate Confession:

Merciful God,
We confess that we have sinned against You
in thought, word, and deed,
By what we have done,
and by what we have left undone.
We have not loved You with our whole heart and mind and strength. We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves.

In Your mercy forgive what we have been,
help us amend what we are,
And direct what we shall be,
So that we may delight in your will and walk in Your ways, To the glory of Your holy name.

Through Christ, our Lord. Amen. [From the Book of Common Prayer]

  • ONLY A HOLY GOD

  • IN CHRIST ALONE

    Benediction: Ephesians 3:20-21

12 March: Liturgy + Set List

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  • GLORIOUS DAY

    Call to Worship: Psalm 24:7-10

    We get to do this as we gather - lift our eyes, lift our hearts, lift our lives to behold the King of Glory. But that only occurs when the Holy Spirit does what only the Holy Spirit can do - lead us in all truth, and reveal more of the character and identity of Jesus. We have been in the Gospel of Mark for several weeks, and we have seen the question about Jesus’ identity come up several times - ‘who then is this…’ this is the King of Glory. And this morning we will learn a new song that both asks and answers the question of Jesus’ identity - the one and only, the Holy God. We’ll teach you the chorus first, it goes like this:

  • ONLY A HOLY GOD

  • COME THOU FOUNT

    More than words we sing, that song is really the testimony of every follower of Jesus, because we all are prone to wander, we all are faithless. And still, God always remains faithful. We are entering the third week of Lent. And if the whole of your journey of faith has been as a part of churches that look and feel like ours, the season of Lent and its rhythms may feel unfamiliar to you. Because in Lent we pause, we reflect on our sins, we look to the cross, we confess our sins to God, and one another, we repent and turn from our sins, and turn to Christ. These rhythms and practices do not belong to a specific denomination, but they belong to the people of God. So we are going to spend some time now in quiet reflection, as you find your story in those words we have just sung - prone to wander - and we look with joy to the cross. Then we will confess our sins to God and one another:

    Corporate Confession

Merciful God,
We confess that we have sinned against You
in thought, word, and deed,
By what we have done,
and by what we have left undone.
We have not loved You with our whole heart and mind and strength. We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves.

In Your mercy forgive what we have been,
help us amend what we are,
And direct what we shall be,
So that we may delight in your will and walk in Your ways, To the glory of Your holy name.

Through Christ, our Lord. Amen. [From the Book of Common Prayer]

Brothers and sisters, hear the good news - God does not treat us as our sins deserve. He is faithful when we are faithless.

Sermon: Mark 5:1-20

No true encounter with Jesus ever leaves us the same. And if you are here this morning as a follower of Jesus, you were not a good person made better by Jesus, you were not even a demon-possessed person freed by Jesus, you were a dead person who has been made alive in Christ. Let’s behold the power, wonder, grace, mercy, and kindness of the Lord. Would you stand if you’re able, we’ll sing together:

  • RAISE UP THE CROWN (ALL HAIL THE POWER)

  • GRAVES INTO GARDENS

    Benediction: Jude 1:24-25

5 March: Liturgy + Set List

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  • PROMISES

    Good morning, Life Church, we are glad you are here worshiping with us. I am glad to be worshiping with you this morning. This past week I had the chance to go to Kenya and lead worship for a group of missionaries from all around the world. And I am aware that I am able to go and serve in that way because my family and my church family released and sent me to go and serve. So on behalf of those that I served this past week, thank you for allowing me to go and serve. They wanted to make sure that I expressed their gratitude to you, our church family for allowing me to serve. And on behalf of my family and me, thank you for caring for and praying for my family while I was away. There are so many things I am still processing about all that I saw and heard, but a few things that I hope will encourage you: I heard the testimony of a woman from a closed country in Asia saying that she was her coworkers have been asking her to pray for them, asking if she can tell them about who Jesus is and what He has done. I shared a meal with a woman serving in Turkey who told me about how she had lost friends in the earthquake, and I was able to tell her that our church prayed for her during the week of the earthquake. I had the sacred privilege of being able to put a name and a face to a place that seemed so far away. I think we can so often think of missionaries as spiritual superheroes… But I am always struck by how ordinary these people are. They have skills, trades, educations, experience, families, and desires, just like us - but they have chosen to very intentionally use those things to serve a specific group of people - sometimes in their home countries, sometimes in far-flung locations. And I do hope and pray that God will raise up and send our missionaries to the ends of the earth from our church community. But I also hope and pray that as we gather week after week and hear God’s Word preached, read, sung, and prayed, and as we gather with our Life Groups and seek to apply God’s Word to our lives, we would be so completely transformed in heart and desire, that we would intentionally live on mission wherever God has placed us. And if you’re wondering, yes, I did wear all black every day, even in the African heat. Let’s hear God call us to worship through His word, this is from Psalm 24:

    Call to Worship: Psalm 24:1-6

  • WHAT YOU SAID

  • I SHALL NOT WANT

    Sermon: Mark 4:35-41

Corporate Confession:

Merciful God,
We confess that we have sinned against You
in thought, word, and deed,
By what we have done,
and by what we have left undone.
We have not loved You with our whole heart and mind and strength. We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves.

In Your mercy forgive what we have been,
help us amend what we are,
And direct what we shall be,
So that we may delight in your will and walk in Your ways, To the glory of Your holy name.

Through Christ, our Lord. Amen.

Communion

  • O PRAISE THE NAME (ANASTASIS)

Benediction:

Tuesday Refocus: February 21

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"The blood of Jesus is the death of despair." - Charles Spurgeon

There is much over which to despair in our world. Creation itself groans in pains of childbirth (Romans 8:22). Ours is a world passing away (1 John 2:17). And for those brave enough to examine their own heart, we can affirm what the prophet Jeremiah says, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?’ (Jeremiah 17:9).

The season of Lent gives us the ability to enact in a small way the life of a believer: a tunnel of despair along the path to hope. This life is a hallway, but Christ is the door where we find pleasures forevermore (John 10:9, Psalm 16:11). Our days here are toil and trouble, but the Lord has been and will be our dwelling place for all generations (Psalm 90:10,1).

In Lent we despair over our sin, and rejoice in the hope of the glory of God (Romans 5:2). We don’t ignore, avoid, or wallow in our sin, we consider, confess, and repent of our sin. And we celebrate and receive the forgiveness of God through the finished work of Christ.

Father, may our days be marked with celebration and freedom, even as we consider our own sins. Thank you for Jesus, in His name, amen.

Rejoicing,

AB