# đź“Ś FOURTH SUNDAY IN LENT: BREAD FOR SHARING
*Please stand in body or in spirit*
---
# đź“Ś GATHERING SONG
**“This is the Day”**
---
# đź“Ś UNISON WELCOME
> “No matter who you are or where you are on life’s journey, you are welcome here.”
---
# đź“Ś ANNOUNCEMENTS
---
# đź“Ś PRELUDE
---
# đź“Ś *CALL TO WORSHIP*
> We come into the feast of plenty. Let every willing soul join in the circle!
> The bread of life satisfies our hunger and thirst.
> Wear whatever you have. You are welcome as you are!
> The bread of life moves us toward the wholeness of our being.
> We are invited to come as we are.
> The table of life has come to sustain us.
> Believing this promise, let us worship together!
---
# đź“Ś *HYMN #23 (insert)*
**“There’s a Wideness in God’s Mercy”**
Frederick William Faber, 1854, alt.
1. There’s a wideness in God’s mercy, like the wideness of the sea;
There’s a kindness in God’s justice, which is more than liberty.
There is no place where earth’s sorrows are more felt than in God’s heaven;
There is no place where earthly failings have such kindly judgment given.
2. For the love of God is broader than the measure of our minds;
And the heart of the eternal is most wonderfully kind.
If our love were but more faithful, we would gladly trust God’s word,
And our lives would show thanksgiving for the goodness of our Lord.
*Tune: IN BABILONE 8.7.8.7.D*
Arr. Julius Röntgen, 1906
Alternate tune name: **HOLY MANNA**
---
# đź“Ś *CALL TO CONFESSION*
> Often we are slow to accept an invitation. Let us confess our sins of exclusion together.
---
# đź“Ś PRAYER OF CONFESSION *(from Bread of Life)*
> God of extravagant feasts and open invitations, we confess our tables are often bare and unwelcoming.
> When we stretch our welcome too thin, making it about efficiency and the useful, acceptable, or necessary, we exclude.
> We fill up our agendas and leave no room for each other, no room for the stranger, and especially neglect those who might feel uncomfortable.
> Have mercy on us when we close the circle of your banquet too quickly.
> Make us new, re-shape us in your image, that all your people may come to the feast. Amen.
---
# đź“Ś KYRIE
*(Hymnal Companion C-4)*
---
# đź“Ś ASSURANCE OF PARDON *(from Bread of Life)*
> Siblings in faith, hear this good news: God is faithful to increase our pardon, expand our invitations, and increase our table space. Receive God’s pardon and peace.
---
# đź“Ś *GLORY BE TO THE FATHER #704*
---
# đź“Ś *PASSING OF THE PEACE*
> Beneath the complicated pieces of life, behind the questions, abides a bounty of fellowship, care, and connection.
> May the peace of Christ be with you.
> **And also with you.**
We greet one another with the peace of Christ, which inspires us to carry it to the ends of our community.
---
# đź“Ś SCRIPTURE READING
**Philippians 2:1-11**
> [!bible]+ [Philippians 2:1-11 - NRSVCE](https://bolls.life/NRSVCE/50/2/)
> 1. If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy,
> 2. make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.
> 3. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves.
> 4. Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others.
> 5. Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,
> 6. who, though he was in the form of God, <br>did not regard equality with God <br>as something to be exploited,<br>
> 7. but emptied himself, <br>taking the form of a slave, <br>being born in human likeness. <br>And being found in human form,<br>
> 8. he humbled himself <br>and became obedient to the point of death — <br>even death on a cross. <br>
> 9. Therefore God also highly exalted him <br>and gave him the name <br>that is above every name,<br>
> 10. so that at the name of Jesus <br>every knee should bend, <br>in heaven and on earth and under the earth,<br>
> 11. and every tongue should confess <br>that Jesus Christ is Lord, <br>to the glory of God the Father. <br>
%% #Philippians2 %%
---
# đź“Ś RESPONSIVE READING
**“In the Middle of the Question”** by Bobby Jo Valentine
> When life gets more complicated, when life gets harder to understand
> I’m bringing things grown sacred, like the doubt in the corner
> and the fear in the middle of the question.
> I trust the gentle who gets appreciated, when the future is a mystery.
> So let me simply say now, there is no shame in any of it
> and there may never be an answer on this side of the lesson
> But I believe that Love walks with us in the middle of the question.
---
# đź“Ś ANTHEM
**“Softly and Tenderly”**
By W.L. Thompson
---
# 📌 CHILDREN’S MESSAGE
**Luke 14:7-14**
*Children will come forward following the Children’s Message.*
![[Luke 14#7]]
![[Luke 14#8]]
![[Luke 14#9]]
![[Luke 14#10]]
![[Luke 14#11]]
![[Luke 14#12]]
![[Luke 14#13]]
![[Luke 14#14]]
[[Bible/NRSVUE/Luke/Luke 14#7|Luke 14,7-14]] When he noticed how the guests chose the places of honor, he told them a parable. "When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not sit down at the place of honor, in case someone more distinguished than you has been invited by your host, ###### 9 and the host who invited both of you may come and say to you, 'Give this person your place,' and then in disgrace you would start to take the lowest place. But when you are invited, go and sit down at the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he may say to you, 'Friend, move up higher'; then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at the table with you. For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted." He said also to the one who had invited him, "When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers and sisters or your relatives or rich neighbors, in case they may invite you in return, and you would be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. And you will be blessed because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous."The Parable of the Great Dinner One of the dinner guests, on hearing this, said to him, "Blessed is anyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!" [[Bible/NRSVUE/Luke/Luke 14#8|]][[Bible/NRSVUE/Luke/Luke 14#10|]][[Bible/NRSVUE/Luke/Luke 14#11|]][[Bible/NRSVUE/Luke/Luke 14#12|]][[Bible/NRSVUE/Luke/Luke 14#13|]][[Bible/NRSVUE/Luke/Luke 14#14|]][[Bible/NRSVUE/Luke/Luke 14#15|]]
---
# đź“Ś SERMON
**Rev. Caroline E. Saxton**
when we gather at tables, community, kitchen, wedding, we are reminded of Jesus words to live more fully in relationship with each other. Theology and ethics.
sitting around tables sharing food together we make connections, we tell the good news of his love.
A shared meal is delightful. Feed them and they will come.
freedom to choose seats - where do we sit? take into account others, we are all invited. leave room for others to join us. the host isn’t friend but God. We are all guests and invited. Our egos get in the way of connecting with God and one another. Think instead of others first as guests that are just as invited as we are.
who do you invite when you’re the host? the marginalized, the vulnerable, who is left out, we are hosts that live out God’s hospitality in our world.
Use things, Love people.
The table belongs to Christ, not us.
---
# đź“Ś SHARING OF JOYS AND CONCERNS
---
# 📌 PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE AND THE LORD’S PRAYER *(DEBTS)*
---
# đź“Ś INVITATION TO GIVING
---
# đź“Ś OFFERTORY RESPONSE
**“I Surrender All” #579**
> *“When I Survey the Wondrous Cross” v. 4*
> Were the whole realm of nature mine, that were a present far too small
> love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all.
---
# đź“Ś *PRAYER OF DEDICATION* *(from Bread of Life)*
> Bread of life and source of all good things, receive these gifts and offerings from your generous hands.
> May they serve your church and our community, expanding the message of your love and grace to all who hunger and thirst. Amen.
---
# đź“Ś *HYMN #312 (insert)*
**“We Love Your Realm, O God”**
Timothy Dwight, 1801; Adapt. Lauren B., 1992
1. We love your realm, O God, all places where you reign.
We recognize, with hope and joy, the world as your domain.
2. We love your church, O God, for Christ has given grace;
That we may do your ways, that we might seek your face.
3. Yet Christ, our friend and brother all, once died that we might live;
Beyond our brokenness, we know your truth will last and give.
4. We organize, with faithful steps, the mission you decree;
The faithful-ness of your resolve when we are first to believe.
5. Be yond our broken-ness, or we see the world anew,
We trust your reign is sure, equip us for these daily tasks that help your world endure.
---
# đź“Ś *AFFIRMATION OF FAITH* *(from Bread of Life, on screen)*
---
# đź“Ś *CHARGE & BENEDICTION* *(from Bread of Life)*
---
# đź“Ś POSTLUDE
*(seated)*
---
# đź“Ś BIRTHDAYS THIS WEEK
- **3/31** Carolyn (Cookie) Miller
- **4/3** Jayla Marie Weaver
- **4/4** Mabel Perry
- **4/6** Diana Kongkgaetil
---
# đź“Ś WORSHIP PARTICIPANTS
- **Pastor:** Rev. Caroline E. Saxton
- **Organist:** Diana Henkle
- **Deacon in Charge:** Allen Brandt
- **Anthem Leader:** Jim Davenport
- **Children’s Message:** Roxanne Davenport
- **Media Coordinators:** Calvin Frantz
- **Flowers:** [Information as provided in your bulletin]
> *“The flowers on the altar are offered in memory of the Cross… (text incomplete)
> We also pray for traveling mercies and blessings for all grandchildren!”*
---
# đź“Ś WORSHIP RESOURCES
- *“In the Middle of the Question” by Bobby Jo Valentine, included in “Your Bread of Life: Prayers, Songs, and Stories.” Used by permission.*
- *Bread of Life Lenten Liturgy & Commentary © 2025 Nissenliturgies & Ministry.*
---
## 📌 FULL LYRICS: “There’s a Wideness in God’s Mercy” (#23)
Frederick William Faber, 1854, alt.
1. There’s a wideness in God’s mercy, like the wideness of the sea;
There’s a kindness in God’s justice, which is more than liberty.
There is no place where earth’s sorrows are more felt than in God’s heaven;
There is no place where earthly failings have such kindly judgment given.
2. For the love of God is broader than the measure of our minds;
And the heart of the eternal is most wonderfully kind.
If our love were but more faithful, we would gladly trust God’s word,
And our lives would show thanksgiving for the goodness of our Lord.
*Tune: IN BABILONE 8.7.8.7.D*
Arr. Julius Röntgen, 1906
Alternate tune name: **HOLY MANNA**
---
## 📌 FULL LYRICS: “We Love Your Realm, O God” (#312)
Timothy Dwight, 1801; Adapt. Lauren B., 1992
1. We love your realm, O God, all places where you reign.
We recognize, with hope and joy, the world as your domain.
2. We love your church, O God, for Christ has given grace;
That we may do your ways, that we might seek your face.
3. Yet Christ, our friend and brother all, once died that we might live;
Beyond our brokenness, we know your truth will last and give.
4. We organize, with faithful steps, the mission you decree;
The faithful-ness of your resolve when we are first to believe.
5. Be yond our broken-ness, or we see the world anew,
We trust your reign is sure, equip us for these daily tasks that help your world endure.
*(Text may vary slightly from original hymnals; consult your church’s edition for musical notation.)*
---
- **Sources & Further Reading:**
- [Bible Gateway](https://www.biblegateway.com) – Scripture references.
- *“Your Bread of Life: Prayers, Songs, and Stories” by Bobby Jo Valentine* – Responsive Reading.
- *Bread of Life Liturgy & Commentary © 2025 Nissenliturgies & Ministry.*