April 6th, 20255--Fifth Sunday of Lent
We offer you a warm welcome, and as is our practice, we remember that the land on which we meet is, was, and always will be native land. We acknowledge those indigenous tribes to Oklahoma: the Wichitas, Caddos, Plains Apaches, and the Quapaws, as the original custodians of the land in this place. We grieve the violence done to native language, culture, and personhood, and seek to honor the sovereignty and dignity of native peoples.
We are so glad you've joined us, whether in-person or online. Please take a moment to tell us you are here by using the sign-in button below.
We offer you a warm welcome, and as is our practice, we remember that the land on which we meet is, was, and always will be native land. We acknowledge those indigenous tribes to Oklahoma: the Wichitas, Caddos, Plains Apaches, and the Quapaws, as the original custodians of the land in this place. We grieve the violence done to native language, culture, and personhood, and seek to honor the sovereignty and dignity of native peoples.
We are so glad you've joined us, whether in-person or online. Please take a moment to tell us you are here by using the sign-in button below.
Introit
Glenda Stansbury
Invitation to Lent
One: Good morning, and Welcome to Mayflower Congregational United Church of Christ, where no matter who you are or where you are on life’s journey . . .
All: You are welcome here!
On this Fifth Sunday in Lent, we continue exploring the polarities in our lives with more faith, intention, and openness to be transformed. This is a season set apart, so you will have noticed by now a different rhythm in the sanctuary as we engage with a different order of worship, and a quieting of our hallelujahs and holding our applause, responding instead with ‘Amen’ or holy silence to the music and spoken word that draws us deeper into worship.
All: You are welcome here!
On this Fifth Sunday in Lent, we continue exploring the polarities in our lives with more faith, intention, and openness to be transformed. This is a season set apart, so you will have noticed by now a different rhythm in the sanctuary as we engage with a different order of worship, and a quieting of our hallelujahs and holding our applause, responding instead with ‘Amen’ or holy silence to the music and spoken word that draws us deeper into worship.
Call to Worship
One: We gather seeking shelter from the storm. We long for community, and we are in need of a good word.
All: We’ve shown up in between hope and grief, faith and doubt, joy and longing, curiosity and conviction.
One: We know that God meets is in the messy middle to help us through.
All: This is our invitation to lean in, so let us begin.
All: We’ve shown up in between hope and grief, faith and doubt, joy and longing, curiosity and conviction.
One: We know that God meets is in the messy middle to help us through.
All: This is our invitation to lean in, so let us begin.
Hymn
Take My Life, God, Let It Be, Hymn 448
New Century Hymnal
[Please rise in body or in spirit.]
New Century Hymnal
[Please rise in body or in spirit.]
Pass the Peace of Christ
One: "May the peace of Christ be with you."
All: "And also with you!"
All: "And also with you!"
Anthem
I'm Movin' On
Phillip White and D. Vincent Williams
Gabrielle Gore with Carolyn Sargent
I've dealt with my ghosts and I've faced all my demons
Finally content with a past I regret
I've found you find strength in your moments of weakness
For once I'm at peace with myself
I've been burdened with blame, trapped in the past for too long
I'm movin' on
I've lived in this place and I know all the faces
Each one is different but they're always the same
They mean me no harm but it's time that I face it
They'll never allow me to change
But I never dreamed home would end up where I don't belong
I'm movin' on
I'm movin' on
At last I can see life has been patiently waiting for me
And I know there's no guarantees but I'm not alone
There comes a time in everyone's life
When all you can see are the years passing by
And I have made up my mind that those days are gone
I sold what I could and packed what I couldn't
Stopped to fill up on my way out of town
I've loved like I should but lived like I shouldn't
I had to lose everything to find out
Maybe forgiveness will find me somewhere down this road
I'm movin' on
I'm movin' on
I'm movin' on
Phillip White and D. Vincent Williams
Gabrielle Gore with Carolyn Sargent
I've dealt with my ghosts and I've faced all my demons
Finally content with a past I regret
I've found you find strength in your moments of weakness
For once I'm at peace with myself
I've been burdened with blame, trapped in the past for too long
I'm movin' on
I've lived in this place and I know all the faces
Each one is different but they're always the same
They mean me no harm but it's time that I face it
They'll never allow me to change
But I never dreamed home would end up where I don't belong
I'm movin' on
I'm movin' on
At last I can see life has been patiently waiting for me
And I know there's no guarantees but I'm not alone
There comes a time in everyone's life
When all you can see are the years passing by
And I have made up my mind that those days are gone
I sold what I could and packed what I couldn't
Stopped to fill up on my way out of town
I've loved like I should but lived like I shouldn't
I had to lose everything to find out
Maybe forgiveness will find me somewhere down this road
I'm movin' on
I'm movin' on
I'm movin' on
Joys & Concerns + Prayer of Confession
For the joys of this congregation, let the people say: Thanks be to God.
Friends, our faith calls us to offer mercy as a way of life. But somewhere along the way, we began to argue about who deserves it and whether they are righteous enough to receive it. So let us offer a prayer of confession together:
All: We want mercy for ourselves, Holy One, but we do not always offer it to others. When we forget our compassion, soften our hearts. Make mercy our first instinct and patience our hallmark. We pray in the name of Jesus, who showed us how.
Friends, our faith calls us to offer mercy as a way of life. But somewhere along the way, we began to argue about who deserves it and whether they are righteous enough to receive it. So let us offer a prayer of confession together:
All: We want mercy for ourselves, Holy One, but we do not always offer it to others. When we forget our compassion, soften our hearts. Make mercy our first instinct and patience our hallmark. We pray in the name of Jesus, who showed us how.
Call & Response
One: Nothing can trouble, nothing can frighten
Those seeking God shall never want.
All: Nothing can trouble, nothing can frighten
Those seeking God shall never want.
One: Teach me, Lord, the way of your decrees, that I may follow it to the end.
Give me understanding, so that I may keep your law and obey it with all my heart.
All: Nothing can trouble, nothing can frighten
Those seeking God shall never want.
One: Direct me in the path of your commands, for there I find delight.
Turn my heart toward your statutes and not toward selfish gain.
All: Nothing can trouble, nothing can frighten
Those seeking God shall never want.
Those seeking God shall never want.
All: Nothing can trouble, nothing can frighten
Those seeking God shall never want.
One: Teach me, Lord, the way of your decrees, that I may follow it to the end.
Give me understanding, so that I may keep your law and obey it with all my heart.
All: Nothing can trouble, nothing can frighten
Those seeking God shall never want.
One: Direct me in the path of your commands, for there I find delight.
Turn my heart toward your statutes and not toward selfish gain.
All: Nothing can trouble, nothing can frighten
Those seeking God shall never want.
Anthem
Dare You To Move
Jon Foreman
Riordan Banks with Carolyn Sargent
Welcome to the planet
Welcome to existence
Everyone's here
Everyone's here
Everybody's watching you now
Everybody waits for you now
What happens next?
What happens next?
I dare you to move
I dare you to move
I dare you to lift yourself up off the floor
I dare you to move
I dare you to move
Like today never happened
Today never happened before
Welcome to the fallout
Welcome to resistance
The tension is here
The tension is here
Between who you are and who you could be
Between how it is and how it should be
I dare you to move
I dare you to move
I dare you to lift yourself up off the floor
I dare you to move
I dare you to move
Like today never happened
Today never happened
Maybe redemption has stories to tell
Maybe forgiveness is right where you fell
Where can you run to escape from yourself?
Where you gonna go?
Where you gonna go?
Salvation is here
I dare you to move
I dare you to move
I dare you to lift yourself up off the floor
I dare you to move
I dare you to move
Like today never happened
Today never happened
Today never happened
Today never happened before
Jon Foreman
Riordan Banks with Carolyn Sargent
Welcome to the planet
Welcome to existence
Everyone's here
Everyone's here
Everybody's watching you now
Everybody waits for you now
What happens next?
What happens next?
I dare you to move
I dare you to move
I dare you to lift yourself up off the floor
I dare you to move
I dare you to move
Like today never happened
Today never happened before
Welcome to the fallout
Welcome to resistance
The tension is here
The tension is here
Between who you are and who you could be
Between how it is and how it should be
I dare you to move
I dare you to move
I dare you to lift yourself up off the floor
I dare you to move
I dare you to move
Like today never happened
Today never happened
Maybe redemption has stories to tell
Maybe forgiveness is right where you fell
Where can you run to escape from yourself?
Where you gonna go?
Where you gonna go?
Salvation is here
I dare you to move
I dare you to move
I dare you to lift yourself up off the floor
I dare you to move
I dare you to move
Like today never happened
Today never happened
Today never happened
Today never happened before
Pastoral Prayer
Rev. Dr. Lori Walke
Scripture: Luke 19:1-10
He entered Jericho and was passing through it. A man was there named Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was rich. He was trying to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was short in stature. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to see him, because he was going to pass that way. When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today.” So he hurried down and was happy to welcome him. All who saw it began to grumble and said, “He has gone to be the guest of one who is a sinner.” Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, “Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much.” Then Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.”
Sermon
Rev. Sheridan Irick
Communion Liturgy
At this church, we practice inclusive communion, which means that everyone is welcome at the Table. All that is needed is a desire to be in communion with God and this beloved community.
Everyone is invited to receive communion either by using the elements you’ve gathered at home while participating online, by remaining in your pew (so that communion can be brought to you), or by coming forward to receive the elements. If you come forward, go to either side of the Table to receive the elements, pause for a moment to eat the bread and drink the cup, and then return to your pew. The cup is grape juice and the crackers are gluten-free and vegan.
Prayer of Consecration
Prayer of Thanksgiving
Everyone is invited to receive communion either by using the elements you’ve gathered at home while participating online, by remaining in your pew (so that communion can be brought to you), or by coming forward to receive the elements. If you come forward, go to either side of the Table to receive the elements, pause for a moment to eat the bread and drink the cup, and then return to your pew. The cup is grape juice and the crackers are gluten-free and vegan.
Invitation to the Table
One: At first glance, this table appears too small, but we know that there is room for everyone. As the hymn says, “We draw the circle wide. No one stands alone. We’ll stand side-by-side.”
All: So come, anyone who is hungry for peace, all who need rest, and everyone who wants to belong. We only serve all around here.
Prayer of Consecration
One: Having welcomed each other to the Table, we turn it back over to You, Holy One. You help us to see that what seems ordinary is actually sacred, whether it be the bread and the cup or how we speak to and treat one another.
All: Bless this bread, Holy One, so that we will be strong enough to bear each others burdens. Bless the cup, that our hearts would overflow with tenderness for this world. May this time at the table cling to our hearts, reminding us that we are a people of abundance. Be with us as we put it into practice. Amen.
One: Just as Jesus and the disciples ate the bread and drank from the cup after they were blessed, we do so now, in remembrance of his life and ministry. [eat & drink]
Prayer of Thanksgiving
One: We give thanks for the bread of heaven and the cup of kindness, Holy One, which strengthen and sustain us.
All: Knowing You are with us, we go out into the world knowing that we have all that we need. We trust the Spirit will lead us to places where we can serve, to people we can love, and into a future where it is on earth as it is in heaven. We pray in the name of Jesus, who showed us how. Amen.
Hymn
Like a Mother Who Has Borne Us, Hymn 583
New Century Hymnal
[Please rise in body or in spirit.]
New Century Hymnal
[Please rise in body or in spirit.]
Announcements
Benediction
One: As we leave this place, let us move through this world
with an open heart, with a curious mind, and with the confidence that we do not go alone. God is with us in the mountains, in the valleys, and everywhere in between.
So let us go in peace, pray for peace, wage a little peace, and love one another
ALL: Every single other. Amen.
with an open heart, with a curious mind, and with the confidence that we do not go alone. God is with us in the mountains, in the valleys, and everywhere in between.
So let us go in peace, pray for peace, wage a little peace, and love one another
ALL: Every single other. Amen.
Benediction Response
What Does the Lord Require?
Jim Strathdee
Part 1: What does the Lord require of you? What does the Lord require of you?
Part 2: Justice, kindness, walk humbly with your God. Justice, kindness, walk humbly with your God.
Part 3: To do justice, and love kindness and walk humbly with your God. To do justice, and love kindness and walk humbly with your God.
[Sung in a round, Part 1 begins the response, joined the second time by Part 2, then by Part 3, and then a fourth time through. For those in-person, it is our tradition for the congregation to stand and turn towards the center aisle during the benediction response so that we might "send each other forth" to embody what we sing.]
Jim Strathdee
Part 1: What does the Lord require of you? What does the Lord require of you?
Part 2: Justice, kindness, walk humbly with your God. Justice, kindness, walk humbly with your God.
Part 3: To do justice, and love kindness and walk humbly with your God. To do justice, and love kindness and walk humbly with your God.
[Sung in a round, Part 1 begins the response, joined the second time by Part 2, then by Part 3, and then a fourth time through. For those in-person, it is our tradition for the congregation to stand and turn towards the center aisle during the benediction response so that we might "send each other forth" to embody what we sing.]