Fifth Sunday of Lent
April 6, 2025 | 10:00am
Rev. Jeremy Campbell, Temporary Minister | Larry J. Carey, Director of Music
Thought for Worship: This image began as a painting on raw canvas. With fluid strokes of paint, I allowed the colors to run and bleed into each other. As I drew Mary kneeling, I omitted the other details in the scene, removing Jesus’ feet, the other guests, the table full of food. I wanted to focus on Mary’s brazen act of pouring out the expensive perfume, a commodity valued at a year’s worth of wages. The luxurious liquid is expansive, flowing out toward us as the viewer. It bleeds into the red, foreshadowing the blood Jesus will soon shed. The vessel she holds is lined with gold, a reference to the ancient Japanese practice of Kintsugi, of repairing broken pottery with gold lacquer. The art of Kintsugi embellishes the cracks and transforms a shattered vessel into a new object of beauty. In this embodied act of worship, Mary is practicing Kintsugi—boldly celebrating the beauty of life even as death approaches -Rev. Lauren Wright Pittman
GATHERING
Welcome
Prelude
Call to Worship
Votum
Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.
Amen
Opening Sentences
May we find courage here—
courage to follow our call, courage to live out our faith.
May we find hope here—
hope for a better world, hope that refuses to let us go.
May we find truth here—
truth that lives in sacred community, truth that lives in ancient stories.
May we find all that we seek.
And in our seeking, may we know God. Amen.
Salutation
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ
Amen.
*Hymn of Praise Come Ye Sinners Poor and Needy
Call to Confession
There are very few things as powerful as a group of people that admits they are not perfect, and asks for grace as they grow. Imagine what our world might be like if every institution had such a weekly rhythm? Friends, we can light the way. Let us be brave in our truth-telling and honest in our confession. For we will always be met by grace. Let us pray. . .
Prayer of Confession
Jesus of Nazareth, we admit that often we tuck our faith into our pockets, hiding in a place of comfort rather than proudly declaring: yes we are Christian, yes we believe, yes this faith has changed me. We are so afraid of offending others or embarrassing ourselves that we have established rules: no faith at the dinner table, no faith in politics, no faith with strangers. Forgive us for whispering when we could be singing. Forgive us for staying quiet when we could be part of rewriting the narrative. We want to be brave. We want to pour out perfume over your feet. These things we pray, amen.
Assurance of Pardon
Family of faith, hear this good news:
Even in our silence, God loves us.
Even in our fear or shame, God chooses us.
Even when we sin, God wraps us in grace.
You are free—to be bold, to be brazen, to be exactly who God called you to be.
Thanks be to God, amen.
The Law of God:
*Gloria Patri | #579
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen. Amen.
*Commitment to Peace Keeping and Peace Seeking
One: May the peace of Christ be with you!
All: And also with you!
Share a sign of peace with one another. After sharing the peace, let us all sing together:
Together, by grace, we witness and work, remembering Jesus, in whom we grow strong. Together we serve in Spirit and truth, remembering love is the strength of our song.
THE WORD OF GOD
Anthem I Believe | Miller
Prayer for Illumination
Holy God, sometimes my waking is a prayer. Sometimes the song I have stuck in my head, rumbling around on repeat, is a prayer. Sometimes the way I talk to the children and the way I hug the dog is a prayer. Sometimes the way I take my phone out to get a picture of the sunset or of the people I love—that is a prayer. Other times, prayer is moments like this— heads bowed, eyes closed, hearts quiet for just a moment. And in all of it, I trust you to hear me. Help me to hear you in return. Gratefully we pray, amen.
First Reading: Isaiah 43:16-21
This is the Word of the Lord
Thanks be to God
*Hymn: The Lord Went to a Dinner
Second Reading: John 12:1-8
This is the Word of the Lord
Thanks be to God
Sermon: “Brazen Acts of beauty” | Rev. Campbell
Silent Reflection
THE RESPONSE TO GOD
*Affirmation of Faith
I believe in beauty—
beauty pulled into being by our
Creator, beauty that catches our breath,
beauty that turns us toward awe.
I believe in courage—
courage to believe,
courage to stand up for the people
we love, courage to love without
hesitation.
I believe in the Holy Spirit
who prays for us when we
cannot, who is brave for us
when we are not.
I believe in Jesus
Christ who stood up for Mary,
who quieted the voice of critique,
who welcomed every bid for relationship.
I believe in God.
I believe in God who believes in us.
Amen.
Offering His Eye is On the Sparrow | arr. Boyer
Celebration of the Lord’s Supper
*Communion Hymn I’m Gonna Eat at the Welcome Table
Invitation to The Table
Prayer of Great Thanksgiving
One: The Lord be with you.
All: And also with you.
One: Lift up your hearts.
All: We lift them up to the Lord.
One: Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
All: It is right to give our thanks and praise.
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, the Power, and the Glory forever. Amen.
Words of Institution
One: The body of Christ is broken for you.
One: The blood of Christ is shed for you.
Prayer After Communion
Loving God, we thank you that you have fed us in this sacrament, united us with Christ, and given us a foretaste of the heavenly banquet in your eternal kingdom. Be with all who are in grief and with all who need healing. Bring us through the trials ahead, and wrap us in the comfort of your love. Amen.
Pastoral Prayer
SENDING
*Hymn Sacred the Body
Benediction
Congregational Response
Christ is alive! Let Christians sing. The cross stands empty to the sky.
Let streets and homes with praises ring. Love drowned in death, shall never die.
Christ is alive, and comes to bring, Good news to this and every age,
Till earth and sky and ocean ring. With joy, with justice, love and praise.
Postlude
DEAR FRIENDS
Welcome to worship here at Peapack Reformed Church! If you are visiting with us, welcome! If you are a member, welcome back! Our mission is to be a congregation called by God, inspired by the Holy Spirit, and committed to being the very presence of Jesus Christ in the world. This mission is the catalyst for all that we do, and is our aim for who we want to be.
If you are visiting with us via Facebook Live and would like more information about our church, send us a message on Facebook or email office@peapackreformed.org and we will be in touch with you. Even under these odd and anxious circumstances, we would love to be your church home. Our virtual doors are always open wide and our hearts are always ready to welcome new faces into our fellowship.
FOOD PANTRY NEWS
Many thanks for all those who have shared their abundance with neighbors in need.
Our church refrigerators have plenty of space to hold even more!
Please consider making a weekly donation of eggs or milk to the P-G Food Pantry.
Peapack Reformed Church is a congregation called by God, empowered by the Holy Spirit and committed to being the very presence of Jesus Christ in the world.
CALLED • EMPOWERED • COMMITTED