Dear all,
Lent, as we said last week, is a penitential season in the church year. As we follow Jesus on his journey to Jerusalem, we are supposed to take stock of our lives and repent. Repent of what we may ask? Perhaps we are not conscious of breaking God’s law in any particular way. We are not aware of bad habits that need to be given up. Lent is often thought to be a season for practising denial: giving up chocolate, alcohol, rich foods. But again this week, Jesus spells out repentance in a different way by pointing to the heart rather than to external behaviour. Sometimes sins are subtle. In the parable of the father with two sons, repentance means returning home from a far country in the case of the younger son. Both his distance from his father and his misdeeds are obvious to all. For the dutiful older son, repentance requires careful self-examination and a transformation of the heart – of which he may not be capable. The parable leaves us dangling about the outcome of the decision he faces – as far from his father as the younger son ever was.
Order of Service
SUNDAY, March 27, 2022 Lent 4
Prelude:
PWS&D Lenten Liturgy
Hymn 201: “We come to ask your forgiveness”
Prayer of Adoration
Prayer of Confession
Declaration of Grace
The Lord’s Prayer
Responsive reading: Psalm 32
2 Corinthians 5: 16-21
Anthem: “Mon père, je m’abandonne à toi ”
Luke 15: 1-3; 11-32
Hymn: “10,000 reasons”
Meditation: “Two sons and a father”
Hymn 194: “Come, let us to the Lord our God”
Offering and Offertory
Prayer of Thanksgiving and Intercession
Hymn: “Praise with Joy the World’s Creator”
Benediction
Go now in peace
Postlude