March 19 2023

Worship Resources for 
the Center for Faith and Giving

Lent 4A

1 Samuel 16:1-13

Psalm 23

Ephesians 5:8-14

John 9:1-41

Call to Worship  (inspired by Psalm 23)

Consider using the Psalter setting for Psalm 23, in Chalice Hymnal, p. 734, as a responsive reading – leader and choir?- leader and congregation?

OR

Either of the Psalm 23 hymns in Chalice Hymnal (p.78 or p, 80)

OR

We’ve come to worship God, 
remembering the care and compassion of a shepherd 
   who leads us beside still waters.
We’ve come to worship God,
rejoicing in the safety provided by a shepherd
   who carries a rod and staff, protecting us with passion and presence.

We’ve come to worship God,
returning to the house of the Lord, where we’re welcome to dwell forever!

Opening Prayer  

Loving Shepherd,

In gratitude we gather, grateful for your presence with us in sunshine and in the darkest of valleys.  You care for us each day of life, and will not leave us comfortless, even in the face of our largest challenges.
So open us to a deep awareness of your saving love, even as we offer our praise to you this day.  AMEN

Moment for Stewardship  

In John 9, we hear how Jesus healed the man born without sight, despite it being the Sabbath. Jesus did not ask the man if he wanted to be healed, but acted out of compassion, using this healing to teach his disciples that this blindness was not because of sin (either the parents’ or the man’s sin), but because the healing would reveal God’s works.

The man, questioned by the religious authorities, could only identify what happened to him, saying “one thing I do know that though I was blind, now I see.”  An amazing gift, freely offered as a Good News act!

As followers (disciples) of Jesus, we are also in the Good News business.  While we may not be able to heal physical blindness, we can accomplish amazing things when we work together in the name of Jesus.  
(tell your own story of someone whose life was changed because of the gifts of Christians…or tell this story, below)

I remember hearing about a little girl, age 6 in the late 1800s; Hattie May.  She was turned away from a neighborhood church which was over-crowded, and yearned to help build a bigger space so every child could go to Sunday School.  Hattie May came from a poor family, but she saved 57 cents in the two years before she died.  When the minister of the church was asked to do Hattie May’s funeral, he heard how diligently Hattie May had saved.  When her Mother gave the money to the minister, he took it to the pulpit, telling the story and asking the congregation to buy the pennies.  They collected $250! With the collection, the church purchased the house next to the church building, expanding the SS space for children.  Later, they sold the house to allow Temple University to expand, and to help establish a hospital.

Over the years, thousands of individuals have been taught, healed and restored to full life in these spaces.

What about here?  How can we be involved in Good News acts?  We may step into a whole new way of sharing God’s love because of the gifts we offer back to God in our morning offering.

What will you give? 


Prayer of Thanksgiving

Holy God,

Thank you for the myriad gifts you offer to us which reveal your love.  
Thank you for the ways you encourage us to be creative and generous with the treasures and the time which is ours.  Please accept the gifts shared today, and help us use them to act out Good News for this congregation, our community, and your whole creation.  AMEN

Invitation to Communion  

(consider using “Open the Eyes of My Heart” – one possibility is from YouTube:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jfz5CSBGyqU&t=92s
Or sing “Open My Eyes”, Chalice Hymnal #586) as invitation to communion or communion music connected to the John text for today)


Week by week as we come to the Table, we’re able to focus on a particular facet of this ordinance.  Today, I invite you to pray that in this feast, you’ll have your eyes opened.

God continues to offer sight/insight, that we might be able to see even more clearly than the man healed by Jesus.  

Let us come to the Table with an eager desire to find our sight clear!  Let God’s vision for each of us, and for all of us, be made known in the breaking of the bread and the sharing of this cup.