Worship Resources for
the Center for Faith and Giving
Second Sunday of Lent
Lent includes 40 days, beginning with Ash Wednesday (February 22, 2023) and concluding with the Saturday before Easter (April 8, 2023). The 40 days do not include Sundays (thus the “Second Sunday of Lent” and not “Second Sunday in Lent”). The season offers opportunities for Christians to strengthen our spiritual lives, consider how to go deeper and how to acknowledge our awareness of the ways we fall short in our efforts to follow Jesus.
Call to Worship (one voice, inspired by Psalm 121)
The Psalmist provides poetry which reaches across the years.
Hear these words adapted from Psalm 121:
With all the challenges of life,
we turn to the Lord, who made heaven and earth.
Facing heat? The Lord is our shade.
Facing evil? The Lord will keep your life.
Facing loneliness? The Lord will keep you company.
Rejoice! Lift up your voice!
The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in.
Opening Prayer
Gracious God, on this second Sunday of Lent, we turn to you, filled with gratitude for the ways you stand with us, and stand FOR us.
So open our minds, our hearts and our spirits in this hour, that we may be filled with your presence and strengthened to follow the Way of Jesus.
Hold us together in your love, even as we face the challenges of these days. AMEN
Invitation to Offering
Over the years, this season of Lent has been a time for people of faith to focus on prayer, fasting and giving to the poor (“almsgiving”). In our congregation, we’ve encouraged each one to ___________________ (name one specific action your congregation/your pastor has encouraged everyone to take).
As we turn our attention to the offering, consider how you might use this moment to enhance your participation.
I’m reminded of a congregation where each person was invited to offer one usable item from their home each day of Lent, bringing things to church on Sunday which then became part of what was available in the church’s Thrift Store. One young boy voluntarily announced he was going to bring in his still good, but out-grown, clothes, shoes and toys.
What might you do for today, and the remaining weeks of Lent?
May your spirit be encouraged as you act out your desire to share, offering gifts which will make a difference in the lives of others.
Let us receive our morning offering of tithes and gifts.
Prayer of Thanksgiving
With grateful hearts, O God, we offer these gifts as signs and symbols of our identity as your beloved daughters and sons. Please receive them, help us use them wisely, so these gifts allow us to share your love more widely within this congregation, within our community, and to the ends of the earth. AMEN
Invitation to Communion
Nicodemus, a leader in the Jewish community, came by night (secretively), clearly yearning to know more of this Jesus.
When we come to this Table, we, too, yearn to know more of this One we call “the Christ”. Of course we can learn more as we read scripture, hear Good News proclaimed, sing great hymns, share in fellowship. But in our time here, with bread and cup before us, we prepare to take into our own bodies the emblems of Jesus’ life: bread which symbolizes his body, juice which symbolizes his blood.
How true it is, “you are what you eat”! May we become more and more like Jesus as we share this feast.