Worship Resources for
the Center for Faith and Giving
Lent I
Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7
Psalm 32
Romans 5:12-19
Matthew 4:1-11
Lent includes 40 days. It began Ash Wednesday (February 18, 2026) and concludes with the Saturday before Easter (April 4, 2026). The 40 days do not include Sundays (thus the “First Sunday of Lent” and not “First Sunday in Lent”). The season offers opportunities for Christians to strengthen our spiritual lives, consider how to go deeper in relationship with God and neighbor, and decide how to acknowledge the ways we fall short in our efforts to follow Jesus. Traditionally Christians have used the season of Lent to engage in prayer, repentance and alms-giving.
Call to Worship (adapted from Psalm 32)
L: As this season begins, we keep silent before
God, afraid to confront our transgressions;
terrified to face the reality of our brokenness;
P: we feel the weight of the world upon our shoulders.
L: In this hour, we find help to admit our sins (or “our brokenness”)
and accept our imperfections.
P: Gratefully, we know God is here among us.
L: And we believe in God’s steadfast love, we are forgiven.
P: By God’s Holy Spirit, we are being restored.
All: So we come to worship the God who can make all things new.
Opening Prayer
We have heard your call, God almighty, and have responded.
You called each one of us to journey here.
You called us together as your people.
In obedience and love, we have come.
Grant us a deep awareness of your presence among us.
Guide us gently in your Spirit.
Feed us with Good News and the gifts of bread and cup,
that we might go forth from this hour determined to be
faith-filled followers of Jesus the Christ.
Moment for Stewardship
The season of Lent brings an opportunity for each of us to join Christians through the last 2000 years who understood the importance of giving gifts
to help build up the Realm of God on earth,
to help sustain the lives of sisters and brothers (near and far),
and to help provide for those living in poverty and need.
Your giving makes a difference to God, to sisters and brothers, siblings all, and to the poor. During this Lenten season we’ll seek to provide for the regular needs of this congregation, but we’ll _______________ (describe how your Lenten giving will provide care for others).
Binding us together as a community of faith, let us share our gifts, our tithes and our offerings.
Prayer of Thanksgiving
Accept our lives, O God, as well as these gifts,
to help build your Realm on earth.
Let the spirit in which we give them be your Spirit.
Let the use made of them be your use. AMEN
Invitation to Communion
(Consider using CH# 400, “When You Do This, Remember Me” as your hymn to the table.)
In a small museum in Guatemala, blanketed across two walls and the entire ceiling, is a quilt of post-card sized pieces of paper or cloth, each with a name or a picture of someone who has died in the lengthy war in Guatemala. When a visitor steps close, that person can read a few, poignant words:
Mi hijo (my son)
Quiero tu manos (I love your hands)
Vaya con Dios (Go with God)
Covered and wrapped in such sorrow, each visitor to the museum is asked to pick up a postcard, and write in a few words, how this place inspires visitor to remember what they have learned.
That’s what happens when we come to this table.
We’re surrounded by the story of Jesus and his closest followers. Those followers included Judas, who had already betrayed Jesus. They included Peter, who would soon deny even knowing the man. And they included others who would go into hiding following Jesus’ crucifixion.
As 21st century followers, wrapped in an awareness of Jesus’ willingness to face the Roman authorities, we, too, are asked to remember…
Remember Jesus is with us, even when we’re surrounded by sorrow. Jesus is with us, even when we feel alone. Jesus is with us in the company of this congregation, and these elements are like vitamins which will strengthen us in our Lenten journey.
So come!
And when we do this, remember what you’ve learned.
Remember Jesus!