Palms to the Garden Sunday
Good Morning! Welcome to the Mantua Center Christian Church in a Time to Grow as a congregation this Lenten Season. We are blessed with your presence and hope you will join us again sometime soon. Today marks the beginning of Holy Week with our Palms to the Garden service. We will celebrate with palms and then walk with Jesus to the Garden of Gethsemane. Along the way we hope God’s Spirit will touch us through the words, scriptures, and music shared. God’s grace and peace be with you!
Prelude - Hosanna, Loud Hosanna [by J.Threlfall] - Sarah Park
Welcome to the Mantua Center Christian Church
We are a community seeking to have open minds, open hearts, and open arms, building community in a fragmented world.
- We have joined in this Lenten Season in A Time to Grow in our faith.
- INVITATION FOR MISSION UPDATES:
Ministry Leaders and congregants are welcome to come forward to the mic, to give a mission update or share ways for people to get involved in missions and ministries.
- ANNOUNCEMENTS
- Maundy Thursday - 7pm Hiram Christian
- Sunrise Service at 6:45am at Derthick’s Farm - Standing Room/Chair
- 8:30am Easter Breakfast to support the Youth
- 9:30am Worship
- WORSHIP TEAM SPEAKERS
- Let’s prepare our hearts and minds for worship in hearing this Blessing for Palm Sunday by Jan Richardson
Blessed is the One who comes to us
by the way of love poured out with abandon.
Blessed is the One who walks toward us
by the way of grace that holds us fast.
Blessed is the One who calls us to follow
in the way of blessing, in the path of joy.
Welcoming Song - “Morning has Broken”
“Praise!” They were singing, shouting “Hosanna!”
All a bright future, nothing a loss!
Soon they will shout out, “Give us Barabbas!”
Abandon Jesus, lone on the cross.
(words by Jon Secaur)
*CALL to WORSHIP - Frederic Vigne
ONE: We come to prepare for the holiest of weeks.
ALL: We will journey through praise, with joy on our lips; we will travel through betrayal and death, cradling hope deep in our hearts.
ONE: Jesus leads us through this week, and we will follow, for he is the life we long for, he is the Word who sustains us.
ALL: We wave palm branches in anticipation, we lay our love before him, to cushion his walk.
ONE: Setting aside all power, glory, and might, he comes: modeling humility and obedience for all of us.
ALL: Hosanna! Hosanna! Blessed is the One who brings us the kingdom of God.
— written by Thom Shuman
*OPENING HYMN “All Glory, Laud and Honor” #192, v.1-3
1 All glory, laud and honor to you, Redeemer, King,
to whom the lips of children made sweet hosannas ring.
You are a child of Israel, Great David’s greater son;
you ride in lowly triumph, Messiah, blessed One!
2 The company of angels are praising you on high,
and, we with all creation in chorus make reply.
The people of the Hebrews with palms before you went;
our praise and prayer and anthems before you we present.
3 To you, before your passion, they sang their hymns of praise; to you,
now high exalted, our melody we raise.
As you received their praises, now hear us as we pray.
Since you delight in goodness, rule in our hearts today.
Invitation to Give
Invitation to Give - Frederic Vigne
Offertory - “I Could Not Do Without Thee” [by S. Ferreti] - Sarah Park
Response - “Accept, O God, The Gifts We Bring” #379, 2 lines
Accept, O God, the gifts we bring of spirit and of clay,
transform them into blessings on those we serve today.
Offertory Prayer - Frederic Vigne
Children's Moment - Rev. Chad Delaney
- Sun Dials -- what time is it? Always time to love and serve the Lord
- 4th for the 4C’s
From Palms to the Garden
Pastoral Prayer & Lord’s Prayer
God of Everlasting Love
Response: Help us choose the path that leads to the cross.
God Almighty, creator of all things, You are the source of our life, the source of our light. And yet all too often we fail to stop and pause, we fail to acknowledge our need for you. God of Everlasting Love,
Help us choose the path that leads to the cross.
The world spins so fast, and we find ourselves easily caught in the whirlwind of chaos. Help us, on this Sunday of Palms, to take time to look to you and follow you all the way. God of Everlasting Love,
Help us choose the path that leads to the cross.
We long for quick fixes, for cheap miracles, rather than taking the time to seek your face. We chase after what is easy and what is fast rather than seeking what is difficult and what is everlasting. God of Everlasting Love,
Help us choose the path that leads to the cross.
Give us wisdom to seek the slower way this week, that we may take our time on the journey to the cross. Grant that we may journey through this Holy Week, with all our hearts, all our souls, and all our minds. God of Everlasting Love,
Help us choose the path that leads to the cross.
Help us to hear your wisdom in the scriptures about to be read. Help us hear your word and grace in the words spoken and songs sung. We come to meet you in the Garden. To stay with you and pray. To walk beside you in a time of struggle and difficulty. To go with you all the way.
Help us choose the path that leads to the cross.
Unite us now in your spirit as we pray the prayer you taught us to pray saying…
I. Jesus Cleanses the Temple - Carol Magyarics
SCRIPTURE: Matthew 21:12-17
12 Then Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who were selling and buying in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold doves. 13He said to them, ‘It is written,
“My house shall be called a house of prayer”;
but you are making it a den of robbers.’14 The blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he cured them. 15But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the amazing things that he did, and heard the children crying out in the temple, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David’, they became angry 16and said to him, ‘Do you hear what these are saying?’ Jesus said to them, ‘Yes; have you never read,
“Out of the mouths of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise for yourself”?’
17He left them, went out of the city to Bethany, and spent the night there.
LESSON from the GARDEN
MUSIC - “O Young and Fearless Prophet” #669, v.1-2
1 O young and fearless Prophet of ancient Galilee,
your life is still a summons to serve humanity;
to make our thoughts and actions less prone to please the crowd,
to stand with humble courage for truth with hearts uncowed.
2 We marvel at the purpose that held you to your course
while ever on the hilltop before you loomed the cross;
your steadfast face set forward where love and duty shone,
while we betray so quickly and leave you there alone.
II. The Greatest Commandment - Sandi Kossick
SCRIPTURE: Matthew 22:34-40
34 When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, 35and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. 36‘Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?’ 37He said to him, ‘ “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” 38This is the greatest and first commandment. 39And a second is like it: “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.” 40On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.’
LESSON from the GARDEN
MUSIC - “What Wondrous Love is This” - The Linds & Beth Schabel
III. The Anointing at Bethany - Rick Painley
SCRIPTURE: Matthew 26:6-13
6 Now while Jesus was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, 7a woman came to him with an alabaster jar of very costly ointment, and she poured it on his head as he sat at the table. 8But when the disciples saw it, they were angry and said, ‘Why this waste? 9For this ointment could have been sold for a large sum, and the money given to the poor.’ 10But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, ‘Why do you trouble the woman? She has performed a good service for me. 11For you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me. 12By pouring this ointment on my body she has prepared me for burial. 13Truly I tell you, wherever this good news is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in remembrance of her.’
LESSON from the GARDEN
MUSIC - Where He Leads Me #346, v.1
1 I can hear my Savior calling, I can hear my Savior calling,
I can hear my Savior calling, "Take thy cross and follow, follow me."
[Refrain]
Where he leads me I will follow, where he leads me I will follow,
where he leads me I will follow—I'll go with him, with him all the way.
IV. The Passover with the Disciples - Nancy Humes
SCRIPTURE: Matthew 26:14-25
14 Then one of the twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests 15and said, ‘What will you give me if I betray him to you?’ They paid him thirty pieces of silver. 16And from that moment he began to look for an opportunity to betray him.
17 On the first day of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying, ‘Where do you want us to make the preparations for you to eat the Passover?’ 18He said, ‘Go into the city to a certain man, and say to him, “The Teacher says, My time is near; I will keep the Passover at your house with my disciples.” ’ 19So the disciples did as Jesus had directed them, and they prepared the Passover meal.
20 When it was evening, he took his place with the twelve; 21and while they were eating, he said, ‘Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me.’ 22And they became greatly distressed and began to say to him one after another, ‘Surely not I, Lord?’ 23He answered, ‘The one who has dipped his hand into the bowl with me will betray me. 24The Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that one by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that one not to have been born.’ 25Judas, who betrayed him, said, ‘Surely not I, Rabbi?’ He replied, ‘You have said so.’
LESSON from the GARDEN
MUSIC - “The Cross of Calvary” [by Charles Gounod] - Jan Green
V. The Lord’s Supper
Meditation - Brian Hurd
Hymn - Bread of the World, in Mercy Broken #387, vs. 1-2
1 Bread of the world in mercy broken,
wine of the soul in mercy shed,
by whom the words of life were spoken,
and in whose death our sins are dead:
2 Look on the heart by sorrow broken,
look on the tears by sinners shed;
and be thy feast to us the token
that by thy grace our souls are fed.
Prayer - Beth Schabel
Words of Institution - Beth Schabel
Music - “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross” - Sarah Park
VI. The Garden of Gethsemane - Katie Baird
SCRIPTURE - Matthew 26:36-42
36 Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane; and he said to his disciples, ‘Sit here while I go over there and pray.’ 37He took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be grieved and agitated. 38Then he said to them, ‘I am deeply grieved, even to death; remain here, and stay awake with me.’ 39And going a little farther, he threw himself on the ground and prayed, ‘My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet not what I want but what you want.’ 40Then he came to the disciples and found them sleeping; and he said to Peter, ‘So, could you not stay awake with me one hour? 41Stay awake and pray that you may not come into the time of trial; the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.’ 42Again he went away for the second time and prayed, ‘My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.’
LESSON from the GARDEN
MUSIC - ‘Tis Midnight, and on Olive’s Brow #194, vs. 1-4
1 ’Tis midnight, and on Olive’s brow
the star is dimmed that lately shone;
’tis midnight, in the garden now
the suffering Savior prays alone.
2 ’Tis midnight, and from all removed,
the Savior wrestles lone with fears;
e’en that disciple whom he loved
heeds not the Savior’s grief and tears.
3 ’Tis midnight, and for others’ guilt
the Man of Sorrows weeps in blood;
yet he that has in anguish knelt
is not forsaken by his God.
4 ’Tis midnight, and from heavenly plains
is borne the song that angels know;
unheard by mortals are the strains
that sweetly soothe the Savior’s woe.
BENEDICTION - Rev. Chad Delaney
- We have been blessed by God’s presence and your presence today.
- Thank you to Jan, Ryan & karly, Sarah and the Worship Team
- You are welcome to join us for Coffee and Conversation downstairs or in our Sunday School chats.
- There is no Life Study this week, but there is Wednesday afternoon bible study and Loaves and Fishes Meal on Thursday.
- We hope to see you at the Maundy Thursday Service at Hiram, Sunrise at Derthick’s,
This Lenten Season our prayer is that the stories, the music, the devotional, the connections with our faith family has made this a Time to Grow. We are now begin the journey to go from the Garden to the Table -- A Table of Life and Abundance. In the meantime, we will stay with Jesus and follow him all the way.
A Vision of the Way it Can Be by Jeanyne Slettom
This is a vision of the way it can be, the way it could be—
Shouts of welcome, a joyful procession,
a community celebrating together.
The same vision is offered to us today:
To welcome Christ into our lives;
To celebrate his transforming power.
How swiftly things changed back then,
How swiftly we, too, can be distracted.
In this Holiest of Weeks
May we hold fast to Christ’s vision of goodness—
Peace from the practice of justice,
Mercy from the practice of love and generosity.
As this week unfolds,
May we be overtaken by God’s love
And then may we pour it back out into the world.
Let us Sing…and please remain seated through the Postlude…
BENEDICTION RESPONSE - Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross #587, vs.1-2
1 Jesus, keep me near the cross: there a precious fountain,
free to all, a healing stream, flows from Calvary's mountain.
[Refrain]
In the cross, in the cross, be my glory ever,
till my raptured soul shall find rest beyond the river.
2 Near the cross, a trembling soul, love and mercy found me;
there the bright and morning star sheds its beams around me. [Refrain]
POSTLUDE - “When We Walk With the Lord” - Sarah Park
(Please remain seated for the closing postlude)