This is the lesson and sermon from Sunday, February 28, 2010. Delivered by Jessica Scholten
February 2010 Archives
This is the lesson and sermon from Sunday, February 21, 2010.
THE FIRST LESSON Deuteronomy 26:1-11
THE SECOND LESSON Luke 4:1-13
SERMON "Not Wanting to Be Human"
Worship Notes
Welcome to worship at Westminster on this First Sunday in Lent. Lent began on Ash Wednesday (February 17) and continues for 40 days and 40 nights, excluding Sundays. The liturgical color for this season of penitence and reflection is purple. During our Lenten journey, we have put our "Alleluias!" away as we follow the path of Christ through "valley" experiences, in part so that we may experience the "mountaintop" of Easter more fully and completely. Lenten worship is characterized by the use of more purposeful silences, an increased focus on confession, and an opportunity to seek God through corporate and personal prayer.
In worship today, we find Christ in the desert where he fasted and was tempted repeatedly by the devil. In this desert He was challenged to put away his humanity and instead manifest His divine power. He chose the path of humanity even in the wilderness
The music through which we worship today illumines the human experience of wandering through our own wilderness. Our hymns sing not only of the temptations that confronted Christ in the desert, but also express our own need for God to be with us and protect us. Our Lenten prayer is one filled with the hope found in the loving mercy of God and expresses our desire to walk, hand-in-hand, with our Lord.
This is the lesson and sermon from Sunday, February 14, 2010.
THE FIRST LESSON Luke 9:28-36
THE SECOND LESSON 2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2
SERMON "The Light of the Body of Christ: Explosions of Light"
Worship Notes
Today is Transfiguration Sunday, which is observed on the last Sunday before Lent. Transfiguration is a high point before we begin our reflective and penitential Lenten journey, which commences with the imposition of ashes on Ash Wednesday (February 17). The liturgical color for Transfiguration Sunday is white.
In worship today, we end the season of Epiphany with a focus on an explosion of God's light. This includes the light of God that shined on Christ's face as God declared: "This is my Son, with whom I am well pleased!" The scripture lessons describe the transforming experience of Jesus during this mountaintop encounter with God.
The music through which we worship today also reflects these themes of light and transformation. The gathering hymn is a hymn of praise offered to the immortal God who is "light inaccessible, hid from our eyes." In celebration of the light of God, our youngest Christians today offer a song expresses the joyfulness of our response to God's Word in one word: "Alleluia." The choir anthem by Alexander Gretchaninoff (1864-1956) is from the Russian Orthodox tradition and is a hymn to "Holy Radiant Light." Russian choral music characterizes the vastness of God's light by expanding the range of notes sung by the choir. In this anthem, the lowest bass note and the highest soprano note are separated by more than two-and-a-half octaves.
Other music through which we worship today reflects the beautiful light of Christ. The offertory, "Fairest Lord Jesus," is based on hymn 306, which states that Jesus shines fairer than all of the most beautiful sights of nature. Our closing hymn summarizes the Transfiguration scripture by proclaiming that Christ will reign where ever the sun shines bright. As our service ends, the postlude, written by French composer Theodore Dubois (1837-1924) illustrates the transformative process by traversing a number of twists and turns as its musical identity is transformed through a variety of colors, tempos, and modulations before arriving, finally, at a triumphant conclusion.
THE FIRST LESSON Luke 5:1-11
THE SECOND LESSON 1 Corinthians 15:1-11
SERMON "The Light of the Body of Christ: God's Gracefulness"
Worship Notes
Today is the fifth Sunday after Epiphany. Like Westminster, many reformed congregations observe a liturgical season of Epiphany until Transfiguration Sunday which is celebrated next week on the last Sunday before Ash Wednesday. The liturgical color for the season of Epiphany is white.
"Light" is the common liturgical symbol for the season of Epiphany. Just as the magi followed the light of the star to Bethlehem, so too, do we symbolically the light of the Christ candle into the sanctuary during the processional hymn, and out of the sanctuary into the world during the recessional hymn.
The central texts for today's worship are the story of Jesus call to the disciples along the lakeshore to become catchers of people and Paul's reflection on his calling in the church. At the heart of both texts is God's grace that abounds in all our lives. The first hymn reminds us of this grace in the beauty of the cosmos and the last hymn evokes the grace of God in our particular callings. The liturgy and music throughout the service serves to remind us that God's grace abounds.
Today we partake of communion and it is our practice at Westminster to extend an invitation to this table to all of God's children whether one is Presbyterian or not. It is our tradition as well to hold the bread until all can eat together symbolizing our unity in Christ and to partake of the wine as soon as it is served to symbolize our individuality in Christ.
