MARCH 22, 2015
What we’re singing at First Baptist Church of Berkeley this Sunday
Fifth Sunday in the Season of Lent (theme for Lent: “Lifting Up Our Souls”)
Opening Hymn: “How Deep the Silence of the Soul”
(words: Sylvia Dunstan, 1989; tune: resignation, traditional American tune)
Stanza 2:
Like unseen chimes on moving air, like warm and morning sun,
like gladd‘ning, greening, growing things, like trees with blooms begun.
Such is your presence in our lives, you touch without a trace,
until we turn and find ourselves held fast in your embrace.
Following the Prayer of invocation and Confession, we sing these Words of Assurance (to a theme by Antonin DvoÍák):
Kyrie, kyrie, eleison (Lord, have mercy)
Psalm of the Day: No. 51 (selected verses) with sung response (Kyrie, kyrie, eleison)
Hebrew Scripture Reading: Jeremiah 31:31–34 (“I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and Judah.”)
Contemporary Reading from A Tree Full of Angels – Seeing The Holy in the Ordinary, by Marcina Wiederkehr
At birth, the eye of God beholds us as we really are, frail and glorious. The eye of God beholds so much more than we are able to see in our lives at any moment. Always our good and potential loom large under God’s gaze. Why, then, is it so hidden from our sight? It is time for us to embrace this frail flesh of ours with love. If we want to be disciples, we must claim and cherish our humanness; for what was good enough for God to embrace should be good enough for us.
Gospel Reading, John 12:20–33 (“Anyone who serves me must follow my path; anyone who serves me will want to be where I am, and that one will be honored by the Father.”)
Hymn: “Let Us Go and Walk with Christ”
(words: Herman G. Stuempfle, 1997; tune: song 13, Orlando Gibbons, 1623)
Stanzas 1 and 2:
Let us go and walk with Christ, by his grace forgiven, freed;
follow him with steadfast step where his Word and will may lead.
Let us go and serve with Christ where he walks among the poor,
reaching out as Christ’s own hands, hearts to heal and hope restore.
Hymn in response to the preached message: “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross”
(words: Isaac Watts, 1707; tune: hamburg, Lowell Mason, 1825)
Stanza 3:
See, from his head, his hands, his feet, sorrow and love flow mingled down.
Did e’er such love and sorrow meet, or thorns compose so rich a crown?
Hymn of Dedication: “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross”
Stanza 4:
Were the whole realm of nature mine, that were a present far too small.
Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all.
Hymn for the Lenten Journey: “Go Walk with God in All You Do”
(words: Carolyn Winfrey Gillette, 2004; tune tallis canon, Thomas Tallis, c. 1567)
Go walk with God in all you do, and may God’s love bring joy to you.
May gifts of peace fill all your days, and may God’s truth guide you always.
FBC Berkeley worships at 10:00 am every Sunday in Crouch Classroom, Hobart Hall, on the ABSW campus. Rev. Dr. Nancy E. Hall (ABSW faculty) is the pastor. Our preacher this Sunday is Minister Sharon Allen, FBCB Administrative Associate. Come sing with us! We are a Welcoming and Affirming congregation for the LGBTQ community.
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