WORSHIP RESOURCES
Fourth Sunday in Lent
2 Corinthians 5:16-21
Be Reconciled to God
Additional Scriptures
Joshua 5:9-12; Psalm 32; Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32; Enos 1:3-12; Doctrine and Covenants 16:3c-e
Preparation
This service will be highly introspective, including moments where strong feelings and emotions might come forward. Assign a priesthood member such as a priest or evangelist or have the pastor be available at the end of the service to provide pastoral care as needed.
For the Focus Moment, you will need two dolls, puppets, or people and bandages with smiley faces drawn on them. For Spiritual Practice, provide paper and writing utensils for those who want them.
Prelude
Share, Care, and Announcements
Welcome and Lent Statement
I welcome each of you today into Christian community as we gather during our journey through the season of Lent. Lent is a time of reflection, introspection, and penitence, a period of forty days mirroring Jesus’s forty days of fasting and temptation in the desert. It’s a spiritual journey we embark on together as a community, tracing the path from the ashes of Ash Wednesday to the glory of Easter Sunday.
This season is a call to fasting, prayer, and almsgiving. We are reminded of our humanity, our fragility, and our shared reliance on God’s grace. It is a time to confront our weaknesses, confess our sins, and seek reconciliation with God and one another.
Though we observe the solemnity of the season, each Sunday of Lent is also a celebration, a mini-Easter, reminding us of the hope and resurrection that lies beyond the cross. Each Sunday, we pause to gather strength and inspiration as we continue our Lenten journey.
Today, we worship with intention to be reconciled to God as part of our journey. We recognize our sins including the ways we turn away from God, harm one another and creation, and do not recognize who we are as children of God. We seek a closer relationship and union with God whose love transforms us and has the power to reconcile and heal.
Call to Worship: Responsive Reading
Leader: As we gather today, let us remember the words of the psalmist,
“Blessed is the one whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered.”
All: We come seeking God’s grace, ready to confess, and eager to be
transformed.
Leader: Let us enter this sacred space with contrite hearts, embracing the
boundless mercy of our Creator.
All: In the spirit of reconciliation, we open our hearts to God and one another.
Opening Prayer
Hymn of Praise Encourage participants to sing in languages other than their own.
“Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow” CCS 53
OR “Praise to the Lord, the Almighty” CCS 101
OR “Great Is Thy Faithfulness” CCS 11
Scripture Reading: 2 Corinthians 5:16-21
Focus Moment
Objective: Explore the role of kind words in mending relationships and fostering reconciliation.
Materials: two dolls or puppets or people, plus bandages with smiley faces drawn on them.
Introduction
Start with two dolls, puppets, or people, introducing them as friends and giving them each a name. Create a simple story scenario in which one accidentally hurts the other’s feelings.
Illustrating Hurt and Healing
Show the hurt puppet/doll/person looking sad. Ask, “What do you think can help make [name] feel better after a friend hurt their feelings?”
After some responses, suggest that sometimes just a few kind words, like, “I’m sorry,” can heal a sad heart.
Using the Bandages
Hand the puppet/doll/person that caused the hurt a bandage (to symbolize kind words) and let it ‘apply’ the bandage to the other puppet/doll/person, while saying, “I’m sorry I hurt your feelings.” Once the bandage is applied, show the hurt puppet/doll/person smiling again.
Conclusion
End with a simple affirmation like, “Let’s remember to use our healing words every day. They’re like a bandage that can turn a frown into a smile!”
Hymn of Confession Sing twice.
“O Lord, Hear My Prayer” CCS 192
OR “Lord, Have Mercy” CCS 197
OR “O God We Call” CCS 195
Confession and Assurance Spiritual Practice
It’s essential to handle this practice with great care, ensuring it’s a time of genuine spiritual engagement, not guilt or shame. The focus should be on God’s boundless mercy and the joy and liberation that come with reconciliation. Provide paper and writing utensils for those who want them.
Introduction to Confession
Briefly introduce the spiritual practice, explaining that confession is not just about acknowledging sins but also about opening our hearts to transformation and renewal in God’s love.
Guided Reflection
Guide participants through a reflective process. This might include asking them to recall moments of failure, times they’ve felt distant from God, or instances where they’ve wronged others. Encourage the congregation to write down their reflection or just keep them in their thoughts. Suggestion: Use soft, reflective instrumental music in the background to set the tone.
Silent Personal Confession
Invite participants to a few minutes of silent prayer, where each person privately confesses their shortcomings to God, seeking forgiveness and reconciliation.
Congregation Prayer of Forgiveness
Initiate a prayer acknowledging communal confession and seeking God’s forgiveness and guidance. Invite participants to join in with their confessional prayer thoughts.
OR say the Lord’s Prayer together in unison.
Words of Assurance
Declare God’s forgiveness and reassurance for all participants.
Example: As it says in John, “If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” As God’s beloved children, let us forgive ourselves and one another, and walk in newness of life.
OR say the Lord’s Prayer together in unison.
Follow-Up
This practice can be deeply personal and stirring. It’s wise to have a ministry team available after the service for those who might need further prayer or counseling. Make participants aware of the ministry team and where they will be located at the end of the service.
Hymn of Restoration
“God, Renew Us by Your Spirit” CCS 237
OR “Restore in Us, O God” CCS 219
OR “God, Whose Grace Redeems Our Story” CCS 570
Sermon
Based on 2 Corinthians 5:16-2
Enos 1 :3-12 and Doctrine and Covenants 16:3c-f are excellent examples of the joy of reconciliation with God and the worth of all persons to God.
Hymn of Reconciliation
Encourage participants to sing in languages other than their own.
“There Is a Balm in Gilead” CCS 234
OR “Ososŏ/Come Now, O Prince of Peace” Sing several times. CCS 225
Disciples’ Generous Response
Scripture Reading
All day and night I prayed until my voice reached the heavens. And God said, “Enos your sins are forgiven and you shall be blessed.” Knowing that God could not lie, my guilt was swept away. Then I began to feel a desire for the welfare of my community. Therefore, I poured out my whole soul to God for them.
—Enos 1:3-12 adapted
Statement
When we are reconciled to God, our hearts and focus shift. We more fully seek the welfare of others and the wider community. Just as Enos’s focus shifted, so ours can when we receive God’s generosity and seek to share that generosity with others.
God’s astonishing compassion and love in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus is the ultimate example of generosity. God loves us abundantly and unconditionally. As we open our hearts to courageously and generously share by placing money in the offering plates or through eTithing, we reflect the movement of God’s astonishing love and compassion for the world.
If you have participants joining the worship online, remind them that they can give through www.CofChrist.org/give or through eTithing at www.eTithing.org (consider displaying these URLs).
Blessing and Receiving of Local and Worldwide Mission Tithes
Song of Affirmation
“God Forgave My Sin in Jesus’s Name” CCS 627
Encourage participants to sing in languages other than their own.
OR “God Is a Wonder to My Soul” CCS 216
Prayer for Peace
Light the peace candle.
Peace Prayer
Dear God of Peace,
In a world of division, guide us toward reconciliation. Heal our rifts, soften our hearts, and lead us in the path of understanding and unity. May peace prevail in our hearts and among all nations.
Grant us the strength to forgive, the courage to seek forgiveness, and the wisdom to foster peace in our communities and beyond. Teach us to love one another as you have loved us, bridging gaps and building a future grounded in harmony and mutual respect. Amen.
Sending Forth
Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God; for, behold, the Lord your Redeemer suffered death in the flesh; wherefore he suffered the pain of all people, that all might repent and come unto him. And he hath risen again from the dead, that he might bring all people unto him on conditions of repentance. And how great is his joy in the soul who repents. Wherefore you are called to cry repentance unto this people.
—Doctrine and Covenants 16:3c-e, adapted
Go and love God’s people.
Postlude
SERMON AND CLASS HELPS
Year C—Letters
Fourth Sunday in Lent
2 Corinthians 5:16–21
Exploring the Scripture
Paul has written to the church in Corinth several times. While this letter is called Second Corinthians, some Bible scholars suggest it is comprised of parts of several letters edited together. The consensus is that Paul had several communications with the church in Corinth as he offered guidance, instruction, and sometimes correction.
The church in Corinth existed amid an ethnically diverse trading center. The city hosted well-known athletic competitions that valued strength and power. And it was known as a hub of unfettered excess and immorality. Social and political hierarchies governed the everyday lives of the members in Corinth. Such ways of defining people by riches, status, and power continued to find expression in the Christian community.
In this part of Paul’s letter, we see cracks forming in the church community and relationships weakening. Even the community’s relationship with Paul is suffering. Paul writes to remind people the old ways of judging others by outside appearances or social status no longer are valid. People have been made new in Christ. Being newly created means putting aside the human lens that governed decisions, behaviors, and judgments. As transformed persons, they instead view themselves, others, and the world through a lens of oneness and unity in Christ.
This is what it means to be reconciled to God through the life, death, and resurrection of Christ. Christians express this when they reconcile with others. The ministry of reconciliation is the message carried by members of the body of Christ into the world. This is the “ambassadorship” of the Christian community.
During Lent, we reflect and confess. We can hear Paul anew as an individual disciple and as a faith community. We confess to judging others by status, giftedness, or appearance. The riches of the world have tempted us. We have allowed divisions to fracture relationships in families and communities.
We repent and turn from this worldly behavior and much-too-human view. We reclaim ourselves as new creations in Christ and recalibrate our journey on the path of the disciple.
Central Ideas
1. The human or worldly view is discarded, and we see others with a new perspective when we are made new creations in Christ.
2. God’s purpose is for all creation to be reconciled to God. We are called to heal broken relationships.
3. Disciples take Christ-like ministry and the message of reconciliation into the world.
4. Disciples and Christian communities model healthy relationships with God, others, and Earth.
Questions for the Speaker
1. When have I judged someone by their appearance, possessions, or status?
2. When have I avoided reconciliation? With whom am I called to reconcile?
3. How am I an ambassador for Christ in a world dominated by religious judgment, conflict, nationalism, and division?
SACRED SPACE: A RESOURCE FOR SMALL-GROUP MINISTRY
Year C—Letters
Fourth Sunday in Lent
2 Corinthians 5:16–21
Gathering
Welcome
We join other Christians who for many centuries have observed Lent as the forty days between Ash Wednesday and Easter, not counting Sundays. During Lent, we center our attention on Jesus as we remember his life and ministry. Lent also provides a means to sharpen our focus on our lives in relationship to Jesus. The Lenten season encourages us to turn from whatever distracts or blocks our commitment to discipleship. May the season of Lent help us walk with Jesus, though the path leads to the cross.
Prayer for Peace
Ring a bell or chime three times slowly.
Light the peace candle.
Maker of all things and loving Parent to humankind, open our minds and imaginations to the working of your Spirit in us. Direct our minds in the way of your purposes, strengthen our will, and deepen our spirits in the pursuit of justice, mercy, peace, and harmony. For this we pray in Christ’s holy name. Amen.
—Bonnie Wesemann
Spiritual Practice
Silent Personal Reflection
Read the following to the group:
Everyone’s spiritual journey is unique and deeply personal. Sometimes we find ourselves in a wilderness of darkness and confusion. During Lent we acknowledge these times and seek God’s gracious presence to be with us.
Take a moment to center yourself. Find a comfortable position. If you wish, close your eyes. Imagine you are in a wilderness.
Listen as I read. Do words stand out to you? What images come to mind?
After the reading we will spend two minutes in silent reflection. At the conclusion of two minutes the chime will sound.
Psalm 32:1–7 NRSVue
Happy are those whose transgression is forgiven,
whose sin is covered.
Happy are those to whom the Lord imputes no iniquity
and in whose spirit there is no deceit.
While I kept silence, my body wasted away
through my groaning all day long.
For day and night your hand was heavy upon me;
my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. Selah
Then I acknowledged my sin to you,
and I did not hide my iniquity;
I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,”
and you forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah
Therefore let all who are faithful
offer prayer to you;
at a time of distress, the rush of mighty waters
shall not reach them.
You are a hiding place for me;
you preserve me from trouble;
you surround me with glad cries of deliverance. Selah
End the reflection time with a chime or bell.
Invite the group to respond to this question: What words or images from this psalm will you carry with you on your Lenten journey?
Sharing Around the Table
2 Corinthians 5:16–21 NRSVue
From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we no longer know him in that way. So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; look, new things have come into being! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ: be reconciled to God. For our sake God made the one who knew no sin to be sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Paul’s message to the people of Corinth is about changing their perspective. To not judge, or see as humans do, but instead to see as Christ sees. This shift is one of transformation. As transformed persons, they instead view themselves, others, and the world through a lens of oneness and unity in Christ. This is what it means to be reconciled to God through the life, death, and resurrection of Christ.
As followers of Jesus, the peaceful One, we express this when we reconcile with others. The ministry of reconciliation is the message carried by the body of Christ into the world. This is what it means to be “ambassadors” in our faith communities.
While reconciliation can be difficult, the first step is admittance of error—reflection. But what are we doing with this knowledge? Is it causing a change of heart? Added understanding? Growth? Our hope is that through grace and reconciliation we can grow closer in relationship to God and as a body of Christ.
Lent can be a time of reflection, recognition, and reconciliation that leads to rebirth. (Holy week and Easter are coming!) God trusts and empowers us. Because of this we can be ambassadors of this same message to the world around us.
Questions
1. Repentance can be a loaded term for many. How do you see that in relation to reconciliation and being made new in Christ?
2. What are the dangers of judgment, or seeing with a “human point of view?”
3. What do you feel called to reconcile in the world?
Sending
Generosity Statement
Faithful disciples respond to an increasing awareness of the abundant generosity of God by sharing according to the desires of their hearts; not by commandment or constraint.
—Doctrine and Covenants 163:9
The offering basket is available if you would like to support ongoing, small-group ministries as part of your generous response. You also may give at CofChrist.org/give.
The offering prayer for Lent is adapted from A Disciple’s Generous Response.
Ever-present God, forgive us when we are less than loving, less than hope-filled, less than you have created us to be. Your mercy and grace are always with us. May we find strength in your presence, and may we respond to your love with generous spirits. Amen.
Invitation to Next Meeting
Closing Hymn
Community of Christ Sings 168 “I Will Talk to My Heart”
Closing Prayer
Optional Additions Depending on Group
- Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper
- Thoughts for Children
Thoughts for Children
This Lenten activity continues through the season of Lent.
Materials:
· small squares of light-purple paper (large enough to write on, but small enough to be used in a mosaic)
· pencil
· glue stick
· poster board
Before beginning this activity, pick an Easter symbol such as the cross and lightly outline it on the poster board. When participants place their papers in the mosaic the first four weeks of lent, have them avoid the inside of the area you have outlined. This area will be filled during the final week of Lent. Alternatively, you could choose to create a more elaborate mosaic that depicts an Easter scene such as Golgotha or the empty tomb. If you do this, see the note at the end of this lesson about alternating the colors you need.
Choosing to create a more elaborate mosaic could be more interesting for people because they won’t be able to tell immediately what they are creating. They’ll be excited to see the mosaic grow over the weeks of Lent.
Say: We are in the season of Lent. Lent lasts forty days. The number forty is meaningful in few ways. Perhaps most meaningful to the season of Lent, Jesus spent forty days in the wilderness preparing to minister to people. Our Lenten journey is modeled after Jesus’s time in the wilderness because we also are using this time for preparation.
During Lent, we prepare for Holy Week and Easter by doing things that help us live like Jesus and recognize God’s presence in our lives and the world.
Say: Jesus went into the wilderness to prepare himself for ministry. Jesus knew that a big part of ministry is giving to others. Sometimes Jesus gave people food. Other times he gave them advice or encouragement. Jesus also gave his time by staying with people or sharing meals with them.
A lot of people need things. Sometimes people need tangible things like food, water, and shelter. Sometimes people need intangible things like education, acceptance, and love. Just like Jesus, we are called to be ministers and can help give people some things they need.
Ask: Who can you think of that needs something? Is there a specific person you know? Maybe you thought of a group of people who live far away. (Affirm all answers.)
What do you have to give? Do you have more than enough of something that you could donate? Maybe you are really good at listening to people or showing them you love them. (Affirm all answers.)
Say: You all shared very thoughtful answers. I am going to give you each a purple square of paper. Purple is an important color during Lent. It reminds us that we should honor Jesus. I would like you to write or draw a picture of something you could share with someone in need. As you write, say a prayer for the person or group you thought of.
Once everyone has written on their square of paper, we are going to put them together to create a beautiful mosaic! We will continue to add to our mosaic throughout Lent so we can see the preparations we have made!
Help participants attach their square and their piece of paper to the correct part of the mosaic. Keep it someplace safe for next week.
* If you choose to create a more elaborate mosaic that depicts an Easter scene instead of just a symbol, alternate the color mentioned in the script for the colors you need for each part of your mosaic. (For example, one week you could write on green paper, which then could be used in your mosaic to create a grassy landscape.)