Worship Notes for Sunday, March 9, 2014

On this first Sunday in the season of Lent, you will notice some changes in the bulletin and in the order of worship. Lent provides an opportunity for us to spiritually prepare for Holy Week and the Resurrection by tending to our spiritual lives. It’s a chance to take stock, clean house, and add on spiritual disciplines. With this in mind, most of the service changes are designed to help facilitate reflection and confession within the regular framework of the weekly service elements.We begin with the Introit for Lent, Behold the Glories of the Lamb to help focus our attention for the coming weeks on the Lamb who was slain before the foundation of the world as a propitiation for our sins. The Call to Worship from Psalm 103 draws our attention to the Lord who forgives our iniquities and redeems us. We sing of this Savior and His care over His people in Hallelujah, Praise Jehovah and How Firm a Foundation.  The Reading of Scripture and the Pastoral Prayer is then followed by Lord Jesus, Think on Me—a reflection on how Christ is everything for the believer in life, health, salvation, perseverance, sanctification, glorification.

The Prayer of Confession continues from Psalm 103 with the desire to God to remove our sins as far as the east is from the west and show us His steadfast love. We are returning to the Sanctus (Holy, Holy, Holy from Isaiah 6, Rev 4, Mt 21) as our lead in to Communion and are using passages of Scripture as our Profession of Faith—allowing God’s Word to reflect upon the sermon and weave His truths into our hearts.

The final hymn, May the Mind of Christ, My Savior, is a prayer that Christ would shape us into His image and likeness as we grow in faith.

http://www.cornerstonepresfranklin.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Cornerstone-Bulletin-03.09.14.pdf