Worship Connection for March 26, 2023

• • Come join us for our Easter Egg Hunt on April 2 at 10:00 AM
  • On April 2, we will be celebrating both Palm Sunday and Love Feast during our morning worship, with the normal schedule of 9:30 Sunday School, 10:15 Praise, 10:30 Worship.  We will begin our time of worship in the sanctuary and move to the fellowship hall for a simple meal, feetwashing/handwashing, and communion in remembrance of the Last Supper of Jesus Christ before he was crucified, died, and resurrected. 
  • The Community Easter Sunrise Service will be at 7 AM on April 9 in the upper parking lot of the Weyers Cave Community Center.
  • To commemorate Easter this year, the Discipleship Focus Team ivites you to a pedestrian or motor Cross Walk, Thursday through Saturday, April 6-8. It consists of seven stations around the exterior of Pleasant Valley, depicting passages of scripture detailing events preceding and following the crucifixion of our Savior, Jesus Christ.
  • The Disaster Auction will be held on May 19-20 at the Rockingham County Fairgrounds! For more information, please pick up an info packet in our narthex, or call Brenda Fawley at (540) 810-2578
    • Karis has reopened at their new location in the old Super Save. Stop by and see our beautiful new store! If you are interested in consigning call the store during business hours to make an appointment. As always, we are looking for new volunteers so if you have a few extra hours and would like to help out talk to Sara Houff or Teri Sumey.
    • Our church-sponsored Disaster Trip to Dawson Springs, Kentucky is   scheduled for September 17-23. If you are interested, please contact Eddie Meyerhoeffer for more information at (540) 255-7366

 Gathering Prayer                                                                                            

Welcome & Announcements

Call to Worship

Praise Songs  

Come to the Table

Graves Into Gardens

Sharing our Gifts

Invitation to Give

Offering                                                               

Presentation                              Strong Righteous Man                   vs. 3&4                   340

Prayer

Sharing Praises and Prayer Requests

Praying Together 

Hymn                                                   Come Ye Disconsolate                                                       497

Children’s Time

Ministry In Music

Jesus, My Redeemer

arr. Travis Boyd

Scripture                                              John 11:1-45

Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. ² (This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair.) ³ So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is sick.” ⁴ When he heard this, Jesus said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.” ⁵ Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. ⁶ So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days, ⁷ and then he said to his disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.” ⁸ “But Rabbi,” they said, “a short while ago the Jews there tried to stone you, and yet you are going back?” ⁹ Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Anyone who walks in the daytime will not stumble, for they see by this world’s light. ¹⁰ It is when a person walks at night that they stumble, for they have no light.” ¹¹ After he had said this, he went on to tell them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up.” ¹² His disciples replied, “Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better.” ¹³ Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep. ¹⁴ So then he told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead, ¹⁵ and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.” ¹⁶ Then Thomas (also known as Didymus^[a]) said to the rest of the disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.” ¹⁷ On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. ¹⁸ Now Bethany was less than two miles^[b] from Jerusalem, ¹⁹ and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. ²⁰ When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home. ²¹ “Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died. ²² But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.” ²³ Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” ²⁴ Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” ²⁵ Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; ²⁶ and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?” ²⁷ “Yes, Lord,” she replied, “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.” ²⁸ After she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary aside. “The Teacher is here,” she said, “and is asking for you.” ²⁹ When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him. ³⁰ Now Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. ³¹ When the Jews who had been with Mary in the house, comforting her, noticed how quickly she got up and went out, they followed her, supposing she was going to the tomb to mourn there. ³² When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” ³³ When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. ³⁴ “Where have you laid him?” he asked. “Come and see, Lord,” they replied. ³⁵ Jesus wept. ³⁶ Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” ³⁷ But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”³⁸ Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. ³⁹ “Take away the stone,” he said. “But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.” ⁴⁰ Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?” ⁴¹ So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. ⁴² I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.” ⁴³ When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” ⁴⁴ The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.” ⁴⁵ Therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him.

Sermon                                          A Sneak Preview of Easter

Hymn                                                      Lord of the Dance               

Benediction                       

Postlude