The United Methodist Committee on Relief is one of the “best things Methodists do,” according to many people around the world. UMCOR is known for its quick and effective response to natural disasters in every part of the globe. I have personally been on mission trips where UMCOR is present to help with the cleanup, planning, and recovery in the aftermath of hurricanes and floods. I have seen first-hand the dedication, training, and recovery work that is possible.

When the Marshall Fire struck 1000 homes and 6000 acres in northern Colorado in December 2021, UMCOR provided immediate emergency assistance and continued restoration funding in the following year. Because UMCOR is one of the most tangible ways we, as United Methodists, live out our faith in the world, we at St. Paul's UMC have decided that 100% of our March Mission AND Easter Offering will support this incredible and essential work.

Just as the message of Easter is about restoring life after death, the work done through UMCOR helps restore people's lives after tragedy has struck. I encourage you to give generously this month to aid in the work of restoration and resurrection - here in Colorado and worldwide.

~Missions Committee

Each communion Sunday thereafter we will have a basket for those who feel called to give above and beyond their pledge. This "second-mile" giving will help fund the pastor's discretionary fund, which helps meet community needs as they arise, such as gas, lodging, clothing, etc. Feel free to bring your spare cash and change to help make a change in the lives of those in need.

Prelude
Crown Him With Many Crowns
Jubilee Bells

Greeting
Rev. David Petty
 
Threshold Moment
Pastor Donnie Sturgill

The story of Jesus includes many moments around tables, as this was part of his ritual of relationship even to the last. In this fifth week of the Lent season, we will hear a story of love and devotion from the disciple Mary, directed at Jesus at the table. As we will see, Jesus tries to prepare his beloved companions for his death. Talk of death is like a gut-punch to many of us; we would rather believe we and our loved ones are invincible, are able to will ourselves into being strong. We all know that isn’t always how the story goes. We are fragile. Our lives, like the plants in the gardens we tend, are susceptible to elemental dangers and a life-cycle of letting go in order to live.

Threshold Song
Dominick Nors

What in our lives
do we dream about
for tomorrow,
void of sorrow?

Time spent regretting
decisions of our yesterdays,
mistakes we made?
Sometimes we get what we get,
life disappoints us and yet,

God is still here
and somehow,
this faith is good enough.
[repeat]

*Calling on God Prayer
CLM Twinkle Gordon

Leader: Let us pray together:

Holy One, Lover of Souls,
we call out to you.
You know our tears and sorrows,
and you bear the seeds of grief with us.
Open us this day to your comfort
that nurtures these seeds into sheaves of joy–
the simple and good enough moments that fill our days.
Amen.

*Opening Hymn
Be Still My Soul
UMH #534
 
1. Be still, my soul:
the Lord is on your side.
Bear patiently
the cross of grief and pain;
 
leave to your God
to order and provide;
in every change
God faithful will remain.
 
Be still, my soul:
your best,
your heavenly friend
through thorny ways
leads to a joyful end.
 
2. Be still, my soul:
your God will undertake
to guide the future,
as in ages past.
 
Your hope,
your confidence
let nothing shake;
all now mysterious
shall be bright at last.
 
Be still, my soul:
the waves and
winds still know
the Christ who ruled
them while he dwelt below.
 
3. Be still, my soul:
the hour is hastening on
when we shall be
forever with the Lord,
 
when disappointment,
grief, and fear are gone,
sorrow forgot,
love’s purest joys restored.
 
Be still, my soul:
when change and
tears are past,
all safe and blessed
we shall meet at last.
 
Baptism & New Membership
Clay Couitt
Erin Couitt
David Kitch
Terri Kitch
Vicki Watson
Deborah Wozny

Introduction to the Service

Siblings in Christ: Through the Sacrament of Baptism we are initiated into the family of God. Through professing our faith, we renew the vows of our baptism and acknowledge what God is doing in our lives today.  Through the acts of baptism, profession of faith, and taking membership vows, we affirm our commitment to Christ's holy church.

Presentation of Candidates

On behalf of the St. Paul’s United Methodist Church Family here in Colorado Springs, I present the following candidates for reception into membership:
David and Terri Kitch, Vicki Watson, Deborah Wozny, and Erin Couitt. In addition, I present Clay Couitt for baptism and reception into membership.

Profession of Faith

Pastor Petty:  I ask you all these questions on behalf of the whole family of God:
Do you believe in Jesus Christ, by whose grace you are freed from the errors of your past and are called and empowered to meet the full promise of your life?  I do.
Do you believe in God Almighty, creator of all things, and accept the gift of life given to you by the grace of God?  I do.
Do you intend to follow the teachings of Jesus, turn your lives toward God and accept salvation through Jesus Christ, which cleanses us of all our sins?  I do.
Do you believe in the Holy Spirit, a guiding and sustaining power which unites us in our faith and empowers the church of Christ?  I do.
 
Do you accept the freedom and power God gives you to resist evil, injustice, and oppression in whatever forms they present themselves? I do.
Do you embrace the Christian Faith as contained in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments?  I do.

Congregational Affirmation

Dear friends, as you receive these new members, do you, as the church of Jesus, the body of Christ, reaffirm your decision to follow the teachings of Christ?  
People: We do.
Will you love one another and nurture one another in the Christian faith, and will you include these people in your love and care?
People: With God's help, we will live together a life that proclaims the good news of Christ's love by following the teachings of Jesus.
 
We will surround these people with a community of love and forgiveness, that they may continue to grow in their love of God, and be faithful in service to others
 
We will pray for them, that God may continue to guide them through all their life, keep them safe from evil, and bless them with the the many riches of life and life eternal.
Amen.
 
Baptism of Clay Couitt
 
The Lord be with you.
And also with you.

 Let us pray.
 Eternal God: When nothing existed but chaos,
you swept across the dark waters and brought forth light. In the days of Noah, you saved those on the ark through water.  After the flood, you set a rainbow in the clouds. When you saw your people as slaves in Egypt, you led them to freedom through the sea. Their children you brought through the Jordan to the land which you promised.
In the fullness of time you sent Jesus, nurtured in the water of a womb. He was baptized by John and anointed by your Spirit. He called his disciples to share in the baptism of his death and resurrection and to make disciples of all nations.

Clay,  Having professed your belief in the Christian faith, belief in the triune God, and having accepted the grace provided to you by Jesus Christ, come now to be baptized.
 
 Clayton Gene Couitt Jr., I now baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

 The Holy Spirit is at work within you, that being born through water and the spirit, you may be a faithful disciple of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Reception into the Church

  Will you actively participate in the work of Jesus Christ through the ministries of the United Methodist Church?   I will.

  Will you uphold the Church by:
your prayers, your presence,
your gifts, your service
and your witness?  I will.

  Members of the household of God, I commend all of these people for your love and care. Do all that you can to uphold them with the power of your love, your faith and your hope.
 
 People: We give thanks for all that God has already given you and we welcome you in Christian love.

 As members together with you in the body of Christ and in this congregation of The United Methodist Church, we renew our covenant faithfully to participate  in the ministries of the Church by our prayers, our presence, our gifts, our service, and our witness, that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ.  Amen.

 THE CONGREGATION MAY EXPRESS ITS APPRECIATION!
 
*Passing the Peace of Christ
 
Mystery Box
 Pastor Donnie Sturgill

Honest Questions, Compassionate Response
CLM Twinkle Gordon

Leader: Jesus speaks the words no one wanted to admit: he was not always going to be around. “Oh, don’t say that,” so many of us have said to a loved one who speaks the truth about the fragility of life. Perhaps we get uncomfortable because it reveals the precious nature of the present moment, laying bare the beauty and horror of it all. The indescribable pain we know we will one day face invades our senses like a pervasive perfume, inescapable. What if we stopped denying the limited nature of our lives and breathed in deeply the fragrance of vulnerability? Let us take a moment of silent reflection…

Silent Reflection

Leader: Hear this compassionate word from Paul’s Letter to the Philippians: “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead.”
Know that already, God is offering us freedom from the need to avoid suffering at the cost of denying the fullness of life. We are invited into the knowledge that Christ’s vulnerability in life, death, and resurrection shows us the sacred nature of the heights and depths of sorrow and joy in our own saga.

And know, that despite our sometimes faltering steps, in the name of Jesus Christ, you are being forgiven, even now.

People: In the name of Jesus Christ, you are forgiven. Glory to God! Amen.

Gospel Reading
CLM Twinkle Gordon

Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him. Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus' feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.
 
But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said, “Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?” (He said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; he kept the common purse and used to steal what was put into it.)
 
Jesus said, “Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.”
A Word of God that is still speaking,

People: Thanks be to God.

Prayer for Illumination

Leader: May the words of my mouth,

People: and the meditations of all of our hearts
All: be acceptable in your sight, O Lord our rock and our redeemer.
Psalm 19:14

Message
We Are Fragile
Pastor Donnie Sturgill

Prayer of the People     Jackie Fletcher

(Sung)
Though all along
our daily pilgrim race
our treasures small
and very few may be,
our souls are blest
with God’s unending grace,
and that is enough, enough for me.

Oh, that’s enough for me,
God’s truth has
set me free;
the love of Christ
has sanctified my soul,
and that is enough for me.

Leader: Fragility is not only OK, it is also necessary. To know and respect our own limited nature, our vulnerability to the forces of life, we are able to see and be with those who are hurting. We enter our prayers for all who suffer in mind, body, and spirit–vowing to tend with care to those for whom deaths, of many kinds, seem near.
 
(Sung)
When food and raiment
are not ever sure,
and simple fare
is hard to get for some,
we work to share our
goods with one and all,
and that is enough, enough for me.
 
Oh, that’s enough for me,
God’s truth
has set me free;
a love like Christ’s
is meant for ev’ry soul,
and that is enough for me.
 
The Lord's Prayer

Our Father
who art in heaven,
hallowed be Thy Name;
Thy Kingdom come.
Thy will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
 
Give us this day
our daily bread,
and forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those
who trespass against us.
 
Lead us not
into temptation
but deliver us from evil.
For Thine is the Kingdom,
and the Power
and the Glory forever.
Amen

Invitation to Offering
CLM Twinkle Gordon

Offertory
Come as You Are
Crowder
Meagan Horst ~ Dancing

Prayer of Thanks and Dedication
Pastor Donnie Sturgill

*Doxology
Praise God from Whom all Blessings Flow
 
Praise God, from whom
all blessings flow; 
Praise God, all creatures 
here below: Alleluia! Alleluia! 
 
Praise God, the source 
of all our gifts! 
Praise Jesus Christ, 
whose power uplifts! 
 
Praise the Spirit, 
Holy Spirit! 
Alleluia! Alleluia! 
Alleluia!

*A Blessing For When You’re in Grief
Pastor Donnie Sturgill

"Blessed are you, dear, dear one, doing this holy work of suffering what must be suffered. Of grieving what has been lost. Of knowing the unthinkable truth that must be known. This grief can make you feel on the other side of glass from the world around you, a force field of different realities separating you. Yet blessed are you in yours, for yours is the one most seen by God who breathes compassion upon you, even now. Who has walked this path, and who leans toward you, gathering you up into the arms of love. Rest now, dear one. You are not alone.”
 
*Hymn
Who is My Mother
TFWS #2225
 
1. Who is my mother,
who is my brother?
all those who gather
round Jesus Christ:
 
Spirit-blown people,
born from the Gospel
sit at the table,
round Jesus Christ.
 
2. Differently abled,
differently labeled
widen the circle
round Jesus Christ:
 
Crutches and stigmas,
cultures’ enigmas
all come together
round Jesus Christ.
 
3. Love will relate us
color or status
can’t segregate us,
round Jesus Christ:
 
Family failings,
human derailings
all are accepted,
round Jesus Christ.
 
4. Bound by one vision,
met for one mission
we claim each other,
round Jesus Christ:
 
Here is my mother,
here is my brother,
kindred in Spirit,
through Jesus Christ.
 
*Benediction
Pastor Donnie Sturgill

And now, may the God who loves all of creation, especially the grief-stricken parts, and Jesus, our companion along this crooked path called life, and the Holy Spirit, who loves to improvise in surprising ways, go with you, dwell among you, and give you joy. Amen.
 
(Sung)
God is still here and somehow, this faith is good enough.

Postlude
Cynthia Hibbetts