REMINDERS:

• Daylight Savings Time starts this weekend, so don't forget to “spring forward” tomorrow morning!

• Due to Spring Break, we will only have ONE worship service tomorrow at 10:00 AM and there is no Sunday School.

March 8, 2025

Dear St. Paul’s UMC and Wesley Foundation Family,

Grace and peace to you, church! We have now begun our Lenten journey and our new series called “everyday holiness,” in which we are exploring that which is present in our everyday lives (like getting lost!) to help us practice right relationship with God and one another, right where we are. Along this journey, we are also encouraging you to pray with your breath; as Pastor Greg reminded us on Ash Wednesday, with our very breathing we carry one another. You can find daily breath prayers to use this week at the bottom of this email or daily on our social media.

This week we are privileged to have Rev. Beth Jones with us! Beth is an ordained minister in the United Methodist Church and currently serves as the Director of Deep Green Journey; however, Beth also has some deep history at St. Paul’s UMC and Wesley Foundation, which was an important place in her own faith journey as a teenager. We look forward to having her with us today!

Here is our schedule for tomorrow, March 9th:

NO Sunday School due to Spring Break

10:00 AM: Hybrid Worship Service of Word and Table, in-person in the sanctuary and livestreamed here  

Please remember that since this service is filmed and live-streamed, you or your family members may be on our worship recording, which is streamed and archived on our YouTube channel.

11:15 AM: Hybrid Discussion Group, in-person and on Zoom

Join by clicking here, or use Meeting ID 87591478033 and Passcode stpauls.

Grace and Peace,

Pastor Sarah

Discussion Questions



(1) As Barbara Brown Taylor was once asked, “what is saving your life right now?”

(2) “I have found things while I was lost that I might never have discovered if I had stayed on the path.” (An Altar in the World, p. 73) How do you feel about the “practice of getting lost”? What might this practice look like in your everyday life?

(3) What connections did you notice between the “practice of getting lost” and the Gospel text today? Where did you notice this theme throughout our worship service?

Prelude: “O Sacred Head, Now Wounded (Passion Choral) (arr. by Robert Hughes)

Greeting

Rev. Sarah Coker Voigt

Call to Worship: Psalm 91:1-2,9

One: Let us, who live in the shelter of the Most High, remember together:

All: God is our refuge.

One: Let us, who abide in the shadow of the Almighty, say together:

All: God, you are the one we trust. 

One: Because you, Lord, are our refuge, our dwelling place, throughout these forty days

All: Abide with us, we pray. 

Opening Hymn: “Lord, Who Throughout These Forty Days” (UMH 269)

Passing the Peace 

Children’s Message

Rev. Beth Jones

Gospel Lesson: Luke 4:1-13 (NRSVUE)

Rev. Beth Jones

Message: “The Practice of Getting Lost”

Rev. Beth Jones

Hymn: “Here, O My Lord, I See Thee” (UMH 623)

Invitation to the Sacrament

Confession and Pardon

Merciful God, 

We confess that we have not loved you with our whole heart.

We have failed to be an obedient church. 

We have not done your will, 

We have broken your law,

We have rebelled against your love, 

We have not loved our neighbors, 

And we have not heard the cry of the needy.  

Forgive us, we pray. 

Free us for joyful obedience, 

Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

One: In the name of Jesus Christ, you are forgiven!

All: In the name of Jesus Christ, you are forgiven. 

Glory to God. Amen.

Offering

The Great Thanksgiving

The Lord be with you.

And also with you.

Lift up your hearts. 

We lift them up to the Lord.

Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.

It is right to give our thanks and praise.

It is right …

… and join their unending hymn:

Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might,

heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest.

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.

Holy are you …

… as we proclaim the mystery of faith:

Christ has died; Christ is risen; Christ will come again.

Pour out your Holy Spirit …

… now and forevermore.

Amen.

The Lord’s Prayer

Sharing of the Bread and Cup

Prayer After Communion

Closing Hymn: “I Want Jesus to Walk With Me” (UMH 521)

Announcements

Benediction

Postlude: "Solemn Meditation” (Grant Foster)

Sunday, March 9th:

Inhale: I find rest 

Exhale: In your shelter (Psalm 91:1)

[from A Rhythm of Prayer, Sarah Bessey]

Monday, March 10th:

Inhale: God is like a mother hen

Exhale: I am warm and safe under her wings (Psalm 91:4)

[from A Rhythm of Prayer, Sarah Bessey]

Tuesday, March 11th:

Inhale: Open the eyes of my heart

Exhale: That I might notice the ground beneath my feet. 

Wednesday, March 12th:

Inhale: Love

Exhale: Peace

Thursday, March 13th:

Inhale: God, your love

Exhale: will always find me (Matthew 18:12-14)

[from Every Season Sacred, Kayla Craig]

Friday, March 14th:

Inhale: I am loved

Exhale: That I may love well.

[from “The Facts of Life” by Pádraig Ó Tuama]

Saturday, March 15th:

Inhale: Lift my head

Exhale: that I might behold the beauty of the Lord. (Psalm 27:4)