First Presbyterian Church of Niles
Morning Worship
10:00 A.M. March 22, 2026
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PRELUDE
REFLECTION TEXT Psalm 130:2
Lord, hear my voice! Let thy ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications!
ANNOUNCEMENTS
PREPARATION FOR WORSHIP Jesus, Priceless Treasure Arr. Amos
CALL TO WORSHIP (Responsive)
Out of the depths we call to you, O Lord.
Let your ears hear our supplication.
We wait for you, O God. In your word is our hope.
We wait for you, O Lord, for with you there is mercy.
Come. Let us worship God.
OPENING PRAYER
*HYMN 53 O God, Who Gives Us Life NOEL
O God, who gives us life and breath, who shapes us in the womb,
Who guards our lives from birth to death, then leads us from the tomb:
Deliver us from fears that kill the life we have from you.
Help us to know your Spirit still is making all things new.
O God, who calls your people out to venture and to dare,
to plumb the bleak abyss of doubt and find you even there:
When we despair in wandering through wastes of empty lies,
refresh us with the living spring of hope that never dies.
O God of covenant and law, revealed in cloud and flame,
your mighty deeds evoke our awe; we dare not speak your name.
Yet we by faith are drawn to you and will your people prove,
as on our hearts you write anew the covenant of love.
CALL TO CONFESSION
PRAYER OF CONFESSION (In Unison)
God, we are a busy people. We become pre-occupied with the demands of work, our relationships, and our communities. We tend to focus on our own needs and fail to see the needs of those around us. We do that which we should not and fail to do that which we should. We ask for your forgiveness and for your guidance in following the path you have set before us. Hear us now as we humbly come before you silently and privately to confess our sin.
MOMENT OF SILENT AND PERSONAL CONFESSION
ASSURANCE OF PARDON (Responsive)
“If you, God, kept records on wrongdoings, who would stand a chance? As it turns out, forgiveness is your habit, and that’s why you’re worshiped.” Friends, through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, we are forgiven.
Thanks be to God!
PASSING THE PEACE
As God has forgiven us in Christ let us also forgive one another.
The peace of Christ be with you all.
And also with you.
Please share the sign of peace with one another.
The sharing of Christ’s peace.
RESPONSE Peace is Flowing Like a River TRADITIONAL
Peace is flowing like a river, flowing out to you and me.
Flowing out into the desert, setting all the captives free.
His love is flowing like a river, flowing out to you and me.
Flowing out into the desert, setting all the captives free.
PRAYER OF ILLUMINATION
FIRST SCRIPTURE READING Ezekiel 37: 1-14
SPECIAL MUSIC With What Shall I Come? Schram
Chancel Choir
With what shall I come before the Lord? What could I bring to offer him as I humbly bow down? Unworthy in his holy presence, I offer him a contrite heart. With what shall the Lord be truly pleased? What offering have I to give the One who gave his Son? When I see the sacrifice he made, and when I think about the price he freely paid, I bring him all I can, and what I bring, I give with love and joy to my King! Were the whole realm of nature mine, that were a present far too small. Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all!
SECOND SCRIPTURE READING John 11: 1-45
MESSAGE “When Our Story is Full of Pain” Rev. Christopher Mergener
*HYMN O Christ, the Healer CANONBURY
O Christ the healer, we have come to pray for
health, to plead for friends. How can we fail to
be restored when reached by love that never ends?
How strong, O Lord, are our desires, how weak our
knowledge of ourselves! Release in us those
healing truths unconscious pride resists or shelves.
In conflicts that destroy our health we recognize
the world’s disease; our common life declares
our ills. Is there no cure, O Christ, for these?
Grant that we all, made one in faith, in your community
may find the wholeness that,
enriching us shall reach the whole of humankind.
AFFIRMATION OF FAITH
I believe in God, the Father almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ his only Son, our Lord; who was conceived by the Holy Ghost,
born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; he descended into hell; the third day he rose again from the dead; he ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead. I believe in the Holy Ghost; the holy catholic church; the communion of saints; the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting. Amen.
CALL FOR THE OFFERING
Offertory Jesus, Lover of My Soul Arr. Angerman
*DOXOLOGY Praise God Throughout These Forty Days OLD 100TH
Praise God throughout these forty days. Praise Christ, our Lord, whom God did raise. And praise the Spirit who imparts God’s love in Christ into our hearts. Amen.
*PRAYER OF DEDICATION
PREPARATION FOR PRAYERS 471 O Lord, Hear My Prayer HEAR MY PRAYER
O Lord, hear my prayer, O Lord, hear my prayer. When I call answer me.
O Lord, hear my prayer, O Lord, hear my prayer. Come and listen to me.
PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE (Responsive)
Lord in your mercy,
hear our prayer.
THE LORD’S PRAYER (Unison)
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 debts, as we forgive our debtors; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
*HYMN 250 In the Bulb There Is a Flower PROMISE
In the bulb there is a flower; in the seed, an apple tree;
In cocoons, a hidden promise; butterflies will soon be free!
In the cold and snow of winter there’s a spring that waits to be,
Unrevealed until its season, something God alone can see.
There’s a song in every silence, seeking word and melody;
There’s a dawn in every darkness, bringing hope to you and me.
From the past will come the future; what it holds, a mystery,
Unrevealed until its season, something God alone can see.
In our end is our beginning; in our time, infinity;
In our doubt there is believing; in our life, eternity.
In our death, a resurrection; at the last, a victory,
Unrevealed until its season, something God alone can see.
*CHARGE AND BENEDICTION
POSTLUDE
All music is reproduced under permission from ccli.com License #11146543.
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