Online Worship for March 22, 2020

Welcome to Church of the Holy Cross’s live streaming worship service for March 22nd, 2020. Feel free to follow the service text by scrolling down, or you may download and print the service in PDF format from this link:

Online Worship, March 22, 2020

Rev. Eric S. Anderson, Pastor

WE GATHER TO WORSHIP GOD

Welcome:                                                                                Rev. Eric Anderson

Call to Worship:                                                                     Ruth Niino-DuPonte
We gather this morning in a way that we’re not used to. We want to be together, see each other, hear one another’s breaths. Today, however, and for some time to come, we need to come together in the imagination of our hearts. Open your spirit to all those who gather in this unfamiliar space. Open your spirit to a new and different spark. Open your spirit to the love of God.

Opening Prayer:                                                                     Ruth Niino-DuPonte
God of our life, God of our hope, God of our community, and God of our Creation: Unite us in spirit this morning. We seek the presence of our friends in the presence of your Spirit, flowing to every place where we are found. Since we cannot greet one another with hug or handshake, greet our friends for us with a blessing that goes deep into the heart. Gather your dispersed Church, O God, and accept our united worship. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Scripture: John 9:1-41                                                            Ruth Niino-DuPonte
As he walked along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him. Wemust work the works of him who sent mewhile it is day; night is coming when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” When he had said this, he spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva and spread the mud on the man’s eyes, saying to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). Then he went and washed and came back able to see. The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar began to ask, “Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?” Some were saying, “It is he.” Others were saying, “No, but it is someone like him.” He kept saying, “I am the man.” But they kept asking him, “Then how were your eyes opened?”He answered, “The man called Jesus made mud, spread it on my eyes, and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ Then I went and washed and received my sight.”They said to him, “Where is he?” He said, “I do not know.”

They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind.Now it was a sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes.Then the Pharisees also began to ask him how he had received his sight. He said to them, “He put mud on my eyes. Then I washed, and now I see.” Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not observe the sabbath.” But others said, “How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs?” And they were divided. So they said again to the blind man, “What do you say about him? It was your eyes he opened.” He said, “He is a prophet.”

 The Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they called the parents of the man who had received his sightand asked them, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?”His parents answered, “We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind;but we do not know how it is that now he sees, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age. He will speak for himself.”His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews; for the Jews had already agreed that anyone who confessed Jesusto be the Messiahwould be put out of the synagogue.Therefore his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”

So for the second time they called the man who had been blind, and they said to him, “Give glory to God! We know that this man is a sinner.” He answered, “I do not know whether he is a sinner. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.” They said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” He answered them, “I have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples?” Then they reviled him, saying, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.” The man answered, “Here is an astonishing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners, but he does listen to one who worships him and obeys his will. Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” They answered him, “You were born entirely in sins, and are you trying to teach us?” And they drove him out.

Jesus heard that they had driven him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” He answered, “And who is he, sir? Tell me, so that I may believe in him.” Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and the one speaking with you is he.” He said, “Lord, I believe.” And he worshiped him.Jesus said, “I came into this world for judgment so that those who do not see may see, and those who do see may become blind.” Some of the Pharisees near him heard this and said to him, “Surely we are not blind, are we?”Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would not have sin. But now that you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.

Story and Meditation:                                                             Rev. Eric Anderson

Prayer:                                                                                    Rev. Eric Anderson

Also prayed today: The Deer’s Cry in a Time of Quarantine by Maren Tirabassi

Offering Call and Dedication:                                              Ruth Niino-DuPonte
Although we are not sending people around to collect your gifts this morning, it is important, that we continue to offer gifts to support the work of our Church, even if we have to do it differently. We may have to respond to needs we had not ever expected to arise. Please mail your gifts to us at Church of the Holy Cross, 440 West Lanikaula Street, Hilo, Hawai’i 96720.

And we pray: God, bless the generous who share their lives and wealth with one another. God, bless the ones who need the support of generous hearts. God, bless this church to be a community of sharing, of caring, and of healing. Amen.

Music:                                                                                     Amazing Grace
                                                                      Eric Anderson and Doug Albertson

Benediction:                                                                            Rev. Eric Anderson