Online Worship for April 3, 2022

The video will stream live beginning at 10:00 AM on Sunday, April 3, 2022. You may need to click Play to launch the stream.

Welcome to Church of the Holy Cross’s live streaming worship service for April 3, 2022. Feel free to follow the service text by scrolling down, or you may download and print the service in PDF format below.

Today’s service includes celebration of Holy Communion. Please prepare and have ready a staple food such as bread or rice, and a beverage such as wine, juice, or water, for that portion of the service.

Online Worship, April 3, 2022
Fifth Sunday in Lent

Rev. Eric S. Anderson, Pastor

WE GATHER TO WORSHIP GOD

Welcome                                                                                                    Rev. Eric S. Anderson

Prelude: Lord Jesus Christ, You Have Prepared—James Manfield, tune-Du Lebensbrot,
Herr Jesu Christ by Peter Sohren                                                                 Kayleen Yuda

Call to Worship: based on Psalm 126                                               Woody Kita

Leader: We have lived in hard times. We have known sorrow and loss in an uncaring world.
All: When our misfortunes were restored, we moved slowly, as if in a dream.

Leader: Then we opened our lips with laughter. Our tongues issued their shouts of joy.
All: It was said around us, “The LORD has done great things for them.”

Leader: We come again, uncertain of the direction of these days, to seek the aid of God.
All: We pray that those who come in weeping go out with shouts of joy, carrying their sheaves.

Invocation: based on John 12:1-8                                                       Woody Kita

Truly you were correct, Jesus. The poor are still with us, and it speaks ill of our skill and will to shape a community of justice and of peace. Welcome us in this time as you welcomed Mary. We bring no such extravagant gift as she did, no perfume to fill the house, but we bring our hearts, O Holy One. We bring them because we do always have you, and in your presence we worship. Amen.

Hymn #191: Before Your Cross, O Jesus                                        Eric Anderson
                                                                                                                        Doug Albertson
                                                                                                                      Movement led by Genie Phillips

Scripture:                                                                                                   Woody Kita

Isaiah 43:16-21
Thus says the Lord,
    who makes a way in the sea,
    a path in the mighty waters,
 who brings out chariot and horse,
    army and warrior;
they lie down, they cannot rise,
    they are extinguished, quenched like a wick:
 Do not remember the former things,
    or consider the things of old.
 I am about to do a new thing;
    now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?
I will make a way in the wilderness
    and rivers in the desert.
 The wild animals will honor me,
    the jackals and the ostriches;
for I give water in the wilderness,
    rivers in the desert,
to give drink to my chosen people,
     the people whom I formed for myself
so that they might declare my praise.

Philippians 3:4b-14
If anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.

 Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ. More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith. I want to know Christ^[b] 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.

Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenlycall of God in Christ Jesus.

Story/Sermon: A New Thing (An Old Thing)                               Rev. Eric S. Anderson

Pastoral Prayer                                                                                       Rev. Eric S. Anderson

Please join me in 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 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 and ever. Amen

Instrumental Anthem: The Old Rugged Cross                            Kanako Okita

Call to Offering                                                                                        Woody Kita

A new thing; an old thing. In old and new God’s love flows to us and through us. Bring now your love for God and for your neighbors, to share freely and generously. Please send your offering through the mail in an envelope to 440 West Lanikaula Street, Hilo, Hawai’i, 96720, or give online at holycrosshilo.com/donate. Let us pray together:

Offertory Prayer

Whatever our confidence in ourselves, O God, our greater confidence is in you. Here we offer you gifts that cannot express our love for others, and certainly not our love for you, so we ask that you gather our offerings together and make them greater even than the sum of all our love. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Instrumental Anthem: Reflection on Let Us Break Bread—Lasky, tune:  Let Us Break Bread, African-American spiritual                             Kayleen Yuda
                                                                                                                       

Celebration of Holy Communion

Invitation to Communion

Pastor: Come to this table, wherever it is set,
all you who go out weeping,
bearing the seeds of desperate hope,
lingering sadness, loss, fear, or depression,
bearing the seeds of sunflowers.  

All: We come holding hearts,
even if we cannot hold hands.

Pastor: Come to this table, wherever it is set,
all you who come home with joy,
with release from pain,
with new tender love, soft vintage love,
child-smile, or good memory.

All: We come to the ordinary table
of God’s extraordinary love.

Words of Remembrance and Consecration

Pastor: We remember so many different
tables of Jesus –
his acceptance of hospitality
from Peter’s mother-in-law and Zacchaeus,
the Syrophoenician woman’s challenge,
the generous boy with his lunch.

We remember a meal Martha served,
with food Jesus didn’t criticize,
a living but endangered Lazarus
sitting at the table,
and the gift of costly perfume
Mary poured over Jesus’ feet.

There is always controversy
about how to love God,
live in justice, share compassion.

Jesus remembered six days later
what Mary had done and washed
his disciples’ dirty, calloused toes.

We, too, remember – the Passover
with a betrayer, a denier, a doubter,
all clean and loved.

Jesus used what was familiar,
accessible and ordinary –
bread already on the table,
a cup for all lips.

And so we share these from our tables –
knowing that some of us cook,
some anoint, some argue,
some simply eat,

and there are many present
whom Christ has returned to life.

Let us pray together:

All: Holy God, bless every piece of bread near the mouth of any one of your children so that it becomes the strength and hope and holiness we need. Bless a small plastic cup or a beautiful chalice, and every glass in between, reminding us that we can never spill our love, and we always and in all places drink your healing. Amen.

Sharing of the Elements 

Pastor:  You hold the Bread of heaven. Honor it.
It is consecrated to perfectly match your need. Receive it.

All: We eat it in hope.   

Pastor: You hold the Cup of blessing. Honor it.
It is consecrated so you become a communion of saints.
Receive this one small sip – deeply.             

All: We drink it in joy. 

Prayer of Thanksgiving

Pastor: Let us pray together:

All: God, we give you thanks that we are the people chosen in this meal, chosen to make new paths, new ways in the wilderness of sorrows, losses and injustices, dangers to all creatures and the earth itself. From this blessed meal we take hope that even war may be quenched, and that we can recognize your new things springing forth, and commit ourselves to be the bringers of their blessings to all people. Amen.

Announcements                                                                                     Rev. Eric S. Anderson

Benediction                                                                                               Rev. Eric S. Anderson

Postlude: Come, Ye Faithful—Edward Broughton, tune: St. Kevin by Arthur Sullivan
                                                                                                                        Kayleen Yuda

Permissions:
Lord Jesus Christ, You Have Prepared—James Manfield
Tune: © 1988 Lorenz Corporation (admin by Music Services) All Rights Reserved.
Streamed by permission ONELICENSE A-735890

Before Your Cross, O Jesus
Lyrics by Ferdinand Q. Blanchard, 1929
Tune ST CHRISTOPHER by Frederick C. Maker, 1881
Public Domain

The Old Rugged Cross
Tune by George Bennard, 1913
Public Domain

Reflection on Let Us Break Bread—Lasky
Streamed by permission ONELICENSE A-735890

Come, Ye Faithful—Edward Broughton
Lorenz Corporation (admin by Music Services) All Rights Reserved.
Streamed by permission ONELICENSE A-735890

                                                                  Dates to Remember
Today, April 3 – Trustees meeting after worship

Pastor                                                                                                          Rev. Eric S. Anderson
Moderator                                                                                                 Woody Kita
Lay Reader                                                                                                Woody Kita
Chapel Decorations                                                                              Janet Fujioka
Choir Accompanist                                                                                Kanako Okita
Choir Director                                                                                         Doug Albertson
Organist                                                                                                     Kayleen Yuda
Hand Bell Director                                                                                Anna Kennedy
Childcare Coordinator                                                                        Evonne Shioshita
Movement Leader                                                                                 Genie Phillips
Projected Imagery                                                                                Sue Smith
Web Master                                                                                              Ruth Niino-DuPonte  
Videographers                                                                                        Eric Tanouye, Bob Smith

This week at the Church of the Holy Cross

• Pickleball: Wednesdays, 2:00 p.m., Saturdays 1:30 p.m., Sundays 1:30 p.m. Building of Faith—limited to 10 attendees
• Bible Study with Pastor Eric: Tuesdays, 3:00 p.m. via Zoom.
• Online Song – Wednesday, 11:00 a.m. online.
• Community Concert – 2^nd and 4^th  Fridays, 6:00 p.m. online.