Thank you for joining us for this live stream (or recording, as the case may be) of Sunday worship. May it bless you! You may need to click “Play” to launch the stream, which will be live around 9:50 AM.
Welcome to the live stream of worship from Church of the Holy Cross for Sunday, March 23, 2025. You will find the service outline below, and you may download and print the PDF to follow more easily.
Service of Worship March 23, 2025
Third Sunday in Lent
Rev. Eric S. Anderson, Pastor
Rev. Dr. Diane Weible, Sabbatical Interim Pastor
WE GATHER TO WORSHIP GOD
Please note that audio and video of this service are being live streamed on the Internet and will be recorded. The right rear section of the sanctuary will not be captured by any cameras. Please be aware that in other sections you may be visible at times.
Prelude: Prelude on “Cleansing Fountain” Kayleen Yuda
Lighting of the Candles
Ringing of the Bell
Welcome Rev. Dr. Diane Weible
* Call to Worship Mace Peng
Leader: We’ve come to offer our praise to God, whose steadfast love is
better than life.
People: Let our voices bless the Lord our God!
Leader: God is our help.
People: God shelters us; today we sing our joy.
Leader: We seek God, like desert plants seek water.
People: So we pray, praise, and proclaim the mighty power of God!
* Hymn #43: Love Divine, All Loves Excelling
* Invocation Mace Peng
Holy God, your steadfast love holds us, even in challenging times. Like a mother hen, you draw us close and cover us. May this hour provide us strength and courage to step out into the demands of our lives, confident that we do not go alone. Thank you for your Spirit, which abides with us, and for this congregation, which is one part of the Body of Christ. Amen.
WE SHARE THE WORD OF GOD
Anthem: Canon in D Paul Arceo, trumpet
Andy Arceo, trumpet
Kayleen Yuda, pianist
Time with the Children Rev. Dr. Diane Weible
Scripture: 1 Corinthians 10:1-13 Mace Peng
I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ. Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them, and they were struck down in the wilderness.
Now these things occurred as examples for us, so that we might not desire evil as they did. Do not become idolaters as some of them did; as it is written, ‘The people sat down to eat and drink, and they rose up to play.’ We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. We must not put Christ[b] to the test, as some of them did, and were destroyed by serpents. And do not complain as some of them did, and were destroyed by the destroyer. These things happened to them to serve as an example, and they were written down to instruct us, on whom the ends of the ages have come. So if you think you are standing, watch out that you do not fall. No testing has overtaken you that is not common to everyone. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it.
Luke 13:1-9At that very time there were some present who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. He asked them, ‘Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all other Galileans? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as they did. Or those eighteen who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them—do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others living in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish just as they did.’ Then he told this parable: ‘A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and found none. So he said to the gardener, “See here! For three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and still I find none. Cut it down! Why should it be wasting the soil?” He replied, “Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig round it and put manure on it. If it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.”’
Sermon: No One is Immune Rev. Dr. Diane Weible
WE RESPOND IN WORD AND DEED
Pastoral Prayer Rev. Dr. Diane Weible
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
* Hymn #586: Come to Tend God’s Garden
Call to Offering Mace Peng
As we come to our time of receiving all we are prepared to give, let us remember the appeal of the gardener: “Let me work with it for a year, and then decide.” With your gifts today, may our work allow God’s love to thrive like a well-cared for plant.
Offertory: According to Thy Gracious Word Kayleen Yuda
* Doxology
Praise God from whom all blessings flow,
Praise Him all creatures here below
Praise Him above ye heavenly host
Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost – Amen
* Offertory Prayer Mace Peng
For all that has been given this day, we give you thanks, Generous God.
For the ways you are working with each of us through your Spirit, through this congregation, and through the parables of Jesus, thank you.
Receive these gifts and the commitments we make to share not only our
treasure, but our time and our talents, as offerings of our lives.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.
* Hymn #423: Great Is Your Faithfulness
Announcements Rev. Dr. Diane Weible
Benediction Rev. Dr. Diane Weible
Postlude: Come, Ye Faithful
* Please stand if you are able.
Permissions:
Liturgical elements from Worship Resources for
the Center for Faith and Giving for Lent 3, March 23, 2025, https://centerforfaithandgiving.org/2025/03/march-23-2025/
Love Divine, All Loves Excelling
Charles Wesley, 1747, alt.
John Zundel, 1855
Public Domain
Streamed by permission ONELICENSE A-735890
Prelude on “Cleansing Fountain”
James Mansfield
Streamed by permission ONELICENSE A-735890
Canon in D
Johann Pachelbel
Streamed by permission ONELICENSE A-735890
Come to Tend God’s Garden
Tune: Text: © 1992 John A. Dalles, 1992
Music: Ralph Vaughan Williams from
Enlarged Songs of Faith, 1931, 1925
© Oxford University Press.
All rights reserved.
Streamed by permission ONELICENSE A-735890
According to Thy Gracious Word
Gilbert Martin
Tune: © 2009 Lorenz Corporation
(admin. by Music Services)
All Rights Reserved.
ASCAP Text: © Lorenz Corporation
(admin. by Music Services)
All Rights Reserved. ASCAP
Streamed by permission ONELICENSE A-735890
Great Is Your Faithfulness
Thomas O. Chisholm, 1923
Text: © 1923, ren. 1951,
Hope Publishing Company
Streamed by permission ONELICENSE A-735890
Come, Ye Faithful
Edward Broughton
Streamed by permission ONELICENSE A-735890
Special Announcement
Easter lily sign up for Easter Sunday chapel decorations is located in the breezeway and are available for $12.99 per plant. Please issue checks to Cynthia Debus; last day to order is Sunday, March 23rd.
Important Dates
Today, March 23 – J’s Mini-Mart
Mondays, 11:30 a.m. –Pickleball lessons; contact Connie 808-936-7534 or Ruth
808-938-3858 to sign up.
Tuesday, March 25, 3 p.m. — Bible Study, Pastor’s Study and online:
¨ 2 Corinthians 5:16-21
¨ Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32
Wednesdays, 12 noon –Pickleball lessons; contact Connie 808-936-7534 or
Ruth 808-938-3858 to sign up.
Wednesdays, 5-6:30 p.m. – Lenten Conversation Series in the Meeting Room (please see PDF file near the top of this page for more details).
Other Faith Groups that meet at Church of the Holy Cross
The United Church of Christ, Pohnpei – Sanctuary, 12 noon
Rev. Bensis Henry
Congregational Christian Church of American Samoa – Sanctuary, 2:00 p.m.
Rev. Sitau Ofoia, Jr.
The Bedesta Church – Sanctuary, 4 p.m.
Rev. Edmes Edwin
Pastor Rev. Eric S. Anderson
Sabbatical Interim Pastor Rev. Dr. Diane Weible
Moderator Stefan Tanouye
Lay Reader Mace Peng
Chapel Decorations Beverly Dodo
Organist Kayleen Yuda
Guest Trumpeter Paul Arceo
Guest Trumpeter Andy Arceo
Hand Bell Director Anna Kennedy
Hymn Leader Chandra Oshima
Projected Imagery Sue Smith
Web Master Ruth Niino-DuPonte
Videographers Eric Tanouye, Eli Yamaki,
Mace Peng, Bob Smith
Sunday School Teacher Gloria Kobayashi
Sunday School Aide Johanna Narruhn
Church Office Manager Pearl Momi Lyman
