"When the Lord returned the captives of Zion we were like those who dream" Psalm 126:1
Worship with us Sundays 10:00 am.
For those unable to come in person,
we stream online on YouTube
Sunday, March 1
Second Sunday in Lent
The Christian calendar, also known as the liturgical calendar, is an annual cycle of seasons and holy days observed by Christian churches to commemorate the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is not a single fixed calendar but a framework used across denominations.
The liturgical year begins with Advent, the four weeks before Christmas, marking preparation for Christ’s birth and anticipation of his second coming. Christmas Day is celebrated on December 25, though some Eastern churches observe it on January 7.
The season following Christmas is Epiphany, commemorating the visit of the Magi and the baptism of Jesus, observed on January 6 (or January 19 in the Orthodox tradition).
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Lent begins on Ash Wednesday, and lasts 40 days (excluding Sundays), leading up to Easter. Holy Week includes Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday, the most significant day in the Christian calendar, celebrating Jesus’ resurrection.
The Easter season continues for 50 days, culminating in Pentecost, which marks the descent of the Holy Spirit. After Pentecost, the church enters Ordinary Time, a period of regular feasts and reflection, until the next Advent.
The calendar varies slightly between denominations (Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox), but all center on the life of Christ and the rhythm of faith.
Opening of Worship //
Call to worship the Lord
[Leader:] The Lord be with you!
[ALL:] And also with you!​
[Leader:] When we read through scripture we find over and over again God being patient with wayward people. God is glorified through his mercy. This is something of what it means when Paul said his only boast was in the cross of Christ (Galatians 6:14).
In the first chapter of Colossians Paul writes that through Jesus “God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ’s blood on the cross."
"This includes you who were once far away from God. You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions. Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault. But you must continue to believe this truth and stand firmly in it.” (Col. 1:20b-23a)
Salvation for the lost isn’t found in the wrath of an angry God, but in the pursuit of a Heavenly Father who through His Son Jesus Christ call a wayward people back home.
Today, we acknowledge the faith journey. We are blessed for each step of our life God calls us to walk with Him.
God calls us out of our isolated-self to live as human beings, creatures created in His image, made by Him and for His glory.
[Leader:] As God set Abram, Sarai, and Lot on a journey, God calls us to follow in trust [Genesis 12:1]
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[ALL:] God is able to make us more than we have been and blesses us on the way. [Genesis 12:2]
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[Leader:] As Jesus invited Nicodemus to be born again, Christ invites us to become a new creation. [John 3:3]
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[ALL:] Christ calls us out of darkness into his marvelous light, and we are saved through him. [1 Pet. 2:9; John 3:17]
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Let us pray...
God our helper, our shade, our protector, you are able to give life to the dead, to call into being things that do not exist. We trust in your power to make all things new; to keep us in sunlight and moonlight, along rocky paths and pathways unknown; until all our going and coming brings us at last to your kingdom promised in Christ, in whose name we pray. Amen.
Amen.
The First Testament //
The Law & the Prophets
Genesis 12:1-4a (NLT)
The Lord had said to Abram, “Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land that I will show you. I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others. I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt. All the families on earth will be blessed through you.”
So Abram departed as the Lord had instructed, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran.
The Psalms // Sacred Songs
Psalm 121 (HCSB)
A song of ascents
I raise my eyes towards the mountains. Where will my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of Heaven and earth.
He will not allow your foot to slip; your Protector will not slumber. Indeed, the Protector of Israel does not slumber or sleep.
The Lord protects you; the Lord is a shelter right by your side. The sun will not strike you by day, or the moon by night.
The Lord will protect your from all harm; He will protect your life. The Lord will protect your coming and going both now and forever.
Prayer of Intercession
[Leader:]
To look to God as our source and to surrender to him our concerns is part of our worship. Let us offer up prayers of intercession, looking for God to be God and for human beings to seek God with all their heart, mind, and strength. Let us hear and agree with these leaders of prayer.
Be encouraged to speak out “Amen” or shout out a “Yes, Lord” as you are lead to do so in hearing and declaring these prayers.
[Reader 1:]
God our Helper, we thank you for keeping our lives always in your care and protection and pray for any and all who are in harm’s way. For those walking in the midst of danger... for those who are treading a slippery path... for those exhausted and seeking relief... for those needing courage to stand for what is good and faithful and true... for those who face a mountain of worry or debt or any other obstacles...
Be our Guardian and Guide, we pray, setting all our feet on your paths of righteousness and peace.
[Reader 2:]
We pray for those who are struggling... struggling with a new challenge or call... struggling with a major transition in life or livelihood...
struggling with their fear and understanding... struggling with grief, ancient, or new...
Keep in your tender care and mercy, O God, those who are sick in mind, body, or spirit... those weighed down by depression or pain...
those recuperating from surgery or accident...
Almighty God, meet us where we are weak.
[Reader 3:]
Protect not only us and those we love, but also protect the whole wide world you so love. In places of war, bring peace... in places beset by natural disaster, bring calm and restoration... where there is unrest and injustice, make justice our aim. Where hope has grown tired and thin, lift our sights, so that we may see hope beyond hope, life beyond death, and you, lifted up before us, for your love and power are the only that truly save.
In the name of Christ, who gave himself for our sake, we pray. Amen.
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Jesus, the Light of the World by Khrystyna Kvyk
Prayer for Tithes and Offerings
Because God first loved us, we are made to love one another. For the sake of the life of the world, offer yourselves, your time, and your possessions as signs of love.
Generosity & Giving
The tithes and donations you make to DreamHouse Church make a difference to our church, our community, the people of Newport News, and world missions.
There are various ways you can donate. We pass a collection plate during services and electronic giving is available for 24/7 donations. “Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops” (Proverbs 3:9).
Prayers from the Cloud of Witnesses //
Thomas Cranmer (1489-1556)
Almighty and most merciful Father, we have erred and strayed from your ways like lost sheep. We have followed too much the devices and desires of our own hearts. We have offended against your holy laws. We have left undone those things which we ought to have done, and we have done those things which we ought not to have done, and there is no health in us. O Lord, have mercy upon us, miserable offenders. Spare those, O God, who confess their faults. Restore those who are penitent, according to your promises declared to all people through Christ Jesus our Lord. And grant, most merciful Father, for his sake, that we may hereafter live a godly, righteous, and sober life, to the glory of your holy name. Amen.
The Second Testament // The Epistles
Romans 4:1–5, 13-17 (NLT)
1-5
Abraham was, humanly speaking, the founder of our Jewish nation. What did he discover about being made right with God? If his good deeds had made him acceptable to God, he would have had something to boast about. But that was not God’s way. For the Scriptures tell us, “Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith.”
When people work, their wages are not a gift, but something they have earned. But people are counted as righteous, not because of their work, but because of their faith in God who forgives sinners.
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13-17
Clearly, God’s promise to give the whole earth to Abraham and his descendants was based not on his obedience to God’s law, but on a right relationship with God that comes by faith. If God’s promise is only for those who obey the law, then faith is not necessary and the promise is pointless. For the law always brings punishment on those who try to obey it. (The only way to avoid breaking the law is to have no law to break!)
So the promise is received by faith. It is given as a free gift. And we are all certain to receive it, whether or not we live according to the law of Moses, if we have faith like Abraham’s. For Abraham is the father of all who believe. That is what the Scriptures mean when God told him, “I have made you the father of many nations.” This happened because Abraham believed in the God who brings the dead back to life and who creates new things out of nothing.
The Second Testament // The Gospel
John 3:1-17 (NLT)
There was a man named Nicodemus, a Jewish religious leader who was a Pharisee. After dark one evening, he came to speak with Jesus. “Rabbi,” he said, “we all know that God has sent you to teach us. Your miraculous signs are evidence that God is with you.”
Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.”
“What do you mean?” exclaimed Nicodemus. “How can an old man go back into his mother’s womb and be born again?”
Jesus replied, “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life. So don’t be surprised when I say, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows wherever it wants. Just as you can hear the wind but can’t tell where it comes from or where it is going, so you can’t explain how people are born of the Spirit.”
“How are these things possible?” Nicodemus asked.
Jesus replied, “You are a respected Jewish teacher, and yet you don’t understand these things? I assure you, we tell you what we know and have seen, and yet you won’t believe our testimony. But if you don’t believe me when I tell you about earthly things, how can you possibly believe if I tell you about heavenly things? No one has ever gone to heaven and returned. But the Son of Man has come down from heaven. And as Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him will have eternal life.
“For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.
"Drink all of it, for it is My Blood",
icon art by Ulyana Tomkevych;
Medium: egg tempera, Material: gessoed wood, 2021, LINK
The Lord's Supper // Communion
It is right, and a good and joyful thing, always and everywhere to give thanks to you, Almighty God, creator of heaven and earth.
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Holy are you and blessed is Jesus Christ your Son, for he is Immanuel, God with us.
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Fulfilling the expectations of the prophets he healed the blind and the lame, cleansed the lepers, opened the ears of the deaf, raised the dead, and brought good news to the poor. Through his life, death, and resurrection you manifest your new covenant with humankind, and through the church of your disciples you give the testimony to the power of your salvation for the world.
​For on the night he was betrayed Jesus took bread, gave thanks, broke the bread, and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take, eat. This is my body, given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”
When the supper was over, he took the cup and gave thanks, saying, "Drink this, all of you. This is my blood of the new covenant poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. Do this in remembrance of me.”
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Therefore in remembrance of all God's mighty acts, we give ourselves in praise and thanksgiving as a living sacrifice in union with Christ's offering for the world as we declare:
Christ has died,
Christ is risen,
Christ will come again.
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Send your Holy Spirit upon us, gathered here out of love for you,
and on these gifts of bread and wine.
Let the bread we break be a true fellowship in the body of Christ.
Let the cup we share be a true participation in the new covenant in his blood.
By your Spirit empower us to be Christ for the world, serving in his name until the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.
Through your son Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit in your holy church,
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all glory and honor is yours, almight God, our Heavenly Father, now and forever. Amen.
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The body of Christ, given for you.
Thanks be to God.
The blood of Christ, shed for you.
Thanks be to God.
Doxology and Benediction // The Sending & the Blessing
As you leave this place this day,
may God’s love sustain you,
and may you love those who surround you.
May God’s Spirit empower you,
and may you empower all those you meet.
May God’s joy fill your hearts,
and may this joy overflow
to the ends of the earth for God’s glory, now and forever. Amen