For the times we have failed to make a choice, was a shout, ‘Look! Here is the bridegroom!
Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet
Quotes for Reflection:
Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder.
Help someone's soul heal.
Walk out of your house like a shepherd.
-We Gather as God’s People-
HYMN Where Cross the Crowded Ways of Life
CALL TO WORSHIP W. Brueggemann, mod.
In faith and love we begin this day
waiting and watching and hoping.
We wait, not clear about our waiting,
but filled with a restlessness;
daring to imagine that you are not finished yet-
not with us nor with our broken world.
Cry with us the brutality.
Grieve with us the misery.
Tremble with us the poverty and hurt.
Attend to us with your healing grace.
Remold creation with your transforming love
That your will might be done on earth.
Beginning with us! Beginning with now! Amen!
PRAISE We Are God’s People
HYMN Seek Ye First
PASSING THE PEACE
YOUNG PEOPLE’S MESSAGE
PRAYER OF CONFESSION
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth.
For the times we have failed to look,
For the times we have failed to understand the difference,
Lord have mercy. him.’
Then took the other, as just as fair, Then all those bridesmaids got up and trimmed their lamps. The
foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are
And having perhaps the better claim, going out.’ But the wise replied, ‘No! there will not be enough for
Rumi Because it was grassy and wanted wear; you and for us; you had better go to the dealers and buy some for
Though as for that the passing there yourselves.’
Had worn them really about the same.
And while they went to buy it, the bridegroom came, and those who
For the ways in which our choice is shallow, were ready went with him into the wedding banquet; and the door
For the ways in which our sight is limited, was shut. Later the other bridesmaids came also, saying, ‘Lord, lord,
UMH 427 For the ways in which we second guess, open to us.’ But he replied, ‘Truly I tell you, I do not know you.’
Christ have mercy. Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.”
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day! -We Respond to God’s Word-
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back. REFLECTION Wise and Foolish Cubs Fans
For the sorrow of the "might have been",
HYMN I Want to Walk as a Child of the Light UMH 206
For the pain of clinging to the past
For the doubt that clouds our hope, PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE & THE LORD’S PRAYER
Lord have mercy.
I shall be telling this with a sigh OFFERING & DOXOLOGY UMH 94
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-- COMMUNION FWS 2257b-d
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
For the small steps on new paths, -We Are Sent Into God’s World-
FWS 2220 we give thanks to the Lord.
For the grace to celebrate the sunrise where we are, ANNOUNCEMENTS
UMH 405 we give thanks to God.
For the hope that lies ahead, BENEDICTION
we give thanks to the Lord. Amen.
RESPONSE What Wondrous Love UMH 292, v. 3
j
Frost, et al.
-We Listen for God’s Word- Birthdays & Anniversaries
GOSPEL Matthew 25:1-13 March 31: Anne Kennison
“Then the kingdom of heaven will be like this. Ten bridesmaids took April 2: Alan Nye April 6: Kathryn Parker
their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were
foolish, and five were wise.
Essex Eats Out Schedule
When the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them; but
the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. As the bridegroom was April 5 - 1st Congo April 12 - Holy Family
delayed, all of them became drowsy and slept. But at midnight there April 19 - St James April 26 - EUMC
 Announcements Below are people, places, & concerns that folk have lifted up.
Please keep them in your prayers at home.
COTS request from Mission Committee: Winter frigid nights Please call or email the church office to add to the prayer list.
continue. The staff really appreciated our contributions of new
items. Biggest need is new linens, necessary toiletries, baby Ongoing Prayers Lifted Up Last Sunday
wipes and warm mittens (they have enough hats). Red Tub in Arlitha Leif: prayers for Gerard and Luna
Fellowship Hall is open-- full list is beside it.

JUMP has requested donated items, needed by early April.

Callie
Anne Kennison
Parable of the
Please bring any items you are able to donate to church and
leave in box labeled JUMP in fellowship hall. Please collect only
the items on our list! Thank you for supporting JUMP and
Mary Willard
Norma Strickland
Judy & Diezela
Bridal Party
helping our low-income neighbors! Matthew C.
Elissa & Leif
Greg
Calendar Paula DeMichele
Tuesdays: Pastor Is In @ Nest Coffee Shop 10 am - 11 am Don Strickland
Jericho Clergy Group 11:30-12:30 Ellie Uckele
Church Office 1 pm- 2 pm Cole
Mt Mansfield Bible Study 2 pm Harley
Gordon Mitchinson
Thursdays: Church Office 10:00 am- noon
Susan

j
Tim
Lenore
Michael Parker
Mon, 1 April to Tue, 2 April: Pastor Mitch is at a continuing
Education event at St. Alphonsis Monastery in Contoocook, NH
There will be no No Monday Companions, Nest, Office hours.

Wed, 3 Apr:

Thur, 4 Apr:
Lenten Taizé & Lectio Divina Service, 7 pm

Thursday Office hours moved to Friday, noon

j
Essex Center United Methodist Church
essex_umc@comcast.net tel. 878-8304
Sun, 7 Apr: Adult Sunday School: Wesley pt 4 8:45 am. www.essexumc.com

Mon, 8 Apr: Monday Companions at Eve’s home. Continued Ministers: the entire congregation Lay Leader: Joshua Knox
Wesley Discussion. Equipping Pastor: Rev. V. Mitchell Hay Dinka Wise Virgins by Gloria Ssali
cell tel. 881-3268 (feel free to call) mitchellhay@comcast.net
Tue, 9Apr: Administrative Board, 7 pm
Office Manager: Elissa Johnsen
Wed, 11 Apr: Lenten Taizé & Lectio Divina Service, 7 pm Sunday School Coordinator: Krista Rochefort
Organ: Kathryn Parker Piano: June Packard
Song Leader: Dana LaClair Projection: Sam Evans
Sun, 14 April: Palm Sunday, 10 am

Mon, 15 Apr: Living the Questions 7:00 pm Subject: Trinity

Ushers: Donna P & Paula P
Reading The Divine Dance by Richard Rohr
Greeters:
Nursery Helper: Jody H
Sun. Sch. Helper: Liz R
Shoveling: Kristene E
Next Week: Dawn HF, Donna H Essex Center
Next Week: Nancy N
Next Week: Barb L Un-Tied Methodist Church
Next Week: Maria D
Next Week: Kevin H 4th Sunday of Lent 31 March 2019
May the God of the prophets be with you.
May the God of the Bridegroom be with you.
Lift up your hearts, all you who wait for God.
We open them, that God might fill them with righteousness.
Join in the glad chorus of all who sing to our God.
Our songs will be of justice and hope for all people.
You could have brought the ordinary
out of chaos, Unpredictable God,
every planet the same size and shape,
every creature a lookalike of the next,
but you spun rings around Saturn
and layered Jupiter with gases;
you stretched the neck on the giraffe
and webbed the feet of ducks.
Then, you envisioned us in your image,
shaped by your hands, given life by your Breath,
so we might enjoy the wonders of your mind.
Yet, we chose to seek shelter in sin
and picked death as our companion.
So you sent Jesus to us,
your salvation flowing from
your heart to ours.
With those who wait patiently for you,
with those who fritter time away,
we offer our songs of thanksgiving:
Holy, holy, holy Lord . .
Your kingdom is as unpredictable
as you, God who comes to us.
You could have closed up
all your hope, but you sent Jesus
so we might see it face to face.
You could have kept your dreams
locked away in your heart,
but you sent Jesus so we All of life is holy, Not just these few minutes at church.
might hear them for ourselves. May we be reminded of this deeply as we commune with each
You could have withheld salvation other now…”
from those who had no hope,
but you sent Jesus, so it might Come quickly, Holy Spirit, , and grace
sweep away death's grasp as the bread, the cup, and all who gather here.
it flooded out of the empty tomb. Feed us with the Bread which,
though broken, can make us whole,
AS we wait patiently for the Bridegroom, strong enough to lift up
as we seek to live as those with hope, the poor and the needy.
we proclaim that mystery called faith: When our sense of justice
is so parched we cannot speak
Christ died . . . t for the oppressed and voiceless,
may the Cup of righteousness
“Friends, on the night that Jesus was betrayed and arrested, flood through our lives into our world,
he first met with his disciples, those closest to him, bringing hope and new life to all.
people who’d journeyed with him for 3 years,
walking all over that country, And when the Bridegroom comes
witnessing him heal all sorts of people, to gather us all for the Wedding Feast,
and teaching them how to love deeply.. we will join our sisters and brothers
He shared a meal with them. in praising you forever and ever,
He took some bread and he raised it, thanked God, God in Community, Holy in One.
and then he broke that bread saying –
“Take. Eat. This is my body, broken for you!’ Amen.
He then took the cup and gave thanks.
And this too he shared with them saying, “This is my blood, my
life force, my very essence, poured out for you.
It’s the wine of a new covenant, for you and for many.
It’s how much I really love you!’
Sisters and brothers, let us now serve each other in this great love.
Let’s tap into the spirit and energy of the Cosmic Christ
that surrounds us and connects us, and tend to each other.
This experience symbolizes how God turns
brokenness into wholeness,
and how we are to care for everyone out in the world all the time.
All of our lives are called to be a sacrament.