March 2026
Palm Sunday Services: On Sunday, March 28, at 10:00 am, we will have a special service. We begin in front of the church with fronds and donkeys. After a small procession to the First Street entrance, we'll continue with service on the inside. The Rev. Barbara VanOlpen, Associate Conference Minister, will be with us. Please make an effort to attend.
Sunday School: Please call our church office at 631-727-2621 if you would like your child to join. Sunday School is held during church services at 10:00.
Bible Study: Bible Study has begun. Call the church office for the information. 631-727-2621 Please join us from 10:00-11:00 am in the Fellowship Hall. We welcome you to zoom and join us. All are welcome.
Thrift Shop: The thrift shop hours are Tuesday and Thursday 10-2 and Saturday 9-1. Clothing, knickknacks, and other small household items are accepted. No furniture or children's clothing. Please bring your donations only when we are open. Thank you for your support.
If you would like to join us on Zoom, please follow the link
Join Zoom Meeting:
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pwd=a0FZcDg5MnRqKz-JMQXRLVzIBTGZFQT09 to start or join a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Meeting ID: 850 1493 9172
Passcode: 727262
Greetings all,
Attached is the enhanced bulletin along with the readings from our Service of the Fifth Sunday in Lent.
This Sunday, March 29, is Palm Sunday. We'll begin the service out front, on the Main Street side, with palms and donkeys. After a small procession to the First Street entrance, we'll continue with service on the inside. The Rev. Barbara VanOlpen, Associate Conference Minister, will be with us. Please make an effort to attend.
Blessings,
Pastor Sean
Fifth Sunday in Lent
A Service of the Word
March 22, 2026 ✦ 10am
OPENING WORDS:
We open our hearts to the presence of God and worship together.
PRELUDE: Begin the Beguine Cole Porter
(Once the music begins we ask that you would please maintain respectful silence)
*CHORAL INTROIT:
We are here this day to share God's love;
We have come with burdens and cares,
For within this place, we are bound as one
In this fellowship, we share.
*CALL TO WORSHIP:
One: God calls us from the valley of dry bones.
Come, listen for a word from our God.
Many: We hear God calling us in a far distant voice.
We had nearly forgotten God’s care for us.
One: The Spirit breathes life into our dry bones.
God offers hope when we have lost our way.
Many: Our souls wait for the refreshment God offers.
Our spirits are filled with great expectation.
One: Christ came as a light to all the world.
Christ comes among us today to light our way.
ALL: We hear the teacher calling for us.
Christ unbinds us that we may see and believe.
*HYMN: Love Divine, All Loves Excelling No. 43
https://youtu.be/J-6PMvgJHG0
WELCOME
PRAYER OF INVOCATION
God of steadfast love, bring new life to this community of your people. We are eager to hear your voice and be filled with your Spirit. Come from the four winds, O Breath, and bring vitality and purpose to our gathering, that we might be energized and encouraged. Hear our voices, lifted in praise and crying out from our need. Be attentive to our supplications, lest we die apart from you. Only you can unbind us and set us free. Amen.
PASSING OF THE PEACE
ANNOUNCEMENTS, CELEBRATIONS & CONCERNS
Holy Week: We begin Holy Week Sunday March 29 with Psalm Sunday. We’ll begin out front with fronds and donkeys. We will also be treated to a special guest: the Rev. Barbara VanOlpen, Assoc. Conference Minister. Our Maundy Thursday service is at 11:00am at Old Steeple, and our Good Friday service at 11:00 at Baiting Hollow
CHILDREN’S TIME
A TIME OF PRAYER:
❖ Pastoral Prayer
Father of all worlds, Mother to all of earth’s children, we cannot live apart from you. Send Christ to live among us and within us so we may be righteous in all our dealings and responsive to you wherever we go, that we may know the life abundant which you offer and be empowered to share it, with compassion and courage, with all whom we meet and with all whom you have called us to love….
❖ Silent Prayer
❖ 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. Lead us not
into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is
the kingdom, the power, the glory, now and forever.
Amen.
OFFERING: Moonglow Will Hudson
* DOXOLOGY AND BLESSING OF GIFTS:
Praise God from whom all blessings flow;
Praise God, all creatures here below;
Praise God above, you heavenly host:
Creator, Christ, and Holy Ghost.
SCRIPTURE LESSONS:
❖ Ezekiel 37:1-14 OT Page 762
❖ Psalm 130 HYMNAL Page 709
❖ Romans 8:6-11 NT Page 138
❖ John 11:1-45 NT Page 91
SERMON: “Even From Dried Bones and the Tomb”
“Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are cut off completely.” Well that certainly doesn’t sound like it would feel comfortable. Actually, it doesn’t sound in the least bit good.
Yet as the saying goes, “Oh, you know, it could be worse.”
And the worse we get: Not just sore and complaining but dead, buried, wrapped up, and entombed.
Perhaps the most tragic condition one can be in is when all hope is lost. The hope and the prayer is that no one would find themselves in such a spot, at least not for long. We can deal with it in the short-term. Sports competitions come to mind. We can be rooting for our favorite team, but then it gets down to the final inning or last minutes in the fourth quarter, and then it’s apparent that there’s no way a win will happen. Hope is lost, but it’s only momentary, and we can easily move on. Yet life can bring more than just a disappointing final score in a game. With the setting of the that first lesson, we think of those who have lost much more.
The loss of loved ones, a home, the neighborhood that one long held dear, those are the biggies. A glance at the newspaper or a report on the evening news speaks of such in Ukraine, Iran, Israel, and even closer to home when floods or fires sweep in. And it’s all an age-old story.
Those of ancient Israel, those who once held Jerusalem dear, were conquered and exiled in Babylon. There was colossal loss. It’s understandable that the exiles of Babylon had lost their hope in God, that they felt withered, dried up and all but dead like a many a house plant in winter.
Although first set in the original context of the time of the Exile, the lesson is one for all who find themselves living in a valley of despair. One needn’t be conquered or exiled to find oneself languishing from lost hope. The Word is to them and to us is to again take in the spirit, the breath, of God, and live. The Word is that there that it is never too dark or too dry a valley where the power of God cannot save.
For those who know the Psalms well, the dark valley of Ezekiel may well lead you to think of the line from the 23red Psalm, for there we have an echo of the lesson, of the promise: “Though I walk in the darkest valley, walk in the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.” The presence of the strength of the Spirit of our God is a message for all who feel as if they were conquered, overtaken, and laid low. It is deep hope in God as fueled by the Holy Spirit that brings the power to dance with God once again.
Yet the challenge, the struggle, is one of believing such is possible. It’s the challenge of faith. The vision that God brought to Ezekiel fueled his hope and again made faith shine bright. The big task was to bring that word, that vision, to the languishing people, and get then to believe it, too.
The power of God to revive, to overcome even death, is again repeated in our Gospel account of Lazarus. Yet there, rather than a valley of dried bones, we have a dark cave of death and burial. Rather than in a vision or dream, the account is one of real life of a grieving people who thought that God had forgotten them or was, at the very least, certainly too late on the scene to be able to heal. Martha said to Jesus, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” For Martha, hope like her brother, had died.
Yet through the power of God at work in Jesus, the astounding happens. Lazarus, dead four days, rises and emerges out of the darkness. In the case of Lazarus, such deep darkness and death wasn’t easy to shake off. Although up and walking, Lazarus was still bound. He had indeed made it out of the darkness, but more help was needed to unbind him and set him free. God alone did not do that, but that was the work of others around Lazarus who helped to assure his recovery was complete.
Likely as you have, I’ve been in those valleys and in that darkness. For me it was my broken neck I suffered in college, and then years later, it was the death of one I had come to know as my soulmate. They were dark times of the soul. The latter was particularly devastating as prayers for healing and recovery seemingly went unanswered.
But now years later, I have at least some understanding. Although laid low, through the compassionate support of others around me, I became strong again, readied again to press on.
Today we are again reminded that no matter the valley or the darkness, the Spirit of God can still pervade and prevail. The call is to take in the Spirit of our God and live. The reminder is also that reanimation, revitalization, is likely to necessitate the help of others to undo the constraints that tie us down or hold us back. The constant is true: God’s love is always there for us, and the power of the Holy Spirit is ours to take in. Yet the challenge, as always, is faith.
God is good, all the time. God is powerful, always. God fuels the strength of the faithful. And despite the biggest losses, the deepest despair, God can bring even the seemingly dead back to life.
*HYMN: You Are the Way No. 40
https://youtu.be/O6FY9SPXJ-A
*BENEDICTION
CHORAL BENEDICTION:
May the light of God shine on us today.
May the light of God shine on us today.
May it show us where to travel.
Lead us back if we should stray.
May the light of God shine on us today.
POSTLUDE: Autumn Leaves Joseph Kiana
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