Sunday, March 22, 2026 -- 10:30am Worship Service
In celebration of Women’s History Month, this week’s bulletin art is by artist Violet Oakley, “Great Women”. This frieze was painted for the First Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia in 1945 and depicts a feminist view of impactful biblical women.
Welcome to Maxwell Street! We hope you will consider wearing a nametag so that we might get to know one another better. They can be found in the lobbies outside the sanctuary. You can find more helpful information inside this bulletin.
INTROIT 411 - God Is Here Today (sing twice)
God is here today;
as certain as the air I breathe,
as certain as the morning sun that rises,
as certain when I sing you’ll hear my song.
GREETING & ANNOUNCEMENTS
PRELUDE -Morning Has Broken, Bunessan
CALL TO WORSHIP
O people of God, hope in the Lord!
For with God there is steadfast love and great power to redeem.
Wait for the Lord.
Our souls wait for the Lord, more than those who watch for the morning.
+ HYMN 286 - Breathe on Me, Breath of God
+ CONFESSION & PARDON
God, we are a busy people. We become pre-occupied with the demands of work, our relationships, and our communities. We tend to focus on our own needs and fail to see the needs of those around us. We do that which we should not, and fail to do that which we should. We ask for your forgiveness and for your guidance in following the path you have set before us. Hear us now as we humbly come before you silently and privately to confess our sin. Hear now our silent prayers of confession…
• Response to Forgiveness: Hymn 581, (Gloria Patri)
PASSING OF THE PEACE
CHILDREN'S MESSAGE
PRAYER FOR OPENNESS
Gracious God, our way in the wilderness, guide us, by your Word, through these forty days, and minister to us with your Holy Spirit, so that we may be reformed, restored, and renewed; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
SCRIPTURE READING -Romans 8.6-11 NT pg 157 (NRSVUE)
To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For this reason the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law—indeed, it cannot, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
But you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, then the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you.
This is the written testimony to the Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
ANTHEM - Brother James’ Air, Gordon Jacob, Chancel Choir
SCRIPTURE READING -Ezekiel 37.1-14 OT pg 806 (NRSVUE)
SERMON - "When I Open Your Graves" - Rev. Matt Falco
+ STATEMENT OF FAITH - From The Brief Statement of Faith (PC(USA) 1983) Lines 52-57 and 65-71
We trust in God the Holy Spirit, everywhere the giver and renewer of life. The Spirit justifies us by grace through faith, sets us free to accept ourselves and to love God and neighbor, and binds us together with all believers in the one body of Christ, the Church… In a broken and fearful world, the Spirit gives us courage to pray without ceasing, to witness among all peoples to Christ as Lord and Savior, to unmask idolatries in Church and culture, to hear the voices of peoples long silenced, and to work with others for justice, freedom, and peace.
+ HYMN 797 - We Cannot Measure How You Heal (Inspired by Psalm 130)
PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE & THE LORD's PRAYER
OFFERING
• Offertory -Precious Lord, arr. Bish
+• Doxology
Praise God from whom all blessing flow Praise Christ the Word in flesh born low; Praise Holy Spirit evermore;
One God, Triune, whom we adore. Amen.
+ • Prayer of Dedication
+ HYMN 79 -Light Dawns on a Weary World
+ CHARGE & BENEDICTION
+ Benediction Response - Hymn 702, Christ Be Beside Me
1 Christ be beside me;
Christ be before me;
Christ be behind me,
King of my heart.
Christ be within me;
Christ be below me;
Christ be above me,
never to part.
2 Christ on my right hand,
Christ on my left hand,
Christ all around me,
shield in the strife.
Christ in my sleeping,
Christ in my sitting,
Christ in my rising,
Light of my life.
POSTLUDE - Bouree, J. S. Bach, Daniel Bruno
Welcome to Maxwell Street! We hope you will consider wearing a nametag so that we might get to know one another better. They can be found in the lobbies outside the sanctuary. You can find more helpful information inside this bulletin.
INTROIT 411 - God Is Here Today (sing twice)
God is here today;
as certain as the air I breathe,
as certain as the morning sun that rises,
as certain when I sing you’ll hear my song.
GREETING & ANNOUNCEMENTS
PRELUDE -Morning Has Broken, Bunessan
CALL TO WORSHIP
O people of God, hope in the Lord!
For with God there is steadfast love and great power to redeem.
Wait for the Lord.
Our souls wait for the Lord, more than those who watch for the morning.
+ HYMN 286 - Breathe on Me, Breath of God
+ CONFESSION & PARDON
God, we are a busy people. We become pre-occupied with the demands of work, our relationships, and our communities. We tend to focus on our own needs and fail to see the needs of those around us. We do that which we should not, and fail to do that which we should. We ask for your forgiveness and for your guidance in following the path you have set before us. Hear us now as we humbly come before you silently and privately to confess our sin. Hear now our silent prayers of confession…
• Response to Forgiveness: Hymn 581, (Gloria Patri)
PASSING OF THE PEACE
CHILDREN'S MESSAGE
PRAYER FOR OPENNESS
Gracious God, our way in the wilderness, guide us, by your Word, through these forty days, and minister to us with your Holy Spirit, so that we may be reformed, restored, and renewed; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
SCRIPTURE READING -Romans 8.6-11 NT pg 157 (NRSVUE)
To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For this reason the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law—indeed, it cannot, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
But you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, then the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you.
This is the written testimony to the Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
ANTHEM - Brother James’ Air, Gordon Jacob, Chancel Choir
SCRIPTURE READING -Ezekiel 37.1-14 OT pg 806 (NRSVUE)
SERMON - "When I Open Your Graves" - Rev. Matt Falco
+ STATEMENT OF FAITH - From The Brief Statement of Faith (PC(USA) 1983) Lines 52-57 and 65-71
We trust in God the Holy Spirit, everywhere the giver and renewer of life. The Spirit justifies us by grace through faith, sets us free to accept ourselves and to love God and neighbor, and binds us together with all believers in the one body of Christ, the Church… In a broken and fearful world, the Spirit gives us courage to pray without ceasing, to witness among all peoples to Christ as Lord and Savior, to unmask idolatries in Church and culture, to hear the voices of peoples long silenced, and to work with others for justice, freedom, and peace.
+ HYMN 797 - We Cannot Measure How You Heal (Inspired by Psalm 130)
PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE & THE LORD's PRAYER
OFFERING
• Offertory -Precious Lord, arr. Bish
+• Doxology
Praise God from whom all blessing flow Praise Christ the Word in flesh born low; Praise Holy Spirit evermore;
One God, Triune, whom we adore. Amen.
+ • Prayer of Dedication
+ HYMN 79 -Light Dawns on a Weary World
+ CHARGE & BENEDICTION
+ Benediction Response - Hymn 702, Christ Be Beside Me
1 Christ be beside me;
Christ be before me;
Christ be behind me,
King of my heart.
Christ be within me;
Christ be below me;
Christ be above me,
never to part.
2 Christ on my right hand,
Christ on my left hand,
Christ all around me,
shield in the strife.
Christ in my sleeping,
Christ in my sitting,
Christ in my rising,
Light of my life.
POSTLUDE - Bouree, J. S. Bach, Daniel Bruno