Second Sunday in Lent
- Welcome and Introduction
- African Song: Hariho byinshi birakyariho (We have so many to thank God for)
- The Collect of the Day
- First Reading: (Reading in Luganda – English text below)
- Psalm 22:22-30
- Second Reading: (Reading in Ikinyarwanda – English text below)
- The Gospel: Mark 8:31-38
- Sermon
- Hymn: Take My Life, and Let it Be (words below)
- Prayers of the People
- African Song: Numva Yesu anyemeza (I hear the Saviour Say)
- Doxology
- Hymn: How Firm a Foundation (words below)
- Dismissal
First Reading – Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16
1 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said to him, "I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless.
2 And I will make my covenant between me and you, and will make you exceedingly numerous."
3 Then Abram fell on his face; and God said to him,
4 "As for me, this is my covenant with you: You shall be the ancestor of a multitude of nations.
5 No longer shall your name be Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you the ancestor of a multitude of nations.
6 I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you.
7 I will establish my covenant between me and you, and your offspring after you throughout their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you.
15 As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name.
16 I will bless her, and moreover I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall give rise to nations; kings of peoples shall come from her."
Second Reading – Romans 4:13-25
13 For the promise that he would inherit the world did not come to Abraham or to his descendants through the law but through the righteousness of faith.
14 If it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void.
15 For the law brings wrath; but where there is no law, neither is there violation.
16 For this reason it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his descendants, not only to the adherents of the law but also to those who share the faith of Abraham (for he is the father of all of us,
17 as it is written, "I have made you the father of many nations") --in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.
18 Hoping against hope, he believed that he would become "the father of many nations," according to what was said, "So numerous shall your descendants be."
19 He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was already as good as dead (for he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah's womb.
20 No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God,
21 being fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.
22 Therefore his faith "was reckoned to him as righteousness."
23 Now the words, "it was reckoned to him," were written not for his sake alone,
24 but for ours also. It will be reckoned to us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead,
25 who was handed over to death for our trespasses and was raised for our justification.
Hymn – Take My Life, and Let it Be (Common Praise #435)
1 Take my life and let it be consecrated, Lord, to thee.
Take my moments and my days; let them flow in endless praise.
2 Take my hands and let them move at the impulse of thy love.
Take my feet and let them be swift and beautiful for thee.
3 Take my lips and let them be filled with messages from thee,
Take my intellect, and use every power as thou shalt choose.
4 Take my will and make it thine; it shall be no longer mine.
Take my heart it is thine own; it shall be thy royal throne.
5 Take my love; my Lord, I pour at thy feet its treasure store.
Take myself, and I will be ever, only, all for thee.
Hymn – How Firm a Foundation (Common Praise #527)
1 How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord,
is laid for your faith in God's excellent Word!
What more can be said than to you he hath said,
to you who to Jesus for refuge have fled?
2 "Fear not, I am with thee, O be not dismayed,
for I am thy God, and will still give thee aid;
I'll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand,
upheld by my righteous, omnipotent hand.
3 "When through the deep waters I call thee to go,
the rivers of woe shall not thee overflow;
for I will be near thee, thy troubles to bless,
and sanctify to thee thy deepest distress.
4 "When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie,
my grace, all sufficient, shall be thy supply;
the flame shall not hurt thee; I only design
thy dross to consume, and thy gold to refine.
5 "The soul that on Jesus hath leaned for repose,
I will not, I will not desert to its foes;
that soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake,
I'll never - no, never - no, never forsake."
