Worship Service Theme: Love

(Sunday near Valentine’s Day)

Helpful Elements:
Green table covering (Ordinary Time)
Potted, blooming hyacinth (which has a lovely scent)

Welcome: Welcome! It’s so good to be together to celebrate faith and

community. My name is ____ and I’ll be leading our worship time today. This
week we celebrate Valentine’s Day, named after one of the early Christian
martyrs, St. Valentine. So naturally, our theme is love.

Please pray with me as we open our time together.

Opening Prayer: Great and loving God, we ask that your Holy Spirit bless our time
together and to refresh us with your presence. In the midst of a world full of
trouble and strife, we thank you for watching over us, guiding us, and as we
confess our sins, for forgiving us. Enable us to enter your presence today joyfully
and reverently, and let us depart with the assurance that our sins are forgiven. Fill
us, O God, with the peace that passes all understanding. Amen.

Opening Hymn: Doxology, p. 1

Statement of Faith, p. 2: Let us affirm our statement of faith by reciting “The Lord
is My Shepherd” together:
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
2
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still
waters.
3
He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s
sake.
4
Yea, though I walk through 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.

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5
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou
anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
6
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I shall
dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Hymns:
We Gather Together, p. 3
For the Beauty of the Earth, p. 4
Joyful, Joyful, p. 5

First Reading: This is the one hundredth Psalm:

Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth!
2
Serve the Lord with gladness!
Come into his presence with singing!
3
Know that the Lord, he is God!
It is he who made us, and we are his;
we are God’s people, and the sheep of his pasture.
4
Enter the Lord’s gates with thanksgiving,
and his courts with praise!
Give thanks to him; bless his name!
5
For the Lord is good;
his steadfast love endures forever,
and his faithfulness to all generations.

This is the word of the Lord; thanks be to God.

Hymns:
Jesus Loves Me, p. 6
Oh, How I love Jesus, p. 7
Holy, Holy, Holy, p. 8

Second reading: The fourth chapter of John’s first letter (verses 7-12)
7
Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who
loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not
know God, because God is love. 9 This is how God showed his love among us: he
sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is
love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning

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sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love
one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in
us and his love is made complete in us.

This is the word of the Lord; thanks be to God.

Hymns:
His Eye is on the Sparrow, p. 9
Leaning on the Everlasting Arms, p. 10

Interactive Homily:
• Here’s an appropriate question for Valentine’s Day: What does it mean to
be loved? When someone calls you their beloved, what do they mean?
o you are chosen, focused upon, made a fuss over
• Who here has ever written a love letter? What kind of things would you put
in a love letter?
o attributes of the person that you love; compliments; heartfelt
feelings about wanting to be with the person
• Have you ever heard “love is a verb”? What do you think that means?
o Not just a feeling, but action
• What kinds of actions are loving?
o giving gifts (such as?); giving time; listening; looking for and acting for
the other’s benefit
• Gifts like candy, flowers, and other stuff are great … but what eventually
happens to those gifts?
o get eaten, fade away
• In contrast, what happens with the gift of God’s love?
o It is eternal! Never fades, never gets smaller, never ends; steadfast
• How does God communicate his love to us? How have you seen the love of
God in your life? (generate ideas)
o God’s love transforms us, just the way a dried flower bulb blooms
into what it is meant to be, a beautiful fragrant flower. I’ll pass
around this potted flower so you can enjoy its smell. [pass around
potted hyacinth]

Let us pray together in thanks for God’s eternal love and for the blessing of love
from our friends and family.

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(Silent Prayer) … Lord, hear our prayers. Now let us pray the Lord’s prayer
together:
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 trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the
kingdom, the power, and the glory forever, Amen.

Hymns:
He’s Got the Whole World, p. 12
In the Garden, p. 13
Standing on the Promises, p. 14

Third Reading: Valentine’s Day Quotes

“To love someone deeply gives you strength. Being loved by someone deeply
gives you courage.” – Lao Tse, ancient Chinese philosopher

“A life with love will have some thorns, but a life without love will have no roses.”

“Love comfortheth like sunshine after rain.” –William Shakespeare

“When I have learned to love God better than my earthly dearest,

I shall love my earthly dearest better than I do now.” – writer and theologian C.S.
Lewis

A heart that loves is always young. – Greek Proverb

“To keep your marriage brimming,

With love in the loving cup,
Whenever you’re wrong, admit it;
Whenever you’re right, shut up.” –comic poet Ogden Nash

Hymns:
It is Well with My Soul, p. 15
Amazing Grace, p. 16

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Fourth Reading: Short stories about love1

A woman recently told this story: “Today, I got a phone call from my daughter’s
kindergarten teacher. She asked me why I wasn’t providing lunch for my daughter
over the past few days. Confused, I hung up the phone and asked my daughter
what she was doing with her lunches. My daughter said, ‘My friend Katie’s mom is
in the hospital and hasn’t been able to make any meals for the last week, so I gave
a few of my lunches to her.’”

A man told this story: “When I was younger, one day my dad handed me a bottle
of Windex and a roll of paper towels as we got in the car. He turned to me and
said, ‘I just talked to your mom while she was on her lunch break. She mentioned
her windshield got covered in bugs on the drive to work. Since we’re going to
drive right by her work anyway, I figured we’d clean them off for her. It’s the little
things, kiddo, that keep love going.’ That impressed me!”

A young lady told this story: “Yesterday was my little sister’s fourteenth birthday.
She has Down Syndrome and doesn’t have many friends. My boyfriend picked me
up for dinner with flowers, but said they weren’t for me. Instead, he came inside
and handed the flowers to my sister for her birthday. She was so excited! My
boyfriend then took both of us out to dinner to celebrate.”

Hymns:
When the Saints Go Marching In, p. 17
How Great Thou Art, p. 18

Closing Blessing: (Strike bell as you say the word “Lord”)

The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his to face shine upon you, and
be gracious unto you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and grant you
peace. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Closing Hymn: Doxology, Reprise, p. 30

1 selections from http://www.marcandangel.com/2013/02/13/60-short-love-stories-to-cheer-you-up/

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Extra Material:

Lamentations 3: 22-26
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end;
23
they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
24
“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
“therefore I will hope in him.”
25
The Lord is good to those who wait for him,
to the soul who seeks him.
26
It is good that one should wait quietly
for the salvation of the Lord.

1 Corinthians 13: 4-8

4
Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; love is not arrogant 5 or
rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does
not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things,
believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never ends.

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