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GATHERING SONG: "Lord Have Mercy"
ANNOUNCEMENTS (Please feel free to type a brief announcement of 
    interest to our community in Nearby Chat.)

WELCOME

We are so glad you're here!  
Gathered together, we'll worship our still speaking, and surely still listening, God!
Welcome to First United Church of Christ and Conference Center, Second Life
We are an actual church with full real life standing in the Eastern Association,
Southern California Nevada Conference of the United Church of Christ. 
You may see someone besides me with a tag including the words"1st UCC" and "Minister." 
Yep, ordained UCC clergy in real life.
And you may see folks with a tag that says "Guide."  
Think "Usher" in real life; they'll help you find your way around.
And of course, our "Staff" folk keep the rest of us organized and handle our special events.

As a United Church of Christ church, we mean it when we say,
"No matter who you are, 
or where you are on life's journey, 
you are welcome here."

If you would like a bulletin notecard/copy of the service, 
please click the red book on the stand near the sanctuary entrance.

If you would like to become an official member of this church, 
please let any clergy of staff member know!
There are many ways you can offer a gift to support this ministry.
You might feel called to help as a Guide greeting visitors, or as a reader of scripture,
or as a leader of a Psalter service.  You could volunteer to serve on our Board.
And, of course, you can decide to be a full voting member.
And you can support financially just as we
support the wonderful work of the UCC with prayer and financially.
If you would like to help with our expenses, there is a donation bowl at the rear of the sanctuary.
If you are thinking of a donation you would rather do in real life currency,
you are welcome to use the Donation page on our website. http://www.firstuccsl.org 
Since we are an IRS 501(c)(3) public charity, US donations are deductible.
And we thank you!

If you need information about this ministry, our activities, classes and worship opportunities
and much more, just visit us at www.firstuccsl.org.

SCRIPTURE:  Mark 1:9-15

SERMON:  "It Might Have Been"

It all sounds so simple. 
It’s just so nice, so easy, and so straightforward; almost comfortable. 
And we’ve heard the story told so many times that many of us know it by heart.
“This John the Baptist guy was standing in the middle of the Jordan River, 
yelling at people and baptizing them.
He was yelling at some of the priests who didn’t like him, 
when suddenly Jesus stepped out of the crowd, 
walked into the water, and stood next to John. 
At first, John wanted Jesus to baptize him, but finally, he went ahead and baptized Jesus
There was a dove, and a voice saying that Jesus was God’s Son, 
then Jesus left to go into the desert for forty days 
and didn’t do much more until he heard that John had died.”
It actually does sound fairly straightforward, doesn’t it? 
But the problem with stopping here is that it really makes the entire story look “simple,” 
and “easy,” and almost “comfortable.” 
And that ends up creating the image many people have that being a person of faith 
is also going to be “simple,” and “easy,” and almost “comfortable.” 
Or it seems to say that people of faith are some special kind of people 
who never have problems and never have doubts or struggles when times get rough. 
Then, when things are not simple, easy, or comfortable and peaceful in our lives, 
we immediately begin to question our faith: 
“What am I doing wrong? 
Where has God gone? 
Why is God doing this to me?”
A lot of people have been asking questions like those in the last year, and before as well.
We are in Lent, the dark time but a time in which God is at work 
as Pastor Kris told us last Sunday.
It is a time of preparation, and a time to repent 
and consider what needs to change in our lives.
Some things are beyond our ability to control.  Some are not.  
But it all amounts to choices.
Jesus chose to be baptized.  
The baptism is not a sign that Jesus needed to be washed clean of sins.
Rather it is a beginning of everything, a resetting of the clock.  
It begins with a voice affirming Jesus identity 
and then Jesus is driven into the wilderness for 40 days.  
Those days symbolize the 40 years of Israel’s exile in the wilderness, 
and Jesus’ act rewrites Israel’s history, 
changes the horror of what was and offers a new beginning.  
That is what Lent is all about.  Repent the past, but then turn the repentance into resolve.
That involves choosing.  A favorite old story makes the point. 
A seeker after truth came to a saint for guidance.
"Tell me, wise one, how did you become holy?"
"Two words."
"And what are they, please?"
"Right choices."
The seeker was fascinated. "How does one learn to choose rightly?"
"One word."
"One word! May I have it, please?" the seeker asked.
"Growth."
The seeker was thrilled. "How does one grow?"
"Two words."
"What are they, pray tell?"
"Wrong choices."
I believe that this is God's purpose in times of testing, 
to help us grow and to show us that we have the faith and ability to stand up to the testing 
so that we will trust God in difficult times -- to strengthen our faith and Christian character.
We are going to need strength of character, not just through the season we call Lent, 
but for the time beyond that as well.  
We know that because we know that the ills that beset us are not going to go away.  
Disease, economic imbalance and poverty, racial inequality 
and a political divide the size of the Grand Canyon are evils 
that are strong, persistent and confounding. 
Growth to get beyond these things is desperately needed.  
But that will require courage to make right choices.  
And from people not wearing masks when science tells us we really must, 
to those who succumb to political intimidation, right choices seem so hard to achieve. 
What is needed is real leadership.  
Jesus became that kind of leader as his ministry began 
with the baptism that proclaimed his identity.  
Bishop Fulton J. Sheen – a Roman Catholic Bishop I used to watch on television – 
noted that John the Evangelist, who is praised for his charity, 
once induced his mother to use political influence, and on another occasion, 
when the city of the Samaritans rejected our Lord, he and his brother, James, 
asked our Lord to rain down fire from the heaven and destroy the city. 
This was not charity. 
In fact, there must have been a tendency to hate in John, for not without aptness 
did his master call him who wanted to send down lightening, a Son of Thunder. 
But some time or other in John's life, he seized upon the weak spot in his character, 
namely, want of kindness to fellow man, and through cooperation with grace, 
he became the great apostle of charity.
The Temptations of the saints were for them opportunities of self-discovery. 
They revealed the breaches in the fortress of their souls that needed to be fortified, 
until they became the strongest points. 
This explains the curious fact about many saintly people, 
that they often become the opposite of what they seemed to be. 
When we hear of the holiness of certain souls, our first reaction is: 
"I knew him when...." Between the "then" and the "now" has intervened a battle, 
in which selfishness lost and faith won.
That faith is Christian identity.  You have an identity too. 
And you can be a leader.  
Billy Strayhorn tells the story of two gas company servicemen, 
a senior training supervisor and a young trainee, 
who were out checking gas meters in a subdivision. 
They parked their truck at one end of the street 
and then worked their way to the other end, checking meters along the way. 
At the last house, a woman was looking out her kitchen window, 
watching the two men as they checked her gas meter.
As they finished checking the meters, the senior supervisor challenged the young trainee 
to a race back to the truck, just to show the younger guy what kind of shape he was in. 
So off they took. As they came running up to the truck, 
they realized the lady from the last house was huffing and puffing right behind them. 
They asked her what was wrong. And gasping for breath, she replied, 
"Well, when I see two gas men running as hard as you two were, I figure I'd better run, too!"You may not think of yourself as a leader. 
You may not think of yourself as important. But you are. 
You are somebody's role model. You are somebody's hero. 
There are others: children, youth, your spouse, family, friends, 
coworkers and the like, who are watching you. 
And will follow in your footsteps. 
What you do and how you live your life is very important.  
Living your life fully will mean stepping up to be a leader from time to time, 
making right choices after having made your share of wrong ones, 
and having the courage required to even break with tradition when called to do so.  
In the 1800s, poet John Greenleaf Whittier 
wrote one of his most quoted poems in the English language. 
The poem was titled, "Maud Muller." You've never heard of it? 
Actually, not many people remember this sorrowful poem, 
but generations of people have quoted two famous lines from its final stanza.
"Maud Muller" is about a young maiden who, while working the fields one day, 
sees a handsome young Judge riding by on horseback. 
She offers him a drink of cool water. 
Their encounter lasts only a few moments, but it makes a deep impression on both of them.
Maud is greatly attracted to the Judge, 
and she dreams of marrying someone of his gentleness and integrity. 
She could leave the fields behind and live as the wife of a wealthy and powerful man.
At the same time, the Judge is attracted to Maud. 
He is tired of his career, and he dreams of marrying a warm, 
compassionate woman like Maud and settling into a simpler life in the country. 
But neither Maud nor the Judge acknowledges their attraction to one another. 
They are from different social classes---
they cannot risk breaking the bonds of social conformity.
Maud later marries a man who brings her much pain and hardship. 
The Judge also enters into a loveless marriage. 
In the final stanza of the poem, Whittier offers us this warning: 
"For of all sad words of tongue or pen, 
The saddest are these: 'It might have been!'"
And the people of God said…

MUSIC FOR PREPARING FOR COMMUNITY PRAYER:  "Children of God"

You are invited to type your prayers of joy and concern in Nearby Chat, 
during this song, before our community prayer time,
so that we may lift them to God as community!  
We ask you to read each shared prayer carefully. and to enter into this time with reverence.
We are actually in a conversation with God when we pray, 
and that should never be taken lightly,
but rather as we are told in Ephesians, "...  with all humility and gentleness, with patience,
bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the
unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." (4:23)
Your energy will be added to that prayer as we surrender it into God's keeping.
If you wish, you may respond to others with "God hear our prayer" or words of your choosing.

COMMUNITY PRAYER and PASTORAL PRAYER

MOMENT of SILENCE

PASTORAL PRAYER

It all seems so hopeless sometimes.
It must have seemed that way in Jesus' time.
Political strife,
economic disparity,
ethnic friction.
Problems so similar to what we face.
The temptations are there, too.
But perhaps, O God, the strongest of them
is the temptation to do nothing.
To simply despair.
In those times when our faith falters,
remind us of the truth that is
if it is going to be
it is up to me.
And armed with resolve
may this Holy Season of contemplation,
and repentance
lead to resolve
to do our part,
relying on Spirit help in the journey.
We ask this in your Holy Name.
Amen.

LORD'S PRAYER

O Breathing Life, your Name shines everywhere! 
Release a space to plant your Presence here. 
Imagine your possibilities now. 
Embody your desire in every light and form. 
Grow through us this moment's bread and wisdom. 
Untie the knots of failure binding us, 
as we release the strands we hold of others' faults. 
Help us not forget our Source, 
Yet free us from not being in the Present. 
From you arises every Vision, Power and Song from gathering to gathering. 
Amen 

BENEDICTION
I extinguish our candles; 
the light of the Spirit goes now with each of you.
Journey with that Spirit company in whatever world you sojourn.
It could not be otherwise, not really.
You journey just exactly as you were created to be
the beloved of God.
Amen.
CLOSING SONG:  "Glorious Unfolding"