Sunday Bulletin
Celebration Service
Fifth Sunday in Lent
March 22, 2026 9:30 am
Prelude “Tierce en taille” Dandrieu
Introit “The Son of Man Came not to be served”
Welcome & Announcements
Call to Worship Lay Leader: Dave Myers
The prophet asks: Can our soul-weary bones live again?
O God, you know!
We ask: Can we dance again after mourning, loss, and grief?
O God, you know!
The gift is sure and unmistakable:
God’s breath poured out as new life for weary souls!
Let us celebrate the gift of God’s new life,
And come to worship God in laughter and dancing!
Hymn “Leaning on the Everlasting Arms” #560
Lenten Prayer of Confession
Compassionate God, the wind of your Spirit is the very sign of life
for all who long for you. One breath from you and we are rescued
from the arid valley of dry bones, given muscles and sinews and
joy with which to praise you, and filled with the holy hope you grant
to all your faithful children. Let our whole lives be filled with the
life-breath of the Spirit, that what has lain dormant may burst into
bloom, and what looks to us to be death may be revealed as but
sleep before the emergence of new life. Amen.
The Lord’s Prayer
Children’s Message
Reading Psalm 130
Out of the depths I cry to you, Lord.
Lord, hear my voice!
Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications!
If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, Lord, who could
stand?
But there is forgiveness with you, so that you may be
revered.
I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope;
My soul waits for the Lord more than those who watch for
the morning, more than those who watch for the morning.
O Israel, hope in the Lord! For with the Lord there is
steadfast love, and with him is great power to redeem.
It is he who will redeem Israel from all its iniquities.
The Gloria Patri #35
Anthem “Ezekiel Saw the Wheel” arr. Donald Moore
Prayers of the People
Hymn “O Love That Wilt Not Let Me Go” #540
Reading John 11:1-45
Message “God Is My Help” Rev. Dan Haugh
Offering
Offertory “Out of the Depths I Cry to Thee” Max Reger
Doxology* #46
Offertory Prayer*
Hymn “Because He Lives” #562
Benediction
Closing “May the Grace of God Attend Us”
Postlude “There’s a Kingdom” arr. Cassler
Calendar of Events
Monday, 3/23 Noon AA meeting in Fellowship Hall
Tuesday, 3/24 Noon Lenten Prayer session
7:30 AA meeting in Fellowship Hall
Wednesday, 3/25 Noon AA meeting in Fellowship Hall
5:30 Simple Soup Supper Fellowship Hall
5:30 Choir Rehearsal in Organ Loft
Thursday, 3/26 3:15 Cherub Choir
4:00 Youth Choir
Friday, 3/27 5:00 Youth Fund Raising in front of church
Happy Birthday this week to:
Nancy Jeffries-Dwyer today, 3/22
Katherine Goldsmith and Anne Southam on 3/24
Clea James on 3/25
Emily Whitlock on 3/27
Piper Jennings and Jessie Winters on 3/28
Happy Anniversary this week to:
David and Nancy Myers on 3/25
Announcements
The ushers today are Annie-Vera Frye and Rodrigo Pilla. Thank you for helping today.
Our deepest sympathies to Louise Deuso for the loss of her daughter, Jennifer Daly who was born to eternal life on February 9, 2026.
Lamoille Valley Foster and Adoptive Family Association - Mission Moment
We are pleased to welcome Kate Zieger as our March Mission Moment speaker, representing the Lamoille Valley Foster and Adoptive Family Association (LVFAFA). Kate is an active member of the organization and the mother of two young children, Ella and Wes, whom she first fostered and later adopted.
LVFAFA is dedicated to creating a supportive and welcoming space where foster, adoptive, and kinship parents in the Lamoille Valley can connect, share experiences, and learn from one another. The organization also provides educational opportunities for members, helps plan and fund fun family events, and supports summer camp opportunities for children in foster care.
Their vision is for all foster, adoptive, and kinship parents to feel supported and celebrated. LVFAFA works within the community to raise funds that help cover foster parent expenses such as summer camps, extracurricular activities, clothing, sporting equipment, and more.
To learn how you can support this mission or if you are interested in becoming a foster parent, please contact the Morrisville DCF Office Resource Coordinator, Andrea Burton, at andrea.burton@vermont.gov
Lenten Prayer Sessions Began March 10th!
Pastor Dan invites you to an online Lenten lectionary prayer session on Tuesdays at 12:00 noon from March 10 through March 31
The link can be found in the Quest or the online bulletin. Email Pastor Dan if you have any questions. dan@stowechurch.org
Stewardship Pledge Tokens
Many members and friends of Stowe Community Church faithfully support our ministry through pledged gifts that are given online, by check, or in other ways during the week. When the offering plate is passed during worship, some have shared that they feel uncomfortable having nothing to place in the plate. Thanks to a thoughtful idea from Roger Keller, we are now offering SCC Pledge Tokens, available on the Welcome Table in the Narthex. If you give through a pledge, you are invited to take a token at the beginning of the service and place it in the offering plate as a symbol of your ongoing support and participation in our shared ministry.
Congregational Financial Meeting TODAY | Immediately Following Worship
Please join us in Fellowship Hall for an important congregational conversation focused on understanding our finances — where we stand today and where we are headed together. We had some very helpful feedback at the Congregation meeting, we listened - THANK YOU - and this meeting is intended as follow-up.
Stewardship Update
As of March 19, 2026 we have received 87 pledges for a total of $287,514. Our goal is $325,000, and we are now at 88% of our goal. Sincere thanks to all of you who have already pledged. There are pledge cards on the table in the Narthex. Sincere thanks, Nancy Money, Stewardship Chair
Lenten Prayer Sessions Began March 10th!
Pastor Dan invites you to an online Lenten lectionary prayer session on Tuesdays at 12:00 noon from March 10 through March 31
The link can be found in the Quest or here. Email Pastor Dan if you have any questions. dan@stowechurch.org
Lenten Simple Soup Suppers. Every Wednesday during Lent, area churches are hosting Simple Soup Suppers like St. John’s in the Mountains use to do. They will begin at 5:30 pm. March 25th will be here, Stowe Community Church. Suggested donations of $8.00/adult and $5.00/child. All donations go directly to Lamoille Community Food Share.
Pastor Dan invites you on a journey of finding God in the world around us, and that surrounds us each day.
Lent is 40 days beginning on Ash Wednesday, leading to Easter. Throughout the centuries, Christians have set aside time to fast, pray, read, reflect, serve, and give with intentionality. We prepare our hearts for a season of renewal and rebirth. This year, we are encouraging the following Lenten daily devotional as a guide along the way. It is free to download, and each daily reflection is only a few minutes to read. However, if possible, please include a few minutes of silence. The link for this download is available on our website and in the Quest.
SCC Youth Service & Fundraiser Night
March 27, 5:00–8:00 PM
Join us for a combined service project and fundraiser to support youth room renovations. During this event, we will:
Sell hot cocoa in front of SCC to raise funds for improvements to our youth space
Create “Lucky Charm” baskets to deliver to people in our lives that we are lucky to know
It will be a meaningful evening of service, creativity, and community. We are so grateful for the enthusiasm and generosity our youth continue to bring to SCC. We look forward to seeing everyone at these upcoming events!
New Member Orientation on April 19, 2026 following the morning worship service in Fellowship Hall in person or Zoom meeting on Monday April 20, 2026 at 6pm. These are for anyone interested in learning more about our church or signing up to become members. We will welcome new members on Sunday, May 10, 2026 at our 9:30 worship service.
We are actively looking to hire a Nursery Care Coordinator. If you or if anyone you know might be interested, you can reply to the office or have them get in touch with Oana or Taryn, that would be wonderful! It's $25 per hour, for about 90 minutes of work/ time on a Sunday morning. Any loving and eligible high school students and adults are all welcome and encouraged to apply!
March 15 - April 12, the Stowe Community Church will be holding a Diaper Drive to help with the immediate needs of two organizations in Lamoille County. Please drop off new, disposable diapers at Stowe Community Church, 137 Main Street, Stowe. Most needed are the very small and largest diaper sizes: newborn, 1, 2, 5 and 6+. However, diapers of any size will be gratefully accepted. The diapers will be distributed to the Lamoille Family Center and the Lamoille Community Food Share. To learn more, visit, lamoillefamilycenter.org and lcfoodshare.org. Thank you.
If you, or someone you know, would like prayers for comfort or healing, the members of the Prayer Team are ready to support you. Please fill out the prayer request form in the pew and put it in the offering plate or hand it to an usher to deliver to the office.
Please do not forget our neighbors in need by donating food for the Lamoille Community Food Share. Non-perishable items can be put in our two bins, one in the Narthex and one in the hall downstairs. Thank you.
Musical Notes by Karen Miller
Prelude: Jean Francois Dandrieu (1681-1738) was a Parisian harpsichordist, organist, and composer at a time when many of his colleagues were also writing in the French Baroque (Classical) style. That included Couperin, Boyvin, Marchand, de Grigny, Clerambault, Du Mage, and Guilain. All wrote short pieces with specific registration. Dandrieu's compositions for organ were his four Livres de Noels and his Premier Livre de Pieces d'Orgue. The latter contains six suites on different church tones. Each suite begins with a setting of the Magnificat followed by a set of seven or more secular movements for use as offertoires or voluntaries. The "Tierce en taille" heard today is from his fifth suite and is a piece that features a solo voice on the organ's tierce stop in the tenor range.
Anthem: The African-American spiritual "Ezekiel Saw the Wheel" is based on the vision of Ezekiel in Ezekiel, Chapter 1 where he sees the glory of God.
The text is a repeating refrain of:
Ezekiel saw the wheel, way up in the middle of the air.
The big wheel run by faith and the little wheel run by the grace of God;
'Tis the wheel in a wheel, way up in the middle of the air.
This is interspersed with phrases:
Some go to heaven to sing and shout;
Before six months they all turn out.
If faith was a thing that money could buy
The rich would live and the poor would die.
Offertory: (Johann Baptist Joseph) Max(imilian) Reger (1873-1916) was a German composer, organist, and teacher who wrote most of his organ works before 1900. He lived in Munich from 1901 and taught at the Academy of Music and later at the Leipzig University. He toured Europe and Russia as an organist. He was a prolific composer and wrote in many genres. A master of polyphony, he developed complex harmonic procedures, but in 1914 he did write 30 Little Chorale Preludes, shorter, less dense works. His "Aus tiefer Not schrei ich zu dir" (From Depths of Woe I Cry to Thee) states the chorale melody in the tenor line, echoed by the other voices.
Postlude: There's a Kingdom Fair" is a chorale prelude by G. Winston Cassler based on the Norwegian folk-tune "In His Kingdom". Glenn Winston Cassler (1906-1990) studied at the Oberlin Conservatory and in England and became a professor at St. Olaf's Conservatory in Northfield, Minnesota. He wrote a number of organ pieces including his collection This is the Victory, published in 1969, for quiet service times and funerals. "There's a Kingdom Fair" is included in this collection.