SUNDAY SERVICE
March 30, 2025
Welcome & Lent Vision
Lent is an ancient Christian tradition where the church invites its community into a season of prayer, fasting, and generosity. These spiritual practices are meant to foster individual and communal growth, encouraging renewal in our relationship with God and one another.
Disconnect40
This Lenten Season, Wellington Heights Community Church invites you to join us in a communal commitment to disconnect from screens to set aside the time we often turn to screens for distraction or engage in a constant stream of information to realign our hearts and minds with God. You are invited to pick up a copy of Disconnect 40 on the back table.
Disconnect40 Sharing of Experience
Opening Call & Response Prayer
Lent calls us to journey with Jesus through prayer, fasting, and generosity.
Lent calls us to worship together, to tell future generations the Good News.
Lent calls us to practice justice, to bring God's hope to all people.
Lent calls us to faithful living, to confess and turn from our sin.
Lent calls each of us to take up our cross, to trust the One who bears it with us.
Lent calls us to journey with God.
Let us worship God, who walks with us, this and every day.
Amen.
Worship
Call & Response Prayer of Confession
Blessed are those whose sins are forgiven,
whose mistakes are not counted against them.
Blessed are those who live in truth—
honest with themselves, with others, and with you, God.
When we hide our sin, it weighs us down,
But when we bring our failings before you,
we find freedom, healing, and peace.
So now, we turn to you in confession.
We lay before you the burdens we carry,
trusting in your mercy, your grace, and your love.
(silent prayers)
God, you are our refuge and our strength.
Your unfailing love surrounds us,
and you fill our hearts with joy.
Lead us in your ways,
watch over us with your faithful care,
so that our lives may reflect your goodness and bring glory to your name.
Amen.
Invitation for Connection
Let us now turn to welcome one another by sharing the peace we have received by saying, “God’s Peace be with you.”
(pause for a moment for peace to be offered)
After sharing a message of peace, Children are invited to go upstairs for the Children's Ministry.
5-Minute Connection
During this short pause, please scan the QR code on the screen and add to the Embodiment Sunday Word Cloud
*Please share a memory from the past 5 years on the table with the flowers during the invitation of connection. Image
Announcements
You’re invited to participate in a meaningful discussion on Healing Racial Trauma: The Road to Resilience by Sheila Wise Rowe, a powerful book that explores the deep wounds of racial trauma and the path toward healing through faith, resilience, and justice.
📅 Date: April 23, May 7, May 21, June 4
🕕 Time: 6-7:30 PM
📍 Wellington Heights Community Church
RSVP to office@wellingtonheightscommunitychurch.org
Annual Neighborhood Cleanup Day: Sunday, April 27th @ 10:00am
Johnson STEAM Academy, McKinley STEAM Academy, Wellington Heights Community Church & Wellington Heights Neighborhood Association are partnering for a Neighborhood Clean-Up day on Sunday, April 27th from 10-11 AM. We will gather at the Wellington Heights Community Church building (1600 4th Ave SE) for instructions. Trash bags and gloves will be provided!
Consider arriving early for a time of conversation and connection with donuts and coffee at 9:30 AM that morning.
Let's come together to care for our neighborhood and the environment!
CoderDojo is a free program for kids from kindergarten to 5th grade. It offers various stations with STEM activities. Children can freely explore any station that catches their interest. Mentors are available at each station to help them get started, allowing students to learn and explore on their own.
The next Coder Dojo will be on Wednesday, April 9t,h from 3:30-5:30 PM at the church building.
Save the Date for the 5th Annual Mother’s Day on May 10th from 3:30-5 PM. Consider helping spread the word about the event by distributing invites to our Wellington Heights Neighbors’ porches. We are looking for volunteers to join us after the church service on May 4, 2025.
If you are interested, please email office@wellingtonheightscommunitychurch.org if you would like to volunteer.
Loads of Love is up and running! As a reminder, we currently only have the capacity for a single Wellington Heights resident to do laundry each week.
“Why so few?” you might ask. The answer: We cannot expand this ministry until we have a base of volunteers to sustainably maintain this once-a-week schedule!
Next steps: Let us know if you can volunteer on Fridays or Saturdays from 9:30 am-12:30 pm! We would like ONE of those times to be the official, once-a-week Loads of Love hours going forward. Contact: lewis@wellingtonheightscommunitychurch.org
Anthony Betters Introduction
Anthony is a Sales Specialist at American Family Insurance with dreams of owning his own agency. A Baylor University alum and former football walk-on, he moved from Waco, Texas, to Cedar Rapids to launch a senior in-home healthcare franchise. Named to the Corridor Business Journal’s Forty Under 40, he serves as Vice President of the African American Museum of Iowa Board, PTA Vice President at Washington High School, and Treasurer and Chaplain of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. He also founded GoodFellas, a networking initiative for Black men. Anthony and his fiancée Cynthia are proud parents to three children, with one on the way.
Scripture Reading
Psalm 32, CEB
1 The one whose wrongdoing is forgiven,
whose sin is covered over, is truly happy!
2 The one the Lord doesn’t consider guilty—
in whose spirit there is no dishonesty—
that one is truly happy!
3 When I kept quiet, my bones wore out;
I was groaning all day long—
every day, every night!—
4 because your hand was heavy upon me.
My energy was sapped as if in a summer drought. Selah
5 So I admitted my sin to you;
I didn’t conceal my guilt.
“I’ll confess my sins to the Lord, ” is what I said.
Then you removed the guilt of my sin. Selah
6 That’s why all the faithful should pray to you during troubled times,
so that a great flood of water won’t reach them.
7 You are my secret hideout!
You protect me from trouble.
You surround me with songs of rescue! Selah
8 I will instruct you and teach you
about the direction you should go.
I’ll advise you and keep my eye on you.
9 Don’t be like some senseless horse or mule,
whose movement must be controlled
with a bit and a bridle.
Don’t be anything like that!
10 The pain of the wicked is severe,
but faithful love surrounds the one who trusts the Lord.
11 You who are righteous, rejoice in the Lord and be glad!
All you whose hearts are right, sing out in joy!
Sermon
Anthony Betters
Worship
Prayers of the People
God of all things seen and unseen, you did not insulate yourself from the pain of the world. Thank you for drawing near, for revealing your complete commitment in Jesus.
Through Jesus, we pray with hope, and we pray with love.
We pray for all who are experiencing discord and animosity. May they be reconciled with each other and receive and extend the abundant love of God.
Lord, hear our prayer.
We pray for all who suffer physical sickness, or distress of mind, or weariness of spirit. May your healing love be known this day.
Lord, hear our prayer.
We continue to pray for our communal fast of Disconnect40 this Lenten season. May we continue to turn from the delightful distractions of screens and constant stream information and turn toward You.
Lord, hear our prayer.
We pray for our faith community. May we pause and examine our own lives in the light of the teaching in today’s text.
Lord, hear our prayer.
We pray that your mighty love this day set right the wrongs of all who suffer exploitation, injustice, abuse, neglect, hunger or violence.
Lord, hear our prayer.
We pray that your unconditional love be known to those who are feeling unable to keep up with the demands and expectations before them.
Lord, hear our prayer.
Merciful God, we come to you with repentant hearts. We thank you for your abundant love for all people. May our lives extend the love and peace that we have received from You. Amen.
Embodiment Sunday Reminder - Stephanie
Check out the digital newsletter for a creative and reflective Lenten practice for next Sunday as we create a heart map. Just as a physical map helps us find our way when we are lost, a heart map can help us name our hopes, dreams, and burdens. It offers clarity about what is in our hearts and allows us to bring our whole selves before God.
Interactive Word Cloud Results
