sunday march 1, 2026

Fruitland United Methodist Church
 March 1, 2026

*(Please stand if you are comfortably able.)

Prelude: “To God be the Glory,” by William Doane

Welcoming the Light of Christ and inviting the neighborhood to worship.
Welcome and Announcements Pastor Jorge and Liturgist

Misson Moment by Mary Odom

*Call to Worship Liturgist
There are questions that come at night.
And there is a God who meets us there.
God calls us to places we cannot yet see.
And promises to walk with us.
The Spirit blows where it will.
We open our hearts to be born again.
All: We come to worship the God of promise, love, and new beginnings.
*Sharing the Peace of Christ.

*Opening Hymn: “Be Thou My Vision” UMH 451

Scripture Reading I: Psalm 121 (Read Responsively) UMH 844
Reader: The Word of God for the people of God.
People: Thanks be to God.

Time with Young Christians Leslie Ward
Please write prayer concerns and celebrations on yellow notepads, to be collected.

Community Expressions Pastor Jorge & Liturgist
     Sing: “Holy, Holy, Holy” TFWS 2007
     Thanksgiving and Celebration
     Prayers for Healing and Wholeness
     Our Community and World
     Let us pray.

*Hymn: “In His Time” TFWS 2203

Scripture Reading II: Genesis 12:1-4 (Read Responsively) UMH 844

Invitation to Generosity Pastor Jorge
     Offertory: “If you could Hie to Kolob” English tune arranged by Ralph Vaughn Williams
    *Doxology: “Praise God from whom all blessings flow . . .” UMH 95

Scripture Reading III: John 3:1-17 (Read Responsively) UMH 844

*Hymn: “Give Thanks” TFWS 2033

Sermon: “At the Doorway: Like Abraham, Like Nicodemus” Rev. Jorge Rodriguez
There are questions that come at night. Not always because it is dark outside,
but because something is dark inside.

Nicodemus went out at night. We do not know exactly what he wanted to ask.
We do not know what he had prepared in his mind. Maybe an argument.
Maybe a trap. Maybe an elegant conversation between teachers.

But Jesus did not allow him to set the agenda. Nicodemus begins with religious
courtesy: “Rabbi, we know that you have come from God...”And before he
finishes his introduction, Jesus interrupts him:

“You must be born again.”

It was not the question Nicodemus had asked. But it was the question his soul
needed.

In the Book of Genesis 12, God says to Abram:

“Go... to the land that I will show you.”

He does not show him the map. He does not hand him the itinerary. He does
not give him GPS coordinates. Only a promise, and Abram went. That is all the
text says:

“So Abram went.”

Without guarantees, without a signed contract. without knowing how the story
would end. He went.

In the Gospel of John 3, Nicodemus is also standing at a doorway.

He does not have to leave his land. He has to leave his system. He wants to
understand. He wants to control the Spirit. He wants the formula.

“How can a man be born when he is old?”

He wants the method. He wants the procedure. He wants to know what work
must be done. But Jesus offers him a gift, not a task.

And in the middle of confusion, in the middle of the night, in the middle of
misunderstanding, the brightest promise appears: “For God so loved the
world...” “Por eso Dios amo al mundo” That is not a formula. It is a gift. Si es un
regalo.

Here is the tension. We want to make our way into the kingdom. We want to earn
our place; we want to do something that secures the result.

Nicodemus wanted to do. Abram simply believed.

Paul will later say that Abraham is the example.
Not because he worked harder. Not because he obeyed perfectly. But because
he trusted.

Believing is not work. It is a direction.

It is stepping out when God says “Go,” even if we do not know where.
It is accepting being born again even if we do not understand how.

Jesus could have said to Nicodemus: Now you are Abraham.
You are standing at the doorway of a new life.” You do not have to climb back into
the womb. You must release control; you do not have to produce the Spirit.

You must let the Spirit blow, you do not have to earn God’s love, you must receive
it.

The same God who called Abram is the God who calls into existence things that
do not exist.

He calls hope where there is fear, He calls faith where there is doubt.
He calls it “there is” where there is exclusion, He calls life where there seemed
to be death.

We are no longer defined by flesh. We are not defined by the law, we are not
defined by performance, we are defined by the Spirit. We are family not by blood,
but by promise.

Each of us lives at that moment. A moment when God says: “Go.” A moment
when Christ says:
“Be born.”
And we want to ask:
“How?”
“Where?”
“With what guarantees?”

But faith does not begin with answers. It begins with trust.
Abraham walked. Nicodemus listened.
And we are standing at the same doorway.

​We move forward in the journey of our lives guided by this promise:
The promise of presence.
The promise of acceptance.
The promise of grace.
We do not work to enter.
We walk because we have already been loved.
We are not born again by effort.
We are reborn because God loved first.
And when God says “Go” ... even if it is night... we go.
Amen.

*Affirmation of Faith (Responsive)
Do you trust the God who calls you to go?
We trust, even when we do not see the whole way.
Do you believe in the Spirit who gives new birth?
We believe, even when we do not understand how.
Do you receive the love God has already given?
We receive it with gratitude and faith.

Invitation to the Table:
Christ invites to this table not those who have it all figured out, not
those who have earned their place, but those who trust the promise.
Like Abraham, we come in faith. Like Nicodemus, we come with
questions. Like children, we come ready to receive.

The Great Thanksgiving (Brief Form):
The Lord be with you. And also, with you.
Lift up your hearts. We liftthem up to the Lord.
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God. It is right to give our thanks and praise.

Words of Institution:
On the night in which he gave himself for us, Jesus took bread...broke it...
and said, “This is my body...” He took the cup... “This is my blood of the
new covenant...”

Prayer of Consecration:
Pour out your Holy Spirit on us gathered here and on these gifts of bread
and cup. Make them be for us the body and blood of Christ, that we may be
for the world people of promise, people of new birth, people who walk in
trust. Amen

Father’s Prayer: Sharing of the Elements
(Music during distribution) “One Bread, One Body” UMH 620

Prayer After Communion : Gracious God, you have fed us not because we
earned it but because you loved us first. Send us now into the world as
people who walk in faith, who trust the promise, who receive the gift.
Amen.

*Closing Hymn: “I Have Decided to Follow Jesus”

Benediction: You stand at a doorway. God says, “Go.” You may not see
the map. You may not understand the how. But you are already loved. You
are already called. You are already made new. Go in trust. Go in grace. Go
even if it is night. Amen

Postlude: “Lead on O King Eternal,” by Ernest Shurtleff and Henry Stuart

Rev. Jorge Rodriguez [email protected]