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10/9/2024 0 Comments Prayer of Confession, P+21B Call to Confession
Both we and our ancestors have sinned; we have committed iniquity, have done wickedly. (Psalm 106:6) Let us confess our iniquity before God and seek God's mercy: Prayer of Confession Forgive our misdeeds, God. Forgive our failure to check facts. Forgive our intentional perpetuation of lies. Forgive our righteous indignation when we refuse to dirty our own hands to lift a finger to help those in need. A plague has broken out among us, God ... a plague of hatred ... a plague of anger ... a plague of conspiracies ... a plague of manipulation ... a plague of distrust. Forgive our self-centeredness, we pray. Forgive our overblown egos. Forgive the way we make the tragedies that affect others about us. Every. Single. Time. Dear God in Heaven, hear our prayers for forgiveness. Turn our bitterness into empathy. Open our eyes to the Truth, we pray, and transform our hardened hearts with compassion and kindness and love for the other all around the world. Assurance of God's Grace For God so loved the world that God gave God's only begotten Son that whosoever believes in him would not perish, but have everlasting life, for God did not send God's Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. (John 3:16-17) Hear the Good News: In the name of Jesus Christ, we are forgiven! Thanks be to God! Since God has forgiven us, let us also forgive one another. The peace of Christ be with you. Please extend the peace of Christ to all whom you encounter this week.
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10/8/2024 0 Comments Call to Worship, P+21B Welcome, you who observe justice
and you who do what is right according to the law of love. 'Welcome, you who sing praises to God, who talk about God's amazing works in the company of others. Welcome, you who are struggling with both justice and righteousness and with communicating God's activity. In the courts of the Almighty, grace is abundant and opportunities for transformation exist for all who want to follow Christ. Let us worship God!  Exodus 32:1-14 www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus%2032%3A1-14&version=NRSVUE
Psalm 106:1-6, 19-23 www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%20106%3A1-6%2C%2019-23&version=NRSVUE Philippians 4:1-9 www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Philippians%204%3A1-9&version=NRSVUE Matthew 22:1-14 www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2022%3A1-14&version=NRSVUE The focus passage for A Place of Grace this week is Psalm 106:1-6, 19-23. All liturgy will be based on this passage. What in Psalm 106:1-6, 19-23 inspires or encourages you? Share your thoughts here: www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=946684147500839&set=a.549399683895956. 10/2/2024 0 Comments Call to Worship, P+20B Listen.
God is calling. Day and night God calls. There are no words, yet the sound of God's voice echoes throughout the world ... to the ends of the earth ... calling us to worship. Listen. Let us worship God! Exodus 20:1-4, 7-9, 12-20 www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus%2020%3A1-4%2C%207-9%2C%2012-20&version=NRSVUE
Psalm 19 www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%2019&version=NRSVUE Philippians 3:4b-14 www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Philippians%203%3A4b-14&version=NRSVUE Matthew 21:33-46 www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2021%3A33-46&version=NRSVUE The focus passage for A Place of Grace this week is Psalm 19. All liturgy will be based on this passage this week. What in Psalm 19 inspires or encourages you? Share your thoughts here: www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=942154821287105&set=a.549399683895956. 10/1/2024 0 Comments Whoosh! What a summer it has been! When we lost my mom almost two years ago, she was the fourth family member in three years. It's been rough, I'm not gonna lie. On top of dealing with grief, things that belonged to some of those family members made their way to our house. Perhaps it was the grief speaking. Perhaps it was sentimentality. Perhaps it was that they just had good taste. ;) Or perhaps it was proximity and the fact that I have a hard time saying no. Regardless, feeding this house did not make it grow. :P At the beginning of 2024, I declared this year the year of the "Great Declutter." However, it was the middle of June before I had the wherewithal to do some serious cleaning out.
I was inches from having stage one (presentable to have company) of the UPSTAIRS done, when the contractor called to say he was ready to work in our bathroom. We are reaching a certain age, you know, and a walk-in shower and handicapped toilet seemed appropriate. So the bathroom exploded into areas of the house that had already been cleaned up. *sigh* Thankful for the project. Frustrated by the timing. I did not even have THAT task cleaned up, when the cabinet refacing guy called to say he had a cancellation and could move us up seven full weeks from when we were scheduled. Have mercy. Did they need it? Absolutely. 30+ years of steam and grease and water damage had taken their toll, and we didn't do it when we planned because COVID shut the world down. But doggone it! So we cleaned out all the cabinets in the kitchen and both bathrooms and they are still not put back together, but I think I'm 95% there. I do my best to be consistent with posting these offerings because I have received notification from folks at churches that don't have pastors saying they rely on the liturgies, which makes my heart happy, and from pastors who have found them useful, which was a primary goal of posting them in the first place, but sometimes life happens. So I apologize for the inconsistency in recent months. I promise I'm doing my best, and will continue to try hard to keep a consistent schedule while I get my house in order. Thank you for your patience. Thank you for your grace. And, most of all, thank you for your interest in the work A Place of Grace is doing in the world. I am grateful for you. Peace, Julie 9/26/2024 0 Comments Prayer of Confession, P+19B Call to Confession
Against (God), (God) alone, have (we) sinned and done what is evil in (God's) sight, so that (God is) justified in (God's) sentence and blameless when (God passes) judgment. (Psalm 51:4) Let us confess our sin before God and seek God's mercy: Prayer of Confession Forgive us, O God, for we have sinned. You speak to us through ancient scriptures and through the words of our ancestors, through all of creation and through parable and story, and still we refuse to listen. You remind us how you saved your people from slavery in Egypt that your children would no longer be oppressed, and we participate in systems that oppress your children today, through human trafficking and reinforcing poverty and rejecting those who cannot pay the price for an education that would move them forward. You remind us how you led your people with pillars of cloud and pillars of fire, so that they might find shade in the desert sun and find their path at night, but we pollute your firmament with smoke, so that we cannot see you, and we close our eyes to your direction, choosing to follow our own way instead of yours. You give us water to drink and Living Water, so that we may not thirst, and we quench our desires with things that do not satisfy. Forgive us, we pray. Open our eyes to the evil we perpetuate. Open our ears to the evil we speak. Open our hearts to the evil at the root of all our actions, and transform us into the people you created us to be. Assurance of God's Grace For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person someone might actually dare to die. 8 But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us. (Romans 5:6-8) Since God has forgiven us in Christ, let us also forgive one another. The peace of Christ be with you. Please extend the peace of Christ to all whom you encounter this week. 9/24/2024 0 Comments Call to Worship, P+19B Come, you hearers of the Word.
Come, you tellers of the story. Come, you parable promoters. Come, you wonderers and you who pass it on ... Incline your ears! God is speaking. Come and worship God! 9/23/2024 0 Comments Lectionary Scriptures for the 19th Sunday after Pentecost, Year B (and an apology) Exodus 17:1-7 www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=exodus%2017%3A1-7&version=NRSVUE
Psalm 78:1-4, 12-16 www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%2078%3A1-4%2C%2012-16&version=NRSVUE Philippians 2:1-13 www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Philippians%202%3A1-13&version=NRSVUE Matthew 21:23-32 www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2021%3A23-32&version=NRSVUE The focus passage for A Place of Grace this week is Psalm 78:1-4, 12-16. All liturgy will be based on this passage. What in Psalm 78:1-4, 12-16 inspires or encourages you? Share your thoughts here: www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=935827408586513&set=a.549399683895956. 9/18/2024 0 Comments Prayer of Confession, P+18B Call to Confession
Our iniquities testify against us ... our rebellions indeed are many, and we have sinned against (God). (Jeremiah 14:7) Let us confess our iniquities before God and seek God's mercy: Prayer of Confession God, forgive us. We point our fingers at our enemies and accuse them of risking our lives by their taunting, while we taunt our neighbors with lies about their habits and their choices and even their names. We are no better than our enemies. God, forgive us. We call on you to rain down your anger on those who worship differently, who believe differently, but we who claim to follow you do not: we call people names, we dehumanize them, we put them in harm's way by our refusal to listen to them and to show them compassion. God, forgive us. Deliver us from our iniquities. Teach us to repent from our rebellion and to return to you. Help us to remember what it means to follow Jesus. Assurance of God's Grace (God said,) "I alone am the one who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins." (Isaiah 43:25) Hear the GOOD NEWS: In Jesus Christ, we are forgiven! Thanks be to God! Since God has forgiven us in Christ, let us also forgive one another. The peace of Christ be with you. Please extend the peace of Christ to all whom you encounter this week. |
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Julie participated in the 25th Seminar for Certified Zentangle(R) Teacher Training in June, 2019, trained by Rick Roberts and Maria Thomas. In addition to creating art as a personal spiritual practice, Julie also incorporates the Zentangle(R) method in Prayer Art Retreats in a variety of contexts, including church groups, friend gatherings, and at a local art gallery. Check out the Upcoming Events page for a calendar of events, or use the Contact Us page to inquire about scheduling an event with your group!
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