2/12/2025 0 Comments Prayer of Confession, E+6CCall to Confession
The boastful will not stand before (God's) eyes; (God) hates all evildoers. (Psalm 5:5) Let us confess our arrogance and seek God's mercy: Prayer of Confession Forgive us, Lord, we waste precious time on empty pursuits. We allow things without meaning to suck up our time, justifying them by any means necessary to make ourselves feel better about our weaknesses and our shortcomings. We embrace role models and advisors who pretend to serve you -- who say the things that appear to make sense, but make no sense at all .. who play to our fears and offer false comfort, when discomfort teaches us the lessons we need to learn ... who call the other evil and lead us to believe we must protect the most vulnerable among us from the evildoers, when the most vulnerable among us are often the strangers we label criminal. Those who lead in this way are only serving themselves ... only aggrandizing their power ... only amassing more wealth ... only extending their reach. God, forgive us for listening to false prophets. Forgive us for following where we know in our hearts we dare not go. Forgive us for going anyway. Forgive us for believing in any way but the Way. Forgive us for following anyone but you in our living and our loving, and teach us to love as we have been loved. In Jesus' name, we pray. Assurance of God's Grace In (Christ) we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace that he lavished on us. (Ephesians 1:7-8) Hear the Good News: In the name of 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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2/11/2025 0 Comments Call to Worship, E+6CCome, you blessed ...
you who delight in God's law ... you who meditate on it day and night. Come, you fruit-bearers ... you who nourish those around you ... you whose leaves do not wither. Come, you lost and forlorn ... you who have not heard the Word ... you who do not know the law of Love. Come, you hungry ... you who are starving for spiritual meat ... you who are longing to be filled with the abundance of life. Come and worship God. Jeremiah 17:5-10 www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Jeremiah%2017%3A5-10&version=NRSVUE
Psalm 1 www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%201&version=NRSVUE 1 Corinthians 15:12-20 www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Corinthians%2015%3A12-20&version=NRSVUE Luke 6:17-26 www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%206%3A17-26&version=NRSVUE The focus passage for A Place of Grace this week is Psalm 1. All liturgy will be based on this passage. What in Psalm 1 inspires or encourages you? Watch for daily questions for reflection and share your thoughts here: www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1039179208251332&set=a.549399683895956. 2/7/2025 0 Comments Prayers of the People, E+5CFaithful God,
we bow before you in gratitude and praise, thankful for your activity in our lives and for your steadfast love. Be present, we pray, with those whose souls are weary. Strengthen them and give them hope as they look toward the future you have promised: a future with light and liberty and joy and wholeness and abundant life. Be present, Sovereign God, with the leaders of nations and give them wisdom and discernment. Humble the proud, we pray, and lead them to new understanding. Transform their hearts that the praises they sing are genuine, and the laws they enact are merciful, and the purse they control is stewarded responsibly and compassionately with kindness toward your peoples all over the earth. Walk with those who walk in the midst of trouble: in violence or illness or poverty, in distress or fear or loneliness, in shame or estrangement or persecution. Protect them, we pray, and cover them with your right hand that all who seek them harm might be deterred. Lord, in your infinite mercy, hear our prayers for those who are downtrodden, downsized, and downhearted. Send your Church to be your hands and feet and heart in a broken world. Send your Church to proclaim Good News through word and deed. Send your Church to be agents of justice where injustice reigns, so that all who call upon the name of another god may see your steadfast love and faithfulness and be renewed. 2/6/2025 0 Comments Playlist, E+5C2/5/2025 0 Comments February 05th, 2025Call to Confession
The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, our God will not despise. (Psalm 51:17) Let us confess our sin before God and seek God's mercy: Prayer of Confession Hear our cries for mercy, O God, when we cry to you for help, when we lift up our hands toward your most holy sanctuary. We confess that we have failed to remember your steadfast love and faithfulness toward us. We have not given you credit for your activity in our lives or in our world. We have not cared for the poor in the example of Christ, but have drawn near to and exalted the rich and powerful who exploit your people and create greater hardship for them. Forgive us, God. Open our eyes to the errors of our ways. Preserve us from the enemies we called friends. Deliver us from our own actions. Do not forsake us, O God, in spite of our failure to follow in your path. Renew in us a right spirit, Merciful God, and transform us into the people you have called us to be. Assurance of God's Grace God has promised that when we confess our sin, God, who is faithful and just, will forgive us our sin, removing it as far as the east is from the west and remembering it no more. (Psalm 103:12, Hebrews 8:12) Hear the Good News: In the name of 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. 2/4/2025 0 Comments Call to Worship, E+5CCome, you who have cried out to God
and experienced God's deliverance. Come, you who have walked in the midst of trouble and been rescued from your enemies. Come, you who have known God's steadfast love, you meek and humble, you whose souls have been restored. Come you singers of praise -- you bass singers and tenors, you alto singers and sopranos and you who make a joyful noise. Come join the choir and sing your songs of gratitude to God! Isaiah 6:1-8 www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isaiah%206%3A1-8&version=NRSVUE
Psalm 138 www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%20138&version=NRSVUE 1 Corinthians 15:1-11 www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Corinthians%2015%3A1-11&version=NRSVUE Luke 5:1-11 www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%205%3A1-11&version=NRSVUE The focus passage for A Place of Grace this week is Psalm 138. All liturgy will be based on this passage. What in Psalm 138 encourages or inspires you? Share your comments here: https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1034305988738654&set=a.549399683895956. Jeremiah 1:4-10 www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Jeremiah%201%3A4-10&version=NRSVUE
Psalm 71:1-6 www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%2071%3A1-6&version=NRSVUE 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Corinthians%2013%3A1-13&version=NRSVUE Luke 4:21-30 www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%204%3A21-30&version=NRSVUE The focus passage for A Place of Grace this week is Psalm 71:1-6. Pastor Julie will be with the Association of Partners in Christian Education this week. You are invited to return to this post daily -- www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1029173532585233&set=a.549399683895956 -- to reflect on this passage and share your thoughts. 1/24/2025 0 Comments Prayers of the People, E+2CRedeeming God,
we call to you from the daytime and from the nighttime, we listen for your voice throughout the earth. Hear our prayers, O God! Hear the prayers of the weary who have fought the good fight and run the race and proclaimed the Good News in word and in deed and are weary for all the evil that still exists and the passivity that allows it and the anger that supports it and the judgment where it festers and grows. Revive the souls of the weary, we pray, that they may continue in the work you have called them to do. Be present with your servants, O Rock of Gibraltar. Hear our prayers for those who diligently seek to keep your commandments to love you with all their mind and all their heart and all their soul and all their strength and to love their neighbors as themselves ... and are preyed upon and persecuted and pummeled by a world that values war more than peacemaking. Lord of Love, bless those who desire you more than any earthly treasure. May their selflessness defeat selfishness, their courage overcome fear, their patience outlast greed and power, their compassion restore unity. May the words of our mouths and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our Rock, and our Redeemer. |
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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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