3/12/2022 0 Comments Prayers of the People, L2CMothering God,
spread out your wings over your children -- your Ukranian children, O God, who are fighting for their very lives and for the right to have a voice in their governing; for those who are staying behind to defend their country and their property and for those who are crossing borders to save their most vulnerable; for their leaders and for leaders around the world who are sending assistance and welcoming refugees and speaking truth to power. Spread out your wings, O God, and protect your children from harm. Healing Christ, cast out our demons and heal our infirmities. Teach us compassion for the neighbor and the stranger, for the lost and the lonely, for the ill and the imprisoned. Change our hearts, that we might gather near to you rather than fight against you and your beloved children. Cast out our demons, O Christ, and heal us of our anger. Sophia ... Wisdom, inspire in us a passion for justice and a heart for hope! Lead us out to proclaim your love in word and in deed to all who long to hear it in spite of the obstacles we may face. Grant us courage to follow where Christ leads that we may go into the mission field shouting, "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!"
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3/10/2022 0 Comments Playlist, L2CMothering God, You Gave Me Birth
Praise Ye the Lord, the Almighty Jesus, Lover of My Soul Where Cross the Crowded Ways of Life May God's Sheltering Wings 3/9/2022 0 Comments Prayer of Confession, L2CCall to Confession
Jesus said to them, “The light is with you for a little longer. Walk while you have the light, so that the darkness may not overtake you. If you walk in the darkness, you do not know where you are going. (John 12:35) Let us move from the darkness to the light, confessing our sin before God and seeking God's mercy. Prayer of Confession (the beginning taken from Jeremiah 7:23-24) Forgive us, God, for we have not obeyed you or inclined our ears, but have walked in our own counsels, and the stubbornness of our evil hearts, and we have gone backward instead of forward. Oh, that we would be willing to celebrate the work you are doing in and among us and to join in it instead of fighting it every step of the way. Hear our cries for mercy, O God, and renew in us a right spirit, that we might know you as our God and ourselves as your people, with hearts made of flesh instead of stone, and compassion for those around us who need your tender care. Assurance of God's Grace Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit. (2 Corinthians 3:17-18) 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. 3/8/2022 0 Comments Call to Worship, L2CCome and worship, you who are wrestling
with demons, whose mental health is suffering from the pain of isolation, from the fear of war, from the anxiety of day to day living ... alone, even in community ... and longing to be understood. Come and worship, you who are riddled with dis-ease, whose hearts are racing and whose bodies are fatigued, whose pain is overwhelming and whose cells are fighting each other, who are separated from the community and longing to be healed. Come and worship, you prophets, who long to gather God's children like a hen gathers her brood under her wings. Come and be restored by God who sends you out into the world in compassion and care to heal it and make it whole. 3/5/2022 0 Comments Prayers of the People, L1CCovenant-Maker,
you are the creator of the Noahic Covenant, the Mosaic Covenant, the Davidic Covenant, and the Messianic Covenant. As Jesus entered the wilderness, he knew ... he knew about the covenants because he had read the scriptures and had them read to him; he knew who he was ... you, with skin ... your beloved Son, the fulfillment of every covenant that came before him. And as he left the wilderness, weary and worn, he knew who he was called to be and he did not forsake you ... he did not disappoint you ... he met temptation with resolve and left that wretched and disconsolate place stronger and fully prepared to preach the Good News to all who longed to hear it. These forty days, we pray, O God, are not the beginning of a wilderness experience but the beginning of the end of a long and weary road. Be present with us as we travel. Remind us who we are and whose we are that we may neither forsake you nor disappoint you, but meet the temptations we face with strength and integrity, fully prepared to preach the Good News to all who long to hear it. 3/4/2022 0 Comments 2-Minute Sermon, L1CJesus' temptation in the wilderness comes up every year in the Revised Common Lectionary, though Mark says much less about it than Matthew and Luke. This year, I'm looking at it through a different lens. The truth is we always focus on the end of this story and how Jesus overcame one temptation after another, but this year as we find ourselves nearing the end of a lengthy wilderness experience, these temptations take on a different meaning.
Do you know what I'm hungering for after this lengthy fast of human interaction? I'm hungering for hugs. I'm hungering for group gatherings with friends. I'm hungering for what many would call "normalcy." A Place of Grace volunteers with seven local agencies, and we have avoided in-person, indoor interactions for the safety of our own Mission Madness team members and for the safety of the volunteers and clients working with these agencies. The temptation to return to what many call "normalcy" is great, but as much as I long to ditch the masks inside public places, I have to remember that there are people in my world who are immuno-compromised because of circumstances that are somewhat or fully beyond their control. The command to love my neighbor that has guided me through this wilderness is still applicable because COVID is not eradicated. It is here to stay, and learning to manage its effects means being aware of, sensitive to, and respectful of the needs of those around me, which may or may not be evident to me in a glance. This week, we have seen the images that reflect what happens when humankind's worship of power overtakes worship of God. The devastating images of destruction coming out of Ukraine in a war they did not provoke are heartbreaking, but we do not have to look around the world to see the destruction that power-mongers are creating. What does it mean to worship God only? It means we decry systems that elevate one person or one culture or one ideology over another. It means we recognize that God created all peoples of the earth, and that all peoples of the earth are meant to live peaceably together, that the marginalized are to be welcomed and intentionally included, and that those who are weakest because of their station are to be most honored. Sadly, that is not what is practiced, even by the church who claims Jesus as Lord. While the temptation to hold onto power is great for those who have it, the invitation of Christ to welcome the stranger and to serve the impoverished and to love one another as we have been loved means sharing power equitably for as we do unto others, so we do unto the Christ who gave himself up for all. The final temptation was to test God and see if God would save Jesus from harm. I wonder how many of you would walk straight off a cliff saying, "God will save me" as you do. Do not put the Lord your God to the test, says Jesus, and yet we do, in a million different ways, by the choices we make and the choices we take away from others in the name of faith. Faith does not say, "God will save me" and walk off the edge of a cliff. We do not test God if we have explicit trust, nor do we behave irresponsibly to see if God has our back. Faith in God is enacted out of obedience to God with a maturity of faith that recognizes and understands a larger picture. As we prepare to move out of this wilderness experience into a ministry that declares the Good News that God sent God's only Son not to condemn the world but to save the world through him, may our faith be fortified by the power of the Spirit at work in us, sustaining and transforming us. May we know as we leave this wilderness who God calls us to be, and may we enact the mature Christian faith of those who have faced temptation to put self ahead of God and others and overcome it by the grace of God, whom alone we worship and serve. May it be so. 3/3/2022 0 Comments Playlist, L1CLord, Who Throughout These Forty Days
Forty Days and Forty Nights O Love, How Deep, How Broad, How High Jesus Tempted in the Desert Seek Ye First When We Are Tested At the Name of Jesus 3/1/2022 0 Comments Call to Worship, L1CYou who are hungry or tired or lonely or all of the above,
come and be fed by the Word of God, find rest for your weary soul and a friend to walk beside you. You who are wrestling with a need for power and control, who have sold your soul to Satan in the name of greatness, come and give yourself to God who alone is sovereign, trusting in God for sustenance and strength.| You who are tempted to test God, who are questioning your faith, who are wondering who God is and what God will do for you, come and meet the God who gave God’s only Son that whomever believed in him would not perish, but would have eternal life. |
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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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