8/31/2022 0 Comments Prayer of ConfessionCall to Confession
All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23) Let us confess our sin before God and seek God's mercy: Prayer of Confession Holy God, Forgive our unholiness. We have loved the world more than we have loved you. We have given into the desires of the flesh and to the lust of our eyes and to pride in our possessions. When we calculated the cost of discipleship, Lord, we found it to be too high. How are we to live in conflict with those we love? How are we to give up everything we possess, including our inherent power and authority? How are we to live as servants, God? These are the questions we ask when we know the real questions are "Where do you want us to go, Lord?" and "What do you need us to do?" Transform our hearts, we pray, into the hearts of devoted disciples whose earnest desire is to serve you above ourselves. Teach us how to love as we have been loved, to let go of the world's pretend riches in order to open our arms to kin-dom treasures only accessible through the wonder of love. Assurance of God's Grace In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace 8 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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8/30/2022 0 Comments Call to Worship, P+13CThe doors are flung open
for disciples and for those who want to be disciples and for those who are fearful of the cost of discipleship but are still curious about what it means to follow Christ. Come and listen and learn. Calculate the cost, and decide. Come and worship the Lord your God. 8/26/2022 0 Comments Prayers of the People, P+12CYou are holy, God of Majesty,
and worthy of glory, and honor, and praise! In gratitude and wonder, we lift our hearts before you. Be present, we pray, with host and guest at every table in every time and place, and breathe new life into their fellowship as humility gives way to meaningful exchange. Be present, we pray, with those invited to the banquet and those who are excluded because of their limitations or their race or gender or their cultural background or their orientation, or their lack of authority and power. Breathe new life into their community that all may be welcomed equally in Christ's name. Be present, we pray, as both host and honored guest, and season the conversations with kindness and with love, that all may be nourished, redeemed, and empowered as only you can do. 8/25/2022 0 Comments Playlist, P+12CHere I Am, Lord
What Wondrous Love is This? Deck Thyself, My Soul, with Gladness Come Down, O Love Divine Lord God, Your Love has Called Us Here The Church of Christ in Every Age As We Gather at Your Table Our Cities Cry to You, O God 8/24/2022 0 Comments Prayer of Confession, P+12CCall to Confession
Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall. (Proverbs 16:18) Let us confess our sin before the Lord and seek God's mercy: Prayer of Confession You know what they say about those who assume, right God? Well ... we've done that. We've assumed. We've assumed power. We've assumed authority. We've assumed greatness. We've assumed it by birthright, by race, by gender, by socio-economic class. We've even assumed it because we bear your name. Look where it has gotten us: angry, divided, broken, at war. Forgive us, O God. Even Jesus, who being in the very nature of God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage, but rather ... took on the nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. Who are we that we should make ourselves judge and jury, prophet, priest, and royalty? Humble our hearts, Lord, even if it hurts, and remind us what servanthood means, that we might live according to your example. Assurance of God's Grace For God so loved the world that God sent God's only Son that all who believe in him should not perish but have everlasting life. God did not send the 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 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. 8/23/2022 0 Comments Call to Worship, P+12CCome to the banquet!
ALL are invited! Come, and sit at the Table with your siblings in Christ of all races and cultures, of different gender identifications, of a variety of belief systems and physical abilities and mental health variances, of a number of socio-economic circumstances and degrees of power. The last shall be first, and the first, last, and all will be welcome in the courts of the Lord. 8/18/2022 0 Comments Playlist, P+11CJesus Calls Us O'er the Tumult
I Danced in the Morning Will You Come and Follow Me O Christ, the Healer, We Have Come Healer of Our Ev'ry Ill Woman in the Night 8/17/2022 0 Comments Prayer of Confession, P+11CCall to Confession
So you also on the outside look righteous to others, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. (Matthew 23:28) Let us confess our hypocrisy before God and seek God's mercy: Prayer of Confession Rule-breaking Healer, heal us of our Pharisaical adherence to the letter of the law and our absolute disdain for the spirit of it. We stand with fingers pointed in condemnation of those who are seeking to care for your people, to do the very things you call us to do with love and with grace, and we blast them for their gall at loving outside the lines, at healing on the Sabbath, at providing care that may not be perfect but is better than nothing. Curiously, we find excuses for the times when we are rule-breakers ourselves and for far less noble intentions. Forgive us, we pray, and open our hearts to a new way of being. Help us to stand up for what is loving and compassionate and kind with the same degree of passion that we stand up for what serves our own interests. 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. 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. 8/16/2022 0 Comments Call to Worship, P+11CYou who are seeking
to learn from the Master -- open, curious, eager, or in need -- come, and sit before the Lord. You who are bent over under the weight of your pain -- physical, emotional, mental, or spiritual -- come, and stand before the Lord. You religious leaders, endowed with authority -- humble, faithful, hopeful, or misguided -- come, and state your case before the Lord. God is ready to listen, to teach, to heal, and to redirect. Let us worship our God with shouts of praise! 8/12/2022 0 Comments Prayers of the People, P+10COh, Beloved,
Watchtower of the vineyard, Grape Grower and Vine, you have loved your people with a great love, tending us attentively, and nurturing our growth. Continue to build the hedge around your people, we pray, that we might not be devoured by ravenous animals seeking to satisfy their own needs. Shore up the walls that protect your most vulnerable children from being trampled by those whose greed and lust for power are devastating. Prune us, we pray, and hoe around our roots aggressively to remove the weeds that grow up in our midst and choke out your word. Send refreshing rain upon those who are wilting from the heat of fires that blaze out of control among those who rage, bent on destruction -- some of them doing so in your holy name. Grant us strength to endure and wait with us until the fruit we produce is full and rich that the glory may go to you in every good thing we produce. in Jesus' name we pray. |
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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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