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10/29/2021 0 Comments Prayer of Confession, P+23B Call to Confession
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint, dill, and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. It is these you ought to have practiced without neglecting the others. (Matthew 23:23) Let us confess the ways we have failed to live up the law of love, and seek God's mercy. Prayer of Confession Here we are again, God, disputing with one another about whose theology is "right," about who you are and what you represent, about your Word among and within us, and how to live out our beliefs. We dig our heels in and refuse to budge in matters of communal living, so that communal becomes the very least of what we are. Forgive us. We have forgotten how to love anyone but ourselves. We have failed the courses you taught us on compassion and mercy, on justice and faith, on peacemaking and self-sacrifice. Forgive us again, we pray, and teach us how to love as you love: unconditionally and with our whole being. Assurance of God's Grace For through the law [we] died to the law, so that [we] might live to God. [We] have been crucified with Christ; (Galatians 2:19) 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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10/26/2021 0 Comments Call to Worship, P+23B Come and worship, you who love the Lord
with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength. Come into the community of God's people, and worship alongside the neighbor you don't know, the stranger seeking welcome, the hungry, the homeless, the hurting. Come and worship, you who love the spirit of the law and the One who showed us how to live it in kin-dom. Come and worship. 10/23/2021 0 Comments Prayers of the People, P+22B In fear and hopelessness, we bow before you, Lord,
devastated by the ways in which our unexplained grief is wreaking havoc on our lives. We can neither comprehend nor communicate the depths or our inadequacy. Our questions far exceed our answers both in quantity and in substance. We lift our prayers to you, O God, and seek your mercy. Your people are counting their losses, Lord, and finding the weight of them too heavy to bear. Violence, division, and addiction destroy families. Greed and abuse of power oppresses the poor. Illness rips our loved ones from our arms. We lift our prayers to you, O God, and seek your healing. We call to you from our places of isolation, our separation from community, our blindness and fear and faith, and we continue to call persistently, hoping you will hear us and call us to follow. Hear our prayers as we seek to listen for your wisdom and your guidance. Open our hearts to a new perspective. Teach us humility for ourselves and compassion for the other. Make of your people agents of hope and recommission us to share the Good News with all who will hear it. We lift our prayers to you, O God, and await your Spirit's anointing. 10/20/2021 0 Comments Prayer of Confession, P+22B Call to Confession
The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. (Psalm 146:8) Let us approach the throne of grace and seek God’s mercy. Prayer of Confession We are the disciples who silence those crying out for assistance, the followers who fail to follow, the students who have missed the point. Son of David, have mercy on us. We are the beggars, isolated and alone, hungry for community, seeking to be known. Son of David, have mercy on us. We are the faithless and the faithful, blinded by sin and blinded by choice, longing for relationship and ready to learn what it means to trust in you. Son of David, have mercy on us. Assurance of God’s Grace Therefore the Christ had to become like his brothers and sisters in every respect, so that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make a sacrifice of atonement for the sins of the people. (Hebrews 2:17) 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. 10/19/2021 0 Comments Call to Worship, P+22B To the blind beggar seeking healing,
God calls and asks, “What do you want me to do for you?” To the one who cries out loudly and persistently, God calls and asks, “What do you want me to do for you?” To the faithful and even the ostracized who trust in Jesus Christ as Redeemer and Lord, God calls and asks, “What do you want me to do for you?” Come close and answer. Come tell God what you need and receive God’s restorative power. 10/16/2021 0 Comments Prayers of the People, P+21B Teacher of teachers,
hear our prayers for those who teach your Word faithfully, with wise discernment and careful attention to details. Continue to grant them the wisdom of Solomon and the patience of Job, the courage of Esther and the creativity of Lydia, the fire of the Spirit and the eternal hope that comes from abiding in the Vine. Master, may all who seek to follow you be strengthened for the journey that the cup we drink and the baptism we endure for your sake will refine us for the day when we stand before you and answer for our actions. Lord of all, teach us humility and compassion and show us how to love as you love. Send us out to serve as you alone have taught us to do, welcoming the stranger, feeding the hungry, loving the unloved, visiting the lonely, and encouraging the hopeless, so that we may bear your likeness and be recognized as siblings of Christ. 10/14/2021 0 Comments Prayer of Confession, P+21B Call to Confession
For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. (Mark 8:35) Let us confess our sin before God, laying down our lives and taking up the gospel imperatives, and seek God's mercy. Prayer of Confession Forgive us, Teacher, for we have the audacity to believe that privilege makes us favored. We rail against entitlement, but we are the ones who think of ourselves as entitled. We expect to be honored, anticipate that God will raise us up, and rage against the very idea that we might not have the power we pretend we should have. Servanthood is beneath us. Yet servanthood is what you exemplified for us in the personhood of Christ, who came to serve the lost and lonely, the hurting and hopeless, the widow, the orphan, and the stranger. Humble us, we pray. Transform us into a people that follow the example of the Servant Leader Jesus Christ who lived, not for his own honor and glory, but for yours. Grant that we may be worthy to drink from the cup which Jesus drank, to suffer alongside your people and to work for justice for all. May it be so. Assurance of God's Grace Blessed is anyone who endures temptation. Such a one has stood the test and will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him. (James 1:12) 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. 10/12/2021 0 Comments Call to Worship, P+21B Come, you disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ,
come in humility and grace. Leave your quest for power at the door. Prepare to serve your neighbor and to serve your God. Come, and be transformed by the One who became a servant for your sake. |
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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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