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12/29/2017 0 Comments Prayers of the People, Christmas 1B Light of the World,
Shine your healing light into the faithful, who lift their voices in praise, who exalt their God, who live in perpetual hope for a world in need of your saving grace. Shine your light, we pray, that we might reflect it to all we meet. Shine your healing light around the world, nation by nation, offering insight and wisdom for leaders and for those who would seek justice and peace for all. Shine your light, we pray, that we might reflect it to all we meet. Shine your healing light through those who are suffering, who long for vindication or wholeness or both, restoring them to community and to fullness of life. Shine your light, we pray, that we might reflect it to all we meet. Light of the World, shine your healing light in and around and through the ties that connect us to you and to one another, that we might understand our connectedness and live accordingly. In the name of Christ we pray, Amen
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12/27/2017 0 Comments Prayer of Confession, Christmas 1B Call to Confession
If we say we are without sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. Let us confess our sin before God, and seek God's mercy. Prayer of Confession Day dawns, and we forget to praise you, Creator God. Grace abounds, and we forget to praise you, Redeemer and Friend. Spirit moves, and we forget to praise you, Sustainer .... Wisdom. Life springs forth, and we keep silent. Forgive us, we pray, and renew a right spirit within us, that we might remember who we are and whose we are, and return to rejoicing. Assurance of God's Grace 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. In the name of the Holy Son of God, 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 day. 12/26/2017 0 Comments Call to Worship, Christmas 1B Holy is the Lord,
and worthy of praise and honor and glory! The morning dawns and with it, new hope! We lift up our hearts in praise! Come, and worship, you who are clothed in salvation, you who are wrapped in righteousness. Come, and offer your praise. 12/22/2017 0 Comments Prayers of the People, Advent 4B Lord of hosts,
We ring the bells this day, naming those who need your healing touch, your comforting presence, your reassuring word. Hear our prayers, we pray, and make us vessels of healing in your name. As the Christmas bells ring around us, we stop and listen, and we pray for those who are lost and alone, cut off from the community, isolated and in need of comfort. Be present with them, we pray, as a shepherd gathers the sheep, going in search of the lost and bringing them back to the fold. In this season of peace, let us be reconciled in the name of Emmanuel, God With Us. As the sound of ringing floats over us, we stop and breathe in, and we pray for those who are living in fear, terrorized by abuse of power or angry retaliation or the perpetuation of mistrust and untruth. Go ahead of your people, we pray, and cut off the enemy before they have a chance to attack, protecting the innocent and giving them rest. In this season of joy, restore our joy in the name of our Redeemer and King. As the light dances on the bells as they ring, we stop and notice and are entranced by the sparkle, and we pray for those who are living in the darkness of grief, deeply saddened by the loss of their homes or their dreams or their life's work or people they love. Shine your light into the darkness, that the covenant you have established with your people may bring comfort in this season of hope. Hear also our prayers for those whom we name below ... those whose names are in our hearts and on our minds. In addition, hear our prayers for those whose names we do not know. Surround them with your steadfast love. Touch them with your infinite mercy. Fill them with a peace that passes all understanding. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen. 12/20/2017 0 Comments Prayer of Confession, Advent 4B Call to Confession
All of us have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Let us confess our sin before God and seek God's mercy. Prayer of Confession God, forgive us. We are in a hurry. We want what we want, and we want it NOW. We want to build ... places of worship and relationships and celebrations that rival anything anyone has ever built before. We have made even celebrations of you about us. Forgive us, we pray. Help us to stop and refocus our priorities, and trust that you will bring all things together for good, according to your will. 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. 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 day~ 12/19/2017 1 Comment Call to Worship, A4B In this waiting space, we wait ...
still. We wait to see the promise fulfilled. We wait to live in a state of peace. We wait to celebrate the coming King. God waits with us, knowing how impatient we are, knowing that we suffer while we wait, knowing we may have to wait longer than we anticipate. Come to this waiting space and worship in hope, for God always keeps God's promisesIn this waiting space, we wait ... still. We wait to see the promise fulfilled. We wait to live in a state of peace. We wait to celebrate the coming King. God waits with us, knowing how impatient we are, knowing that we suffer while we wait, knowing we may have to wait longer than we anticipate. Come to this waiting space and worship in hope, for God always keeps God's promises. In this waiting space, we wait ... still. We wait to see the promise fulfilled. We wait to live in a state of peace. We wait to celebrate the coming King. God waits with us, knowing how impatient we are, knowing that we suffer while we wait, knowing we may have to wait longer than we anticipate. Come to this waiting space and worship in hope, for God always keeps God's promises. 12/15/2017 0 Comments Prayers of the People, Advent 3B God of Joy,
We cry out to you this day, naming those who need your healing touch, your comforting presence, your reassuring word. Hear our prayers, we pray, and make us vessels of healing in your name. All around us, Lord, the consumption is rampant. Those who have feast gluttonously, while those who have not scrape to provide. The distance between the two is growing. Children go to bed hungry. Adults work two and three jobs, if they can find a job at all, to make ends meet. Many who are wealthy hoard what they have, storing it in "off shore accounts" or hiding it or using it only to care for their own, stagnating the energy of blessing you have poured out. Still we believe. Spirit of God, move among us and open our Scroogish hearts that we may give of ourselves to help others in ways that bring blessing and hope. All around us, Lord, hearts are breaking as homes burn to the ground in wildfires and traffic accidents claim the lives of those we love and terrorism disrupts every day life. We drop to our knees in grief and despair, aching for a word of hope from you. Still we believe. Spirit of God, heal our brokenness, we pray, and call us into the wholeness of your realm, that we may know the abiding joy of community. All around us, Lord, are captives imprisoned by fear ... fear that drives addiction and pain and isolation ... fear that lashes out at others and builds walls to keep them out and refuses to welcome the stranger. Still we believe. Spirit of God, open our hearts to love that casts out fear and reconciles us to you and to one another. Grow us into Oaks of Righteousness, providing shelter and life-giving hope for others. Hear also our prayers for those whom we name below ... those whose names are in our hearts and on our minds. In addition, hear our prayers for those whose names we do not know. Surround them with your steadfast love. Touch them with your infinite mercy. Fill them with a peace that passes all understanding. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen. 12/13/2017 0 Comments Prayer of Confession, A3B Call to Confession
All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Let us confess before God the ways in which we have failed to live out God's claim on our lives and seek God's mercy. Prayer of Confession "Preach good news to the poor," God says, but instead we ridicule them; we call them "lazy," and we support a system that humiliates them and buries them further in debt. "Heal the heartbroken," God says, but instead we kick them while they're down; we call them "weak," and blame them for their addictions and their grief. "Announce freedom to all captives," God says, but instead we build walls to keep them out ... physical walls and emotional walls and intellectual walls; we refuse to welcome them, to show hospitality to them, to grant them freedom to be who they were created to be. "Pardon all prisoners," God says, but instead we hold their sin over them endlessly; we perpetually convict them because of the mistakes they made in the past, because of the choices they have made which we do not understand because we have not lived their stories. O God, forgive us, though we have no right to be forgiven. Announce to us the year of grace, and teach us to share that grace with others in your holy name. Assurance of God's Grace God has established God's eternal covenant with us. Our descendants will become well-known all over. Our children in foreign countries will be recognized at once as the people God has blessed. 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 day. 12/12/2017 0 Comments Call to Worship, A3B We come to this waiting space,
oppressed by those who abuse their power, brokenhearted by the things that break God's heart. We come to this waiting space, captives of busy-ness and social media and public opinion, prisoners of our addictions. We come to this waiting space, mourning the state of the world and the tyranny of our own expectations. We come to hear the good news proclaimed that we might REJOICE and exult in God our Savior! Let us worship while we wait .... 12/8/2017 0 Comments Prayers of the People, A2B Great Comforter,
We cry out to you this day, naming those who need your healing touch, your comforting presence, your reassuring word. Hear our prayers, we pray, and make us vessels of healing in your name. The exiled and imprisoned call out to you, longing to be restored to the community. Through the ministry of your Church, speak tenderly to your people, O God, reassuring them of your presence with them, your grace poured out on them, and your unconditional love for them. The oppressed and poverty-stricken, the objectified and abused, call out to you, yearning for a level playing field, where all people are equal, all resources are accessible, all boundaries are respected, and justice is truly for all. Spirit of Peace, move among those who cry out for voiceless and grant that they might be heard, that those in power might be transformed, and that the world might be a place of peace for all your people everywhere. The ill and the grieving are shouting for assistance. Good Shepherd, reach out to your hurting people, gathering them into your arms, hugging them close, and leading them to good pasture. Stir in your people a spirit of compassion that they might be the Body of Christ at work in the world, offering comfort, and hope, and healing in your name. Hear also our prayers for those whom we name below ... those whose names are in our hearts and on our minds. In addition, hear our prayers for those whose names we do not know. Surround them with your steadfast love. Touch them with your infinite mercy. Fill them with a peace that passes all understanding. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen. |
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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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