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8/21/2024 0 Comments Prayer of Confession, P+14B Call to Confession
(God) removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit (God) prunes to make it bear more fruit. (John 15:2) Let us join together in confessing the places where we have failed to bear fruit or have borne fruit that is of no good use: Prayer of Confession O Lord of hosts, how lovely is your dwelling place! And we can see that ... when we are somewhere else. The grass is always greener. Mountains inspire us. Oceans uplift us. Forests comfort us. Waterfalls refresh us. But we fail to see the beauty in our own backyards. Happy are those who live in your house, Lord, and we are happy when we believe we are in your house, but we do not believe ourselves to be in your house when we are in our own house. What is familiar does not feel holy or sacred or awe-inspiring. Refocus our understanding of where you dwell, we pray. Help us to see you everywhere, and to honor your presence among us with joy and delight and with wonder and awe. 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 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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8/20/2024 0 Comments Call to Worship, P+14B Welcome, you who long for the courts of the Lord!
Gather with the saints who forever sing God's praise! Come, you whose strength is in God alone. The God of hosts is present with you. Come and worship God!  1 Kings 8:22-30, 41-43 www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Kings%208%3A22-30%2C%2041-43&version=NRSVUE
Psalm 84 www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%2084&version=NRSVUE Ephesians 6:10-20 www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ephesians%206%3A10-20&version=NRSVUE John 6:56-69 www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%206%3A56-69&version=NRSVUE The focus passage for A Place of Grace this week is Psalm 84. All liturgy will be based on this passage. What in Psalm 84 inspires or encourages you? Share your thoughts here: www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=911058367730084&set=a.549399683895956. 8/16/2024 0 Comments Prayers of the People, P+13B Great are you, Lord!
And great are the works of your hands! Your children stand before you with hearts that are filled with praise for you! Hear our prayers for your Church, O God. Help us to study not just scriptures, but also the life of Christ and to examine our own lives as disciples with honesty and transparency. Open our hearts to those who are hungry for food for compassion for love for acceptance for welcome for hope for peace for justice for joy, and help us to be bearers of the Good News in a world that so desperately needs it. Be present, Lord, with those whom we have neglected, rejected, hated, excluded, oppressed, bullied, disregarded, violated, robbed, and destroyed in your name. Grant that they may be restored to wholeness in a world where the wisdom that created the world and all that is in it reigns over the chaos it has become, in a world where seeking to understand is valued above egos, in a world where faithfulness to Christ's example and justice that lifts the marginalized is a cornerstone and joyful celebration overcomes anger and grievances and fear. May it be so. 8/15/2024 0 Comments Playlist, P+13B8/14/2024 0 Comments Prayer of Confession, P+12B Call to Confession
... no one living is righteous before (God). (Psalm 143:2) Let us confess our unrighteousness and seek God's mercy: Prayer of Confession Lord, in your mercy, forgive our attitudes. We are an ungrateful people, a people who has forgotten -- or chosen not to remember -- that we were once an oppressed people whom you set free, that we were once strangers in foreign lands whom you comforted and protected, that we were once the hungry whom you fed with manna. We have forgotten -- or chosen not to remember -- that in our sin, you redeemed us, that in our anger and bitterness, you loved us unconditionally. Restore us to right relationship with you, we pray, and to right relationship with your people everywhere. Help us to reach out of the grace which abounds for us to create justice, to welcome the immigrant, to feed the poor, to forgive our neighbor, and to love without limits according to the example you have set for us in Christ. Assurance of God's Grace (God) has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of (God's) beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. (Colossians 1:13-14) 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. 8/13/2024 0 Comments Call to Worship, P+12B Come, you thankful people, come!
Come, you whose appetites have been satisfied and you who have been freed from oppression! Come, you redeemed, and praise the Lord! Come, and bring with you those who are afraid and hungry and enslaved and bogged down by sin that they may hear the stories of God's work in the world and in your lives. Proclaim the Good News in God's sanctuary that all may believe and have their hope restored! 1 Kings 2:10-12, 3:3-14 www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Kings+2%3A10-12%2C+3%3A3-14&version=NRSVUE
Psalm 111 www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm+111&version=NRSVUE Ephesians 5:15-20 www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ephesians+5%3A15-20&version=NRSVUE John 6:51-58 www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+6%3A51-58&version=NRSVUE The focus passage for A Place of Grace this week is Psalm 111. All liturgy will be based on this passage. What in Psalm 111 inspires or encourages you? Share your thoughts here: www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=906315384871049&set=a.549399683895956. 8/8/2024 0 Comments Playlist, P+12B8/7/2024 0 Comments Prayer of Confession, P+12B Call to Confession
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have all turned to our own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:6) Let us confess our iniquities and see God's mercy: Prayer of Confession God of mercy and compassion, your steadfast love knows no end, yet we love conditionally, placing rules not only on who we will love and when and where and why but also on who others can love and when and where and why and how. With you there is great power to redeem, but we burn in anger toward not only those who cause us injury but also those we perceive have caused us injury, mostly because they do not think as we think or express themselves as we express ourselves or live as we live. Forgive us, we pray. Help us to set aside this anger which feeds only our greedy egos and dance into the joy of redemption from our own sin as we invite others to join us instead of condemning them to Hell in loveless hypocrisy. 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 ... (Ephesians 1:7) 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. |
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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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