Tag: Year C

May 18, 2025

Lectionary Texts

Acts 11.1-18 —Peter explains to the Jerusalem church his vision, and the gift of the Holy Spirit among the Gentiles.
Psalm 148 — Praise God! All Creation and all manner of people praise God!

Revelation 21.1-6 — A new heaven and a new earth. God dwells with the people. “I am making all things new.” To the thirsty I will give water from the spring of life.

John 13.31-35 — A new commandment: “Love one another as I have loved you.”

Preaching Thoughts

Acts
        Discipleship is a journey of newness and change, inviting us into a new future. Jesus and his followers were Jews.The Jesus-followers in Jerusalem would have good reason to question Peter’s inclusion of Gentiles. But the heart of Jesus’ message is God’s love for everybody, without exception, condition or limitation. Jesus was known for offering healing, mercy and companionship to people outside the accepted crowd. And now that expansive, inclusive love continues after his dearth. The Holy Spirit transcends religious boundaries. Christian faith is not about belonging to a certain group, but in a sense the opposite: sharing God’s expansive love across all divisions, including those not in “our group.”
       The story of Peter’s vision and visit to Cornelius is specifically about extending grace to outsiders; it is also a parable about allowing God to change us, even to change our religion. We tend to follow our own assumptions and habits, and slip out of tune with Jesus. Like a good musician we need continually to listen up, tune up, and get back in harmony with Jesus. Of course every movement claims to be “getting back to the true faith.” How do we discern? Jesus tells us: true faith is love.

Revelation
       We are attracted to the idea of a new world, re-made by God. In this beautiful but very messed up world we stake our hope on that. But remember that inherent in this promise is not just that everything else is made new: you are, too. The early followers of Jesus had to adapt to a new world, the world of gentile faith, and in the process they themselves had to change. Letting go of our favorite old stuff is hard, sometimes even heart-breaking. But don’t worry: God will wipe away every tear.

John
       True faith is love. Period. Jews have ten commandments; we have one. Jesus defines discipleship not by belief or doctrine, but by love, and nothing else. This is how we discern faith, and religious movements, and every bit of life: it is loving, or not? Is our love unconditional, or is it diluted with other considerations, conditions, limitations? We ask of every thought and action: is it kindness, or selfishness? It is love, or some substitute?
       The commandment is not merely the Golden Rule, to love as we wish to be loved, but to love as Jesus (and God) have actually loved us. With a humble, self-giving, That’s an even higher standard! But the love we are to have for others is not something we have to generate in our feeble, fickle hearts—the love is given to us. We love as we have been loved. All we do is pass it on.

Call to Worship

1. [Also may be used as a Collect or general prayer.]
Leader: God of love, you create us in love.
All: You create us so that you may love us,
Christ, you come to us in love and show us how to love.
You send us into the world to love.
Holy Spirit, you fill us with your love so that it is your love, not ours
with which we love the world.
Renew your love in us, that we may love as you have loved us.

2.
Leader: Love, mystery of love, you create us!All: Love, gift of love, you enfold us!
Love, power of love, you call us!
Love, beauty of love, you fill us!
Holy Trinity—Lover, Beloved and the Love that flows—we adore you.
We worship you. Alleluia!

3. [Also may be used as a Collect or general prayer.]
Leader: Gracious God, in love you have created us.
All: In love you have called us your own.
In love you have made us your people,
and called us to bear your love to the world.
In love you have come among us in Christ, healing and forgiving.
In love you have raised us out of our old lives into new life.
You give us life and fill us with your love.
Bless us that we may witness your love, be changed by it,
and go into the world bearing love, and love alone,
in the name of Christ, to your praise and glory. Amen.

4.
Leader: O Love, you have created us.
All: Fulfill your love in us.
O Love, you have called us by name and taken us as your own.
Fulfill your love in us.
O love, you have healed us and called us to join you in the healing of all Creation.
Fulfill your love in us.
O Love, you give us your Spirit and fill us with your presence.
Fulfill your love in us.
O Love, be our life, our breath, our purpose and our only hope.
Alleluia! Come, Beloved, and transform us by your grace. Alleluia!

5.
Leader: O, God of love, how perfectly you love us!
All: O Christ, how deeply you love us!
Holy Spirit, how beautifully you love us!
O Love, take our hearts make make them yours.
We adore you. We love you. We worship you. Alleluia!

Collect / Prayer of the Day

1.
God of love, you are love itself. Where love is, there you are. In our thirst for your love, speak your love to us, renew your love in us, and let your love flow through us for the sake of all the world, in the spirit and the company of Christ. Amen.

2.Loving God, we are led by many desires, commanded by many voices, torn by many forces. Speak your Word to us; give us your one command, that our souls may be still, that our hearts may be one, that our minds may be clear, that our strength may be yours. Bring us to right desire, right thought, and right action. Speak to us, God, for we are hungry for your Word. Amen.

3.
God of love, in all that changes, you do not change. So we turn to you. Amidst all that passes, you remain steadfast, and so we turn to you. Despite all that is unknown and unfamiliar, you speak to us. So we turn to you. We turn our ears to hear your voice, our hearts to receive your love, our lives to reflect your light. Speak your Word to us God, for we turn to you. Amen.

4.
God of grace, your love changes everything. We praise you for your love that changes the world. We give thanks for those ways we have experienced your love that has changed our lives. And we offer ourselves to be changed by your love, into people of deep, faithful, beautiful love. Love us again, God, and make us new. Amen.

Listening Prayer

(suitable as a Collect, preparation for hearing scriptures, or invitation to prayer)

Holy Lover,
your love is deep and wide.
With silent hearts we open ourselves
to your presence,
to receive your love,
to become your love.

Prayer of Confession

1.
Pastor: The grace of God be with you.
Congregation: And also with you.
Trusting in God’s tender mercy, let us confess our sin to God with one another.
God of love, help us to see ourselves with the eyes of love,
to see all that is in us that is loving,
and all that is not loving.
By the grace that we know in Christ,
receive us, heal us, and perfect your love in us.

2.
God of love, we confess we put limits on our love, and put some people beyond the bounds of our compassion. Forgive our judgments, heal our fear, and renew in us your perfect love that includes everyone without exception. Give us, O God, Christ’s heart of love.

2.
Gracious God, shine the light of your holy presence, your living Word, into our hearts. By the light of your grace, forgive our sin, heal the wounds of falsehood in this world, rid our minds of the darkness of our fears and desires, and make us radiate your love. We pray in the spirit of Christ, who is our way, our truth, and our life.

Readings

from Revelation 21.1-6

Leader: I heard a loud voice speaking from the throne:
All: See, the home of God is among us. God will dwell with us.
We will be God’s peoples, and God in person will be with us;
God will wipe every tear from our eyes.
Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more,
for the first things have passed away.
And the one who was seated on the throne said, “See, I am making all things new.”
These words are trustworthy and true.
Then the One spoke to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.
“To the thirsty I will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life.”
Alleluia!


2.
                        To love

Infinite Love,
you who love me into being each moment,
let me this day flow freely with that love,
for it is not my love I give but yours.
I seek in all and above all to love,
to appreciate, to forgive,
to encourage, to comfort,
to thank, to assist, to bless.
May I choose to be loving
rather than to be right,
to be gentle rather than tough,
to be curious rather than judging,
to meet all with reverence and humility and delight.
And with those whom I cannot love easily,
let me hold and protect with all my being
room for you to love them, even through me.
O Spirit of Love, you who love me infinitely and perfectly,
breathe your love in me.

Response / Creed / Affirmation

           We entrust ourselves to God, Divine Lover and Maker of all. We are created by love, for love, and we give thanks.
          We entrust ourselves to Jesus, God’s Anointed One, who embodied God’s love in its fullest. His love has healed us and fed us, taught us and guided us, freed us and raised us to new life, and we give thanks. His love defied all barriers of power and status, of privilege and exclusion, and for that he was crucified. But by the eternal power of love Christ was raised from the dead, and we give thanks.
        We entrust ourselves to the Holy Spirit, the spirit of love, by whose power we care and forgive, heal and bless. This is the Spirit that renews our hearts, that gives us new life, that empowers us to live for justice and healing, in the name of Christ. We pray that by that Spirit we may love as we have been loved, for the sake of the whole world. Amen.

Eucharistic Prayer

[The body of the prayer may be read responsively or by the presiding leader(s) alone. The responses (Sanctus, Memorial Acclamation & Amen) may be said or sung.]
1.
God is with you.
And also with you.
Lift up your heart.
We lift them up to God.
Let us give thanks to the Holy One, our God.
It is good and beautiful to give God our praise.

We thank you God, for you create us out of love, for love.
You claim us as your Beloved, and promise to be our God.
You save us from all that oppresses, and set us free,
You surround us with this teeming earth, feeding us with your love.
And so with the saints and all Creation we sing your praise.
     (Sanctus)

Blessed are all who come in your name, and blessed is Jesus, your Christ.
He loved the unlovely and welcomed the rejected.
He taught a love that ruined all social barriers, and for that he was crucified.
But you raised him from the dead, for love cannot be extinguished.

     (The Blessing and Covenant)*

Jesus said, “Do this in remembrance of me.”As long as we break this bread and share this cup
we remember his death and resurrection, until he comes again.
Therefore, remembering these your mighty acts in Jesus Christ,
we offer ourselves as a living and holy sacrifice,
in union with Christ’s offering for us,
as we proclaim the mystery of our faith:
     (Memorial Acclamation)

Pour out your Holy Spirit on these gifts of bread and cup,
that they may be for us the body and blood of Christ.
Pour out your Spirit on us, that we may be for the world the Body of Christ.
In this feast we take in again all the ways you have loved us,
and poured out yourself for us, and into us.
Fill us with your love to overflowing,
that we may always love as you have loved us. (Amen.)

2.
Pastor: God, in love you create us.
All: In love you claim us.
In love you promise to be with us always; and you are.
When we wander, you follow. When we are stuck you set us free.
You judge the forces of oppression and lead us toward justice,
toward a New Jerusalem in which everyone is Beloved.
As a sign of that hope you invite us to your table.
At this table all are welcome, and all are beloved,
where we are all young and old, rich and poor, gay and straight, male and female,
guilty and innocent, whole and broken, without distinction or judgment.
Therefore, with all Creation, we praise you with love and delight.
[Sanctus]

Blessed are all who come in your name,
and blessed is Jesus, who loved us as you love us.
In love he taught and healed, he gathered the outcast, he loved the unlovely.
In love he established a new realm; he built a new city.
In love, even in death, he gave us his Spirit, so that we might love as he loved.
[The Blessing and Covenant….] *

“Do this,” he said, “in remembrance of me.”
And so, remembering your loving, mighty acts in Jesus Christ,
we offer ourselves with praise and thanksgiving
as a living and holy sacrifice,
in union with Christ’s offering for us,
as we proclaim the mystery at the heart of our faith:

[Memorial Acclamation]

Pour out your Holy Spirit on these gifts of bread and cup,
that they may be for us the body and Blood of Christ.
Pour out your Holy Spirit on us,
that we may feast on your love, and it will become part of us,
so that your love is the love with which we love all people,
in the name and the Spirit of Christ.
[Amen]
____________
* The Blessing and Covenant
[I usually don’t print the words. I want people to be looking at the bread, not their bulletins.]

On the night in which he gave himself for us
Jesus took bread, blessed it,. broke it, and gave it to his disciples,saying,
“Take and eat; this is my body.”
In the same way, after the supper he took the cup,
blessed it with thanks and gave it to them, saying,
“Drink of this, all of you. This is my blood,
poured out for you and for many, in a new Covenant,
which is the forgiveness of sin.”
As long as we break this bread and share this cup
we remember his death and resurrection, until he comes again.

Prayer Of dedication / Sending

Gracious God, you have loved us perfectly in your Son Jesus Christ. Stir up a spirit of gratitude in our hearts, that we may respond in faith. We give you these gifts as symbols of our lives. Receive them with love, bless them with grace, and use them according to your will, for the love of all people, in the name of Christ. Amen.

Prayer after Communion

1.
Gracious God, we thank you for this mystery in which you have given yourself to us. You have fed us with your love; your grace is now a part of us. You have made us new. Send out to love as you have loved us, for the sake of the world, in the name and the Spirit of Christ. Amen.

2.
Gracious God, we thank you for this mystery in which you have given yourself to us. As you have loved us, so may we love one another, and all your children. Send us into the world, unafraid of all that is new and changing, steadfast in love and faithfulness, in the name of Christ and the power of your Holy Spirit. Amen.

Suggested Songs

(Click on titles to view, and hear an audio clip, on the Music page)

See all songs with “Easter” or “Love” tags, but especially these:

Communion Songs for Easter set to familiar tunes
Eight songs of invitation to the table, set to these melodies:
All Creatures of Our God and King,
Infant Holy, Be Thou My Vision,
The Gift of Love / Water Is Wide,
Morning Has Broken, Fairest Lord Jesus.


Create Us Now    (Tune: Gift of Love/ The Water Is Wide)

Creating God, you breathe your Word
and new each day create the world;
your light you sing, your love you give;
you breathe in us, and so we live.

Creating God, you gather grain
from scattered fields, baptized by rain;
raised up in love, from death released,
it brings forth grace that spreads a feast.

Above the meadows of our hearts
your rising sun your love imparts.
Remade in love, raised from the dead,
Make us your wine, your living bread.

With our dear Christ, we, too, have died,
like seeds once sown and multiplied.
Now raise us up from death anew.
Create us now, dear God, in you.


Fulfill Your Love In Me       (Original song)

Refrain:
Fulfill your love in me, O Loving Spirit,
fulfill your love in me, O Heart of Love.

Verses:
Speak the name Beloved in my deepest soul.
Hold me in your heart, your gentle loving.

Heal me with your mercy and your tenderness.
Bring to life the grace in me to love you.

Give me grace to love my neighbor as myself,
freely, with the love with which you love me.


Like the sun rising      (Tune Morning Has Broken)

Christ, we surrender all of our living
into your tender, merciful grace
Baptized in you, we join in your dying,
and rising, too, in your life’s embrace.

Christ, you are living in us in mercy,
faithfully giving life that is true.
Like the sun rising, fresh every morning,
free and surprising, we are made new.

Great Holy Spirit, live in us daily,
free from the fear that once bound us in,
free now to love our neighbors with courage,
rising above our death and our sin.

Blest and forgiven and resurrected,
set free for living by grace alone,
may we live lives of gentle compassion,
with the same light that in you has shone.


Love Will Bear Us Over      (Tune: HOLY MANNA)

When our world is changing ‘round us and we long for good old days,
what that lasts will bear us over to new earth, new heaven, new ways?
Love will lead us when the path is unfamiliar, come what may:
set our heart to love our neighbors and our feet will find the way.

Christ gives us a new commandment: “Share the love that you’ve been given.”
When we do we’re resurrected, entering new earth and heaven.
When we love our neighbor more than caring for what used to be,
then our love will bear us over, then our love will set us free.

May 4, 2025

Lectionary Texts

Revelation 5.11-14 — A vision of millions of angels singing praise to God and to Christ.

Psalm 30 — A song of thanksgiving to God, who has rescued the author from death. “God’s anger is but a moment; God’s grace is for a lifetime.”

Acts 9.1-20 — Saul’s awakening on the road to Damascus.

John 21. 1-19 —The risen Jesus appears to the disciples, directs an abundant catch of fish, feeds them breakfast, commands them to feed his sheep, and says, “Follow me.”

Preaching Thoughts

Acts
         I avoid calling this story Saul’s “Conversion.” That label lends itself to categorization by which people too easily exclude themselves or others. It was an awakening, which any of us can and should experience all the time. The radical nature of it is not just that Saul has a vision of Jesus, but that he has a vision of his own life: in the shock of recognition—both his guilt and his forgiveness— he is changed. And he sees that the very people he’s persecuting are the ones in whom God is most fully present—and he is invited to be among them. If Christ is the Crucified One, then no matter how righteous we think our cause, Christ is present in whoever it is that we judge, exclude, marginalize or oppress, whoever we think of as the ”other.” That’s a lot more likely to “convert” us than a dramatic (and unlikely) vision of Jesus.
         By the way, let this story live in mystery. Explaining it as a scientific fact will only get you tangled up in irrelevant things. There are several versions of the tale, and they differ. For instance here “Those traveling with him stood speechless because they heard the voice but saw no one” (v. 9). In the version in Acts 22.9 Paul says “those who were with me saw the light but did not hear the voice.” In the version in Acts 26.12-18 they all fall to the ground… Let it be a story about awakening, not about special effects.
         Oh, also by the way—there was no horse. It was in Caravaggio’s painting, not in the Bible. (Do you see how the faith was taught through art? We all think there was a horse, because we saw it. In the painting.)

John
       There are three scenes in the Gospel reading. (There’s a fourth, about the beloved disciple, not included in today’s lectionary reading.) Each is a rich vein of ore from which to pick a gem of a sermon. Using your imagination to find yourself in the story helps you locate your gems.
       Scene 1: The Catch. (Want to follow Jesus? There’s a catch.) I imagine the disciples’ discouragement. I can feel it when I think of the church’s “golden days” which seem now past. I imagine their sense of loss, pointlessness, grief. They go back to what they know, back to the way it was. (Don’t we always?) Of course it doesn’t really work. Jesus stands on the shore watching. (He’s always there, watching.) They don’t recognize him. Nobody does, at first. I imagine that’s because he’s changed. He calls them children. I imagine that hauls them (as in a net) out of their despairing, responsible adulthood. They’re in charge, accountable to produce results, obligated to justify themselves. How jarring to be called a kid.
       Jesus tells them to change their ways: cast their net on the other side. Again—how jarring to be told how to live your life. But look what it produces! Maybe Jesus knows more than we do about the rich gifts in our lives. And about the fruits of transformation. Now the beloved disciple recognizes Jesus—not by looking at him more closely, but by observing his life-giving power. Peter leaps into the baptismal sea, in love and service to his Chief. Peter, once beckoned to get out of the boat and walk on water to Jesus, now is quick to leap, and happy to simply swim toward his Beloved.
       Nobody knows why there are 153 fish. The number of members of John’s community? Churches in the area? A mystery. Though there are so many, the net is not torn. Even growth and success can be a stressor. But even as the community spreads and grows it stays connected. The net holds.

       Scene 2: Eucharist on the beach. Once again Jesus “took and gave” bread. Our Eucharist is not just the Last Supper; it’s the First Breakfast, too—and the feeding of the 5000, and all the other food and drink Jesus shares. The food for the feast is offered by Peter and yet it’s really food that was given by Jesus first. The food we offer in the Eucharist is actually from God. Being so closely associated with the Last Supper, communion has taken on the sense of being about the cross. It is, of course, but now, with the First breakfast, we see the Eucharist is also, maybe even primarily, about resurrection. Jesus has been raised to a new life. The disciples have too. In his net of grace Jesus has hauled them out of the deep dark sea of their failure and guilt (are their empty nets a symbol of their empty lives, their unfruitful faith, their loss?). In this meal they are forgiven, accepted, reassured, empowered. They receive new lives, new hope. Eucharist is a celebration of the mystery that though the cross is ahead of us, it’s also behind us. In Christ we’ve already been raised.

      Scene 3: Peter, Peter, Peter. Maybe Jesus’ asking Peter three times is re-instating him after he denies Jesus three times. But Peter doesn’t feel restored. He’s “hurt.” Remember, John wrote his gospel around the end of the first century, when Peter was already seen as the first pope. John is cutting the pope down to size! There is no rank, no better or worse Christian, there’s just loving Jesus and serving others in his name.
       Jesus says, “Feed my lambs.” In the Greek it’s like “be grazing my lambkins.” Very tender. Then “Tend my sheep.” (Literally “shepherd my sheep.”) Like, don’t just feed them, take them somewhere. And then “Feed my sheep.” There’s a sense of both nourishment and mission, spiritual growth and generous service, journey inward and journey outward.
       Then comes Jesus’ koan about being led where you don’t choose to go. Something like Paul’s “giving up childish things” in 1 Cor. 13. “When you grow old” could mean when you get aged and feeble. But it can also just mean when you mature, when you grow up. Maybe part of growing up is letting go of our childish “I want to do it myself” urge: allowing ourselves to be led by the Spirit.

Call to Worship

1.
Leader: Christ is risen.
All:Christ is risen in deed!
Risen Christ, you come to us,
hidden and unrecognized, and you bless us.
We greet you with awe and wonder.
You give us your gifts, and nourish our souls.
We welcome you with gratitude and joy.
You give us the spirit of your peace, and call us to love.
We serve you with faith and hope. Alleluia!

2.
Leader: Crucified love, risen love, you walk among us.
All: Loving God, heartbroken God, you pour yourself out to us.
Risen Christ, Beckoning Christ, you work miracles among us.
Loving Christ, tender Christ, you feed us.
Holy Spirit, Living Spirit, you come to us.
Holy Spirit, life-giving Spirit, you call us to follow.
We are yours. We worship you. Alleluia!

3. (Revelation 5.11-14)
Leader: I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels surrounding the throne and the living creatures and the elders; they numbered myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, singing with full voice:
All: Worthy is the Lamb that was slaughtered
to receive power and wealth and wisdom
and might and honor and glory and blessing!
Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, singing:
To the one seated on the throne and to the Lamb
be blessing and honor
and glory and might forever and ever!
And the four living creatures cried out:
Amen!
And the elders fell down and worshiped.

4.
Leader: Christ is risen!
All:Christ is risen indeed!
Creator God, we praise you!
Risen Christ, we greet you!
Holy Spirit, we are one body by your grace.
Eternal God, you alone are holy, and we worship you.
By the light of Christ, rising from the grave in victory,
dispel the darkness of our hearts, shine upon us with mercy,
guide us in the ways of peace, and lead us to your heart.
We have died with Christ. We are raised with Christ.
Receive our old ways of living and grant us new life,
that we may serve you in love, all of our days.
You who grant your disciples a miraculous catch of fish,
grant us your grace that we may worship you.
Alleluia! Bless us, that we may feed your sheep. Alleluia!

5.
Leader: God of love, by your grace
the disciples who thought they were empty handed were given great gifts.
All: By your love Saul who thought he was persecuting by your will
saw your presence among the persecuted.
Open our eyes, change our hearts, and lead us in new directions.
Give us your Spirit to follow Jesus,
to proclaim your Word, to feed your sheep. Amen.

Collect / Prayer of the Day

1.
God of love, you have raised Christ from the dead, yet we don’t recognize the Beloved among us. Speak to us and awaken our hearts. Open our eyes to see your presence, to hear your call, and to follow you, in the power of your Spirit of love. Amen.

2.
Life-giving God, the Risen Christ came to the grief-stricken disciples and fed them, taught them, and called them. You are present among us now; speak your Word to us, feed us with your grace, and call us again into the ministry of loving service, in the name of Christ and the power of your Spirit. Amen.

3.
Jesus, our risen Savior, you bring new life to us, and ask us to share it with others. Help us realize the presence of your Spirit in us, and live as you have lived. In your goodness, teach, heal, forgive and give new life to others through us, to the glory of God. Amen.

4.
Loving One, though our love often fails, We do love you. Give us your spirit to feed your lambs. Though our discipleship often falters, you give us miraculous gifs to share. Give us faith to tend your sheep. Though we have our own hopes and wants, lead us by your Spirit to feed your sheep, in the name and the company of Jesus. Amen.

5.
Gracious God, the risen Christ spoke to Peter by the lakeshore, and to Saul on his way to Damascus. You called them to serve, and changed their lives. Speak to us now; transform us by your Word, and call us into your service. Bless us with open hearts and minds, that as the scriptures are read and your good news proclaimed we may hear with joy what you are saying to us today. Amen.

6.
Holy One, come to us. Like Saul we go about our business, like the disciples we stick to the familiar, not realizing what we are doing—until you reveal yourself. Shine your light on us now; come to us, awaken us, speak to us, and change our hearts. Amen.

7.
Christ, though our nights be dark, you are near, and your blessing awakens us. Though our boats be empty, a mysterious abundance billows beneath us. You feed us your Word of grace; you lead us to life that we do not design. Help us to listen, and to love you. Amen.

Listening Prayer

(Suitable as a Collect, preparation for hearing scriptures, or invitation to prayer)

1.
Jesus, Beloved,
we sit in the discouraged boat of our lives,
with the empty baskets of our faith.
Yet your mystery shimmers below the surface.
Trusting in your grace
we lower the nets of prayer,
open to what you provide.

2.
Loving One,
like the disciples we think we are empty-handed;
but you draw up gifts from the depths.
Like Saul we judge other;
but you are among those we judge.
Open our eyes to see you anew,
and to receive your gifts.

Prayer of Confession

God we confess that like Saul we think we know.
We think we are right.
Shine the light of your love on us,
that we may see where we have excluded you.
Bring us to our knees
that we may be changed.

Response / Creed / Affirmation

[From Colossians 3.1-16]

Since you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above,
where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
We set our minds on higher things, not on worldly things,
for we have died, and our life is hidden with Christ in God.
When Christ, who is your life, is revealed,
you also will be revealed with Christ in glory.
As God’s beloved we clothe ourselves in love,
which binds everything together in perfect harmony.
Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts,
to which you were called in one body.
May the word of Christ dwell richly in us.
With gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs to God.

Eucharistic Prayer

[The body of the prayer may be read responsively or by the presiding leader(s) alone.]

God is with you.
And also with you.
Lift up your heart.
We lift them up to God.
Let us give thanks to the Holy One, our God.
It is good and beautiful to give God our praise.

Eternal Creator, Unfailing Liberator, Steadfast Lover, we thank you.
Like then sun rising on the sea you shine on us with beauty and hope.
When we think we are alone you are with us.
When we think we are empty handed you provide nets full of fish.
You feed us; you call us your children; you set us free from fear and despair.
You give us bountiful gifts, and we thank you.
You set this table before us and invite us to feast with you
in the morning light of resurrection.
So we come to your table, with all your Beloved singing your praise.
     (Sanctus)

Blessed are all who come in your name,
and blessed is Jesus, your Christ.
He fed the hungry and healed the broken.
He suffered with us and for us.
In Christ you are faithful to us;
you walk through death to be with us, in love and blessing.

     (The Blessing and Covenant) *

As he did at that table, and so many other tines,
Jesus did again on the seashore:
he took bread, blessed it, and gave it to this friends.
We feast on the miracle of your presence.
As long as we break this bread and share this cup
we remember Christ’s death and resurrection, until he comes again.
Therefore, remembering these your mighty acts in Jesus Christ,
we offer ourselves as a living and holy sacrifice,
in union with Christ’s offering for us,
as we proclaim the mystery of our faith:
     (Memorial Acclamation)

Pour out your Holy Spirit on these gifts of bread and cup,
that they may be for us the body and blood of Christ.
Pour out your Spirit on us,
that we may be for the world the Body of Christ,
taken—drawn up in the net of your grace,
blessed—awakened by the light of your love,
broken—stripped of all but our love for you,
and given to the world,
in the resurrecting power of your Spirit.
(Amen.)

____________
* The Blessing and Covenant
[I usually don’t print the words. I want people to be looking at the bread, not their bulletins.]

On the night in which he gave himself for us
Jesus took bread, blessed it,. broke it, and gave it to his disciples,saying,
“Take and eat; this is my body.”
In the same way, after the supper he took the cup,
blessed it with thanks and gave it to them, saying,
“Drink of this, all of you. This is my blood,
poured out for you and for many, in a new Covenant,
which is the forgiveness of sin.”
As long as we break this bread and share this cup
we remember his death and resurrection, until he comes again.

Prayer of Dedication / Sending

1.
Gracious God, we give you our gifts as symbols of our lives. Receive them with love, bless them with grace and use them according to your will. You have come to us; you have loved us; you have called us; you have brought forth our gifts. We are ready now to go where you send us. Wrap the belt of your Word around us and lead us, for the sake of the healing of the world, in the name of Christ. Amen.

2.
Holy One, blessed by your presence and fed by your love, we give you thanks. You have drawn up from the depths of mystery gifts we did not know we have. Send us now in the power of those gifts to feed your sheep, to tend your Beloved, to live for the well-being of all who long for life, in the name and the Spirit and the presence of the risen Christ. Amen.

Prayer after Communion

1.
Gracious God, we thank you for this mystery in which you have given yourself to us. You have come to us in Christ, and fed us with your love. You have filled us with your Spirit, so that we might embody your love for others. Send us into the world now and help us to feed your sheep, to tend your lambs, to care for your beloved ones. May our lives be nourishing to the poor, in the power of your Holy Spirit and the name of Christ, who is risen in us. Amen.

2.
Gracious God, we thank you for this mystery in which you have given yourself to us. You have fed us with grace that can’t be predicted, with abundance that is hidden until it is received. Send us into the world now to follow Christ, to feed your sheep, to embody your love, in the name and Spirit of Christ. Amen.

Suggested Songs

(Click on titles to view, and hear an audio clip, on the Music page)

Communion Songs for Easter set to familiar tunes
Eight songs of invitation to the table, set to these melodies:
All Creatures of Our God and King,
Infant Holy, Be Thou My Vision,
The Gift of Love / Water Is Wide,
Morning Has Broken, Fairest Lord Jesus.

Easter Eucharistic Responses
Sanctus, Memorial Acclamation and Amen set to:
All Things Bright and Beautiful (Includes Preface)
Christ the Lord is Risen Today
Fairest Lord Jesus
Morning Has Broken
Now the Green Blade Rises


Come, Risen Christ     (Tune: Fairest Lord Jesus)

Come, risen Christ, to us. Come into our daily lives.
Come in our labors and in our rest.
Walk with us by our side. Show us where grace may hide.
Become our host, who once was guest.

Come, risen Christ, to us. Come into our fear and pain.
Come, speak to us your word of peace.
Nourish our weakened hearts. Feed us the food of grace.
From guilt and anguish grant release.

Come, risen Christ, to us. Lay your hand upon our hearts.
Draw us to follow. Our lives now use.
Call us your word to keep, love you and feed your sheep,
and bear your light where you shall choose.

The Feast of Resurrection
       Tune: W ZLOBIE LEZY (Infant Holy )
       or HOLY MANNA     or    ODE TO JOY (Joyful, Joyful)

Christ is risen! Alleluia! God, you raised him from the grave.
You are faithful, always loving, always just and strong to save.
All our sin and all our sorrow can’t begin to stop your grace:
Christ is present here among us, speaking with us face to face.

Christ, we meet you; Life, we greet you! Alleluias loud we sing.
You invite us to your table. To the feast our gifts we bring.
Bread is broken; hearts are mended; truth is spoken; wine is poured.
In our love and joyful sharing we behold you, Christ adored.

Holy Spirit, life eternal, gift of grace, all praise to you!
In this feast of resurrection raise us up to lives anew:
free, forgiving, deeply loving, gently living without fear,
Christ in us, alive, forever! Christ in us, your presence here!

Feed My Sheep     (Original song)

“Feed my sheep. Tend my lambs.
Do you love me? Reach your hands.
Bear your cross faithfully.
Give you life and follow me.

Sight restored,wounded healed,
God’s deep love is thus revealed.
God sent me: I send you,
love, my new commend, to do.

Serve the poor and the weak,
help them find their voice to speak.
Evil turned, mercy raised,
love and justice are my praise.

Peace be yours from this hour,
and the Holy Spirit’s power.
Raised from death, born anew,
live in me and I in you.”


Psalm 23      (Tune: Be Thou My Vision)

God is my shepherd; I have all I need. God
Makes me lie down in green pastures to feed.
By the still waters God gently will lead.
Love, you’re my shepherd. I have all I need.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of death, I
fear not, for you are as close as my breath.
For you are with me, your staff and your rod
they are my comfort, my shepherd, my God.

You set my table before all my foes. You
pour out your blessing; my cup overflows.
Goodness shall be with me wherever I roam,
and I will live with you, my Heart, my Home.

We Take This Moment (Tune: Gift of Love)

      Jesus took bread, blessed it, broke it, and gave it to them.
      And their eyes were opened and they recognized him.
                         — Luke 24. 30-31

We take this moment, Christ, with you:
for crucified and raised anew
you walk with us in all our pain.
Our hearts cry out for you again.

We bless this moment: it is dear,
for, hidden, you are with us here.
Our hearts reach out to touch your hand,
though we don’t always understand.

We break this moment open wide
and find your presence at our side.
Your warm light rises from within;
new life is waiting to begin.

We give this moment, God, to you:
that in our living you shine through,
that we may wonder, serve and bless,
that you may rise, O Christ, in us.

April 27, 2025

Lectionary Texts

During the Easter season a reading from the book of Acts replaces the Hebrew Bible reading.
Revelation 1. 4-8 — John’s greeting to the churches, a greeting from God and from Christ, who has set us free and made us a nation of priests who serve God, and who is coming again.

Acts 5. 27-32 — Authorities try to stop Jesus’ followers from preaching in his name, but the disciples say “We obey God, not human authority,” and they keep right on preaching.

Psalm 150 — Praise God with all the musical instruments (and all the other means) that we can imagine. Let everything that breathes praise God!

John 20.19-31 — The risen Jesus comes to the disciples and breathes his spirit into them. Thomas’ “unless I see…” and his encounter with Christ.

Preaching Thoughts

The Gospel reading comprises two scenes. The first is John’s Pentecost. Jesus breathes the Spirit on his followers (“spirit” and “breath” being the same word in Greek). This is what Jesus has returned for: not to prove anything, not to exalt in his victory over death, but to breathe his living spirit into the disciples. Now they are his risen body.

Thomas (the “Twin”) says he won’t believe unless he touches the wounds. Maybe that’s doubt. But maybe he’s saying, on behalf of all of us, that resurrection isn’t something you just think is true because someone said so; you believe it because you’ve experienced it. We don’t want to hear beliefs about resurrection; we want to see evidence of resurrection. When he does see Jesus, what convinces him is not the wounds (he never does touch them) but simply the overwhelming (and I assume loving) presence of Jesus. Thomas represents all those to whom we want to proclaim resurrection. Words alone won’t suffice.

We love happy endings. But Thomas is holding resurrection to a higher standard: resurrection is not just bouncing back; it’s radical transformation from something that is truly dead—you can see the wounds—to something that is truly alive. Thomas wants to see and touch the wounds. He wants to know not just that Jesus is OK after all, but that the one who is alive and whole is indeed the one who suffered and died. That the one who stands before him with forgiveness is the very one he denied and abandoned. (Remember when Jesus set out to Lazarus’ tomb, despite a contract out on him, and Thomas said “Let us go die with him.” But Thomas didn’t die with him. He ran away.) Now, in the wounds, and the Living One who bears them, he needs to see his own sin forgiven. As do we. Thomas is our twin.

Call to Worship

1.
Leader: Christ is risen!
All: Christ is risen indeed!
God of Love, you have passed through our sin and sorrow,
died of our wounds, lain in our grave.
And you have risen, full of life.
You have entered our darkness,
and you have made the darkness one with the light.
Now even the darkness shines with your glory.
All of life is raised, new, and we with it,
praising you with new voices, new hearts, new lives. Alleluia!

2. [Psalm 150 ]
Leader: Praise the Holy One! Praise God in the sanctuary;
People: God, we praise you in the mighty heavens!
We praise you for your mighty deeds, and for your surpassing greatness!
We praise you with trumpet sound; we praise you with lute and harp!
We praise you with tambourine and dance; we praise you with strings and pipe!
We praise you with clanging cymbals; we praise you with loud clashing cymbals!
Let everything that has breath praise God!
Praise God!

3.
Leader: Loving God, this is the day that you are making.
All: Let us rejoice and be glad in it!
You have raised Christ from the grave and overcome death.
You have defeated the power of evil and oppression.
We long for your presence, and we open ourselves to your Spirit.
Christ, our living Chief, you are with us, and we give you thanks.
We look for signs of your rising;
and we live in a world that longs for your living presence.
Breathe your Spirit into us, and raise us to new life,
that we may be living evidence of your resurrection,
the Body of your risen Christ. Amen.

4.
Leader: Christ is risen!
People: Christ is risen indeed!
Creator God, we praise you!
Risen Christ, we greet you!
Holy Spirit, we are one body by your grace.
Alleluia! We have seen the Risen Christ! Alleluia!
You alone are holy, O God, and so we worship you.
You have brought Christ up out of the grave.
You have brought life out of death, hope out of despair.
We have seen your victory in our lives;
we have beheld your Risen Christ among us
For what we have seen, we give thanks.
For what is yet to come, we give you our hearts.
We worship you, and give you ourselves. Alleluia!

Collect / Prayer of the Day

1.
God of new life, your grace is always beyond our grasp. But we want to see you, to feel your presence. Open the eyes of our hearts to see you, present for us. Open the ears of our hearts to hear you speak your Word to us, now and always, through the living Christ. Amen.

2.
Resurrecting God,
when the risen Jesus appeared to his disciples,
he offered them signs of peace,
and breathed his spirit on them.
Breathe your Spirit into us,
and grant us seeing hearts,
that we may live as your faithful disciples,
and offer peace and healing in a broken world. Amen.

3.
O God, you make every moment new. You come through the locked doors of our habituated lives, and reveal yourself in Jesus, who bring us his peace. May we continually pass with him from death to life, and embody his love and forgiveness.May the wounded but risen Christ, who is present with us, empower us to be present with this wounded world, by the grace of your Holy Spirit. Amen.

4.
Gracious God, your risen Christ appeared to the disciples and spoke to them. Pass through the locked doors of our fears and our doubts, our need to control and understand. Be present with us; speak to us; open our hearts and minds, that we may hear with joy what you are saying to us today, and give you our hearts. Amen.

Listening Prayer

(suitable as a Collect, preparation for hearing scriptures, or invitation to prayer)

1.
Living God,
the doors of our hearts are locked.
Come through them,
grace us with your loving presence,
breathe your Spirit into us,
and grant us your peace.

2.
God of life,
like Thomas we want to see,
we want to touch.
Open our hearts
to know your presence,
to trust your grace.

Prayer of Confession

God we confess our trust in you is broken
by our fears and cynicism,
by our need to control and understand,
by our attachment to comfort and security.
In the wounds of Christ touch us,
soften our hearts, and turn our spirits toward you,
that in us Christ may rise anew, living and whole.

Reading

1. [May be used as an affirmation or creed.]
Revelation 1.4-8

Leader: Grace to you and peace
from the One who is and who was and who is to come,
and from the seven spirits who are before the divine throne,
and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness,
the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of all earthly rulers.
All: To Christ who loves us
and in his dying freed us from our sins
and made us to be a nation of priests serving our God and Creator,
to Christ be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
Look! Christ is coming with the clouds;
every eye will see, even those who pierced Jesus on the cross;
and for Christ all the tribes of the earth will mourn . So it is to be. Amen.
“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says God,
who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.
Come, risen Christ, come Holy Spirit, and transform us by your grace.
Alleluia!

Eucharistic Prayer

[The body of the prayer may be read responsively by leader(s) and congregation, or by the presiding leader(s) alone.]

God is with you.
And also with you.
Lift up your heart.
We lift them up to God.
Let us give thanks to the Holy One, our God.
It is good and beautiful to give God our praise.

God of love, you create all things in your grace.
You bring light out of darkness and life out of death.
You bring people out of slavery, and Christ out of the grave.
Through the locked doors of prisons you set the captives free.
Through the locked doors of our fears
you come with forgiveness and peace.
We rejoice in your presence that we cannot understand,
your love that we cannot comprehend.
So we feast in joy beyond words, singing your praise with all Creation:

     (Sanctus)

Blessed are all who come in your name,
and blessed is Jesus, your Christ, crucified and yet risen,
wounded and yet forgiving,
having passed through death, yet bearing peace.
He passed through the walls of people’s fears and prejudice
and brought them truth and healing.
He passed through the disciples’ closed doors
and brought them love and peace.
He touched the wounds of others,
and now in broken bread we touch his wounds.

     (The Blessing and Covenant)
As long as we break this bread and share this cup
we remember his death and resurrection, until he comes again.
Therefore, remembering these your mighty acts in Jesus Christ,
we offer ourselves as a living and holy sacrifice,
in union with Christ’s offering for us,
as we proclaim the mystery of our faith:
     (Memorial Acclamation)

Pour out your Holy Spirit on these gifts of bread and cup,
that they may be for us the body and blood of Christ.
Pour out your Spirit on us, that we may be for the world the Body of Christ,
that we may touch the world’s wounds with healing,
that we may offer peace and forgiveness,
that a world yearning for your presence
may behold it in us and our love,
by the power of your Holy Spirit
and the presence of your living Christ in us,
for your glory and the for the healing of the world.
(Amen.)

____________
* The Blessing and Covenant
[I usually don’t print the words. I want people to be looking at the bread, not their bulletins.]

On the night in which he gave himself for us
Jesus took bread, blessed it,. broke it, and gave it to his disciples,saying,
“Take and eat; this is my body.”
In the same way, after the supper he took the cup,
blessed it with thanks and gave it to them, saying,
“Drink of this, all of you. This is my blood,
poured out for you and for many, in a new Covenant,
which is the forgiveness of sin.”
As long as we break this bread and share this cup
we remember his death and resurrection, until he comes again.

Prayer of Dedication / Sending

1.
Gracious God, you have breathed your Spirit into us. Now into this world, that is hungry for your peace, send us as signs of your living presence. Into this world that is doubtful of your love, send us as vessels of your grace. May your love pass through the locked doors of our world and reach the hearts of those who hunger for your grace. Send us in your Spirit as bearers of your healing light, in the name and Spirit of Christ.

2.
Gracious God, there are many people in this world who have not experienced your love, who have no reason to hope, who have not seen the risen Christ. Use us, we pray, to bring your love to them. We give you our lives, symbolized in our gifts, with which to make resurrection real in this world, in the name of Christ. Receive them with love, bless them with grace, and use them according to your will. Amen.

Prayer after Communion

Gracious God, we thank you for this mystery in which you have given yourself to us. In our hunger for you, you come to us. You touch us with your presence and feed us with your flesh. Now throw open the doors we have locked around us, and send us, for the sake of others who hunger for you, as the Body of Christ. Amen.2.
Gracious God, we thank you for this mystery in which you have given yourself to us. In the broken bread we have touched your wounds. In the cup poured out you have filled us. Send us into the world to touch the wounds of Christ in those who suffer, seeking always your life-giving presence. We go in the name and the Spirit of Christ, in the courage and compassion of Christ, in the loving company of the risen Christ. Amen.

Suggested Songs

(Click on titles to view on the Music page)

Communion Songs for Easter set to familiar tunes
Eight songs of invitation to the table, set to these melodies:
All Creatures of Our God and King,
Infant Holy, Be Thou My Vision,
The Gift of Love / Water Is Wide,
Morning Has Broken, Fairest Lord Jesus.

Easter Eucharistic Responses
Sanctus, Memorial Acclamation and Amen set to:
All Things Bright and Beautiful (Includes Preface)
Christ the Lord is Risen Today
Fairest Lord Jesus
Morning Has Broken
Now the Green Blade Rises

Risen (A communion song) (Tune: Fairest Lord Jesus)
[This song is included in Table Songs,
a collection of communion songs to familiar tunes.]

Blessed Lord Jesus, you laid down your life for us.
Risen from death, now you bid us dine.
Grateful, we bring our gifts, as we receive from you
your love poured out in bread and wine.

Risen Lord Jesus, make your presence known to us;
come in flesh we can see and feel.
In bread and wine and prayer, in those with whom we share,
be present in this holy meal.

Now as we share this meal give to us your Spirit.
Make us your Body, your living Word.
In our forgiveness, in lives that heal and bless
may this world know our risen Lord.


Come, Risen Christ   (Tune: Fairest Lord Jesus)

Come, risen Christ, to us. Come into our daily lives.
Come in our labors and in our rest.
Walk with us by our side. Show us where grace may hide.
Become our host, who once was guest.

Come, risen Christ, to us. Come into our fear and pain.
Come, speak to us your word of peace.
Nourish our weakened hearts. Feed us the food of grace.
From guilt and anguish grant release.

Come, risen Christ, to us. Lay your hand upon our hearts.
Draw us to follow. Our lives now use.
Call us your word to keep, love you and feed your sheep,
and bear your light where you shall choose.


Let Me Feel Your Wounds   (original song)

Risen Christ, let me feel your wounds
in the heart of the one whom I have crucified.
May I feel your forgiving and begin brand new living.
May I know your rising there.

Risen Christ, let me feel your wounds
in the hands of the lonely and despairing ones.
May I love with your caring. May I hope with your daring.
May I know your rising there.

Risen Christ, let me feel your wounds
in the feet of the poor and homeless wandering.
May I weep with their weeping. May I give without keeping.
May I know your rising there.

Risen Christ, let me feel your wounds
in the marks of our violence upon the world.
May I bless and heal. May your peace be my seal.
May I know your rising there.

April 6, 2025

Lectionary Texts

Isaiah 43.16-21 — “I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?”

Psalm 126 — May those who sow in tears reap with shouts of joy

Philippians 3.4-14 — I regard everything as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death…. I press onward…

John 12.1-8 — Mary anoints Jesus.

Preaching Thoughts

Isaiah
       The prophet imagines a new exodus and even a new creation. Trusting what God is doing, what God has been doing all along, we let go of what is, and what we have, in order to be open to what is coming.

Psalm
       Both our sorrow and our joy, sowing and reaping, are part of life, and gathered up into God’s blessing. Our present suffering will pass.

Philippians
       All the stuff we value, our status and credentials, our accomplishments—even our faith!—we let go of to draw closer to Christ. As Isaiah says, trusting what God is doing, we let go of everything for what will be given to us, new.
       The catch is that “drawing close to Christ” means sharing in Jesus’ suffering. It means identifying with and standing with the poor and powerless, the suffering, the outcast. Echoing Jesus’ desert temptations, we let go of our comfort, our desire to make things turn out right, our status and esteem, and allow God to be our power, our security, our belonging, our life.

John
       Sometimes in our homiletical rush toward the cross we overlook the poignancy of the story of Mary anointing Jesus. Powerful people are out to get Jesus. He faces a certain death, he knows. His disciples clearly don’t get it. How lonely he must feel! But Mary gets it. She understands death. She’s seen her bother Lazarus die, and she’s seen Jesus share her grief. And she knows what he faces. So she does something extraordinary: she does something kind for Jesus—the only kind thing anybody does for him. Certainly there is much in her action that is dramatic: the extravagance of the gift, the fragrance of the perfume, the radical intimacy of the gesture. There is some heavy theological symbolism in her act: preparing him for burial, accepting the cross, honoring him as the ruler of her heart. Anointing has rich associations with healing, with baptism, with prophetic charge. Her act is pretty loaded. But maybe what’s most remarkable is simply its kindness. Maybe faith is not as complicated as all that theological stuff, but simply being kind. Maybe the fragrance of our kindness fills the house where Jesus is.
       Mary’s act may reflect not only her kindness toward Jesus but also her sorrow, knowing she’s going to lose him. But that too, is something Jesus receives as a gift. Imagine that your brokenheartedness is a gift Jesus gladly receives. Part of what our sharing in his cross might mean is our grief: for him, for ourselves, and for the world. (“The gift you desire is a broken and contrite heart, O God”– Psalm 51).
       The Philippians passage invites us to share Jesus’ suffering. A barrier that keeps us from taking up our cross more faithfully is obviously our fear of pain, powerlessness, loss and suffering. Mary shows us you don’t need to get yourself tortured to death to join in Jesus’ suffering. Start by offering up your vulnerability, allowing yourself to be brokenhearted for Jesus—for the hurting and oppressed and rejected.
       Mary’s act may be a bit of foreshadowing of the cross to come; and it is also a gift that shapes Jesus’ ministry: a few days later he gatherers his disciples for the Passover, and he does what he has learned from Mary: he washes their feet. Kindness received becomes kindness given.

Call to Worship

1.
Leader: God of life, when life is broken,
All: we turn to you.
Loving Christ, when hearts are broken,
you come to us.
Holy Spirit, this broken world needs us;
flow through us to all the world.

2.
Leader: Creator, in our joy we call out to you!
All: Christ, in our sorrow we call out to you!
Holy Spirit, you cry out in us with the cry of all humanity.
You anoint us with your grace, as we worship you.

3.
Leader: Eternal God, as we wander in the wilderness, you are with us.
People: Open our hearts to your comforting presence.
Living God, as we sit with Mary at the feet of Jesus, you welcome our gifts.
Open our hearts to your transforming love.
Compassionate God, as we come to your table, you share yourself with us.
Open our hearts to your extravagant grace. Pour your blessing on us. Amen.

4.
Leader: Creator God, we praise you!
All: Risen Christ, we greet you!
Holy Spirit, we are one body by your grace.
You alone are holy, and we worship you.
Glory be to you, O God of all Creation.
Thanks be to you, O Christ, for our salvation.
Christ, you accompany us in our suffering;
you pour out your life so that we may live.
Gather us in your loving arms,
and transform us by your grace.

Collect / Prayer of the Day

1.
Loving God, as Mary anointed Jesus with perfume, anoint us with your Word, that we may hear your good news. Anoint us with your Spirit, that we may bear your healing word into the world with courage, love, and joy. Amen.

2.
Comforting God, anoint us with the oil of your healing. Honor us with the perfume of your grace. Transform us with the anointing of your Spirit. Wash us with your Word, and steady our hearts in you. Amen.

3.
Gracious God, you receive us in your gentle arms. You anoint us with your healing presence. Help us to be mindful of your mercy, your deep compassion for the wounds of the world, and your willing presence with those who suffer. Grant us your Spirit, that as your scriptures are read and your good news proclaimed, we might listen to you now and hear your healing voice. Amen.

Listening Prayer

(suitable as a Collect, preparation for hearing scriptures, or invitation to prayer)

Jesus,
you who face death in love for us,
we kneel before you
and pour out the perfume of our hearts.
Your feet, that carry you to us,
we anoint.
May the fragrance of our love for you
fill your house.

Eucharistic Prayer

Go here for musical responses to the Eucharistic prayer—Sanctus, Memorial Acclamation and Amen—set to familiar tunes suitable for Lent.

[The body of the prayer may be read responsively by the pastor and congregation or by the presiding leader(s) alone.]

God is with you.
And also with you.
Lift up your heart.
We lift them up to God.
Let us give thanks to the Holy One, our God.
It is good and beautiful to give God our praise.

Jesus came to Bethany six days before Passover,
the celebration of our liberation from slavery in Egypt.
God, you have delivered us from bondage to sin,
established your Covenant with us,
and set us free to serve you all the days of our lives.
Jesus went to the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead.
God, you have raised us to new life,
transforming us in the Spirit of Christ
so that we may live in love and not fear.
In Bethany they gave a dinner for Jesus.
You gather us at your table, God
to remember Jesus, your Christ.
He taught and healed, he forgave sinners,
he shared the sufferings of the poor,
he called us to repentance,
and he ate with outcasts.
He shows us your love, God,
by giving of his own.
         [ The Blessing and Covenant…]

Receiving the Body of Christ, we become the body of Christ
as we proclaim the mystery of our faith:
Dying, Christ destroys our death.
Rising, Christ restores our life.
Christ shall come again in glory.
Mary took a pound of the finest perfume,
anointed Jesus’ feet, and wiped them with her hair.
We bring our finest gifts to you, O God,
the gifts of our hearts and our hands,
that through our faith all people may be fed
by this holy meal.
Pour out your Holy Spirit on these gifts, O God,
that they may be for us the Body and Blood of the crucified and risen Christ.
Pour out your Holy Spirit on us,
and let its fragrance fill the house.
Gather us in your love, together with all who share in this meal.
Renew your Holy Spirit within us,
that anointed by your love, we may be made holy,
set apart for your purposes in the name of Christ.
Jesus said that Mary had prepared him for his burial.
may we be unafraid of suffering in the cause of love.
By your grace, through our faith, may we bring grace and healing to all.
God of all Creation,
may your Word be made flesh
by all your holy Church,
in the love of Christ
and the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

____________
* The Blessing and Covenant
[I usually don’t print the words. I want people to be looking at the bread, not their bulletins.]

On the night in which he gave himself for us
Jesus took bread, blessed it,. broke it, and gave it to his disciples,saying,
“Take and eat; this is my body.”
In the same way, after the supper he took the cup,
blessed it with thanks and gave it to them, saying,
“Drink of this, all of you. This is my blood,
poured out for you and for many, in a new Covenant,
which is the forgiveness of sin.”
As long as we break this bread and share this cup
we remember his death and resurrection, until he comes again.

Prayer of Dedication / Sending

Gracious God, we thank you that you have poured yourself out for us, and given us your Spirit, that we might pour ourselves out for others, that we might bless them and serve them in your name. Send us into the world, accompanied by Christ, for the sake of the world. Amen.

Prayer after Communion

Gracious God, we thank you for this mystery in which you have given yourself to us. You have anointed us with your Spirit, laid your healing hands on us, and prepared us for all that is to come. Send us into the world unafraid to suffer for the sake of love, in the name and the Spirit of Christ. Amen.

Suggested Songs

(Click on titles to view, and hear audio clips, on the Music page)

Anointing (Tune: What a Friend We Have in Jesus)

Jesus, as we try to follow on your journey toward the cross,
we ourselves will come to suffer weakness, loneliness and loss.
But in love you turn to heal us: you let go all goods and powers,
gently sharing all our troubles, making them your own, not ours.

Jesus, in your grace and mercy, you share all our pain and tears.
You anoint us with your love and heal our wounds and calm our fears.
So, like Mary with her perfume, we bring gifts of love to you,
sharing death and resurrection, trusting lives will be made new.


At Your Feet (Original Song)

Jesus, at your feet I bow.
I am yours completely now.
By your mercy show me how
to be loving.

Jesus, Master, you who save,
you have served me as a slave.
This, the perfect gift you gave:
to be loving.

In each hurting one I meet
it is you, O Christ, I greet.
Make my faithfulness complete,
to be loving.


I Take Up My Cross
(Original song; a dialogue between soloist and congregation)

Letting go, I am held. I take up my cross and follow.

Jesus, you call to me, and draw me into your life.
Christ, I leave all behind, to follow you in love.
I yield my life to you, for you alone are God.
Loved with your costly love, I’ll suffer for the sake of love.
Christ, make my one desire to be to serve you in love.


Woeful Cross (Original song)

Woeful cross, saddest wood, death in me of all that’s good,
I confess. Mother/Father, bless. Mercy.

Holy cross, mystery, love from fear of death set free.
Sin’s dark lie. Here I die. Mercy.

Gentle Christ on the cross, for our life your own life’s loss.
You forgive, and we live. Mercy.

Our own cross calling us to your love and gentleness:
may we live, as you give, mercy.


Your Healing Cross (Tune: The River Is Wide)

Dear gentle Christ, in love you died; for us you wept, were crucified.
and through your pain, the blood they drew, we see the love that carried you.

And so for you, we gladly live, our love, our hearts we freely give.
We neither fear despair nor death, but trust your grace in every breath.

As one with you who died and rose, we give our hearts and hands to those
who suffer need, or pain or loss; in love we bear your healing cross.


Your Will Be Done (Original song)

Father, take my willfulness.
I surrender it to you grace alone.
Mother, be my willingness.
I can only ask: Your will be done.

Jesus, take my brokenness.
I surrender it to you grace alone.
Jesus, heal my brokenness.
I can only ask: Your will be done.

Spirit, take my empty hands.
I surrender them to you grace alone.
Spirit, with my empty hands
I can only ask: Your will be done.

March 30, 2025

Lectionary Texts

Joshua 5.9-1: The wilderness wanderings ended, Israelites settle and eat food that they have raised on the land; the manna ceases.

Psalm 32: When I was not honest about my sin it ate at me, but when I confess, I am forgiven. God, you protect me and guide me.

2 Corinthians 5. 16-21: If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation. The ministry of reconciliation.

Luke 15.1-3, 11-32: The parable of the lost sons

Preaching Thoughts

       Today’s texts touch on the theme we heard last week: our hunger for God, reflected in the manna and then the Israelites’ locally grown food, and in the younger son’s hunger in Jesus’ parable.

2 Corinthians
       From now on, we regard no one from a human point of view. We see everyone through God’s eyes. Everyone: friends and neighbors, the annoying co-worker, the struggling student, the criminal, the homeless, the terrible politician, even ourselves. We see everyone as God’s beloved, redeemed people, who may or may not see themselves that way or act like it. Everyone is someone who God is seeking in love… like the father in Jesus’ parable
       “If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation.” The way Paul says it, “there is a new creation” means the person is made new, but also all of Creation is made new—there is a new one now! Everything has been made new.
    “We are reconciled to God through Christ.” God is not reconciled with us; we are the ones needing to be reconnected. Though our relationship with God is broken and messed up, God has a perfect relationship with us anyway—and draws us into that relationship in Christ. God wants to heal our broken relationship with God. God does this in Christ and his forgiveness. Changed by such love, we extend that reconciliation to others, too.
      For our sake God made Christ to be sin
      who knew no sin,
      so that in Christ we might become the righteousness of God.
In interpreting “God made Christ to be sin” avoid suggesting that God planned the crucifixion. We planned the crucifixion. It’s our sin and injustice, not God’s scheming. But God acts in the crucifixion with grace, by entering into our broken state with us. In the crucifixion we see what separates us from God: we see our sin. And yet in what appears to separate us from God, God stays connected with us in love. We are the subjects of God’s good relationship, and so we “become God’s righteousness.” (Remember righteousness doesn’t mean obedience to laws; it means right relationship.) Despite our bad relationship with God, God, in loving grace, makes our relationship good anyway. Just as Jesus was sinless but treated as if he were sinful, we are treated as if we are righteous: we are given a perfect relationship with God. By God’s grace in us we not only receive God’s righteousness, we are God’s righteousness!

Luke:
       We sometimes preach that we shouldn’t be like the younger son… but in fact we are the younger son, recklessly wasting God’s grace. God takes us in anyway. No matter what. No one, no one at all, is “not good enough.” This is a story about truly unconditional love.
       Unfortunately many preachers paint the younger son as the bad one, and ignore the older son. Both of them are equally at fault. This is a parable of two lost sons. The older son distances himself from his father just as much as the younger son. (In fact at least the younger son comes to apologize and attempt some kind of reconciliation with his father; the older son doesn’t.) Note the parallels:
• Both sons have, in a sense, run away, and the father has to leave his home and go out into the field to welcome both sons back inviting them both to the feast. (In fact we assume the younger son assents; so far the older son has refused. Hm…)
• The younger son intends to say “treat me like one of your hired servants.” The older son says “I have worked for you like a slave.” The father has to overcome both son’s image of themselves as slaves rather than children and heirs.
• Both sons also distance themselves from each other and the family. The younger son runs away physically; the older son runs away emotionally. He says “that son of yours” and the father has to correct him: “this brother of yours.”
• The younger son doesn’t seem to be motivated by love for his father, but hunger. The elder son doesn’t seem to want his father’s love, but, despite the fact that he has everything the father has, complains, “you didn’t give me even so much as a goat.” Both of them don’t want the father’s love—just his stuff. How much of our “faith” is really just wanting stuff from God? (Blessing, healing, good luck, forgiveness… it can all be selfish if it isn’t aimed toward loving God and neighbor.) This a story about turning to God in love instead of self-interest.
       The younger son is usually the focus of our preaching; but the climax of the story is not in his return but the older son’s reaction. Like him we easily assume we are the “good people” who have obediently followed the rules and been good Christians, and we deserve more of God’s grace than “those bad people,” whoever we think they are. We are like the older as well as the younger! This is a story about how, for God, there is no “deserving,” but only love.
       The word “prodigal” does not mean disobedient, but recklessly extravagant. The younger son has certainly wasted his wealth in extravagance, but so has the older son. Even though everything the father has is his, that generosity is wasted on a resentful, self-centered son. It’s the father who is prodigal with forgiveness and mercy. Independent of our deserving we are given grace like the manna that sustained the Hebrews in the desert.The story is not about how we ought to be like one son or the other, but an invitation to be like the father, extravagantly generous with love, forgiveness and mercy.

Call to Worship

1. [Or may be used as an invitation to communion.]
Leader: God of love, when we wander away
it is your grace that calls us back to you.
All: You receive us with mercy, and we give thanks.
Loving Christ, when we are lost and lonely in a far land,
you accompany us in love, and guide us home.
You receive us with grace, and we give thanks.
Holy Spirit, your joy in us calls us, blesses us, and revives us.
We celebrate, for we who were lost are found! We who were dead are alive!
By your invitation we come to your table to feast in joy.

2.
Leader: Loving God, giver of Creation, we turn to you.
All: Beloved God, Mother and Father of us all, we thank you.
Christ our brother, you bring us home to God, and we praise you.
You give us to one another, and so we praise you.
Holy Spirit, your love burns in us for all the world.
You make us beloved kin, and so we open our hearts. Our love is your praise.

3.
Leader: Glory be to you, O God of all Creation.
All: Thanks be to you, O Christ, for our salvation.
Though we have wandered, you he welcomed us.
Though we have separated ourselves, you have joined us.
Gather us into your love, and change our hearts, so that we shall love others.
Come, Holy Spirit, and transform us by your grace. Amen.

4.
Leader: God, we are hungry for you.
All: We have lived on the manna of your grace, and we thank you.
Sometimes our hunger is deep and unmet.
Like the “prodigal son” our spirits are starving for your grace.
So we come to you, to the abundance of your table.
You welcome us, and you feed our souls.
We feast at the banquet of your grace.

Collect / Prayer of the Day

1.
God of love, we hunger for your grace. When we distance ourselves from you we long for your embrace. We have sought many things, but we were truly hungry only for you. Receive us, lonely and weary, bless us with your mercy, and feed us your grace. Amen.

2.
God of love, speak your word to lead all who are lost and seeking the way. Speak your healing word to all who are hurting and alone. Speak your reconciling word to all who are not at peace. Speak your life-giving word to us, and bring us close to you. Amen.

3.
Merciful God, though we turn away from you, still you are near; you claim us and embrace us and bless us. Bring us home and speak to us. We turn to you to hear your word, to receive your grace, to become again your faithful children. Amen.

4.
Gracious God, you are the loving father who gives us life, the strong mother who guides us in this world. We hear many voices that call to us, that would lead us stray. We come now to hear your voice alone, to return to the home of our hearts in you. Speak to us, claim us, name us, and bless us as we listen for your living Word. Amen.

5.
Gracious God, we who have wandered return to you. We come to surrender to the embrace of your love, to enter the house of your mercy, to feast on your Word, and to be made again part of your loving family. Change our hearts, so that we may become more like you. Amen.

6.
Gracious God, your truth is our home, and your love is our place of deepest belonging. We want to come home to your love. Open our hearts to find welcome in your Word, to receive your love, and to become again glad members of your holy family. Amen.

Listening Prayer

Loving God, you are our home and our belonging;
you are our parent and our provider.
We do not live by bread alone
but by your every word.
We hunger for your grace.
We come to you.
Receive us. Feed us.
Make us your new creations.

Prayer of Confession

1.
Gentle God, we have wandered away from you,
from your love, and from what gives you deepest delight in our lives,
so our lives become hollow and hungry, lost and lonely.
We return to you.
Receive us, accept us, forgive us, nourish us and bless us.
May we always be yours. Amen.

2.
Gentle God, your love for us is perfect.
But we confess that our love is small and feeble;
we withhold it from you and from others
Forgive us, restore us, and fill us again with your Spirit,
so that we will love more perfectly
in the spirit of Christ. Amen.

Response to Confession

[Psalm 103.8-14]
Leader: God is merciful and gracious,
All: slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
God will not always accuse,
or keep fierce anger forever.
God does not deal with us according to our sins,
nor repay us according to our iniquities.
For as the heavens are high above the earth,
so great is God’s steadfast love toward those who turn to God;
as far as the east is from the west,
so far God removes our transgressions from us.
As a father has compassion for his children,
so the Holy One has compassion for those who fear God.
God knows how we were made, and remembers that we are dust.

Reading

Psalm 32, a paraphrase

How blessed we are that you forgive us so completely!
       We know our sinfulness—
       yet you treat us as if we had none.
When we try to deny our brokenness
the wound eats us up from within.
       But when we get honest with ourselves, and with you
       and confess the failure of our love,
       you forgive us! You forgive us entirely!
So we learn to trust you deeply, and we turn to you.
Despite our distress, the flood of anxiety won’t reach us.
       God, you are a safe place for us, a shelter from trouble.
       You enfold us in songs of healing.
You say, “I will lead you in the way you should go.
I walk with you; I see you from the inside out.”
       Oh, folks, do you hear this? Rejoice in God’s love!
       Sing thanks. Belt it out for the Beloved!

Response / Creed / Affirmation

We love and trust you, God, creator of all things. You have made all people in your image. You are our home, and the loving parent of all humanity.

We follow your Christ, who embraced all people, who created hospitality for all who are rejected, and who by his grace made a place for us and for all in the Household of God. Though he too was rejected and killed, he was raised again, and in his resurrection creates a place for us in eternal life.

We live by the power of the Holy Spirit, who joins us into one household, one people, one Body. By the power of that Spirit we devote ourselves to the hospitality of Christ, to welcome the outcast, to serve the poor, and to live lives of forgiveness, healing and reconciliation, in order to embody resurrection, for the sake of the healing of the world. Amen.

Invitation to Communion

1.
God of grace God, we have wandered away from your love,
but you receive us with gentle mercy.
We have turned from your grace,
but you come to us again and again,
and enfold us in the welcome of your heart.
By your grace, we who are lost are found;
we who were dead are alive again!
Let us come in to your house, then,
and feast upon your grace and delight in your joy.
Gather us in your loving arms, O God,
and transform us by your grace.

2.
Leader: Blessed God, in the spirit of compassion you have called us here.
All: Creator God, loving Father, life-giving Mother,
you are the home of our souls.
Crucified and risen Christ, you are the brother who walks with us on all our roads.
You are our Way, and our homecoming.
Holy Spirit of love, you are the wisdom deep within us that leads us.
You lead us out, and you bring us back.
You strengthen us in departing, open our hearts us in our journeys,
and guide us in our returning.
We come now to you: to your grace, to your love for us,
and to your celebration of our unity.
We thank you, God, and we come gladly to your table.
Receive us, nourish us, and make us yours once again. Amen.

Eucharistic Prayer

Go here for musical responses to the Eucharistic prayer—Sanctus, Memorial Acclamation and Amen—set to familiar tunes suitable for Lent.

[The body of the prayer may be read responsively by the pastor and congregation or by the presiding leader(s) alone.]

1.
God is with you.
And also with you.
Lift up your heart.
We lift them up to God.
Let us give thanks to the Holy One, our God.
It is good and beautiful to give God our praise.

Blessed are you, O God. You have created us in your image,
claimed us as your children, called us as your people,
and embraced us in your holy Covenant.
Though we wander from you and turn away from your grace,
your steadfast love is faithful;
when we are lost and alone, still you are with us.
You forgive our sin and restore us to ourselves;
and you reconcile us to yourself and to each other.
Therefore you call us to this feast to celebrate our new life in Christ.
For we once were dead and now are alive;
we were lost, and now are found.
And so with all your people on earth we praise you with one voice:

Holy, holy, holy One, God of power and love,
all Creation shimmers with your presence.
Amazing and beautiful! You save us!
Blessed are they who come in your love.
Amazing and beautiful! You save us!
       [or other version]

Blessed are all who come in your name, and blessed is Jesus, your Christ.
With love and forgiveness he taught and healed,
he ate with sinners and embraced the lonely.
He set us free from our judgments
and invited us to the table of your grace,
where all are included, and all are one, and all are beloved.

[… The Blessing and Covenant …]

God of love, in this meal we hear your gracious word:
“You are always with me, and all that I have is yours.”
In humility and gratitude we offer ourselves as a glad gift,
in union with Christ’s gift to us,
as we proclaim the mystery at the heart of our faith:

             [Memorial Acclamation, spoken or sung:]
        Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again.
                     —or—
        Dying, Christ destroyed our death. Rising, Christ restores our life.
        Christ will come again in glory.
             [or alternative]

Pour out your Holy Spirit on these gifts of bread and cup,
that they may be for us the Body and Blood of Christ.
Pour out your Holy Spirit on us,
that we may be for the world the body of Christ.
At this table God, you set a feast of joy, for we are again whole.
You unite us, neither sinner nor righteous but family.
Fill us with your gracious love, to accept and embrace all,
to forgive and to welcome all, as beloved family.
May our lives be a feast of joy for your grace,
offered to all the world in the spirit of Christ.

            [sung or spoken]
Amen.

2.
God is with you.
And also with you.
Lift up your heart.
We lift them up to God.
Let us give thanks to the Holy One, our God.
It is good and beautiful to give God our praise.

God, we thank you, for you are the source of our life,
our home, our womb, our earth.
We are your family, and kindred with one another.
When we deny our kinship, when we run away
from you or from one another,
you gather us back and bring us to the table of your joy.
Therefore with all the family of Creation
we sing your praise with one voice.

            [Sanctus, spoken or sung:]
        Holy, holy, holy One, God of power and might,
        heaven and earth are full of your glory.
        Hosanna in the highest.
        Blessed is the one who comes in the name of God.
        Hosanna in the highest.
               [or alternate version]

Blessed are all who come in your name,
and blessed is Jesus, your Christ,
who was brother to the wandering, and kin among the hungry.
He embraced us with your love and forgiveness,
and gathered us as one around the table of your grace.

     (The Blessing and Covenant)*

As long as we break this bread and share this cup
we remember his death and resurrection, until he comes again.
In this meal we who were lost are found;
we who were dead are alive again;
we who were apart are brought together.
Therefore in thanks we proclaim the mystery of our faith:

             [Memorial Acclamation, spoken or sung:]
        Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again.
                     —or—
        Dying, Christ destroyed our death. Rising, Christ restores our life.
        Christ will come again in glory.
             [or alternative]

Pour out your Holy Spirit on these gifts of bread and cup,
that they may be for us the body and blood of Christ.
Pour out your Spirit on us,
that we may be for the world the Body of Christ,
fed by your love, made whole by your grace,
made one with you and with each other,
one with all people and with all Creation,
kindred in your Spirit.
May all of life be a celebration of your love.
May we gladly invite all who wander or are hungry
to the feast, in the name and the love of Christ.

          (sung or spoken)
Amen.

____________
* The Blessing and Covenant
[I usually don’t print the words. I want people to be looking at the bread, not their bulletins.]

On the night in which he gave himself for us
Jesus took bread, blessed it,. broke it, and gave it to his disciples,saying,
“Take and eat; this is my body.”
In the same way, after the supper he took the cup,
blessed it with thanks and gave it to them, saying,
“Drink of this, all of you. This is my blood,
poured out for you and for many, in a new Covenant,
which is the forgiveness of sin.”
As long as we break this bread and share this cup
we remember his death and resurrection, until he comes again.

Prayer after Communion

Gracious God, we thank you for this mystery in which you have given yourself to us. You have fed us at your table with a joyous feast, receiving each of us as we are, delighting in our presence, and making us all one family. Send us into the world to seek and welcome others, and invite them to feast at the table of your grace, in the name of Christ, to your delight and glory. Amen.

Suggested Songs

(Click on titles to view, and hear audio clips, on the Music page)

Always New (Tune: Gift of Love [“The Water Is Wide”]
                                or Tallis’ Canon)

O God, you make me always new.
Each breath I breathe is life from you,
a gift of love that sets me free.
Beloved, breathe new life in me.

O Christ, you call me to new birth
like God’s creation of the earth,
to leave the things I’m fastened on
and walk into the rising dawn.

O loving Spirit, live in me.
Forgive my sin and set me free.
Give me new birth, life from above,
that I may live in your deep love.


God of Mercy (Original song)

God of mercy, you forgive me,
may I myself forgive.
Now confessing, I ask your blessing.
By your grace I shall live.

God, heal my sin, brokenness deep within.
Too often I bear pain I make others share.
Set me free from what I have been.

God of mercy, you forgive me,
may I myself forgive.
Now confessing, I ask your blessing.
By your grace I shall live.

You are gentle with me; gentle I learn to be.
You touch me and heal; deep in my soul I feel
burdens gone, and I am free.

God of mercy, you forgive me,
may I myself forgive.
Now confessing, I ask your blessing.
By your grace I shall live.
By your grace I shall live.


Into the Light (Original song)

God, I come into the light of your mercy and grace:
may I receive your forgiveness, your loving embrace.
You know my brokenness better than I, and my sin.
You love me perfectly, setting me free once again.

All of myself I now humbly bring into your light:
wash me, renew me, forgive me and set me aright.
God, I surrender myself to your life-giving love:
may I be born by your Spirit, anew, from above.

God, you have loved us so much that you even would give
Jesus, your Son, the Beloved, so that we would live.
Help us to live so we bring your good news into sight.
Help us to trust in your grace and come into the light.


Kindred (Tune: Love Divine, All Loves Excelling)

God, we bring our gifts, rejoicing in your love, your love so great!
For you call us to your table,* all as one, to celebrate.
Though we turn away, you hold us. We who once were dead now live.
Blest, received, adored, forgiven, now in gratitude we give.

Joyful, then, we come to feast on all the gifts that you provide,
reconciled as holy kindred, celebrating side by side,
by your grace, O Father, Mother, loving enemies as friends,
freely blessing one another, share your joy that never ends.

* [In a service without communion: “For you call us all as kindred…”]


Make Us Merciful (Tune: Fairest Lord Jesus)

Merciful, gentle God, prodigal with grace and love,
calling your children through your pain:
forgive as we confess. Heal all our brokenness,
so we may never leave again.

Gentle and gracious Christ, loving Lord and brother,
you walk with us though we turn away.
Here in your sweet embrace, fill us with your deep peace,
that we may live your gentle way

Spirit, enfold us now. May our hearts grow wide and kind,
loving, no matter what others do.
Help us receive and bless, steadfast in gentleness.
Lord, make us merciful as you.


Prodigal Grace (Tune : Amazing Grace)

As once a wandering son, disgraced, was welcomed home anew,
as Christ was raised, so by your grace, we have new life in you.

In joy for one once dead, who lives, a banquet you prepare.
We bring the gifts the Spirit gives, with all the world to share.

Forgiven, reconciled as one, we answer to your call,
to serve in love with Christ, your Son, to share your love with all.


Return, My Soul (Tune: Finlandia)

Return, my soul, from all your hungry wandering,
your fearful search for comfort and control.
Let go my grasp of things apart from God,
for God alone can heal and hold my soul.
Return to God, for God alone will love me,
and give me life, and bless and make me whole.

Return, my soul, from all the things that dull me,
that soothe my sense, but leave my sin in place.
My broken heart, return from tricks and bargains;
turn to the One who meets me face to face.
Return to God. Each moment turn again;
receive unending love and life and grace.

I turn, O God, to you who love with patience.
You walk beside me, though I cannot see.
You are my life in dry and weary deserts,
my spring of life that flows eternally.
I turn to you, from false desire and grasping,
and letting go, I find that you hold me.


Your Will Be Done (Original Song)

Father, take my willfulness.
I surrender it to you grace alone.
Mother, be my willingness.
I can only ask: Your will be done.

Jesus, take my brokenness.
I surrender it to you grace alone.
Jesus, heal my brokenness.
I can only ask: Your will be done.

Spirit, take my empty hands.
I surrender them to you grace alone.
Spirit, with my empty hands
I can only ask: Your will be done

March 23, 2025

Lectionary Texts

Isaiah 55.1-9 — Why spend your money for what is not bread? … Seek God while God may be found… My ways are not your ways. As the rain and snow water the earth, my Word goes forth and accomplishes what I sent it for.

Psalm 63 confesses, “My soul thirsts for you,” and also rejoices: “My soul is feasted when I think of you.”

1 Corinthians 10.1-13 warns that simply “being a Christian” will not satisfy our hunger and thirst for righteousness, any more than simply being with Moses and eating the divinely provided food was enough to save the Hebrews on the way to the Promised Land. We have to truly change our ways.

Luke 13.1-9 — The Galilean victims of Pilate … The parable of the fig tree.

Preaching Thoughts

Isaiah
       We traditionally “give something up for Lent;” the real purpose of that is not necessarily self-discipline, but feeding on the “rich food” that really nourishes our souls instead of the junk we often consume, giving up the activities that drain us and turning to ones that feed us. It’s a turning the corner: “my ways are not your ways.” Maybe instead of fasting for Lent we should feast. What is the bread that satisfies? What truly nourishes your soul? Have some!
       “Let the wicked forsake their way, and return to God, who will abundantly pardon.” The repentance of Lent is not some miserable groveling exercise, but turning to receive the grace and forgiveness that God years to give us, and we yearn to receive but have denied ourselves. Part of our sin is our self-sufficiency. We resist coming to God in humility, because we want to have been right. We don’t want to need forgiveness, so we don’t ask for it. Repentance is inner surrender, giving up our fear of needing God’s grace, and allowing ourselves to be truly, deeply, lovingly forgiven. When we can allow God to love us we receive what we’ve been craving all along.

Luke
       “Were they worse offenders?” Nope. Jesus opposes the belief that God punishes sinners with suffering. We might think of God’s “punishment algorithm” as kind of a archaic idea, but how often have you heard or said, “What have I done to deserve this?” How often have you heard people describe their suffering as God’s punishment? It’s still with us. The popular image of God is a law-giver. The law-giver demands obedience, and reward or punishes our performance. It’s a relationship based on demand and fear. But Jesus knows God as a life-giver. The life-giver certainly wants us to love one another (as described in God’s laws) but our love is a fruit of our being loved. It’s a relationship of gratitude and trust. God’s response to our disobedience is not punishment but more love, until we bear fruit. God is like a patient gardener who will give an unfruitful tree more nutrients and another year to produce. God does not punish sin, Jesus says, but gives life. Since it is God who gives life, unless we repent, that is, turn to God, we will perish. To bear fruit, first we ourselves need to be nourished. Repentance is a matter of allowing God to love us out of our sinful ways.

Call to Worship

1.
Leader: Creator God, we come before you in humility and awe.
All: You receive us with love; you bless us with grace.
Loving Christ, you invite us to your table. We come with hunger and gratitude.
You welcome us gently; you feed us abundantly.
Holy Spirit, you work in us to re-shape us according to your will.
We open our hearts to your gracious work.


2. [Adapted from Psalm 63… also, obviously, it may be used for the Psalm reading]

Leader: O God, you are my God. I seek you. My soul thirsts for you.
All: My flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land without water.
So I gaze at your glory, your presence in every moment.
Your steadfast love is better than life. This is what I hunger for.
My soul feasts on you as on a rich banquet, a divine dessert.
I meditate on you all day, and in the dark hours of night.
I will bless you as long as I live.
Your strong hand upholds me.
My soul clings to you, and my lips will praise you.
In the shadow of your wings I sing for joy.
Because your steadfast love is better than life
I will sing for joy.

3. [Based on Isaiah 55.1-3]
Leader: Listen! You who are thirsty, come to the waters!
You that have no money, come, take, and eat!
All: We have spent our money on that which is not bread,
and labored for that which does not satisfy.
Listen carefully to God, and you’ll have good nourishment.
You’ll delight yourselves in God’s gourmet fare.
We come to you, God. We are listening.
Hungry for grace, we gladly receive your Word that gives us life.

4.
Leader: O Holy Love, food of our souls, living spring of the water of life,
we worship you.
All: Our souls thirst for your presence; and we hunger for your grace.
O Christ, Bread of Life, sown and harvested, blessed and broken for us,
we thank you.
You have nourished our spirits and renewed our strength.
Our souls have feasted on your love.
O Holy Spirit, wine of new life, we have drunk deeply of your grace,
and we come to receive again.
Our cups overflow with your presence.
Fill us, become us, and transform us. Amen.

5.
Leader: Creator God, you made us, and you are with us in every breath.
All: We worship you, and open our hearts to you.
Jesus, you heal us and teach us, you change us and you love us.
We thank you, and we sing your praise.
Holy Spirit, you give us new hearts and fill us with the power of your love.
Create in us a clean heart, O God,
and put a new and right Spirit within us. Amen.

Collect / Prayer of the Day

1.
God of love, you call us to repentance: you offer us love we decline to receive and fail to share with others. Help us reclaim your love in our hearts. By your loving spirit re-shape us as vessels of your love. You are the vinedresser; we are your vine. In the Spirit of Christ, speak to us and make us new. Amen.

2.
God of grace, we are hungry for your presence and thirsty for your Word. Yet you are present with us always, and speaking to us in the silence. Open our hearts to you now, that we may behold you, that we may hear you, that we may know your life-giving grace. Amen.

3.
God of love, we are hungry for your Word, thirsting for your grace as in a dry and weary land. Speak your Word to us, your Word of life that cleanses us, renews us, and sets us free. Speak your Word in which you give yourself to us. Speak your Word that gives us back ourselves, radiant with your love. Speak to us; for we are hungry and thirsty for you. Amen.

4.
God, we do not live by bread alone, but by the Word that comes from you. We are hungry for your Word. We are thirsty for your peace. Speak to us, nourish our souls, and revive us with your love. Grant us grace and wisdom. Our hears are open. Amen.

5.
Loving God, our hearts grow hard so easily. We forget you, and we care about lots of things other than you. Our hearts fill up with fear instead of trust and selfish desires instead of compassion. So change our hearts. Speak your Word to us that changes our hearts into hearts of love. We pray in the name of Jesus, who is with us, and in the power of your Spirit, who is within us. Amen.

Listening Prayer

(Suitable as a Collect, preparation for hearing scriptures, or invitation to prayer)

Our souls are rooted in you, O God.
Dig as you will; expose what you must,
prune what you must.
Feed the soil of our souls.
Let the power of your grace
flow up through our roots
and bear fruit in our love.

Prayer of Confession

1.
Pastor: The grace of God is with you.
Congregation: And also with you.
Trusting in God’s tender mercy, let us confess our sin to God with one another.
God of gentle mercy,
we confess our sin,
for even the brokenness we don’t see
keeps us from loving perfectly.
Forgive us, God; in your infinite grace forgive us;
receive us, heal us,
and give us new life.
…Silent prayer … The Word of Grace

2.
Pastor: The grace of God is with you.
Congregation: And also with you.
Trusting in God’s tender mercy, let us confess our sin to God with one another.
God of love, help us to see ourselves with the eyes of love.
By your grace we look at all in us that bears good fruit, and we give thanks.
…[Silent reflection]…
God of love, we thank you for your grace
We behold what in us does not bear the fruit of love.
Dig around the roots of our hearts, God,
and perfect your love in us.
…[Silent reflection]… THE WORD OF GRACE

3.
Life-Giving God, we have spent our lives on that which does not feed our souls,
and labored for that which is not life.
We have starved ourselves and others of your love.
We open ourselves to your presence, your forgiveness and your love.
Feed us life, that we may truly live,
and bear the fruits of your grace.

4.
Pastor: The grace of God be with you.
All: And also with you.
Trusting in God’s tender mercy, let us confess our sin to God with one another.
Loving God, you alone are our life.
But we have not rooted ourselves in you,
and so our souls are hungry; our lives dry and thirsty.
We confess our hunger, and we return to you.
Forgive us, feed us, and grant us life in the flowing stream of your grace. Amen.

Eucharistic Prayer

[Go here for musical responses to the Eucharistic prayer—Sanctus, Memorial Acclamation and Amen—set to familiar tunes suitable for Lent.

[The body of the prayer may be read responsively by the pastor and congregation or by the presiding leader(s) alone.]

God is with you.
And also with you.
Lift up your heart.
We lift them up to God.
Let us give thanks to the Holy One, our God.
It is good and beautiful to give God our praise.

Holy One, our lives are rooted in you, and we give you thanks.
We hunger for life; and often look in the wrong places,
but you feed us what nourishes our souls.
So we come to your table, hungry, and glad,
singing your praise with all Creation.

     (Sanctus)

Blessed are all who come in your name,
and blessed is Jesus, your Christ,
who has fed us the bread of life,
who has dug, even with painful strokes,
at the roots of our hearts,
to nourish us that we may bear fruit.
Even as he faced his death at the hands of our injustice
he offered only life.

     (The Blessing and Covenant) *

As long as we break this bread and share this cup
we remember his death and resurrection, until he comes again.
Therefore with him we offer ourselves
as we proclaim the mystery at the heart of our faith:

     (Memorial Acclamation)

Pour out your Holy Spirit on these gifts of bread and cup,
that they may be for us the body and blood of Christ.
Pour out your Spirit on us,
that we may be for the world the Body of Christ,
rooted in you,
nourished by your Spirit,
and bearing the fruit of your love
for the sake of the healing of the world.
      (Amen.)

____________
* The Blessing and Covenant
[I usually don’t print the words. I want people to be looking at the bread, not their bulletins.]

On the night in which he gave himself for us
Jesus took bread, blessed it,. broke it, and gave it to his disciples,saying,
“Take and eat; this is my body.”
In the same way, after the supper he took the cup,
blessed it with thanks and gave it to them, saying,
“Drink of this, all of you. This is my blood,
poured out for you and for many, in a new Covenant,
which is the forgiveness of sin.”
As long as we break this bread and share this cup
we remember his death and resurrection, until he comes again.

Prayer of Dedication / Sending

God of mercy, root us in your grace; send the energy of your love through us that we may bear the fruit of your love in our lives, that by your grace all the world may feast on your goodness. Send us, as we pray in the name and the spirit and the companionship of Christ. Amen.

Suggested Songs

(Click on titles to view, and hear an audio clip, on the Music page)

By Your Grace (Tune: What Wondrous Love Is This)

What wondrous love is this O my soul, O my soul,
what wondrous love is this, O my soul!
That you so freely give the bread by which we live,
that you revive our soul, by your Word, by your Word,
and by your life in us make us whole.

Our lives we give to you, by your grace, by your grace,
our lives we give to you, by your grace.
Lord, use the gifts we give to help your children live,
that all may come and feast by your grace, by your grace,
the greatest and the least, by your grace.


Return, My Soul (Tune: Finlandia)

Return, my soul, from all your hungry wandering,
your fearful search for comfort and control.
Let go my grasp of things apart from God,
for God alone can heal and hold my soul.
Return to God, for God alone will love me,
and give me life, and bless and make me whole.

Return, my soul, from all the things that dull me,
that soothe my sense, but leave my sin in place.
My broken heart, return from tricks and bargains;
turn to the One who meets me face to face.
Return to God. Each moment turn again;
receive unending love and life and grace.

I turn, O God, to you who love with patience.
You walk beside me, though I cannot see.
You are my life in dry and weary deserts,
my spring of life that flows eternally.
I turn to you, from false desire and grasping,
and letting go, I find that you hold me.


Vine and Branches (Original song)
[In Lent you should omit the final verse, “Alleluia.”]

You are the vine and we are your branches,
one with your life and rooted in your heart.
Flowing with grace, with life you fill us,
strengthened that nothing can break us apart.

You are the vine and we are your branches.
Deep in our hearts your life is flowing through.
Rooted in you, we grow and flourish.
You live within us, and we live in you.

You are the vine and we are your branches.
One common blood flows though all of our veins.
We all are part of one another.
We all are branches of one living vine.

You are the vine and we are your branches,
flowing with power greater than our own,
bearing your fruit to all Creation,
till all the seeds of your love have been sown.


You are the soil (Tune: Fairest Lord Jesus)
[Includes a communion hymn suitable either as a free-standing song
or as Eucharistic Prayer Responses]

God, Holy Presence, source of life and blessing,
you are the soil and we the seed.
By your indwelling grace, we die in your embrace;
you raise us up and we are freed.

Jesus, Beloved One, healer, teacher, guide and friend,
in you we come to die and rise:
buried like seeds in earth, given new, gracious birth,
with your love shining in our eyes.

Spirit, let old forms die. From your soil let new life rise.
From broken seeds bring forth new shoots.
In us let your life grow; not ours but yours will flow,
that we may bear the Spirit’s fruits.

March 16, 2025

Lectionary Texts

Genesis 15.1-6, 12-15 — To Abram God promises as many descendants as there are stars. They will be oppressed, but they will also be delivered.

Psalm 27 — God is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not be afraid. Do not give me up to the will of my adversaries.

Philippians 3.17-4.1 — Many have their mind set on earthly things, but our citizenship is in heaven.

In Luke 13.31-35 — “Get away. Herod wants to kill you!” “Tell that fox I am casting out demons and healing. Oh, Jerusalem, how I want to gather you like a mother hen…”

Preaching Thoughts

Genesis
       God promises descendants to Abram—with an asterisk. They will be oppressed for generations, but eventually they’ll be delivered. The promise is not dominion and victory. Oppression is part of our journey, too. But so is deliverance. Knowing that, we stay faithful.

Philippians
       Christians these days are uncomfortable with the reality that we’re not the center of the culture any more. Of course Abram and Jesus and Paul would say, “Well, duh.” We shouldn’t expect to be in charge. In fact we should expect “an army encamped against us,” because part of our ministry is a critique and undermining of the culture’s economic, political and philosophical values. You bet we’ll be on the outside. We are not individual, materialistic beings, but the People of God. It’s knowing our citizenship is not in the empires of this world and we have a higher loyalty, we can maintain values that don’t match this word’s.

Luke
       We tend to think of Lent primarily as a time of repentance, turning from our sins. But it’s also a time of mourning for the world, a time of lament: lament for the damage we have done to the world and its people; lament for the plight of those who, like Jesus are victims of violence, repression, abuse or threat; lament for our own inadequate response to injustice and oppression; and lament for our own complicity—intentional and unintentional, our inability to live purely for love and justice. Jesus mourns with us, and invites us to stand with him, simultaneously mourning for our hurting world, resisting evil and violence, committing to healing and practicing non-violence. Notice the poignant juxtaposition Jesus uses: he calls Herod a “fox” and refers to himself as a “mother hen.” He knows exactly the violence of the world he’s serving, and commits to non-violence. He does so in trust of the grace God gives him. As the United Methodist baptismal vows says, “we accept the freedom and power God gives us to resist evil, injustice and oppression in whatever forms they present themselves.” This begins with facing our own violence and our cooperation with injustice. As we mourn our own complicity we are strengthened to resist—not from a place of judgment, but from the strength of honest lament. For it’s in lament that we know our own powers to be faulty, and knowing that, we put our trust entirely in God and God’s Spirit working through us. And God’s spirit is not subject to death.
       As Jesus serves humbly and faithfully in the face of violence, we are given courage to carry on. In the face of political opposition and social pressure, under the domination of economic oppression, in the shadow of war and climate change and racism, and honest about our own limits—even if we fear the end of the world—still, with faith and hope, we carry on, because this is the hurting world we’re sent to mend. “Listen, I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I finish my work. Yet today, tomorrow, and the next day I must be on my way, because it is impossible for a prophet to be killed outside of Jerusalem.”

Call to Worship

1.
Leader: God of love, this world is deeply broken and in need of your grace.
All: We cry out to you.
Loving Christ, we are often lost and lonely, and we need your gentle companionship.
We cry out to you.
Holy Spirit, the struggle for healing and justice is long and hard. We need your help.
We cry out to you. We open our hearts to you. We worship you.

2. [Adapted from Psalm 27]
Leader: God is my light and my salvation;
of whom should I be afraid?
All: Though violence rise all around me
I will not be drawn into fear.
One thing I asked of God, that will I seek after:
to live in the presence of God all the days of my life,
to behold the grace of God,
and to inquire in God’s temple.
I believe that I shall see the goodness of God
in the land of the living.
Wait for God;
be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for God!

3. [From Psalm 27]
Leader: One thing I have asked of God, that I will seek after:
All: to live in the presence of the Holy One all the days of my life,
to behold the beauty of the Beloved and to wonder in God’s presence.
Hear us, O God, when we cry out to you.
Do not hide yourself in times of trouble.
Teach us your way, O God, and lead us in paths of peace.
Wait for your God. Be strong, and let your heart take courage.
I believe I shall see the goodness of the Holy One in the land of the living.
Wait for God!

4.
Leader: In the face of violence…
All: healing!
In the face of fear…
love!
In the face of our despair…
hope!
In the face of death.
Life!
God, we thank you for the gift of Jesus,
and for the gift of his Spirit in us.
We praise you, and we worship in peace and in hope.

5.
Leader: Holy One, you create life full of light and darkness, joy and suffering.
And your blessing is in it all.
All: With humility we wonder at the mystery of life, and we thank you.
O Crucified One, you are present in our joy and in our suffering.
All: With gratitude we receive the mystery of life, and we greet you.
O Spirit of Life, you give times of sowing and times of harvest,
and through it all you bring forth your fruits.
With love we bear forth the mystery of life, and we praise you.
Come, Holy Spirit, and sow your Word in us now. Amen.

6.
Leader: Creator God, our Source and our Home, we belong to you.
All: We praise you, and we gather to worship you and give our lives to you.
Living Christ, you establish justice, overthrow the power of evil,
and offer blessing to the downtrodden, even at the price of your own life.
We thank you, and we gather to join in your ministry of healing.
Spirit of mercy, it is you who give us courage and compassion
to work for justice, to enact healing, to bear witness to your grace.
We open our hearts to you, and we gather to be changed by your power.
Transform us by your grace, that we may serve you
in humility, gentleness and courage, in the name of Christ. Amen.

7.
Leader: God of grace, you are our light and our salvation. Whom shall we fear?
All: Hear us, O Lord, when we cry aloud;
be gracious to us, and answer us.
Teach us your way, O God,
and lead us on a level path.
As a hen gathers her brood,
gather your children, God, in your loving arms
and transform us by your grace.

8.
Leader:We seek you, O Lord while you may be found.
We thirst for you as in a dry and weary land.
All: We turn to you, that you may have mercy on us;
we come to you alone, for you abundantly pardon.
Our soul is satisfied as with a rich feast.
Christ, you are the water that satisfies, the bread that gives life.
Gather us in your loving arms,
and transform us by your grace.

Collect / Prayer of the Day

1.
God of love you are our only strength, our only refuge, our only hope. Amid all the voices of fear in this world we turn to you for your grace. Speak to us and bring us safely under your wing. We pray in the name of Christ, our gentle savior. Amen.

2.
God of mercy, we come to you in a broken world, in broken relationships, with broken hearts. For all that is unwell we seek your healing. For all that is bruised we ask your grace. For all that is wrong we ask your forgiveness. For all that is unfinished we long for your will to be done. For all that seems impossible, we ask for hope. God of love, grant your blessings. Amen.3.Gracious God, in times of trouble we fear; in times of uncertainty we despair. But you are our light and our salvation. One thing we seek: to be close to you, to behold your beauty, to wonder in your presence. Teach us your ways, Beloved, and lead us in your path. In your Spirit, we wait for you, God. We wait for you. Amen.

4.
Still our minds, God, and calm our hearts, so that we may hear the Word that comes from you that leads us in life, that protects us in struggle, that guides us in doing your will, that strengthens us in suffering for the sake of love, that bears us through death, and that leads us to eternal life. Amen.

5.
Gracious God, Jesus gave his life for us, healing and casting out demons even in the face of persecution. We need his grace; and we need to hear his word to us. Bless us as your scripture is read and your good news proclaimed, that we may hear the voice of the Crucified One in our midst. Amen.

6.
One thing we ask of you, God, that we will seek after: that we may dwell in your house all the days of our lives, to behold your beauty, and to inquire in your holy temple. Teach us your way, Love, and lead us on a level path, that we may see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Amen.

7.
God, we are thirsty for life, though we seek it in dry and barren places. We are hungry for grace, yet we work for that which does not satisfy our hearts. So we turn to you now, for you alone give us the Bread of Life; from you alone flow the clear, living waters of eternal life. We feast upon your presence. We look upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory, in awe at your beauty. Satisfy our souls with the rich feast of your Word. Bless us that we may hear. Amen.

Listening Prayer

(Suitable as a Collect, preparation for hearing scriptures, or invitation to prayer)

1.
Jesus, Mother Hen,
gather us under your wing,
away from the world’s anxieties.
Give us your peace
so that we may be peacemakers.

2
God of love,
in the face of violence,
your grace persists.
In the winds of fear,
your love endures.
In places of brokenness,
your healing continues.
Give us gratitude, and trust.
Amen.

Prayer of Confession

1.
Pastor: The grace of God be with you.
All: And also with you.
Trusting in God’s tender mercy, let us confess our sin to God with one another.
Gentle God, we con fess that we have tried to protect ourselves from suffering,
and so been unable to love.
Forgive our sin, heal our fear, and renew your Spirit within us,
so that we may be perfected in love
according to the grace of Christ. Amen.
Silent prayer … the Word of Grace

2.
Pastor: The grace of God be with you.
All: And also with you.
Trusting in God’s tender mercy, let us confess our sin to God with one another.
Gentle God, we confess our abuse of power.
We have tolerated violence and exploitation;
we have excluded and dehumanized people.
We confess our corporate sin,
and ask your forgiveness for your people.
Heal our wounds, and the wounds we have caused,
reconcile us with all people,
and enable us by your grace to live in peace and nonviolence
as healers in the name of Christ. Amen.
Silent prayer … the Word of Grace

3.
Gracious God,
we confess our sin to you,
for we have denied your light in us;
we have betrayed your Holy Spirit in us.
For those sins which weigh upon us,
and those we do not even know
we ask your forgiveness.
Heal our hearts, renew your Spirit within us,
and restore in us the image of Christ,
that by your grace
we may be light for the world. Amen.

4.
Pastor: O people, return to the Holy One your God, who is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
All: Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world.
Have mercy on us, receive our prayer, and grant us peace.
Create in us a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within us.
Help us to repent and accept your grace, and by our acceptance
share in the work of Christ in renewing the world. Amen.

Eucharistic Prayer

[Go here for musical responses to the Eucharistic prayer—Sanctus, Memorial Acclamation and Amen—set to familiar tunes suitable for Lent.]

[The body of the prayer may be read responsively or by the presider(s) alone]

1.
God is with you.
And also with you.
Lift up your heart.
We lift them up to God.
Let us give thanks to the Holy One, our God.
It is good and beautiful to give God our praise.

God we thank you, for you create us in love;
you promise us life even when it seems impossible.
You deliver your children from oppression,
and you free us from all the fears and attachments that bind us.
With strong and gentle grace, even in the face of violence,
you lead us toward your Realm of peace and justice.
You are our only power, our only security, our only food.
So at your invitation we come to your table to receive the gift of life,
with all Creation singing your praise.

[Sanctus]

Blessed are all who come in your name, and blessed is Jesus, your Christ.
In the face of fear he chose love;
in the face of violence he chose peace.
Though he was given death he only gave life.
You raised him from the dead and still he gives us life.

[The Blessings and Covenant….] *

With gratitude we remember your mighty acts in Jesus Christ.
We offer ourselves in praise and thanksgiving
as a living and holy sacrifice
in union with Christ’s offering for us,
as we proclaim the mystery at the heart of our faith.

[Memorial Acclamation]

Pour out your Holy Spirit on these gifts of bread and cup
that they may be for us the Body and Blood of Christ.
Pour out your Holy Spirit on us, that we may be the Body of Christ,
trusting in your grace, moved by your Spirit,
courageous in your love,
following in your way of healing and peace,
in the name and the companionship of Christ,
to your eternal glory.

[Amen]
____________

2.
God is with you.
And also with you.
Lift up your heart.
We lift them up to God.
Let us give thanks to the Holy One, our God.
It is good and beautiful to give God our praise.

God of love, you create us, you claim us and you promise to be our God.
You walk with us, even when we are lost and afraid.
From the fears and attachments that dominate us, you set us free.
From the fear of suffering that quells our love, you set us free.
You come in Jesus to give us hope when we cannot see the way.
You come in Jesus to show us your way of nonviolence.
Jesus remained faithful in the face of threats.,
and gentle in the face of violence.
In love he accompanies us, and nothing will take him from our side.

[The Blessing and Covenant] *

Whenever we eat this bread and drink this cup,
we remember his death and resurrection until he comes again.
Remembering your acts in Jesus Christ, we offer ourselves,
in union with Christ’s offering for us.
In praise and thanksgiving we proclaim the mystery of our faith:
Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again.
Pour out your Holy Spirit on these gifts,
that they may be for us the body and blood of Christ.
Pour out your Holy Spirit on us,
that filled with your love, trusting in your grace,
and upheld by the courage of the Spirit,
we may follow your way of love and peace,
despite all darkness and uncertainty,
in the name of Christ. Amen.

3.
God is with you.
And also with you.
Lift up your heart.
We lift them up to God.
Let us give thanks to the Holy One, our God.
It is good and beautiful to give God our praise.

Blessed are you, O God, Creator of all things,
ruler of the world and all that is to come.
You have created us in your image, called us as your people,
and taken us to yourself in your holy Covenant.
Though we reject you, you embrace us,
and you extend your grace to all Creation.
Therefore with all your people on earth we sing as one voice:

[Sanctus]

Blessed are all who come in your name, and blessed is Jesus, your Christ.
With love he healed the sick and drove out demons.
In his gentle acceptance he disarmed all earthly powers and authority.
He called us to repentance, offered us your grace,
and bid us to follow him in healing and casting out evil.
At his table he gathers us as a hen gathers her children,
that we may come to new life in your steadfast love.

[… The Blessing and Covenant …]

Receiving the Body of Christ, we become the Body of Christ,
as we proclaim the mystery of our faith:
[Memorial Acclamation]

Pour out your Holy Spirit on these gifts, O God,
that they may be for us the Body and Blood
of the crucified and risen Christ.
Pour out your Holy Spirit on us,
that we may be for the world the Body of Christ,
nonviolent even in the face of persecution.
Gather us in your love, with all who share in this meal,
and renew your Holy Spirit within us,
that by the mystery of your grace working within us
through repentance, healing and compassion,
we may join Christ in his work of the redemption of the world.
[Amen]
_______________
* The Blessing and Covenant
[I usually don’t print the words. I want people to be looking at the bread, not their bulletins.]

On the night in which he gave himself for us
Jesus took bread, blessed it,. broke it, and gave it to his disciples,saying,
“Take and eat; this is my body.”
In the same way, after the supper he took the cup,
blessed it with thanks and gave it to them, saying,
“Drink of this, all of you. This is my blood,
poured out for you and for many, in a new Covenant,
which is the forgiveness of sin.”
As long as we break this bread and share this cup
we remember his death and resurrection, until he comes again.

Prayer after Communion

God, we thank you for this mystery in which, in facing our violence, you have given yourself to us, in peace and love. May we accept the power you give us to resist evil, injustice and oppression in whatever forms they present themselves, in the name and the company and the Spirit of Christ.

Prayer of Dedication / Sending

1.
God, we thank you for the mystery that in facing our violence, you give yourself to us, in peace and love. May we accept the power you give us to resist evil, injustice and oppression in whatever forms they present themselves, in the name and the company and the Spirit of Christ.

2.
Loving God, when our hearts are heavy and our minds uncertain, you revive us with your gentle grace. Fill us with the courage of your love, to be light in the world and to not fear the darkness, to embody love and not fear. Send us in the name and Spirit of Christ. Amen.

Suggested Songs

(Click on titles to view, and hear an audio clip, on the Music page)

Becoming Whole (Original tune)

We are a broken people becoming whole again.
We are a wounded people being healed again.
We are a hungry people being fed again.
We are a wandering people coming home again.
We are a captive people walking free again.
We are dead and buried, being raised again.
We are a grateful people giving thanks again.

Christ, You have Gathered Your Children (Tune: Be Thou My Vision)

Christ, you have gathered your children in peace
here at the table of your loving grace,
just as a mother hen gathers her brood,
giving us shelter and your holy food.

Christ, while dark shadows of death yet draw near,
you go on doing your healing work here.
So the good news of your love cannot fail:
though evil still abounds, your grace will prevail.

Christ, dead and risen, you gather us in,
so that the great Feast of Life may begin.
Spirit, the gifts that you give us we bring,
sharing with joy as your praises we sing.

God, may we dwell in your house all our days,
sharing our gifts as our offering of praise,
humbly beholding your beauty and grace,
and walking with you and learning your ways.

Into the Darkness (Original tune)

Only the seed that has died and is buried
lives to bear fruit, Jesus said.
Lead me then into the darkness and dying,
so you can raise me up from the dead.
Jesus, help me die and rise.

All of my living, my loves and desires,
all of the things that I cling to,
now I surrender to die and be buried.
Raise me in following, serving you.
Jesus, help me die and rise.

Lead me to truth and have mercy and wash me
deep in the dark of my being,
a spirit like bread that is taken and broken:
this is the death that is freeing.
Jesus, help me die and rise.

Give me a clean heart, a heart pure in spirit,
willing and steadfast and made new.
My life I lose; let your cross lift me up now.
One joy restore to me: life in you.
Jesus, help me die and rise.


Raise Up Your People (Tune: Be Thou My Vision)

God, you who raised up your Christ from the grave.
Raise up your people and bless us and save!
Help us be mindful our life is in you
when we surrender you raise us up new.

When all the powers of evil assail,
not by our strength but your grace we prevail:
when we are lowly and gentle in love
power is not ours but flows from above.

Give us the faith, God, to fearlessly live,
love with our whole hearts and bless and forgive.
Your Word is borne, God, in all that we do;
in our forgiveness is Christ raised anew.


Make Us Merciful (Tune: Fairest Lord Jesus)

Merciful parent, God, prodigal with grace and love,
welcoming children through your pain,
gently receive us all, break down our shame’s dark wall,
that we may never leave again.

Gentle and gracious God, you who love your children,
you take us in though we turn away.
Fold us in your embrace; fill us with peace and grace,
that we may live your gentle way.

God, give us spacious hearts, generous and kind and wide,
no matter what hurtful things folks do.
Help us to love and bless, steadfast in gentleness.
Lord, make us merciful as you.


When Darkness and Unknowing (Tune: O Sacred Head Now Wounded)

When darkness and unknowing weigh down our hearts with fear,
oh, loving gentle Jesus, you draw your dear ones near.
You feed us with yourself, Lord, and dwelling in our soul
you lead us by your light, though we cannot see the goal.

When evil and oppression make threat to bend your will,
you gather your beloved in peace, and gentle still.
You feed us with compassion: your very life you give,
so gentleness will also become the way we live.

Despite our fear and violence, the gentleness you’ve shown,
your mercy in the darkness, becomes our hope alone.
You feed us with your love now, and ban the evil powers,
and give us your compassion, so your peace may be ours.

March 9, 2025

Lectionary Texts

Deuteronomy 26.1-11 — The salvation story. “My ancestor (Abraham) wandered from Aram, we became a nation enslaved in Egypt, and God liberated us.” When we possess the promised land (that is, enjoy the fruits of what God gives us) we should offer tithes (one tenth of our goods) in thanksgiving, and remember this story, for all things come from God.

Psalm 91 — God cares for us in all distress and danger. (Satan quotes it to Jesus in tempting him to jump from the top of the temple om Lk 4.10-11.)

Romans 10.8-13 —All who call upon the name (that is, the power) of God shall be saved. Paul quotes Dt. 30.14.: “The word is near you, on your lips and in your heart.” God’s word is not a strange demand you have to learn; it is there in your deepest yearnings.

Luke 4.1-13 — When Jesus is tempted by Satan, his responses are quotations from Deuteronomy 8.3, 6.13 and 6.16, material related to the Shema, the great commandment (Dt. 6.4-5): “Hear, O Israel: Yahweh is our God, Yahweh alone. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.”

Guiding Thoughts

Temptations are not tricks Satan throws at us, but our own deep desire for meaningful life that get distorted.Our temptations are whatever draw us away from union with God. We are one with God, and in God; but when we seek life apart from God, life for our own individual “self,” we cut ourselves off from our divine nature, from God, and from life itself. Our temptations are our enslavement to our ego whose job it is to take care of our self above all else. Distrusting God’s grace, we go off on our own to create, sustain and protect our own lives. We seek power (I can turn stones to bread!), security (I can jump off buildings and not get hurt!) and esteem (the kingdoms of the world are mine!). Our temptations are fears and desires that control us. They are illusions. Satan’s promises are lies. If Jesus jumped off a cliff he would actually get hurt. Satan isn’t actually capable of giving Jesus all the glory and authority of the nations. All temptations are illusions. “If I take this drink it will make me happy.” “If I hurt or insult this person I will feel better.” “I need people to agree with me to be happy.” “Satan” is our addictions and attachments talking. “Stinkin’ thinkin’,” as they say in AA: things we think will make us happy but actually can’t. “Salvation” is not being rescued from being sent to hell; it’s being rescued from our slavery to our ego and the power our fears and desires have over us.

The desires beneath our temptations aren’t bad; they’re just misdirected. We want to experience power, security and belonging in our lives. These are life-affirming desires—if we seek them in God. But we seek them in the wrong places: power in having control and getting our way; security in being protected from pain; and belonging in the esteem and approval of the world. But Jesus knows that love is our only power, that God is our only security, and that God is the true place of our deepest belonging. He also knows that Satan is lying.

We are not evil, any more than Jesus was. The story of Jesus’ temptations invites us to become the good people we are created to be by confronting our illusions and denial, and exposing and renouncing our attachments, what we (incorrectly) think we can’t live without. In fact the one thing we can’t live without is giving and receiving love. So the journey of Lenten repentance is not about self-loathing, but love.

Call to Worship

1.
Leader: In the desert, God, all is laid bare.
All: You are our life, our only hope.
With you, O Christ, we face our brokenness.
You are our life, our only hope.
Holy Spirit, lead us through the wilderness, to find springs of water in our hearts.
You are our life, and our only hope. We worship you

2.
Leader: In this season of Lent we journey with Christ in the wilderness.
All: We journey from death to life.
We let go of our fears and desires and embrace God.
We worship Yahweh our God, and serve the Holy One alone.
We turn to you, O God, and surrender our lives to you.
By your grace, grant us life.

3.
Leader: Holy Spirit, great desert wind, you drive us into the wilderness.
All: In lonely, barren places our brokenness is exposed.
We confront our shadows.
Christ, be with us in this testing time.
Walk with us, Jesus, in our wilderness.
Eternal God, whose love for us is vast and wide,
you are the desert; you are the Way.
We come to you and surrender ourselves to you.
We rest in your presence.
Receive our broken lives, and transform us by your grace.
Holy One, Destroying One, Birthing One, whom we worship,
create in us a new heart. Amen.

4.
Leader: Creator God, you gathered up dust from the earth
and breathed into it, and it became a living being.
All: Breathe your Spirit into us now, and give us life.
Beloved Christ, you went into the desert for forty days
and wrestled with your temptations.
Lead us into the wilderness of our hearts,
and help us confront all that keeps us from you.
Holy Spirit, you are the Breath of Life;
you are our companion in the wilderness.
Come, Holy Spirit, breathe life into us,
lead us in truth, and transform us by your grace. Amen.

5.
Leader: Lord, have Mercy.
All: Christ, have mercy.
Lord. have mercy.
Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world.
have mercy upon us, receive our prayers,
and grant us your peace.
We seek You, God, as in a dry and weary land.
We have gone astray, but we turn to you,
for you abundantly pardon.
As a hen gathers her little ones,
as a shepherd gathers his lambs in his arms,
receive us and bless us, O God,.
Receive us in the arms of Christ outspread.
Make us one with you and with each other in your Spirit.
Gather us in your open arms
and grant us your grace. Amen.

6.
Leader: Creator God, we praise you!
All: Risen Christ, we greet you!
Holy Spirit, we are one body by your grace.
You alone are holy, and we worship you.
Let us return to the Lord our God, who is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world.
Have mercy on us, receive our prayer, and grant us peace.
Create in us a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within us.
With Jesus who confronted his temptations
these forty days in the wilderness, lead us in prayer and repentance.
We give ourselves to you in worship;
create us anew in the power of your Spirit. Amen.

Collect / Prayer of the Day

1.
God of love, as Jesus went into the desert to pray and face his temptations, lead us with him, into solitude with you, into that place laid bare where we may see ourselves through your eyes and reclaim the love you give us. We pray in the love and the company of Jesus. Amen.

2.
God of love, we live not by bread alone but by your living Word, for your Word is the bread of life. Speak life to us now in our hungry wilderness. Speak freedom to us in our secret deserts, and bring us home. We pray with Jesus, who journeys through this wilderness with us. Amen

3.
Gracious God, we live not by bread alone, but by every word that comes from your mouth. We lay aside all that claims to be bread but is only words, and we open our hearts to you. Feed us the bread of life; speak your Word to us. Amen.

4.
Gracious God, we tremble to enter the season of Lent, the desert of our temptation, the valley of our suffering. But you have given us your gentle Jesus to go with us, to face this darkness with grace and healing. Help us, then, to go with him, now and throughout this season: in prayer and simplicity to surrender ourselves to you and your grace. Gather us, God, in your open arms, and restore your image in us by the power of your Word. Amen.

5.
God of wilderness and water,
your Son was baptized and tempted as we are. 
Guide us through this season of Lent,
that we may not avoid struggle,
but open ourselves to your blessing,
and give of ourselves to others in love. Amen.

Listening Prayer

(suitable as a Collect, preparation for hearing scriptures, or invitation to prayer)

1.
Faithful One,
all our temptations
are rooted in our distrust of you;
fearful, we seek life elsewhere.
But it is you alone we are hungry for.
We do not live by bread alone,
but by every word from your heart.
Bring us back.
Help us trust.
Give us life.

2.
God of love, we do not live by bread alone,
but by the Word of love you give to us as a gift.
Give us faith to receive your grace.
We cannot protect ourselves from suffering;
give us courage to risk hurt for the sake of love and justice.
We do not need the glory of the world:
we are your Beloved.
Help us to trust, and to live in harmony with your grace.

Prayer of Confession

1.
Pastor: The grace of God is with you.
Congregation: And also with you.
Trusting in God’s tender mercy, let us confess our sin to God with one another.
God of love, help us to see ourselves with the eyes of love,
to see all that is in us that is loving, and all that is not loving.
Open our eyes to your love living in us,
and to all those things that hinder that love.
By the grace you show us in Christ,
forgive us, heal us, and perfect your love in us.
           … Silent reflection… Words of grace

2.
Pastor: The grace of God be with you.
All: And also with you.
Trusting in God’s tender mercy, let us confess our sin to God with one another.
Creator God, we are the dust of earth, breathed into life by your Spirit.
But we have clung to things of dust without Spirit.
Forgive our sin, and re-create us now.
Return us to the earth of our creation, to oneness with all living beings.
Breathe life into us by your Spirit,
that we may live each moment by your breath alone.
     … Silent prayer The Word of Grace

3.
The grace of God be with you.
And also with you.
Trusting in God’s tender mercy, let us confess our sin to God with one another.
Most merciful God, we confess that we have sinned against you
in thought, word and deed,
by that we have done, and by what we have left undone.
We have not loved you with our whole heart;
we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves.
We are truly sorry and we humbly repent.
Gather us in your loving arms;
have mercy on us and forgive us,
that we may delight in your will, and walk in your ways,
by the grace of Christ and the power of your Holy Spirit. Amen    
       Silent prayer … The Word of Grace

4.
The grace of God be with you.
And also with you.
Trusting in God’s tender mercy, let us confess our sin to God with one another.
Gracious God, we confess our sin: we have not loved you with all our heart, mind, soul and strength, nor have we loved our neighbors as ourselves. We are truly sorry and we humbly repent. Have mercy upon us: forgive our sin, heal our hearts, and renew your Holy Spirit within us, that being born anew by your grace, we may live in the light of your love, in the name of Christ.
Silent prayers of Confession…
RESPONSE
The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
The lord does not deal with us according to our sins,
nor repay us according to our iniquities.
For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is God’s love for us.
As far as the east is from the west, so far does God remove our transgressions from us.
We thank you, O God!
Show us your ways and teach us your paths,
that we may live in the light of your grace. Amen.

5.
Gracious God, we confess our sin: we have not loved you with all our heart, mind, soul and strength, nor have we loved our neighbors as ourselves. We are truly sorry and we humbly repent. Have mercy upon us: forgive our sin, heal our hearts, and renew your Holy Spirit within us, that being born anew by your grace, we may live in the light of your love, in the name of Christ.

Eucharistic Prayer

[Go here for musical responses to the Eucharistic prayer—Sanctus, Memorial Acclamation and Amen—set to familiar tunes suitable for Lent.]

The body of the Eucharistic prayer may be read responsively or by the presiding leader(s) alone.

Beloved, the Holy One is with you.
And also with you.
Lift up your hearts.
We lift them up to our God.
Let us give thanks to the Holy One our God.
It is good to give God thanks and praise.

We thank you, God, for you create us in love,
claim us as your own, and make covenant with us to be our God.
You set us free from all that oppresses us outside us and within;
you bring us back to one another,
and journey with us toward your shalom.
You who are thirsty, come and buy drink without money.
You who are hungry, come and eat, and be satisfied.
For your Word is the bread of life; nothing else do we desire.
Therefore we come to your table with all Creation, singing your praise.
         [Sanctus]

Blessed are all who come in your name and bear your love,
and blessed is Jesus, your Christ.
He loved and taught, healed and gathered a new community of grace.
Resisting the temptations of power, security and esteem,
he relied solely upon you and so,
in faithfulness he became our leader and model.
Resisting the temptations of worldly power,
he opened to us the Empire of your Grace,
and so, in love, he became our sovereign.
For the sake of love did not defend himself
from suffering, powerlessness or death,
and so, in forgiveness, he became our savior. [The Blessing and Covenant…] *
With gratitude we remember these, your mighty acts in Jesus Christ.
Therefore we offer ourselves in praise and thanksgiving
as a living and holy sacrifice,
in union with Christ’ offering for us,
as we proclaim the mystery at the heart of our faith.
         [Memorial Acclamation]

Pour out your Holy Spirit on these gifts of bread and cup,
that they may be for us the Body and Blood of Christ.
Pour out your Holy Spirit on us, that we may be the Body of Christ.
By your Spirit lead us in these forty days to turn to you.
May your Word be the bread of our life.
May your grace be our only security.
May the Realm of your Love be our only Empire,
to your glory, now and forever.
          [Amen]

____________
* The Blessing and Covenant
[I usually don’t print the words. I want people to be looking at the bread, not their bulletins.]

On the night in which he gave himself for us
Jesus took bread, blessed it,. broke it, and gave it to his disciples,saying,
“Take and eat; this is my body.”
In the same way, after the supper he took the cup,
blessed it with thanks and gave it to them, saying,
“Drink of this, all of you. This is my blood,
poured out for you and for many, in a new Covenant,
which is the forgiveness of sin.”
As long as we break this bread and share this cup
e remember his death and resurrection, until he comes again.

Prayer after Communion

Gracious God, we thank you for this mystery in which you have given yourself to us. You have fed us your Word, the Bread of Life, rescued us from death and offered us the Empire of your Grace. Having fed us the bread of heaven, lead us always to turn from worldly powers and desires to embrace your love; to journey from death to life: in the name and the company of Christ. Amen.

Suggested Songs

(Click on titles to view, and hear audio clips, on the Music page)

                               Brief (repeatable) prayer songs

Kyrie, Six Versions     (All original tunes. Some are part of Eucharistic settings)
     Kyrie eleison. Christe eleison. Kyrie eleison.
          (Lord have mercy. Christ have mercy. Lord have mercy.)

The Jesus Prayer         (Original song)
        Jesus, Beloved of God, have mercy on me, for I need you.

God, Be Merciful to Me         (Original song)
        God, be merciful to me.
        With empty hands and open
        I turn to you for mercy.

Eucharistic Responses (Eleven sets of Sanctus, Memorial Acclamation and Amen set to the tunes of familiar hymns appropriate for Lent.
Two of them also include “table songs” of invitation/preparation for communion.)


Table Song: Feed Us Your Grace (Tune: Finlandia)

You call us, Christ, to take our cross and follow,
but first you bring us here to feast with you.
Our gifts we bring, to celebrate your loving.
Our lives we give, to die and rise anew.
Feed us your grace, your spirit of compassion;
make us your body now, your will to do.


                                  Regular Songs

Becoming Whole     (Original song)
We are a broken people becoming whole again.
We are a wounded people being healed again.
We are a hungry people being fed again.
We are a wandering people coming home again.
We are a captive people walking free again.
We are dead and buried, being raised again.
We are a grateful people giving thanks again.


God, I Surrender      (Original song)

God, I surrender myself to you,
all that I have and all I do.
All my desires I give to you.
Take them from me and make me new.

God, I surrender myself to you,
all that I have and all I do.
Trusting you wholly I follow you
Take my life and make me new.


God of Mercy (Original Song)

Refrain: God of mercy, you forgive me,
may I myself forgive.
Now confessing, I ask your blessing.
By your grace I shall live.

God, heal my sin, brokenness deep within.
Too often I bear pain I make others share.
Set me free from what I have been. Refrain

You are gentle with me; gentle I learn to be.
You touch me and heal; deep in my soul I feel
burdens gone, and I am free. Refrain

Note: The last line of the refrain, “By your grace I shall live,” may be repeated ad lib. As a repeated chant it may also be used separately as a Response to confession, prayer, Eucharist, or other moments.



God, we are broken      (Tune: Be Thou My Vision)

God, we are broken, for all flesh is weak.
Grant us the healing and peace that we seek.
For all that pains us, beyond our control,
grant us your healing, our bodies made whole.

God, we are broken; our hearts are not one.
Sometimes it seems that our souls come undone.
Bring us renewal and calm in our soul.
Grant us your healing and make our hearts whole.

God, we are broken: for families and friends
suffer when love fails and faithfulness ends.
May your forgiveness and grace play its role.
Grant us your healing; make covenants whole.

God, we are broken, for many are poor,
and we ignore those who lie by our door.
God, may your justice like great rivers roll.
Grant us your healing; make all people whole.

God, we are broken for hate and all war
wound us so we are not free anymore.
Make us one people from pole to pole.
Grant us your healing, and make the world whole.


Grant Me Your Vision    (Tune: Be Thou My Vision )

Grant me your vision, O God of pure light.
May your deep wisdom and love give me sight.
Help me to see who I am as you see:
lovely and wounded and worth setting free.

Take my illusions, my fear and my lies;
shedding my veil, Lord, I open my eyes,
seeing my beauty, my wounds and my sin,
past all pretending, in truth deep within.

Give me the eyes of your mercy and grace;
help me to see you in each time and place.
God, you who know me, please guide me, I pray,
following Jesus in his loving way.

Into the Darkness – (Original song)

Only the seed that has died and is buried lives to bear fruit, Jesus said.
Lead me then into the darkness and dying, so you can raise me up from the dead.
Jesus, help me die and rise.

All of my living, my loves and desires, all of the things that I cling to,
now I surrender to die and be buried. Raise me in following, serving you.
Jesus, help me die and rise.

Lead me to truth, and have mercy, and wash me dep in the dark of my being.
A spirit like bread that is taken and broken: this is the death that is freeing.
Jesus, help me die and rise.

Give me a clean heart, a heart poor in spirit, willing and steadfast and made new.
My life I lose; let your cross lift me up now. One joy restore to me: life in you.
Jesus, help me die and rise.


O God, Creator of Each Thing
     (Tune: Tallis’ Canon,
    O Love, How Deep,
     or The Gift of Love/The Water Is Wide)

O God, Creator of each thing,
in thanks and praise to you we sing.
In hunger sore we come to you:
Creator God, make us anew.

Our wounds you heal, our sins forgive.
You serve this feast that we may live.
You set us free; you make us new.
In us shines love that comes from you.

How blessed is Christ, who loved and healed,
who by your grace, your love revealed.
For Christ has died. And Christ is risen.
And Christ will come in love again.


Out of the Deepest Depths
(Original song. Includes version for 4-part choir.)      [Psalm 130]

Out of the deepest depths I cry to you, O God.
O listen with your heart, and hear my pleading voice.
If you counted sins, then no one could stand with you;
but Love, you forgive.

I wait for you, my God, for in your word I hope.
I wait for you, Love, more than those who wait for dawn,
yes, more than those who watch for the morning light
I wait for you.

O Hope, O Israel, hope in the Holy One.
For with our God is love, God’s steadfast, faithful love,
and power to redeem; for God is the one
who will redeem us from sin.


Return, My Soul       (Tune: Finlandia)

Return, my soul, from all your hungry wandering,
your fearful search for comfort and control.
Let go my grasp of things apart from God,
for God alone can heal and hold my soul.
Return to God, for God alone will love me,
and give me life, and bless and make me whole.

Return, my soul, from all the things that dull me,
that soothe my sense, but leave my sin in place.
My broken heart, return from tricks and bargains;
turn to the One who meets me face to face.
Return to God. Each moment turn again;
receive unending love and life and grace.


Oasis       (Tune: Fill My Cup, Lord)
     [ A blessing song to sing to each other at the end of the service.
     Can be found in a collection of Blessing Songs
     to several familiar hymn tunes.]

Go in peace now, my dear beloved,
in the grace and presence of the Lord.
In the desert, go with love to all who thirst;
be a spring, an oasis of the Word.



Your Will Be Done (Original song)

Father, take my willfulness.
I surrender it to you grace alone.
Mother, be my willingness.
I can only ask: Your will be done.

Jesus, take my brokenness.
I surrender it to you grace alone.
Jesus, heal my brokenness.
I can only ask: Your will be done.

Spirit, take my empty hands.
I surrender them to you grace alone.
Spirit, with my empty hands
I can only ask: Your will be done.

March 2, 2025

Lectionary Texts

Exodus 34.29-35 — Moses returns from the mountain, his face shining with light so bright from his encounter with God that he wears a veil.

Psalm 99 — God is enthroned. Extol God, lover of justice! Moses and Aaron were God’s priests. Worship at God’s holy mountain.

2 Corinthians 3.12 – 4.6 — We wear a veil of misunderstanding when we read scripture without faith. God’s glory shines in each of us as in Moses.

Luke 9. 28-36 — The Transfiguration.

Preaching Thoughts

2 Corinthians
         “Whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their minds; but when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed.” It’s tempting to take that to mean Christians read the scripture rightly; others don’t. But I think what it means to “turn to the Lord” is not to have the right beliefs but to be wiling to be changed. Paul says “the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” So to read scripture with that radical freedom means we’re not bound by doctrinal presuppositions; we’re open to what we hear in scripture as we listen with our hearts.
       Paul is thinking of a veil that obscures our seeing: we can’t see the real meaning of scripture. But Moses’ veil didn’t obscure what he saw; it obscured his shining. So when we read scripture with faith, with the openness to hear and be changed, the veil is removed: the glory of God shines out from us for others to see. To read scripture truly we have to be ready to discover God’s glory in ourselves! “All of us, with unveiled faces, see the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror.” We are the shining image of Christ.
       Jesus asks us to love our enemies. We learn to love ourselves, to accept and forgive ourselves, not as evil scum but as people who are evolving, each at our own pace, along our own path. All of us, each in our own ways, are being transformed into the image of Christ from one degree of glory to another. It’s all glory.

Luke        The Sunday of the Transfiguration brings to a climactic close the season of Epiphany, with its theme of Jesus as light of the world. Resist the temptation to “explain” the Transfiguration. It’s a mystery, a wonder, a vision, but not an idea. It’s a richly symbolic story. Building a doctrine around this story is like Peter wanting to erect three structures around Jesus, Elijah and Moses. It’s silly. This is about mystery. The light of splendid visions gets our attention, but it’s in the cloud—in our unknowing— that we hear the voice of God.
      The story is a kaleidoscope of scriptural images. It weaves together the light of Creation; Moses on the mountain; the Exodus; Elijah taken up in a chariot of fire; and, with Moses and Elijah the “law and the prophets” (indicating both Israel’s history and scripture); Jesus’ baptism, death and resurrection; and the cross, both for Jesus and for us.
       The Exodus is suggested by Moses’ presence—and also in that when they talk of Jesus’ “departure” the Greek word Luke uses is “exodus.” Jesus leads us through the Red Sea of death to freedom. Jesus is the pillar of light that leads us in our Exodus journey. • What would the church look like if the heart of our ministry were exodus—liberation, new life, and becoming free?
       When Moses and Elijah talk with Jesus about his “exodus,” it’s his death. The cross is central to the story, which begins “eight days after these sayings…” —which were that Jesus would suffer and die and be raised, and that his followers should take up their cross as well. In contradiction to Peter’s objection, the Transfiguration is God’s affirmation of Jesus’ words: “Listen to him.” The great paradox of the cross is that there is glory in self-giving for the sake of love, because love outlives even life itself. • What might our lives or our church be like if our highest value was self-giving for the sake of love?
       This story is essentially a Resurrection appearance. Having shown us the cross, the Gospel story shows us what’s next. Jesus has already died— he has already surrendered his life to God, and accepted the cross— and now on the mountain he is risen, shining with the light of resurrection, appearing with Moses and Elijah who also have already died. Because he is already dead and raised, the Crucified One resurrected, on Good Friday the Resurrected One was crucified! We are given courage to accept the cross, to accept the suffering involved in loving and doing justice, for there is glory in it. But the story isn’t about the glory, it’s about death and resurrection. • What needs to die in us for our faith to be resurrected?
       Peter says “Let’s build booths,” but a cloud—we might say a cloud of unknowing—envelopes them and they can’t construct, can’t see, can’t figure things out. • Can we let go of our need to understand and control, and simply behold the mystery? Can we worship and love, in a cloud of unknowing?
       On the mountain God says the same thing God says at Jesus’ baptism, “This is my Son, my Chosen.” The two stories are connected: resurrection is the end result of baptism. Baptism is a call to risk and sacrifice, even to suffer, even to die, for the sake of love and justice, knowing it is the doorway to resurrection. We are baptized into a reality suffused with the light of glory, a reality greater than just our earthly days. The story of the Transfiguration ushers us unto Lent with an invitation to die, so we can allow ourselves to be raised to new life. • Do we teach that baptism is an invitation to die, and so to be raised? • In our world the “Chosen” of God are targeted for death, yet they shine. Where do you see them?
       And God says “Listen to him.” Faith isn’t about believing stuff about Jesus, no matter how glorious. It’s about listening to him, day by day, moment by moment. When we listen we may hear something new, even radically contradictory to what we have believed. (Peter had to get rid of his old way of thinking when Jesus spoke of his cross.) • What “booths,” what structures, habits, or teachings of the church get in the way of our listening?
       By pointing us toward the cross (and resurrection) the Transfiguration story prepares us to enter the season of Lent with hope and not foreboding. This is the way to life that is infinite.

Call to Worship

1.
Leader: God of light, such lovely light, we awaken to you.
All: You shine in us with beauty and grace.
Christ, light of the world, you shimmer in us all.
All people are held in the glow of your grace;
all people are radiant with your glory.
Holy Spirit, flame of heaven, you gleam in us to enlighten the world.
Shine in us, that we may bear the beams of your love to all the world,
in the name and the company of the risen Christ. Amen.

2. Adapted from Psalm 99
Leader: The Holy One Reigns! Let the people tremble!
All: The Holy One is great! Holy is God!
Praise the Holy One our God, and worship at God’s holy mountain.
For the Holy One our God is holy.
Mighty Ruler, lover of justice, you have established equity.
You have brought forth righteousness and justice.
You led your people and spoke to them in the pillar of cloud.
Alleluia! God of love, lead us by your light,
transform us by your grace, that we may truly follow Christ. Alleluia!

3. (May also be used as a response/ affirmation)
Leader: God of glory, you create us with light.
You fashion us out of glory, and it shines in our faces.
All: We worship you in awe, and we seek your presence among us.
Christ, you are the glory of God, the light of the world.
You are the fulfillment of the law and prophets.
We turn to you to teach us, to heal us, to re-make us,
so that we will again shine with the glory of your image.
Holy Spirit, you are the light of grace within us.
Each of us is a pillar of fire, shining with the power of your love.
Alleluia! Come, Holy Spirit, and transform us
from one degree of glory to another, by your grace. Alleluia!

4.
Leader: God, you have rescued us from the power of darkness
and delivered us into the Realm of your beloved Son.
All: We give thanks that you have enabled us
to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light.
Light of the World, shine upon us, and grant us your grace;
Strengthen us with your glorious power.
Alleluia! Come, Holy Spirit, and transform us by your grace. Alleluia!

Collect / Prayer of the Day

1.
God of glory, Christ shone upon the mountaintop. Cast the brilliance of your gospel into our hearts, that Christ may shine in us in all we do. Amen.2.
God of love, your Word is made flesh, your law fulfilled and the prophets revealed in Christ. Your light shines among us. Speak, for we are listening. Amen.

3.
God of love, your Christ stands radiant among us, and in his light we see anew. He is the pillar of fire for our Way, the light for our path. We open our hearts to your Spirit, that we might hear your living Word in our worship and in our lives, and be transformed from one degree of glory to another by your grace. Amen.

4.
God of Light, help us to see you; help us to hear. We are asleep; our eyes are dim; there is so much that we fear and desire that we do not easily see clearly what is before us. Shine the light of your Word upon us. Awaken us to your grace. We open our hearts to the presence and the voice of your Beloved Son. Grant by your Spirit that we may listen to him. Amen.

Listening Prayer

(suitable as a Collect, preparation for hearing scriptures, or invitation to prayer)

1.
Light of Christ, shine on me.
May I behold your beauty,
trust your grace,
and listen for your voice.
Light of Christ, shine in me,
that I may be radiant with your love,
in this moment and to eternal life.
Amen.

2.
God of love,
when Christ shone with glory
you enveloped the disciples in mystery,
in a cloud of unknowing,
and said, “Listen to him.”
I let go of clinging to glory,
and listen.

3.
God, your glory shines in us.
But we veil our beauty,
afraid of the power of your glory.
Hold us in your mystery;
fill us with your love;
give us humble courage,
that your glory might shine forth.

Prayer of Confession

1.
Pastor: The grace of God be with you.
All: And also with you.
Trusting in God’s tender mercy, let us confess our sin to God with one another.
Loving God, you have created us with light,
with the radiance of love and the splendor of your presence.
It shines in our faces and glows in our hearts.
But we have veiled your light, and covered over your glory.
We have dimmed your love and darkened your presence within us.
Forgive us.
Remove the coverings that hide your light in us.
Warm us again by your Spirit, and rekindle the light of your grace within us,
that we may shine with the image of Christ, your Beloved,
and in Christ’s power radiate your love as pillars of light.
SILENT PRAYER… THE WORD OF GRACE

2.
God, for the ways in which your light shines in us, we give you thanks.
[silent prayer…]
For the ways in which we hide that light, we ask forgiveness and healing.
[Silent prayer…]
God of grace, we give thanks that you forgive our sin entirely,
and lead us from darkness to light, from death to life,
in the grace of your Christ Jesus. Amen.

Response / Creed / Affirmation

1.
         God of all Creation, we trust in you. Love is your light, and mercy is your glory.
         Christ Jesus, word of God made flesh, light of the world, God’s Beloved, in you we see God’s glory, and in you we see our own true glory. Your love is light for our path, and your love is our path.
         Holy Spirit, light of God in us, we give you our hearts, that we may always accompany you in your journey of justice and liberation, that we may always wonder, that we may always listen. Light of love, lead us, and we will follow. Amen.

2.
       We love and trust in in God, Holy Trinity, creator of all that is and all that is to come.
       We love and trust in Jesus Christ, the Chosen One of God, Light of the World, fulfillment of the law and prophets, and the One who leads us in our exodus from death to life, from bondage to freedom, from sleep to wakefulness, from exile to the present moment. We follow Christ in the Way of the Cross: the way of compassion, justice, and non-violent self-giving, for the sake of the healing of the world.
       We are empowered by the Holy Spirit, united as the Body of Christ, set free by God’s perfect forgiveness, and drawn by the mystery of resurrection and the light of eternal life. Christ, illumine our path, that by your light we may be light for the world. Amen.

3.
Jesus, you shine with the light of eternal life; therefore we trust in you. In your love you fulfill the law and the prophets; so we listen to you. You proclaim the Way of the Cross; and we follow you. You lead us in exodus from death to life; therefore we follow you. You face your life and your death with the light of resurrection; therefore we open our heart to you, that we too may shine with the light of God’s love, for the sake of the healing of the world. Amen.

Readings

(Poetry by Steve Garnaas-Holmes)


                  Light

You do not need to fetch it or make it.
         It is in you.

The chaos out there roars, so dark,
         but sit still and listen:
         
“Let there be light” speaks in your darkness.
         Let it be.

Let it become you. Fill you.
         Ageless, it claims you.

Calm, unworried by what it falls on,
         it radiates peace.

Let it shine in you,
         a simple lamp by the window,

before you bear it
         out into the world
         that needs it so badly.



         The Light Does Not Insist

Even on the darkest winter days
light reaches in,
gently entering my dimmest rooms:
neither hesitant nor brash,
simply offering itself
with no mind to all that is opaque,
all that distorts,
transfiguring the room.
and the air in the room.

I, too,
reach in toward that gentle light,
not anxious or forceful, that calmly glows
and changes everything.


              The Jug

You are walking a path before dawn
there are others
you are carrying a large ancient jug

Maybe clay it is light it is leaking
you hold it wounded to your chest
how soon will it run out? will they see?

You try to hold it all together
the light and illimitable burden
the hollows and failings and ill-fitting pieces

It is bleeding brightly
the hand of the sun on a tree
light poured out at your feet

The dimness is pregnant
the way is immersed
you can see they can see

You hug the jar weeping
hurrying sweating
nothing stops it from spilling away

You sense a surrender a death a defeat
the jug has collapsed and disappeared
light falling from your hands

Why do you weep? why are you afraid?
did you not know
that your only purpose here is

to shed light to shed light to shed light



                Mantle of Light

The evening light settles like snow on everything,
giving new shape to the gate beside the road,
and the people standing in the gate,
whose faces are of molten gold,
and whose hands are flocks of birds,
in which the hand and the light turn
at the same time, as if speaking to each other.
We are frescoes, perfected while the light is still wet.
Trees are poured down out of light
into ground that does not resist.
Their twigs bend almost imperceptibly under their yoke.
The air is so thick you like to move your hand through it.
In this light everything is a child,
or an angel, and even the darkness believes.

This does not mean anything,
but it helps me learn the light within,
and remember how to see,
and bear this luminous mantle
as if it is not burdensome.

Eucharistic Prayer

(The body of the prayer may be read responsively or by the presider[s] alone.)

1.
Beloved, God is with you.
And also with you.
Lift up your hearts.
We lift them up to God.
Let us give thanks to the Faithful One, our God.
It is good to give God thanks and praise.

Loving God, you create us, and create us always anew;
you set us free, and set all people free;
you walk with us into new life, life with all and for all.
In the beginning was your Word, and your Word was light;
your love is the light of all people, and shines in each of us.
Though we are blind to your light, and try to cover it over,
still you shine in all people, and you gather all people in your light.
When we seek to divide, you invite us back,
back to the table of your light.
So with all Creation we sing your praise:

Holy, holy, holy One, God of power and love,
all Creation shimmers with your presence.
Amazing and beautiful! You save us!
Blessed are they who come in your love.
Amazing and beautiful! You save us!

Blessed are all who come in your name,and blessed is Jesus, your Christ.
He taught and healed, freeing captives
and binding the wounds of the community.
The light of his love awakened us to our loveliness.Those who feared that light in themselves and others
tried to put out the light: they crucified Jesus.
But you raised him from the dead,
for the light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness cannot overcome it.

[The Blessing and Covenant…]*

Jesus said, “Do this in remembrance of me.”
As often as we break this bread and share this cup
we remember his death and resurrection until he comes again.
Remembering these, your mighty acts in Jesus Christ,
we offer ourselves in praise and thanksgiving
as a living and holy sacrifice, in union with Christ’s offering for us,
as we proclaim the mystery of our faith:
Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again.

Pour out your Holy Spirit on these gifts of bread and cup,
that they may be for us the body and blood of Christ.
Pour out your Holy Spirit on us,
that we may be for the world the Body of Christ,
one in your love, and one in our love for the world.
May your light shine in us, the light of the risen Christ,
the light of love. Amen.


2.
Beloved, God is with you.
And also with you.
Lift up your hearts.
We lift them up to God.
Let us give thanks to the Faithful One, our God.
It is good and beautiful to give God thanks and praise.

Creator God, we thank you. For in the beginning
you said “let there be light,” and there was light.
The light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness cannot overcome it.
You claim us as your people, and covenant with us to be our God.
You set your shining bow in the sky as a sign of your faithfulness.
When we go from you, imprisoned by our wants and fears,
you set us free from all that oppresses us.
You leads us to freedom by a pillar of fire.
You give us your Word, a lamp for our feet and a light on our path.
You give us Jesus, the light of the world.
Therefore in gratitude, with all Creation, we sing your praise.

            [Sanctus, spoken or sung:]
        Holy, holy, holy One, God of power and might,
        heaven and earth are full of your glory.
        Hosanna in the highest.
        Blessed is the one who comes in the name of God.
        Hosanna in the highest.
               [or alternate version]

Blessed are all who come in your name,
and blessed is Jesus, your Christ, the light of the world.
The light of your grace shined in him.
He created for us a dwelling built not of walls but of light.
He fed the hungry and healed the broken.
He kindled your light in us whose spirits were dim,
and called us forth as light for the world.
For his witness to justice he was crucified,
but the darkness cannot overcome the light:
in love you raised him from the dead.
Even as he faced his death he shone with the light of resurrection.

       [The Blessing and Covenant…] *

Jesus said, “Do this in remembrance of me.”
As often as we break this bread and share this cup
we remember his death and resurrection until he comes again.
Remembering these, your mighty acts in Jesus Christ,
we offer ourselves in praise and thanksgiving
as a living and holy sacrifice, in union with Christ’s offering for us,
as we proclaim the mystery of our faith:

                [Memorial Acclamation, spoken or sung:]
        Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again.
                     —or—
        Dying, Christ destroyed our death. Rising, Christ restores our life.
        Christ will come again in glory.
             [or alternative]

Pour out your Holy Spirit on these gifts of bread and cup,
that they may be for us the body and blood of Christ.
Pour out your Holy Spirit on us,
that we may be for the world the Body of Christ.
May we live always in the light of resurrection,
with the light of your Word guiding us,
the light of your love shining in us,
for the healing of the world.

     [Spoken or sung]
Amen.

________________
* The Blessing and Covenant
[I usually don’t print the words. I want people to be looking at the bread, not their bulletins.]

On the night in which he gave himself for us
Jesus took bread, blessed it,. broke it, and gave it to his disciples,saying,
“Take and eat; this is my body.”
In the same way, after the supper he took the cup,
blessed it with thanks and gave it to them, saying,
“Drink of this, all of you. This is my blood,
poured out for you and for many, in a new Covenant,
which is the forgiveness of sin.”
As long as we break this bread and share this cup
we remember his death and resurrection, until he comes again.

Prayer of Dedication / Sending / [after Communion]

God, we thank you for [this mystery in which] you have given yourself to us in love. As the risen Christ shone on the mountain, ready to face his death, we too, by your grace in us, shine with the light of your love, ready to go out into the world and serve, confident in your grace. Bless us that we may listen to Christ always, and shine with your love, for the blessing of the world, in the grace of your Spirit and in the name of Christ. Amen.

Suggested Songs

(Click on titles to view, and hear an audio clip, on the Music page)

Christ on the Mountain [Tune: Be Thou My Vision]

Christ on the mountain, our law and our light, we
come to your table with all you invite.
Hearts all aglow with your Spirit’s bright rays,
gladly we offer our gifts and our praise.

Dawning of heaven, our heart’s rising sun,
feasting upon you, we all become one,
bright with the love that your Spirit imparts,
radiant with mercy in each of our hearts.

Christ, as your Body, we pray by your grace, that
we give your deep love a voice and a face,
by love transfigured, with light in our hands,
bringing your gospel to earth’s farthest lands.


Christ on the Mountain Height [Tune: Fairest Lord Jesus]

Christ on the mountain height, radiant with God’s delight,
shining with love and mercy bright,
from fear and death released, we come in thanks to feast
upon your resurrection’s light.

Jesus, Beloved One, bright as Easter’s rising sun,
called to listen and follow you,
fearless of pain or loss, help us to bear your cross
with love’s pure light in all we do.

Savior and dearest friend, Law and Prophet’s fullest end,
strengthened by love, by the Spirit drawn,
feed us with courage, Lord. Help us to live your Word
and trust in Easter’s promised dawn.


Christ, Transfigured [Tune: Ode to Joy]

Christ, transfigured on the mountain, Law and Prophet, Living Word,
by your glory we are humbled, by your presence we are stirred.
Christ, you are God’s faithful servant, God’s beloved Son so dear.
Guide us by this radiant vision: help us listen; help us hear.

Christ, you choose to suffer and to die, rejected, on the cross,
sharing in our sin and death, our struggles, and our pain and loss.
In your faithful, loving presence, even in our darkest nights,
we behold you, God’s Beloved, shining with love’s healing light.

Help us serve you, each transfigured by light shining from above.
Fill us with your Holy Spirit, radiant with the light of love.
In self-giving, help us share our neighbor’s suffering through the night,
and be lamps for those who struggle, with compassion’s gentle light.


Jesus, Transfigured [Tune: Fairest Lord Jesus]

Jesus, transfigured, bright with heaven’s mystery,
highest of prophets and all the law,
our power to comprehend comes to its humble end
in reverent wonder, love and awe.

Sun of the morning, radiant with holy light,
wake us from sleep, that we may see:
see holy glory in each day’s story,
in every day, eternity.

Light of the world, O Christ, shine in us with all your love.
Crucified and risen One,
fill us with holy fire, our hearts with grace inspire,
to share the warmth of heaven’s Sun.


Light for the World [Original tune; dialogue between congregation and soloist]

Love, may we live by your light; let us be light for the world.

Christ, you appeared on the mountain top, shining with radiant glory.
You are God’s Son, the light of the world, and we will tell your story.

God said, “Let light shine out of the dark,” and shines with that glory in Jesus.
And when we turn our faces to Christ, God shines in our own heart.

When you belong to the Lord you are light, no longer held in darkness.
Live what is loving and true, my friends, as children of light.

You are the light, the light of the world. Let God’s light shine in you.
Let your light shine so that others may see, and glorify God.


Listen (Tune: The Gift of Love/ Water Is Wide)

“This is my dear Beloved Son, the Light of Life, my Chosen One.
And so I ask that by my grace you listen for his gentle voice.

“For when you listen and attend in silence deep, you meet your Friend,
whose voice no words can catch or hold, and yet whose love is clearly told.

“And listen well with love’s deep art, to what is in your neighbor’s heart,
for there I dwell, and there I speak; and there I hide, for you to seek.

“My glory shines in every face of my beloved human race.
So listen well with wond’ring care: behold my glory shining there.”


Resurrection Light [Tune: Joyful, Joyful]

Wake us, Jesus from our dreams, to see you in a holy light:
Law and prophet, loving promise God has sent to guide us right.
As Elijah, call us Godward, speak the living truth to us.
As our Moses, lead us in our liberating exodus.

Wake us, Jesus, from our fear of pain and death, and from our sin.
Grant that we may live illumined by the world you usher in.
All things shine with light reflected from the dawn that fills our sight.
All of life is thus transfigured by your resurrection’s light.

Wake us, Jesus from complacent dreaming on the mountain’s height.
Teach us humble service: your departure is our guiding light.
Preach the gospel, feed the hungry, heal the broken, give them sight.
Give your life, then find it, shining bright with Resurrection light.

Transfiguration (A communion song) (Tune: Be Thou My Vision)
[This song may be found in Table Songs, a collection of communion songs to familiar tunes.]

Christ on the mountain, our law and our light… we
come to your table with all you invite.
Hearts all aglow with your Spirit’s bright rays,
gladly we offer our gifts and our praise.

Dawning of heaven, our heart’s rising sun,
feasting upon you, we all become one,
bright with the love that your Spirit imparts,
radiant with mercy in each of our hearts.

Christ, as your Body, we pray by your grace… that
we give your deep love a voice and a face,
by love transfigured, with light in our hands,
bringing your gospel to earth’s farthest lands.

Wake Us From Our Sleep (Original song)

God of mercy, wake us with your light.
Rouse our sleeping hearts and give us sight.
Raise us up from death; fill us with your breath.
Wake us from our sleep to live new lives in you.

Life comes only from the Word you give.
You alone have power to make us live.
Seeking what is True, Love, we turn to you:
springs of living water flow, and so we live.

Christ, you touch our hearts and heal our fear.
Even in our pain your grace is near.
Spirit, you who save, raise us from our grave.
Born again, dry bones who rise, we live in you.

Christ, light of the world, your radiance bright
wakens us to day out of our night:
shining in, it heals; shining out, reveals.
Help us all to live as children of the light.

February 23, 2025

Lectionary Texts

Genesis 45.3-11, 15 — Joseph reveals himself to his brothers. God has been in charge all along. “It was not you who sent me here, but God.”

Psalm 37 — Don’t fret because some people get away with evil; commit your way to God, and God will act on your behalf.

1 Corinthians 15. 35-50 — The resurrection body: “What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable…. If there is a physical body, there is also a spiritual body.”

Luke 6.27-38 — Love your enemies. God is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked.

Preaching Thoughts

Genesis
       In the old way of seeing God, God was in control of stuff. God actually schemed to get Joseph sold into slavery in Egypt, in preparation for the famine God would bring about a generation later. As Joseph says later (Gen. 50.20): “Even though you intended to do harm to me, God intended it for good. I don’t think God intended for Joseph to be treated unjustly; I think God’s intent overrules human intents. Even though we choose evil, God can turn a disaster into a miracle.

1 Corinthians
       Paul says there is such a thing as a resurrection body that’s not the same as our physical pre-death body. This opens a question of what exactly the body of the post-Easter Christ is. Paul’s own writing suggests it clearly: the “spiritual body” of the risen Christ is us, the church, the Body of Christ. When people say, “Well, if Jesus was raised physically from the dead, where’s his body?” the answer is right here. It’s us. Jesus was raised not as an individual, but as a community. Paul says a lot about that, like in 1 Cor. 12.
       The unspoken thing about the resurrection body is that for it to live, the first body has to die. As Jesus says in Jn. 12.24, “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.”

Luke
       The command to “love your neighbor as yourself” means not only to love them as much as you love yourself, but to love them as if they are your self. We don’t live according to the flesh, our “self” defined by and confined to our physical bodies, but we live according to the Spirit: even though we appear in separate bodies we are all one body, in one spirit. (We’re the resurrection body of Christ.) You and your neighbor are part of the same body. To love our neighbor is to love ourselves.
       Here is a clear charge for non-violence and radical compassion. But, as has been noted, non-violent resistance is still resistance. Turning the other cheek, in Jesus’ honor-addicted culture, created a situation that put the aggressor in an awkward position. Carrying a Roman soldier’s burden beyond the allotted mile put him in an awkward spot. Non-violent resistance questions, and possibly de-stabilizes, and maybe even undermines structures of domination. Jesus’ ministry always points in two directions: both healing brokenness and also breaking systems that cause brokenness.
       This is not purely strategic. It’s fundamentally theological and spiritual. Jesus asks us to live this way because God lives this way. God turns the other cheek. God goes the second mile. Much religion, both then and now, is based on the urge to get God’s approval, to “get saved.” But God doesn’t work that way. “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them.” But God is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. God loves even God’s enemies. Be merciful, just as God is merciful.
       Wait. So isn’t there any punishment for sin? It sounds like there’s a catch, a little bit of God’s retribution, for “the measure you give will be the measure you get back.” I don’t think this means God is mean toward those who are mean , but simply that when we create hurt, we experience it. God won’t judge us or punish us, but God won’t save us from the consequences of our own sin. Still no matter what we do, God is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. We receive God’s grace, a good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, put into our lap.

Call to Worship

1.
Leader: God, you who are love, you create us in love.
All: We are the body of your love.
Christ, love made flesh, you come to us in grace and healing.
We are your Beloved, blessed and embraced.
Holy Spirit, energy of love, your fire alone in us is our life.
We are bearers of your love to this world.
Fill us with your love, fill us to overflowing,
for the sake of the world you love. Amen.

2.
Leader: God of hope, like Joseph we have been sold into slavery.
All:We have been controlled by forces beyond us.
But you have set us free, and given us dignity and grace.
We thank you. With gratitude and awe we worship you.
In our worship we open our hearts to you,
like Joseph’s brothers receiving the bounty of grain.
Fill us with your love, that we may bless and serve others
according to the power you give us.

3.
Leader: God of life, we need you.
All:Sown in weakness, we come to you.
You love us, bless us, and set us free.
Raised in power, we thank you.
Receive our lives and transform them in your love.
Raised in one spiritual, body, we worship you.

Collect / Prayer of the Day

1.
God of love, you who created us in love, and for love, fill us with your love.
Fill us to overflowing with love even for those we oppose or dislike.
Fill us with the self-giving love of Christ.
Give us hearts of peace, not war.
God of love, fill us with your love. Amen.

2.
Gracious God, set us free from our desires to be right, to be safe, to be comfortable. With the love of Christ warm in our hearts, we turn to you to receive your Spirit, the spirit of gentleness and mercy, the spirit of courage and generosity. Bless us, that we may be vessels of your love for our neighbors, even for our enemies, in the spirit of Christ. Amen.

3.
God of grace, as Joseph was sold into slavery, we too suffer forces that bind us and impoverish us. As you raised up Joseph to reign with generosity, set us free, and empower us to forgive and to love and to give freely and boldly. May the seeds of our hearts die and be buried in you, and be raised, rich with the fruit of your love. Amen.

4.
Merciful One, we have received your grace abundantly, in good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, placed lovingly in our lap. How can we not thank you? How can we not share that love and mercy and grace with others? We open our hearts to behold your mercy, to be shaped by your grace, and to live in your love, in the Spirit of Christ. Amen.

5.
God of love, you command us to love our neighbors, to love even our enemies. You know how hard this is for us. Open our eyes to your grace, open our hearts to your love, so that we might receive it, in good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, placed lovingly in our lap. By your Word, and the presence of Christ, and the power of your Holy Spirit, fill us with your love, that we may be merciful as you re merciful, in the name of Christ. Amen.

Listening prayer

Merciful One,
you have been kind even
to the ungrateful and the wicked.
We have received your grace,
a good measure, pressed down,
shaken together, running over,
placed in our lap.
We give thanks,
and we open ourselves wider
to receive your Spirit,
that we may be merciful
as you are merciful.

Prayer of Confession

1.
Pastor: The grace of God is with you.
Congregation: And also with you.
Trusting in God’s tender mercy, we open ourselves in honesty to God.
God of love, help us to see ourselves with the eyes of love,
to see what is in us that is loving, and what is not loving.
God, we recall those times we have acted in love, and we give thanks.
[silent prayer…]
We recall when we have not acted in love; we call to mind those relationships in which love comes harder for us, and we seek your grace..
[silent prayer…]
God of mercy, in Christ you have shown us your grace.
Forgive us, heal us, and perfect your love in us.
      [Silent prayer … The Word of Grace]

2.
…
God of mercy, we bear with us our little judgments,
sure that some are better and some more sinful than others.
But we confess we are all under your grace, all forgiven,
for you are kind to the ungrateful and the wicked,
and at times we each are among them.
At times we all have been enemies of your grace;
and yet you love your enemies.
Therefore in humility we confess our sin
and ask your forgiveness,
trusting that we receive your grace, in good measure,
pressed down, shaken together, running over.
Merciful One, may we be merciful as you are merciful.
…

Reading

          (Luke 6.27-38)
Leader: I say to you that listen, Love your enemies.
All: God of grace, give us compassion for those who are hard to love.
Do good to those who hate you, bless those
who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.
We pray for those who oppose or mistreat us, for they are deeply wounded.
If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also.
Give us grace and courage to be nonviolent.
And from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt.
Give us your spirit of generosity
Give to everyone who begs from you;
and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again.
Give us your spirit of forgiveness.
Do to others as you would have them do to you.
Help us see others as extensions of ourselves, and love them.
Love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return.
We desire only to be loving, not to be right, to be secure, to be victorious.
Be merciful, just as God is merciful.
Give us your spirit of mercy.
Do not judge, and you will not be judged;
do not condemn, and you will not be condemned.
Forgive, and you will be forgiven;
give, and it will be given to you.
A good measure, pressed down, shaken together,
running over, will be put into your lap;
for the measure you give will be the measure you get back.”
May we love as you have loved us.
We pray in the name and the spirit and the company of Christ. Amen.

Response / Creed / Affirmation

         We love you and entrust ourselves to you, God, Creator of all, you who are Love: wherever there is love, there you are.
         We love you and entrust ourselves to you, Jesus. You are Christ: you embodied God’s love, feeding and healing, extending companionship to the outcast and the “unworthy.” You showed us how to love; and the cost of love; and the power of love. For your love that disturbed power structures you were crucified; but in love you were raised from then dead. For your love is more powerful than anger, fear or violence.
        We love you and entrust ourselves to you, Holy Spirit, for you are the Oneness that unites us with all, neighbor and stranger, friend and enemy. You are the energy of Love that enables us to bless, to serve, to forgive and to extend healing to all people. In the power of your grace, as one Body in you, we devote our lives to love, generosity and justice, in the name of Christ. Amen.

Prayer of Dedication / Sending

God of love, you have loved us perfectly. Fill us and guide us with your Spirit, that we may perfectly love and serve you, and love others—even our enemies—as ourselves. By your grace may be love one another ass you have loved us, and be merciful as you are merciful. We pray in the name and the unity and the companionship of Jesus. Amen.

Suggested Songs

(Click on titles to view, and hear an audio clip, on the Music page)
All songs with “Love” tag, especially:

At Your Feet [Original tune]

Jesus, at your feet I bow.
I am yours completely now.
By your mercy show me how
to be loving.

Jesus, Master, you who save,
you have served me as a slave.
This, the perfect gift you gave:
to be loving.

In each hurting one I meet
it is you, O Christ, I greet.
Make my faithfulness complete,
to be loving.


Create us Now [Tune: Gift of Love/ The Water Is Wide]

Creating God, you breathe your Word
and new each day create the world;
your light you sing, your love you give;
you breathe in us, and so we live.

Creating God, you gather grain
from scattered fields, baptized by rain;
raised up in love, from death released,
it brings forth grace that spreads a feast.

Above the meadows of our hearts
your rising sun your love imparts.
Remade in love, raised from the dead,
Make us your wine, your living bread.

With our dear Christ, we, too, have died,
like seeds once sown and multiplied.
Now raise us up from death anew.
Create us now, dear God, in you.


Drawing Me [Original tune]

Holy One, Mystery, how will you keep drawing me
nearer to the heart within the heart?
Nearer still, falling in, closer to the heart within,
draw me God. I fall into your love.
Lover, you are calling, you are drawing,
I am falling into you in love.

Deep in me there’s a voice, there’s a hunger, there’s a choice,
seeking something vital that is you.
By your grace drawing me, may I fall eternally
nearer to my center deep in you.
Lover, you are calling, you are drawing,
I am falling into you in love.


God of all Gentleness [Tune: Be Thou My Vision]

God of all gentleness, God of pure love,
you do not watch us from heights far above,
you are no tyrant, but patient and mild,
present with grace in the poor, in the child.

God of all mercy, may we be the ones
bearing your love to your daughters and sons,
not out of pity but humbly, with grace,
for in the poor we see your human face.

God of all justice, give us hearts to care,
hope to free prisoners of fear and despair,
courage to challenge the ways that oppress,
deep love to reach out to heal and to bless.

God of compassion, your Spirit now pour
into us all, for it’s we who are poor,
hungry for justice, for healing and grace,
and for full life for the whole human race.


Love Only [Tune: Be Thou My Vision]

God, may your deep love shine bright in my heart,
may it be always your love I impart.
In ease or conflict, your love be my stay,
as your Beloved, your love to convey.

When people scare me and I feel alone,
help me see they, too, have wounds of their own.
Help me surrender my sword and my shield,
love and love only by your grace to yield.

God, by your Spirit, fill me with your grace, to
love and to heal in each moment and place.
Love and love only, through conflict or strife,
sets us all free and gives healing and life.


Love-Sowing God [Tune: The river Is Wide)]

Love-sowing God, sow love in me.
Sow seeds of grace abundantly.
My soul be soil where love may root and grow
and bear your precious fruit.

Where habit’s feet and wheels have tracked,
my anxious work the soil has packed,
soften my soul with bliss or pain,
so love may enter in again.

My angry thorns, my selfish weeds,
God, clear away, and sow your seeds.
Despite the hungry, wanting bird,
Love, plant in me your living Word.

Love-sowing God, your labors done,
help me to trust the rain and sun,
receive your grace and faithfully
bear forth your love that grows in me.


Make Us Merciful (Tune: Fairest Lord Jesus)

Merciful parent, God, prodigal with grace and love,
welcoming children through your pain,
gently receive us all, break down our shame’s dark wall,
that we may never leave again.

Gentle and gracious God, you who love your children,
you take us in though we turn away.
Fold us in your embrace; fill us with peace and grace,
that we may live your gentle way.

God, give us spacious hearts, generous and kind and wide,
no matter what hurtful things folks do.
Help us to love and bless, steadfast in gentleness.
Lord, make us merciful as you.

New Breath (Tune: Morning Has Broken)

Christ, we are baptized into your dying,
and like the sunrise, we are made new,
given new breath, to live every moment,
for out of death comes new life in you

Great Holy Spirit, breathe in us daily,
set free from fear that once bound us in,
free now to love our neighbors with courage,
rising above our death and our sin..

Blessed and forgiven and resurrected,
set free for living by grace alone,
may we live lives of gentle compassion,
with the same light that in Jesus shone.

O Christ, My Way [Tune: The River Is Wide]

O Christ, my truth, my life, my way,
I give my heart to you this day.
I give myself, yes all of me,
that where you are I too may be.

O Christ, my way, the path I take
is love alone, for you love’s sake.
O be my heart, my strength and nerve,
that I may love and bless and serve.

O Christ, my truth, in you I see
the God who dwells in you and me.
But God remains yet far above
until I live in humble love.

O Christ, my life, I give my heart,
for when in you I take my part
and share your love, your work and strife,
I share in full your risen life.


Open My Heart [Tune: Open my eyes]

Open my eyes that I may see everyone ‘round me lovingly,
shedding my labels, habits and fear, see with a heart that’s true and clear.
Patiently, God, may I behold each blessed life as it unfolds.
Open my eyes, illumine me, Spirit divine.

Open my ears and let me hear unspoken stories, unshed tears.
Help me to hear with love shining through stories that no one’s listened to.
Tenderly, God, help me to hold what is within each person’s soul.
Open my ears, illumine me, Spirit divine.

Open my heart and grant me love, mercy for those I’m heedless of.
Help me to know each person I face as one you bless with gentle grace
Lovingly, God, please make me more mindful of those whom we ignore.
Open my heart, illumine me, spirit divine.


Set Me Free (to love) [Original tune]

From all that binds me, Love, set me free.
From all that binds me, Love, set me free.
Set me free, Love, set me free.
Oh Love, set me free for love.

From what I fear, O Love, set me free….
From what I cling to, Love, set me free…
To live in perfect love, set me free….