#Lent Seeds of #Prayer: #Liturgy Resource Abundance of Justice April 7th

Last Judgement: Abundance of Justice

100_5722

Sacred Quilt Exhibit:“Let Justice Roll Down Like Water”  Kit Tossmann; Louisville, KY

Matthew 25:31-46

Psalm 98:7-9 

Amos 5: 21-24

 

Call to the Worship:

Make a joyful to the Lord, all the earth.

Break forth into joyous son and sing praises.

Sing with the lyre and the sound of the melody

Let us make a joyful noise before the Kind, the Lord. 

Call to Worship: Can you hear the good news? It’s contained within the roar of the ocean, its contained within the songs of the hills, it fills the earth and and those who live in it.

Now is the time to share the good news of Jesus Christ, passing it out as bread for the hungry, now is the time to show the love of God sharing it as free medicine for the sick. Now is the time to show the warmth of the Holy Spirit, wrapping the naked up with sturdy clothing. Now is the time to be the people of Matthew 25. 

Prayer of Confession: Lord, how can we not feed the hungry, or visit the sick or clothe the naked. And yet, there are those who go without, and we fail to help them. Lord Jesus, help us to examine why we fail to live up to your standards of caring for each other and you. Help us to confess where the gaps are, and then help us to build the bridge of kindom care that is needed, we pray.

Prayer of Confession: God almighty, we do not treat our neighbors as we wish to be treat. Instead we differentiate between us and them, we look for reasons behind these differences, and we conclude that the others must be lacking. Forgive us, we pray, correct our mouths and our arms and our legs so that what we do and say represents your love. We pray this in your son’s most holy name.

Prayer of Confession: Lord we forget that every time we help someone, it is as if the waves clap their hands in praise of you. We ignore those in need, forgetting to make a joyful noise, forgetting to tell the good news of your open table, setting a feast before all those in need. Teach us to see your face, in whomever we encounter, we pray.

 

Assurance of Pardon: God has made known, already, God’s victory of salvation, with steadfast love and faithfulness, so know you are forgiven and be at peace.

Hymns:

Joy to the world

 

They Will Know We are Christians By Our Love

The Lord’s Prayer Hymn

Live Into Hope

Full List of Lenten Resources (Of course some prayers may be appropriate for other weeks)

#Seeds: #Prayer and #Liturgy #Lent Abundance of Preparation March 31

Screen Shot 2019-02-26 at 3.24.17 PM

Matthew 25:1-13 and/or Matt 25:14-30, and Psalm 43:3-4 

Suggested Resource: Nicene Creed

Call to Worship

Lord, you teach us how to prepare,

Every valley shall be exalted

 You remind us to gather the supplies we need light the fires & to risk and spend money for the kingdom

And every mountain and hill made low

You remind us to clothe the naked and care for the sick

And the crooked shall be made straight

You remind us to feed the hungry and give the thirst something to drink.

And the rough places plain,

Help us to make a preparation for you today we pray.

 

Call to Worship

Lord you tell us to prepare for you

Help us to plant the seeds, to do the work

We would rather be safe, but you teach us to trust and grow

Let us praise the Creator, the Gardener, the Tender of all Good today.

 

 

Call to Worship:

God you are my help and my hope.

Light us with your light.

Your truth shines on.

I shall again praise my creator today. 

Confession: God, are wicks are not lit, we have no spare oil, sometimes we are not able to do the tasks you set before us. Send the Holy Spirit to us, so our fire will not go out we pray.  

Confession: Lord, we confess we suck at waiting, its hard work, and it speaks to a maturity that we don’t often have. Teach us how to wait, lord give us patience, we pray.

Confession: Gardening God, sometimes we are afraid to invest, so we don’t plant the seeds that need to be planted.  God of Growth Sometimes we don’t want risk, so we bury money instead of planting seeds; we don’t give the time, money or effort needed. Generous God, sometimes we just throw the extra your way, forgetting to make a real commitment Help to do the work and to make the right commitments in the right way we pray. (Silent Prayer)…Amen 

 

Prayer of Dedication/Prayer of the Day: Lord, we are asking for your light and truth today. Send it out, we pray. Let it lead us to your holy hill, bring us to your dwelling place, loving God.

Prayer of Dedication/Prayer of the Day:  God of God, Light of Light, Very God from Very God, encourage use to seek your light and truth, and help us to prepare for you we pray. Amen

 

Prayer of Dedication: God of God, Light of Light, Very God from Very God, help us to prepare for you by investing in your work, and help whatever seeds we plant, whatever money we invest, whatever faith we practice, to grow and flourish we pray in your most Holy Name. Amen. 

Full List of Lent Abundance Resources some prayers may work for more than one text this season

Hymns

We Give Thee But Thine Own

Prepare Ye the Way of the Lord, almost any version/hymn 😉

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kuUl522_8jQ

 

#Abundance of Invitation Seeds: #Lent #Liturgy & #Prayer Resource March 24

 

table

Scripture

Matthew 22:1-14 and Psalm 45:6-7 (or all of it, or Psalm 45:6-17)

Also Isaiah 61, particularly v. 10

Call to Worship:

Know this, God has anointed you, baptized you in the Holy Spirit.

We are called to love righteousness, and hate wickedness with God. 

Let us cause God’s name to be celebrated for generations

Let the peoples praise God, our mother and father, forever and ever. 

Call to Worship 

God, you call us, the good and the bad forever

Clothe us in your love, so we might be worthy of your banquet

Let us remember to invite one another to partake in the feast

Come, let us accept our invitation to spend time with God together. 

Call to Worship: 

The Lord says: I love justice

My whole being shall exult my God,

God promised to make a covenant with us, and the covenant will be fulfilled.

God has clothed me, like a mother clothes her children, in the garments of salvation, protecting us from the elements, dressing us in love. 

Remember that what is sown in the garden will spring up. The promise of resurrection comes with the winter of Lent.

God will cause righteousness and praise to spring up before all the nations, come let us plant the seeds of praise today. 

Confession: Lord, we confess that sometimes we come into your presence, thinking we are dressed in love, but then realize that we are wearing judgement or shame instead. It is so easy to forget the worst of ourselves or other. It is so easy to disclude people from your invitation. We can feel unworthy, or be convinced of others’ unworthiness. Forgive our prejudice, and teach us to extend the invitation again and again, we pray. 

Confession: Lord, sometimes I love wickedness. Sometimes I like to gossip about or ignore those who are need . Sometimes I spend all my day complaining and forget to practice gratitude for the invitations you put forth. Forgive me, and teach me to pray and confess in such a way that my words are a love song, and my tongue becomes like the pen of a writer. Teach me I pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen

Confession: Lord, we confess here together, because we are each and every one of us invited to your party. Though we are each uniquely made, and though our circumstances are different, you call us each here to experience your love, hope and grace. We are invited here to confess our true selves, and to honor one another’s stories, help us when we forget to do justice in either the confession or the honoring, we pray. 

Prayer of Dedication/of the Day: Lord we enter back into the world where people look and sound different from us. We enter a world where we are afraid to invite people, for whatever reason, to join us in your banquet. Encourage us to go into the world and to make that invitation we pray.

Prayer of Dedication/of the Day: Let us begin again to prepare for the feast together, with invitations and appropriate garments, with words of prayer and praise, we pray.

Prayer of Dedication/of the Day: Lord, remind me that I am here for you. You are the host of the feast, and you have anointed me as a beloved child of God. Please don’t let me forget that today or any day, I pray.

Hymns: I’ve Got Peace Like a River

God be the Glory

Christ is made the sure Foundation

Crown him with Many Crowns

Praise My Soul the King of Heaven

He is King of Kings

(Look in your Christ the King/Ascension hymns)

Food for Thought:

  1. Those who think they should be invited to God will take that gift for granted.

2. We think we need to clothe ourselves in the appropriate garments, but really we have to depend on God for the right clothing.

3. Justice is God’s and is not in being productive (or too busy or too important) for God.

4. Human’s often think looking right is more important than acting right, how might that play in here?

More Thoughts https://wp.me/p2rhxZ-2iI

Full List of Lenten Resources (Of course some prayers may be appropriate for other weeks)

Seeds of #Prayer #Lent #Liturgy #Prayer Resource for #NarrativeLectionary #Abundance

Abundance

An extra Abundance Prayer

Ash Weds Mar 6 Who is the Greatest? Abundance of Blessings

Sun Mar 9 Forgiveness Abundance of Forgiveness

Sun Mar 17 Laborers in the Vineyard Abundance of Grace

Sun Mar 24 Wedding Banquet Abundance of Invitation

Sun Mar 31 Bridesmaids (or Talents) Abundance of Preparation

April 7 Last Judgement Abundance of Justice

Note: for Palm Sunday you may wish to swap out or combine depending on your holy week schedule

April 14 Triumphal Entry Abundance of Celebration

April 18 Words of Institution (Last Supper) Abundance of Presence

April 19 Good Friday/Tenebrae options Crucifixion: Matthew Fully, Abundantly, Human

April 19 Full Liturgy: Tenbebrae & nailing sins to cross

April 21 Easter: Matthew Abundance of Discipleship

April 28: The Great Commission Go! by Rev. Dr. Barb Hedges-Goettl

An extra Abundance Prayer

 

 

 

Abundance of #Grace : Seeds of #Prayer for #Lent March 17

Laborers in the Vineyard

Abundance of Grace

Matthew 20:1-16 and Psalm 16:5-8

Call to Worship:

Lord it is good when we come to you at the beginning of the day

Whether we come at the beginning, the middle or the end you will be there. 

Lord it is good when we find you at the beginning of the week

But what a blessing when we find God, instead at the end, for still God’s hand will hold us fast.

Help us to find you, Lord!

Help us to find you today, so that we might give you praise.

Call to Worship:

Come let us worship the Lord

God shows us the path of life and invites us to join in the work of the day.

Come let us work together

So we can all share in the fruit of our labors together, with all the saints who participate, come let us do some of that work today!

https://www.strofiliawines.gr/en/wine-in-art/red-vineyard-arles

Prayer of Confession: Lord, I confess that you are my Lord,  I have no good apart from you. So I turn to you to confess my failings, so that you can fill me with your grace and love, so that you can be with me and teach me. Show me the path of life I pray.

Prayer of Confession: Lord I confess aha some days I worry if there is not enough grace for me and my sins. I so often feel so full of holes, that I do not count myself as holy enough for you. Yet, you are ever with me, with your presence there is a fullness of joy, there is enough. Remind me that there is enough, I pray.

Assurance of Pardon: Lord you are the path of life, fullness of joy and pleasure forevermore, so we can be confident of the truth: In Jesus Christ we are forgiven. 

Assurance of Pardon: Lord, it doesn’t matter if we come to you in the beginning, the middle or the end, we are assured of your grace. In Jesus Christ we are forgiven. 

Hymns: Amazing Grace

On Eagles Wings

Jesus, Priceless Treasure

Jesus, Thy Boundless Love to Me

There is a Wideness in God’s Mercy

Lord I wanna be a Christian in My Heart

 

Full List of Lenten Resources (Of course some prayers may be appropriate for other weeks)

Abundance of #Forgiveness: Seeds of #Prayer for #Lent March 10

4964341_orig.jpg

Abundance of Forgiveness Matthew 18:15-35  and Psalm 32:1-2

Call to Worship

Happy are those whose transgression is forgiven

Happy are those whose sin is covered

Our God is the God of mercy and forgiveness

Our God is our hiding place in times of trouble. Have faith our God will deliver us! 

Call to Worship

Be glad in the Lord and rejoice

Steadfast love surrounds those who trust in the Lord

God will teach us the way that we should go

Let us give a shout of joy, for the God of righteousness leads us!

Prayer of Confession: God we confess, seven times seventy times we have sinned. Yet you remain our hiding place, you preserve us when we are in trouble. Hear our cry for deliverance once again.

Prayer of Confession: Lord I will confess my sins to you, because I cannot hide my iniquities. I know if I confess my sins to you, you will forgive the guilt of my sin. Forgive me for I have sinned against you and yours. I have not honored my brothers and sisters in humanity, I have forgotten to take good stewardship of your earth and sky and sand. I have not taken good care of myself. Forgive me for each and every offense I pray.

Assurance of Pardon: Know that God’s mercies are new every morning. Each and every day we can know the truth: In Jesus Christ we are forgiven.

Assurance of Pardon: The rush of mighty waters shall not reach us. When we raise a prayer, God hears us. Thus we can trust the truth, in Jesus Christ we are forgiven.

Prayer of Dedication/ of the Day: Lord teach us your righteousness. Give us the words to confess our full self. Mend our cracks and iniquities, fill our holes and gasps so that we might fully realize and live into your kingdom we pray. Amen

Prayer of Dedication/of the Day: Lord, we know that evil exists. It is a tempting kind of evil that tells us both that we are not worthy of your love and also that we can skip over relational work and just take what we need. These flaws trick us into carrying on, and not seeking forgiveness. Teach us to pray, so that we can experience the abundance of your mercy and love today and every day. Amen.

Hymns: Seek Ye First the Kingdom of God

Every Time the Spirit Moves I will Pray

Jesu, Jesu, Fill Us with Your Love

Great is Thy Faithfulness

Breathe on Me Breath of God

 

 

Full List of Lenten Resources (Of course some prayers may be appropriate for other weeks)

 

Abundance of Blessings: Seeds of #Prayer for #Lent March 6th #AshWeds

March 6th: Matthew 18:1-9

Psalm 146:7c-10 or 51:1-3

Abundance of Blessings

"Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me." Psalm 51:10 (Scripture doodle of encouragement)

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/425027283575522346/Call to Worship

Our God is an awesome God!

He made heaven and earth and the sea and all that is in it.

God reigns from heaven above with wisdom, power and love

For our God is the one who executes justice for the oppressed, the one who gives food to the hungry.

Who cannot praise our God, Our God is an awesome God!

Our God is an awesome God, let us praise God together. 

Call to Worship

God, you are the God of the hungry, the blind and the oppressed.

We praise you for opening the eyes of the blind, for lifting up those who are bowed down, for upholding the orphan and the widow

Prayer of Confession: Lord we think that blessings are like pie. We confess we want to be the closest to God, because we think those closer to God will get the most blessings. Remind us that blessings are not pie. Remind us that your blessings are enough. In Christ’s name we pray. Amen.

Prayer of Confession: Lord, we admit that we sometimes cause stumbling blocks. We put things in other’s paths so they cannot succeed. Sometimes we even have to get out of our own way to be able to see you. Forgive us when we build walls, remind us to open any and all paths to Shalom, and help us be creators of those paths we pray.

Prayer of Confession: Lord I now my transgressions, my sin is before me and it is against you alone God, I have sinned. I have done what is evil in your sight. I was born imperfect. Remind me that you desire truth in my

Assurance of Pardon: Jesus promises us, that we are forgiven, loved and enough.

Assurance of Pardon: Our God is the God of healing, wholeness and peace. Our God gives us Shalom! Let us share the good news: In Jesus Christ we are forgiven. Amen

Assurance of Pardon: God promises to always execute justice, know that God’s justice includes mercy, hear the good news: In Jesus Christ you are forgiven.

Assurance of Pardon: The Lord will have mercy according to God’s steadfast love, blotting out all trangressions. Know we are loved and forgiven by God.

Prayer of Dedication/Prayer of the Day: God, you are the God of Hope precisely because you are the God of justice. When we forget who you are: open our eyes when we are blind, teach us again to feed the hungry, show to us how uphold the orphan so that we can remember who you are, Lord who will reign forever. Amen.

Hymns:

Savior Like a Shepherd Lead Us

Create In Me  Clean Heart

Jesus Thy Boundless Love to Me

 

A Short Order of Worship

Call to Worship: Happy are those whose help is the God of Jacob,

whose hope is in the Lord their God, 

who made heaven and earth,

 the sea, and all that is in them;

who keeps faith for ever; 

who executes justice for the oppressed;

   who gives food to the hungry. 

The Lord sets the prisoners free; 

the Lord opens the eyes of the blind.

The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down;

the Lord loves the righteous. —Psalm 146:5-8

Communion

Oral Story: Matthew 18:1-9 Who is the Greatest? 

Burning of Our Sins: The Lord says, if there’s a piece of you that causes you stumble, cut it off. What do you need to cut off or let go of ? Or what do you need to hang onto and grow so that you can be more joyful and curious like a child? (ceremonially burn our sins written on paper)

Imposition of the Ashes

Closing Prayer: Have mercy on me, O God,

   according to your steadfast love;

according to your abundant mercy

   blot out my transgressions. 

Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,

 and cleanse me from my sin.—Psalm 51:1-3

 

Full List of Lenten Resources (Of course some prayers may be appropriate for other weeks)

 

 

 

#Baptism of #Jesus some liturgy prayers

Call to Worship 

Come and See the Messiah

Let us prepare the way of the Lord

Here the good news, the kingdom of heaven has come near. 

Let us prepare our hearts to worship the Lord  

 

 

Call to Worship

Let us approach with fear and trembling, who wants to be baptized?

Prepare us for the Messiah, for to be washed clean can be scary.

Know this, the ways will be made straight, the way will be made clear.

God loves us and prepares our hearts for Jesus. 

 

Prayer of Confession: Lord sometimes we cry out with John the Baptist, because we know there is a brood vipers, worming their way into our lives. privileging  power and money and race over love and justice. Teach us how to make the paths straight we pray. 

Prayer of Confession (unison) Lord, we come laid bare, knowing that all of our faults and sins show. Remind us that you do not require perfection, only faith. Remind us that you do not ask for sacrifice, only the sacrifice of praise. Remind us that we are already beloved children of God, we pray.… (Silent Prayer)…Amen 

Prayer of Dedication: (unison) Send us into the world with fear and trembling, knowing at the paths will be made straight, and the way can be Prepared for Christ we pray. Amen.

 

Hymns: Amazing Grace, Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing, Spirit of the Living God, This is My Father’s World, They’ll Know We are Christians By Our Love

 

Magi & Epiphanies

cross posted on revgalblogpals.org

Its one of those rare Sundays when Narrative Lectionary and RCL mirror one another, and we all pause to celebrate Epiphany. Epiphany is a funny concept. We think of it as a sudden burst of inspiration, but experience is that it is more gradual, like the journey of the magi. Whether the magi come a few days after the birth of Jesus or when he was a toddler or preschooler, the magi are unique because they come after the fact. This gives me comfort, that perhaps its not too late to have an epiphany. Perhaps the window for learning and brilliant inspiration is not so tight as we would make it out to be.

Hook

This would make sense to me because humans need time to adjust. Maybe this is why Jesus grows into adulthood like an other human being. We need time to adjust–Mary and Joseph lost Jesus for 3 days and sort of forgot he was God during that time so there’s another story where adjustment is made manifest. We need time to get used to Jesus, we need time to get to know him. As Christians sometimes the question is asked, when did you first know Jesus? A seemingly innocuous query, I’m not sure that there is a clear answer. Maybe you can point to when your sense of Jesus started to develop but our relationship with God is ongoing and grows and changes with our sense of self.

I often think of how my sense of self grows and changes with time. How the moment of “Happy New Year” is just the beginning. Because even though I theoretically know its 2019, It will be weeks before I start putting the correct date on checks and papers. It will be month before the year gains some kind of shape and meaning and the realization that it actually is a new year will strike me again, and again until it becomes habit.

Knowing Jesus is like this for me, which is why I need the practice, even though I have had 30+ years of practicing the birth of Jesus Christ, its a slow, life-long realization that Christ was born on earth its a struggle to remember that Jesus was fully human like me and that God is somehow enfleshed deity  at the same time that he is human.

Its a journey. Like your career and your relationships. You might be a mother, daughter, wife but what that means grows and changes as a result. I wonder how the magi were changed after their journey. Did they become a family that reunion-ed with one another every year? Did they get so sick and tired of each other that they seldom met after that? Did they become the local storytellers, each telling a different and unique journey under the star to see Jesus?

Funny how the Magi all went on the same journey, but probably learned different things.  Funny how there are four different gospels in the Bible and each choose to focus on a different part of the nativity story. Funny that Matthew even knew about the Magi. Was he there? Did he sit in Mary’s kitchen and hear the story? Was it common knowledge in Bethlehem and Nazareth that these strangers made this journey?

Where do you find the epiphany in the text this week?

Let us know where you are finding God and Epiphany during this Holy Christmas Season.