Prayer as We Gather
We have a choice, Lord, in this holy hour: To echo apostle Paul’s earnest “we are what we are by God’s grace,” or to resign ourselves to helplessly hoping, gasping at glances, heartlessly helping ourselves to our bad dreams where confusion has its costs. Guide us toward the right option, we pray. Amen.*
- inspired by 1 Corinthians 15 and the poetry of David Crosby, Stephen Stills, Graham Nash and Neil Young
Call to Worship
Lord, I give thanks to you with all my heart.
I sing your praise before all other gods.
I thank you for your loyal love,
Because on the day I cried out, you answered me.
You still see the lowly,
But you keep your distance from the arrogant.
Whenever I am in deep trouble,
You make me live again. - from Psalm 138, The Common English Bible
Morning Prayer: Thank you, Lord, for your mischievous cunning, your quirky sense of humor in the face of our grim literalness. When we despair, as did prophet Isaiah, over having unclean lips and living among people whose lips are equally unclean, your winged messengers swoop among us in our smoke-clogged confusion and send us out to live our faith without fear. Where we see only a burned-over stump, you see a seedling of hope. Here we are, Lord, send us as Jesus did, saying...* - inspired by Isaiah 6
Prayer of Confession: We, the members of the Chapel Hill chapter of the Jesus Admiration Society assembled in weekly session, pause amidst our continuing refusal to actually follow Jesus as he commanded, to reluctantly ask your forgiveness, Lord. Like Jesus’ first disciples, who balked at his command to “row out farther – into the deep water – and drop your nets for a catch,” we’d really rather not, if it’s all the same to you. The deep cultural waters of angry entitlement and bigotry frighten us, almost as much as the notion of risking rejection and scorn by offering to pull our hurting, skeptical neighbors and co-workers into Jesus’ net of unconditional love and acceptance. Frankly, nobody told us during our initiation we were expected to invite others into this beloved UBC fellowship we’ve come to cherish. We’d prefer to just show up - occasionally - be kept warm in winter and cool in summer, enjoy some good sounds and hear an intellectually respectable sermon. But thank you for asking anyway, Lord. Amen.* - inspired by Luke 5
Assurance of Pardon: Hear the good news: Those same recalcitrant disciples, having first rebuffed Jesus’ presumptuous command to multiply themselves by inviting others to walk alongside him, at least had the good sense to grudgingly relent, mumbling “because you say so, we’ll drop the nets.” Surely Jesus smiled to himself, bemused by their childish behavior, just as he must chuckle when we drag our pouty little selves into his servant ministry. Because he understands us like he understood them, he offers us the same comforting counsel: “Don’t be afraid. From now on, you’ll be fishing for people.” If any among us here this morning have yet to experience the joy of introducing another person to Jesus’ heartbreaking acceptance, may this be the hour we do as those first unsure disciples did: “They left everything and followed Jesus.”* - inspired by Luke 5
Thought for a Sabbath: “Jesus paid for living in a ‘mixed’ world, which is both human and divine, simultaneously broken and utterly whole. He hung between a good thief and a bad thief, between heaven and earth, inside of both humanity and divinity, a male body with a feminine soul, utterly whole and yet utterly disfigured– holding together all the primary opposites.” - Richard Rohr, Franciscan Friar