Prayer as We Gather
We enter your tent of meeting this holy hour, Lord, bearing witness to a long pastoral obedience in the same direction. Thank you, God of our Hebrew forebears, for Abraham's stalwart example in stepping away from the familiar in response to your bidding to seek "the land I will show you,” going out not knowing where you were leading him. Grant us strength to do likewise, mindful that "the will of God will never lead us where the grace of God cannot keep us." Amen.* - inspired by Genesis 12, the wisdom of Eugene Peterson, and words inscribed on a tattered old bookmark
Call to Worship:
I raise my eyes toward the mountains.
Where will my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord,
The maker of heaven and earth.
God won't let your foot slip.
Your protector won't fall asleep on the job.
The Lord will protect you from all evil;
God will protect your very life.
The Lord will protect you on your journeys,
From now until forever from now. (From Psalm 121, The Common English Bible)
Morning Prayer: Open our eyes, Lord, so we might see how ripe for harvest are the fields of ministry opportunity all around us. Grant us the sheer unbridled joy of the woman, soul-weary from being passed among too many men already, whose chance encounter with Jesus at a well turned out to be no mere chance at all. Soften our defenses as we stand in the presence of One who knows everything we've done, yet loves us still. May we, like Jesus, be nurtured by spiritual food about which the world knows nothing, nourishment realized only by doing your will, Lord. In the challenging days of pastoral transition just ahead, remind us how your called out and gathered church needs for some to sow, others to harvest, so all may celebrate your love made known to us by the Galilean carpenter who taught us to pray, saying … *(Inspired by John 4)
Prayer of Confession: As Lent's dark mystery unfolds before us, Lord, forgive our deliberate misappropriation of the cross event as some tawdry sacrificial transaction by which an angry God is assuaged, bought off by the necessary death of an innocent victim. Shatter our 2,000 year illusion that somehow everything changed on Calvary, a distorted notion transforming you into the Sacrificer-in-Chief, ignoring Jesus' teaching, reducing the scope of his influence to the last three hours of his life. Have mercy on our utter rejection of apostle Paul's insistence that we are equally "saved by His life." Hammer into our souls the abiding truth that nothing about you changed on Calvary, God, but everything was revealed as your suffering love - so we could change! Amen.*(Inspired by Romans 5 and the searing wisdom of Franciscan friar Richard Rohr)
Assurance of Pardon: Hear the good news: The Kingdom of God has never depended upon our goodness, purity or endurance. Neither has the truth of God's love, revealed in Calvary's cruciform grace, ever been limited to our petty creeds and mumbled confessions. Nor does our deliverance from our own dark selves depend on some unnatural, self-invoked strength of will. Rather, as the irascible apostle redeemed from the strictures of legalistic religion came finally to know when his own orthodox world crashed around him, "the love of God has been poured out in our hearts through Holy Spirit, who has been given to us." Thanks be to God, in whose presence we continue to stand amazed, for a love that will not let us go.*(Inspired by Romans 5 and the poetry of George Matheson)
Thought for a Lenten Sabbath: "To be true to itself, the church needs to be in trouble. The ancient name of that trouble is the cross. The gospel message to such Christian communities in cruciform trouble is that they are in the right place at the right time." - James McClendon, Jr.