Sunday, December 9, 2018

Prayer as We Gather:  Lord of stark surprises, hear our Advent echo of old man Zechariah’s ecstatic promissory outburst at his infant son John’s dedication, covenant words our troubled world longs to trust once more:  “God has come to help, has shown the mercy promised, has granted us rescue so we could serve without fear!”   Lord, in these days when hate mongers would control us by making us afraid, may your deep compassion “give light to those in darkness and guide us on the path of peace.”  We have indeed been rescued so we could serve.  May this holy hour prepare us to do just that.  Amen.*(Mitchell Simpson, inspired by Luke 1)

Call to Worship:

Bless the Lord God of Israel, who has come to help and deliver us.

God has raised up a mighty Savior, delivered us from our enemies.

God has shown the mercy promised in holy covenant,

The solemn pledge made to our ancestor Abraham.

God granted that we would be rescued from our enemies

So we could serve without fear in holiness, as long as we live.

Because of our God’s deep compassion,

Heaven’s dawn will break upon us,

To give light to those sitting in darkness and death’s shadow,

To guide us on the path of peace. (Luke 1, Common English Bible)

Morning Prayer:  Incarnate God, you who became flesh in a Hebrew boy birthed to a peasant teen mom and first celebrated by rough-hewn shepherds of little regard in their own culture, thank you for showing up when we least expect you, and for all those who partner with us in ministry in our beloved UBC community.  We echo apostle Paul’s gratitude that “the one who started a good work in you will stay with you to complete the job.”  We hold close in our hearts all those grace-companions through whom we have known the compassion of Jesus, and we long to become ”even more rich with insight, able to decide what really matters,” for we make our appeal through the risen Lord who gave us words by which to approach your majestic presence, saying …*(Mitchell Simpson, inspired by Philippians 1)

Prayer of Confession:  Forgive, Lord, our chronic rejection of prophetic voices you send among us, like socially unacceptable baptizer John with his brazen assaults upon the fragile sensibilities of religious and political functionaries, whose primary instinct is always to protect their turf.  May we never shrink from speaking truth to corrupt excess, whether it be education factories’ sports boosters spewing obscene $12 million ransoms to coaches in return for not coaching, or cowardly administrators embracing slavery’s evil by enshrining its hideous monuments in $5 million mausoleums mandated by sniveling legislators who begrudge teachers a fair living wage, all under the banner of a state motto which implores us “to be, rather than to seem.”  Why in the world do you put up with us, Lord?  Amen. (Mitchell Simpson, inspired by Luke 3)

Assurance of Pardon:  Hear the good news:  When baptizer John dared demand of his listeners that they turn from darkness, showing by their baptism “they were changing their hearts and lives and wanted God to forgive their sins,” he was also speaking to you and me. Channeling his prophet precursor Isaiah’s wilderness cry, John laid down for us the imperative by which we are meant to live as disciples of Jesus:  “Prepare the way for the Lord; make his paths straight.”  Thanks be to God for that privileged assignment, and the radical promise implicit within it, never more needed than in these days of mounting despair:  “The crooked will be made straight and the rough places made smooth.”  May it be so, Lord, soon and very soon!*(Mitchell Simpson, inspired by Luke 3)

Thought for an Advent Sabbath:  “Jesus was a dangerous man – dangerous to the power structure, dangerous to the church, dangerous to the crowds of people who followed Him.  Shouldn’t the followers of Jesus also be dangerous?” – Michael Yaconelli

Sunday, December 2, 2018

Prayer as We Gather:  Finish what you started, Lord, fulfilling your gracious promise first delivered to our Hebrew forebears and made flesh in the person of Jesus:  “I will raise up a righteous branch, who will do what is just and right in the land.”  On this first Advent Sunday, may we see ourselves as the latest crop of righteous branches, faithfully bearing fruit in our own day and doggedly pursuing justice amidst a forlorn people desperately in need of hope.  Amen.*(Mitchell Simpson, inspired by Jeremiah 33)

Call to Worship:

I offer my life to you, Lord; I trust you. 

Please don’t let me be put to shame!

Make your ways known to me, Lord;

Teach me your paths.

Lead me in your truth, because I put my hope in you all day long.

Lord, don’t remember the sins of my youth.

The Lord is good and does the right thing.

God guides the weak to justice.

All the Lord’s paths are loving and faithful

For those who keep God’s covenant.  (Psalm 25, the Common English Bible)

Morning Prayer:  Lord, how can we ever thank you enough for all the joy you’ve given?  Even the confusion roaring all about us bears witness to Jesus’ warning of the fear and foreboding sure to beset those  who dare to follow him.  Advent, with its yearning for a Messiah “coming on a cloud with power and great splendor,”  summons us to take courage:  “Stand up straight and raise your heads, because your redemption is near.” Help us heed Jesus’ bracing call to stay alert in just such times as these, so we might be “strong enough to escape everything that is about to happen.”  Bring it on, Lord, for we pray as he taught us to pray, saying …*(Mitchell Simpson, inspired by 1 Thessalonians 3 and Luke 21)

Sunday, November 25, 2018

Prayer as We Gather:  Finish what you started, Lord, fulfilling your gracious promise first delivered to our Hebrew forebears and made flesh in the person of Jesus:  “I will raise up a righteous branch, who will do what is just and right in the land.”  On this first Advent Sunday, may we see ourselves as the latest crop of righteous branches, faithfully bearing fruit in our own day and doggedly pursuing justice amidst a forlorn people desperately in need of hope.  Amen.*(Mitchell Simpson, inspired by Jeremiah 33)

Call to Worship:

I offer my life to you, Lord; I trust you. 

Please don’t let me be put to shame!

Make your ways known to me, Lord;

Teach me your paths.

Lead me in your truth, because I put my hope in you all day long.

Lord, don’t remember the sins of my youth.

The Lord is good and does the right thing.

God guides the weak to justice.

All the Lord’s paths are loving and faithful

For those who keep God’s covenant.  (Psalm 25, the Common English Bible)

Morning Prayer:  Lord, how can we ever thank you enough for all the joy you’ve given?  Even the confusion roaring all about us bears witness to Jesus’ warning of the fear and foreboding sure to beset those  who dare to follow him.  Advent, with its yearning for a Messiah “coming on a cloud with power and great splendor,”  summons us to take courage:  “Stand up straight and raise your heads, because your redemption is near.” Help us heed Jesus’ bracing call to stay alert in just such times as these, so we might be “strong enough to escape everything that is about to happen.”  Bring it on, Lord, for we pray as he taught us to pray, saying …*(Mitchell Simpson, inspired by 1 Thessalonians 3 and Luke 21)

Sunday, November 18, 2018

Prayer as We Gather

Lord, commercial images of joyful family Thanksgiving gatherings often magnify our personal sense of loneliness or loss. We come this holy hour seeking encouragement, remembering Hannah’s honest response to priest Eli’s accusation that she was drunk: “No, sir! I’m just a very sad woman, praying out of my great worry and trouble!” Grant us the same blessing he bestowed upon her when he recognized her sadness: “Then go in peace, and may God give you what you need!” Amen.*                      - inspired by 1 Samuel 1

Call to Worship  (Hannah’s Prayer)                                                            

My heart rejoices in the Lord!

There is no rock like our God!

Don’t go on talking so proudly, spouting arrogance,

Because the Lord is the God who knows and weighs every act.

The Lord brings death, gives life, makes poor, gives wealth,

Brings low, but also lifts up high!

God raises the poor from the dust,

Gives them the seat of honor!

The pillars of the earth belong to the Lord;

No one succeeds by strength alone.          - 1 Samuel  2, Common English Bible

Morning Prayer                 

 Among the sources of our thankfulness to you, Lord, none is more sacred than your promise recorded in Hebrews: “This is the covenant I will make with my children - I will place my laws in their hearts and write them on their minds, and I won’t remember their sins anymore.” Thank you for our warm, accepting UBC church family and the scripture-grounded worship services we share, faithful reminders of that eternal covenant. May we never forget Hebrew’s counsel: “Don’t’ stop meeting together with other believers, as some have done. Instead, encourage each other,” for we pray as Jesus taught us, saying …*       - inspired by Hebrews 16

Prayer of Confession                                                                                           

Forgive us, Lord, for being thick as a brick when it comes to your vision for our lives. Like Jesus’ disciples marveling at the temple’s grandeur (”Look, what awesome stones and buildings!”), we have too often substituted architecture for faithfulness. Equally misguided as Jesus’ inner circle who failed to grasp the symbolism underlying his prediction of the temple’s destruction, we long to know “What sign will show that all these things are about to come to an end?” Little wonder Jesus warned them to watch out for deceivers: “Many people will come, saying ‘I am the one!’” Have mercy on our perennial willingness to be seduced by tyrants, Amen.*               - inspired by Mark 13                                                                                              

Assurance of Pardon                                                                                        

I have good news! No matter how distracted, how alarmed, how unsure of the future we may be, the risen Jesus is among us to reassure us and steady our resolve. Like his earliest followers, we hunger for clues to what is coming next, echoing their panic in demanding “What sign will show that all these things are about to come to an end?” Now as then, our patient Lord refuses to lower himself to the level of our unbelief, insisting “When you hear of wars and reports of wars, don’t be alarmed. These things will happen, but this isn’t the end.” Thanks be to God for an unflappable Savior who is unmoved by the hysteria of twitter, Facebook or the latest poll numbers.*            - inspired by Mark 13

Thought for a Thanksgiving Sabbath

“Happiness is having a large, loving, caring, close-knit family in another city.”                                                                                                  

 -  George Burns

Sunday, November 11, 2018

Prayer as we Gather: God of constant renewal,  we lean heavily just now upon your ancient, faithful way -  restoring life and sustaining us as the years accumulate.  In this holy hour, deal with us as you dealt with Naomi, restoring her hope in the future and surrounding her with those whose loyalty and care never wavered.  Amen.*(Mitchell Simpson, inspired by Ruth 3)

Call to Worship:

Unless it is the Lord who builds the house,

The builders’ work is pointless.

Unless it is the Lord who protects the city,

The guard on duty is pointless.

It is pointless that you get up early and stay up late in hard labor,

Because God gives sleep to those God loves.  (from Psalm 127, Common English Bible)

Morning Prayer:  How comforting, Lord, how reassuring to know that in this very minute as we join our sisters and brothers in prayer, Jesus our advocate is appearing on our behalf in your presence, pleading our case with sighs too deep for words.  Why should we ever be fearful again, bolstered as we are by such an image of our Savior’s entreating love?  May our time together find us strengthened to re-enter the fray of human suffering and conflict, secure in knowing that, while we were still sinners, Jesus died to show us the lengths to which you will go to demonstrate your love for all your wandering, broken children.  We appeal to you in words he taught us, saying …*(Mitchell Simpson, inspired by Hebrews 9)

Prayer of Confession:  Forgive us, Lord, for dodging your fair warning to beware the small minds and huge egos of religious experts.  Jesus’ caricature continues to hold sway, his portrait of sad little self-important functionaries strutting about in long clerical robes, desperate to be greeted with honor in the marketplace.  With the lessons of Big Bank’s corporate greed still tragically unheeded from our most recent recession, we lurch perilously forward amidst ominous economic rumblings and the earnest calls of outnumbered contemporary prophets to turn back toward fiscal sanity, calls we so blithely choose to ignore.  Have mercy on our refusal to learn from past mistakes, we pray.  Amen.*(Mitchell Simpson, inspired by Mark 12)

 Assurance of Pardon:  Hear the good news:  Just as when he sat opposite the collection box in the temple treasury observing how the crowd gave their money, so even now he notes the manner and spirit of our giving more than the sheer amount.   Teach us your way, O Lord, the way of sacrificial giving Jesus commended in the spirit and manner of the poor widow who  “from her hopeless poverty gave everything she had, even what she needed to live on,” whereas so many religious folk then and now “are giving out of their spare change.”  Thanks be to God for the generosity of UBC’s beloved community and the missions-based ministry their giving undergirds.*(Mitchell Simpson, inspired by Mark 12)

Thought for a Sabbath Day:  “What can you do to promote world peace?  Go home and love your family.”    - Mother Teresa

Sunday, November 4, 2018, All Saints Day

Prayer as We Gather:  On this All Saints Day, Lord, the joyful spirits of past worshipers press in upon us as we slip into the pew.  They, like we here today, bore with them into worship the weight of care, the pain of loss, the hope for redemption, clinging to a stubborn trust in your power to heal and forgive.  They came seeking the same set of searching Galilean eyes, the same gentle shepherd’s caress, the same mirth-filled, compassionate voice of high priest Jesus we long to discover.  Wash our weary conscience clean of death-dealing chaos all about us, so we might serve you, our living God, by obeying your command to welcome the immigrant stranger at our borders.  Amen.*(Mitchell Simpson, inspired by Hebrews 9)

Call to Worship:

All my life long I’ll praise God,

Singing songs to my God as long as I live.

Don’t put your life in the hands of experts,

Who know nothing of salvation life.

Mere humans don’t have what it takes;

When they die, their projects die with them.

Instead, put your hope in God and know real blessing!

God defends the wronged, feeds the hungry.

God frees prisoners and lifts up the fallen.

God protects strangers, takes the side of orphans and widows,

But makes short work of the wicked.

God’s in charge – always.* (Psalm 146, The Message)

Morning Prayer:  Thank you,  Lord, for calling us to follow Jesus in such a time as this, when our choices between privileged entitlement and the needs of the dispossessed are so clear.  May we see the voting booth as holy ground, sacred to the memory of true patriots “who more than self their country loved, and mercy more than life!”  Help us safeguard the hallowed, self-evident truth that all your children are created equal in your sight, for we pray in the name of One who taught us to love you with all our heart, dying on a cross for daring to resist the unholy powers of the nation-state, saying …*(Mitchell Simpson, inspired by Mark 12 and the poetry of Katherine Lee Bates)

Prayer of Confession:  Forgive us, Lord, for reducing scripture to fairy-tale status, as when we tame the Ruth-Naomi narrative into a primer on “how to catch a husband.”  May we free it from its cage, liberating God, releasing the fury of this subversive Hebrew parable intended to undermine the authority of male priests trying to “Purify” Israel by ostracizing foreign women.  Have mercy on our flag-draped resistance to scripture’s command that we welcome the immigrant at our gates.  Save us from groveling at the altar of nationalism, we pray. Amen.*(Mitchell Simpson, inspired by Ruth 1)

Assurance of Pardon:  I have good news:  Flowing like a mighty river just beneath the surface of Ruth’s pledge of loyalty to Naomi is the life-giving theme of returning, the freedom God allows us to turn and reclaim the best of those things that shaped our past.  We do not have to remain silently bound by crippling chains that would squelch our truer selves and prevent our walking in faith.   We are free to become the persons God intended us to be from the moment we were conceived.  Thanks be to God that we need not fear the demons from our past, but may forever hold fast to the best that has gone before!*(Mitchell Simpson, inspired by Ruth 1)

Sunday, November 11, 2018

Prayer as We Gather

God of constant renewal, we lean heavily just now upon your ancient, faithful way -  restoring life and sustaining us as the years accumulate. In this holy hour, deal with us as you dealt with Naomi, renewing her hope in the future and surrounding her with those whose loyalty and care never wavered. Amen.*            

Call to Worship                                                                                                        

Unless it is the Lord who builds the house,

The builders’ work is pointless.

Unless it is the Lord who protects the city,

The guard on duty is pointless.

It is pointless that you get up early and stay up late in hard labor,

Because God gives sleep to those God loves.         - Psalm 127, Common English Bible

Morning Prayer                                                                                                   

How comforting, Lord, to know that this very minute as we join our sisters and brothers in prayer, Jesus our advocate is appearing on our behalf in your presence, pleading

our case with sighs too deep for words.  Why should we ever be fearful again,

bolstered as we are by our Savior’s entreating love?  May our time together find us strengthened to re-enter the fray of human suffering and conflict, secure in knowing that, while we were still sinners, Jesus died to show us the lengths to which you go to demonstrate your love for all your wandering, broken children.  We appeal to you in words he taught us, saying …*                                                        - inspired by Hebrews 9

Prayer of Confession                                                                                           

Forgive us, Lord, for dodging your warning to beware the small minds and huge egos

of religious experts. Jesus’ caricature still holds sway, his portrait of sad little self-important functionaries strutting about in long clerical robes, desperate to be greeted with honor in the marketplace. As we lurch perilously forward amidst ominous

economic rumblings and earnest, prophetic calls for fiscal sanity, have mercy on our refusal to learn from past mistakes and bad religion. Amen.             - inspired by Mark 12

Assurance of Pardon                                                                                         

Hear the good news: Just as when Jesus sat opposite the collection box in the temple treasury observing how the crowd gave their money, so even now he notes the spirit  of our giving more than the amount. Teach us your way, O Lord, the way of sacrificial giving Jesus commended in the poor widow who “from her hopeless poverty gave everything she had, even what she needed to live on,” whereas so many religious folk then and now “are giving out of their spare change.” Thanks be to God for the generosity of UBC’s beloved community and the  missions-based ministry our giving undergirds.*                                                                                                    - inspired by Mark 12

Thought for a Sabbath: “What can you do to promote world peace? Go home and love your family.”                        - Mother Teresa

Sunday, October 28, 2018

Prayer as We Gather:  Eternal God, may this holy hour find our priorities rearranged like Job’s, whose fortunes changed when he began to pray for his friends.  Grant us the consolation they provided to his troubled spirit, once his attention shifted from himself to the needs of others.  Help us shift likewise, so we too may one day die as Job died, “old and satisfied.”  Amen.*(Mitchell Simpson, inspired by Job 42)

Call to Worship:

I live and breathe God, who freed me from my anxious fears,

Met me more than halfway, got me out of a tight spot when I was desperate.

Taste and see how good God is!

Blessed are those who run to God.

Worshiping God opens doors to all God’s goodness,

So come listen closely for a lesson in God worship.

Guard your tongue from lying, turn your back on sin.

Do something good: Embrace peace, don’t let it get away!

Disciples so often get into trouble;

Still, God is there every time.  (excerpted from Psalm 34, The Message)

Morning Prayer:  Thank you, Lord, amidst daily reminders of our changeable, tenuous existence, for the one great constant in our lives:  Jesus, our High Priest, holds that office permanently, not subject to electoral whim or human mortality.  Unable to trust the integrity of those who have pushed and shoved their way to the front of the powers-that-be line, we turn our weary hearts to Jesus, who alone is able to rescue us, and who “always lives to speak with God for us.”   We pray as he instructed us, saying … *(Mitchell Simpson, inspired by Hebrews 7)

Prayer of Confession:  Forgive, O Lord, our stubborn refusal to trust your capacity for the miraculous.  Like the orthodox crowd of Jesus’ day who, trapped within their stifling sense of what is possible, scolded a blind man for crying out to Jesus for healing, we have timidly hedged our bets on what miracles you might perform among us.  Our tidy little lives offer scant resemblance to the thoroughly dangerous man we claim as Messiah, giving the skeptical world little reason to believe anything we say about Jesus.  Have mercy on our peculiar form of spiritual blindness.  Amen.*(Mitchell Simpson, inspired by Mark 10)

Assurance of Pardon:  I have good news, perhaps too good for you to believe:  When Jesus asked the blind man “What do you want me to do for you?” he answered without hesitation “Teacher, I want to see,” to which Jesus replied simply:  “Go, your faith has healed you.”  Sound too simple?  Perhaps your apparently unanswered prayers have less to do with Jesus hearing them and more to do with your unwillingness to act upon what you already know to do.  Thanks be to God for the miracle of the possible!*(Mitchell Simpson, inspired by Mark 10)

Thought for a Sabbath Day:  “Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, even you.” - Anne Lamott, Writer

Sunday, October 21, 2018

Prayer as We Gather:  Lord, help us never take ourselves too seriously, especially when we assemble for worship.  Keep us tethered to the healthy humor of your response to Job’s questions, reminding us of our limits, our inability to even “give understanding to a rooster.”   In our prayers, songs and promises this holy hour, may we crow less and obey you more.  Amen.*(Mitchell Simpson, inspired by Job 38)

Call to Worship:

God, my God, how great you are!

Robed in sunshine, all heaven stretched out for your tent.

You set earth on a firm foundation,

So nothing can shake it, ever.

Mountains pushed up, valleys spread out

In the places you assigned them.

What a wildly wonderful world, God!

You made it all, with Wisdom at your side. (excerpted from Psalm 104, The Message)

Morning Prayer:  Lord, perhaps nothing so bluntly distinguishes Jesus’ life from ours as the simple disclaimer in Hebrews:  “Christ did not promote himself.”  Surely we are ill-prepared, we of the voyeuristic, selfie-snapping crowd ever eager to experience the next big thing and broadcast widely our involvement in it, to grasp such a concept or follow such an apparently boring example as his.  From our first breath, we are goaded toward embracing our own American exceptionalism, whether on the playing field, in the classroom or around the family dinner table.  Yet how starkly does Jesus set himself athwart such misguided “look-at-me”-ism.  We thank you, therefore, that when we congregate as the beloved community called church, we are freed from any bleak need to offer showy sacrifices to impress others, but are held to the higher standard Jesus himself embraced, confident of your hearing him because of his devotion, a faithful obedience refined through personal suffering.  Incline our hearts toward such obedient suffering, for we pray as Jesus taught us, saying …*(Mitchell Simpson, inspired by Hebrews 5)

Prayer of Confession:  Forgive us, Lord, for living lives that mimic the opening line of a tired old joke:  “Did you hear the one about the Republican and the Democrat who both wanted God to do whatever they asked?”  Yet here we are, in the run-up to the latest in a series of elections clouded by clamorous voices on all sides, warning that electing their adversaries will surely mean the end of life on earth as we know it.  Maybe Jesus’ honest rejoinder to our political zealotry is the same as his response to those disciple brothers who demanded he allow them to be seated on his right and left in the Kingdom:  “You don’t know what you’re asking!”  If it is true that we elect the leaders we deserve, surely we must be humbled enough by now to finally abandon our need to exercise authority over others, an obsession Jesus stoutly ridiculed:  “That’s not the way it will be with you.  Whoever wants to be great among you will be your servant, whoever wants to be first will be the slave of all.  I came to give my life to liberate many people.”  Have mercy on our attempts to morph Jesus into a cheesy, popular icon.  Amen.*(Mitchell Simpson, inspired by Mark 10)

Assurance of Pardon:  Hear the good news, as relayed by one coming late to the faith: “It’s not that the gospel has been tried and found wanting, but that the gospel has been found difficult and left untried.”  It is not impossible to follow Jesus, just not a task for the faint of heart or the easily discouraged.  Serving others through the ministries of our beloved community at UBC, becoming the willing slave of people who have never known compassion or tenderness, most assuredly leads to an eternal form of greatness, an abiding sense of being first in ways unknown by the madding crowd of competitors jostling for attention and praise in the marketplace.  Thanks be to God for the first-rate privilege of being last but not least!*(Mitchell Simpson, inspired by Mark 10 and the droll wit of G.K. Chesterton)

Thought for a Sabbath Day:  “Sharing is the path between the fear of deprivation and the shame of undeserved privilege.”   -  Peter W. Marty, publisher of The Christian Century

Sunday, October 14, 2018

Prayer as We Gather:  Rescuing God, Job’s plea speaks for us as we gather for worship this morning:  “Oh, that I could know how to find God, I would lay out my case and understand what God would say to me.”  We come seeking an audience with you, Lord, surrounded as we are with clashing opinions and strident, angry voices.  But Job’s assuring rhetorical question-and-answer comfort us:  “Would God contend with me through brute force?  No, God would surely listen to me.”  Listen to your children praying, Lord.  We need you every hour.  Amen.*(Mitchell Simpson, inspired by Job 23)

Call to Worship:

God, why did you dump me miles from nowhere?

I call to God in pain:  No answer.  Nothing.

Are you indifferent, God, above it all,

Leaning back on the cushions of Israel’s praise?

We know you were there for our parents:

They cried for your help and you gave it.

Everyone pokes fun at me, they make faces at me.

I need a neighbor, Lord; I need you.*(excerpted from Psalm 22)

Morning Prayer:  Thank you, Lord, for the hope-charged voltage surging through Hebrews, the funky New Testament letter/sermon/essay.  Just when our world appears to be wobbling dangerously out of control, just when it seems the center will not hold, just when the latest vestige of some rough beast slouches toward Washington to be born in the latest hideous incarnation of chaos, the writer's strong voice pulls us back into a sheltering sanity, insisting "God's word is living and active, sharper than any double-edged sword; nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight, everything is uncovered and laid bare."  May your living Word inspire Christ-centered activism behalf of the voiceless among us, buoyed by a confident patience that, in the fullness of time, all the narcissistic pretenders to the crown will be crushed beneath the weight of your unassailable truth, for we pray as Jesus taught us to pray, saying ... *(Mitchell Simpson, inspired by Hebrews 4 and the visionary poetry of William Butler Yeats) 

Prayer of Confession:  Forgive us, Lord, our resemblance to the man whose pretense at discipleship was a thin disguise of his truer loyalty to wealth and possessions. We assemble ourselves for Sunday worship, some vague desire "to inherit eternal life" dancing in our heads like sugar plums, only to be affronted by Jesus' withering, loving demand that we sell our stuff and give to the poor.  At worship's end, we stumble sadly back into a world intent upon proving Jesus a fool, convinced that following Him is as impossible as a big ol' hairy camel squeezing through the eye of a needle.  Have mercy on our schizophrenic waltz of belief/unbelief.  Amen.*(Mitchell Simpson, inspired by Mark 10)

Assurance of Pardon:  Hear the good news:  Though Jesus never implied it would be easy to follow Him, especially when we are toting on our backs the self-imposed burden of possessions and the crushing weight of status infatuation, he was equally adamant that "all things are possible with God."  Indeed, the gaunt Galilean went even further, promising that those willing to pay discipleship's dues of persecution would be richly rewarded, both in this life and in the age to come, with a quality of life that is eternal. Thanks be to God for coming to us in human form, forging on the cross an eternal covenant worth every instance of self-denial it incurs.*(Mitchell Simpson, inspired by Mark 10)

Thought for a Sabbath Day:  "The present is the past rolled up for action, and the past is the present unrolled for understanding."   - Will Durant, historian