April 12, 2015

Liturgy Reflection & Benediction 04.12.2015

Liturgy

We believe in God who speaks through
the prophets and lifts our gaze up to
high and beautiful paths and peaks.

We believe in Christ Jesus, free of corruption
yet willingly numbered among the sinners,
baptized in the waters of the Jordan.

We believe in the Spirit who rested on Jesus
like a dove, and who inspired him with such
love as the world has not seen before or since.

We believe that those who are baptized into
Christ shall share his Spirit, his mission
and his ultimate victory over sin and death.

We believe that there is no human ability that
can not be enlarged,and no weakness that
can not be used by Christ to the praise of God.

We believe this believing is a gift from
God, not to be used for self-gratification
but for the building up of the church
and for humble service the world.

We believe in ourselves as baptized children of God,
the recipients of a healing grace which precedes and
supersedes all our efforts to be true.

With the help of God, we will attempt to live
our belief all the days of our lives, and by his
grace, dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

We worship and pray in the name
of the Father,
of the Risen Son
and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.

Community Confession

Almighty Jesus, the Savior of the heavens and earth,
we confess that we do not always live into the message
of hope and salvation, the promise of eternal life.
Lord, our risen and victorious one, hear our prayers.

We live in ways that make the here and
now more important than the future.
We live in ways that put ourselves and our
own success first over the needs of others
and the long-term needs of the world.

We live in ways where we ignore your presence with us,
too preoccupied with only what we think is important.
Lord, our risen and victorious one, have mercy on us.

Forgive our selfish ways and
call us to your path, Christ, you
who humbled himself and gave
himself up for us on the cross,

so that death might be no more
and that all can share in the joy
of salvation and eternal life.

We pray in the name of the Father,
of the risen Son
and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.

Benediction

May our lives be a river.
May we flow with the purpose of the One
who created and called us, who directs
our courses and turns us ever toward home.

May our way shimmer with the light
of Christ who goes with us, who
bears us up, who calls us by name,
to give life to all we meet along the way.

May we move with the grace of
the Spirit who brooded over the
face of the waters at the beginning
and who will gather us in at the end.

Let us leave here, celebrating and serving
with the love of the Father,
of the Risen Son
and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.

Go in peace and live the church.
See you throughout the week.

[Photo by Renata Chebel @ Flickr]

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