Liturgy

God of love,
plant us in the soil of your grace.
Nurture us with the strength of Christ,
the vine of everlasting life.

Enlighten us with the wisdom of your Spirit,
which flows through us today and all days.

Abide in us,
that we may abide in you
and live in your love.

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

Community Confession

Gracious God, at times our sins
and our pain feel too heavy to carry,
too real to hide, and too deep to undo.

Forgive what our lips tremble to name,
what our hearts can no longer bear,
and what has become for us
a consuming fire of judgement.

Our hearts are angry.
Our minds are anxious.
Our burdens are overwhelming.

Have mercy on us and hold us in your love.
Help us to surrender the things that were
never ours to begin with.
Temper our spirits with the
your gentle righteousness.

Set us free from a past that we can not change.
open us to a future in which we can be changed,
and grant us grace to grow more in your likeness
through Jesus Christ, the true vine.

This we ask
of our Creator God,
of the Son, our Savior,
and the Holy Spirit, our breath of life.
Amen.
(Adapted from the Covenant Hymnal)

Sermon and Reflection

Sermon Podcast 10.28.18 – Rootedness: Forming Roots

How is Christ inviting the disappointment of our exterior lives to deepen into our interior lives?

What does it look like to root together with the Vox community this season?

Benediction

May the God who knitted you together in your mother’s womb
continue the work of knitting you together into life and into community.

For while we may be satisfied in our simplicity,
God still finds a way to shape and form us,
to fill the blank spaces with shade and dimension,
and present his creation as the masterpiece
it was always intended to be.

May the body of Christ be as real for us as our own physical bodies
Let us not just carry each other’s pain and burdens but also our joy and delight
Rejoice that we are not alone, but that the One who loves us runs alongside us.

Go today, confident in the God that created you,
that his work will continue to unfold in our world.
Be rooted in the love of Christ who calls us his friends,
and gather strength from the life giving
Spirit of God to share the Gospel of Truth.

In the name of
our Father,
the Son,
and the Holy Spirit.
Amen.

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

[Photo by Martin Canova @ Flickr]