Liturgy

We are here by God’s invitation,
to be fully present, to be here and now,
to bring all parts of our heart to the table.

Invite your joy and your grief.
Invite your peace and your fear.
Invite your confidence and your insecurity.
God has invited all of who we are here today.

This is a safe space and a sacred time
Where our complex and competing feelings
Meet with a confident and faithful God.

Our God believes us, even when others don’t.
Our God hopes in us, even when we don’t ourselves.

Bring all parts of yourself, bring all your stories,
for God is here to be present with us.

We pray in the name of our faithful God,
of our loving Savior,
and the Holy Spirit, our Advocate and Guide.
Amen.

(Sean Williams)

Community Confession

God, who heard the cry of your people, hear us now.

We are damaged, badly damaged,
Enslaved in the chains of our own making,
Imprisoned in the cells of our own creation,
Subject to the terms and conditions that we wrote for ourselves.

God, hear our confession.

You gave us the desire to abide in one another, to not be alone.
We have in our own captivity, trapped others in our pain.
In our quest to be our own masters, we have become
both slave and captor.

God, hear our confession.

In your mercy you reached down,
In your justice you gave us yourself,
In your grace you have come for us time after time.

Hear our confession.
Father who reaches for us,
Christ who loves us,
Spirit who binds us together,

Hear the cry of your people,
in the name of our Creator,
our Savior,
and our Breath of Life,
amen.

(Naomi Jackson)

Sermon and Reflection

Sermon Podcast 3.24.19 – Lenten Maturation

How can you sit with a part of you that might be flaring up, ready to mature?

What can you do to listen to the parts of you that need healing this week?

Benediction

At one time the divine appeared in elemental form,
just a flame, a burst of energy connected to our curiosity.

In another time the same God appeared in flesh and blood.
He lived amongst us, ate, drank, laughed, and wept.
He felt our wounds, carried our burdens, and shouldered our chains.

In dying, our chains were broken,
In resurrection, we are redeemed.
The God who came to us in our infancy comes to us now,
fully realized, fully revealed, fully glorified.
In Christ we are reconciled and seen,

Not as accidents or mistakes,
not for the sum of our failures,
We are seen as we are.

So go forth, and take peace in the promise, that

I Am,
He is,
We are.

Go in peace, live the church.
See you throughout the week.
Amen.

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

[Photo by @ Flickr]