Liturgy

Blessed are you, Vox family.
Let us begin our liturgy with a prayer.
Our responses are highlighted in yellow.

Breathe deeply in
And slowly out.
You have arrived.
You are here with us,
With God,
In this moment.

Amen! We breathe in God’s peace.

We lean towards God.
God leans toward us.
Neither grief nor loss,
Nor distance nor time,
Nor error nor injustice
can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.

Amen! We are God’s beloved.

We welcome all into this family.
Some need to be held,
some need to be fed,
some need to be forgiven,
some need to find solace.
Awaken us to this Holy Community.

Amen! We rest in the care of the Divine Companion.

With faith, hope, and love,
Breath, peace, and fire,
we pray to the Triune God,
who hears,
who holds,
who heals, amen.

(Elise Bjork)

Scripture Reading

We invite you to hear from the Gospel of Luke 6: 20-22.

20 Then he looked up at his disciples and said:
“Blessed are you who are poor,
for yours is the kingdom of God.

21 “Blessed are you who are hungry now,
for you will be filled.
“Blessed are you who weep now,
for you will laugh.

22 “Blessed are you when people hate you,
and when they exclude you, revile you,
and defame you on account of the Son of Man.

The Word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God!

The grass withers and the flower fades,
but the Word of the Lord endures forever. Amen.

Homily and Reflection

Homily Podcast – When God Leans Toward Us 02.20.2022

What mistaken notions of God might we have inherited?

Who are we being called to lean toward?

What does a Christ-like response to violence look like?

Benediction

A new day dawns and welcomes us
into the light. We stumble, we bound.
Our imperfections reveal our humanity.
Blessed are our blemishes.
May we love them as ourselves.

The afternoon folds into evensong.
We recline, we reflect.
We are more than the sum of our parts.
Blessed is our complexity.
May we celebrate our identities.

The stars emerge, the moon glows bright.
We sleep, we dream. Our hopes and fears
swirl sweetly in our subconscious.
Blessed are the pathways of our mind.
May they freely guide us into tomorrow.

We pray all this in the Holy name
of God, the Dreamer,
Christ, the Sun,
and Holy Spirit, the Path.
Amen.

(Elise Bjork)

Go in peace, and live the church.
May you find belonging and community this week.

[Photo by Nare Gevorgyan]