Liturgy
God, we approach you in awe of the everyday miracles you have lent us
this week.
We have watched children and roadside flowers grow.
We have spoken with coworkers, cashiers, and family members,
all of whom bear your image.
We have sensed your nudges of love in our own hearts.
In your incarnation, you showed us that spirit and body in here in each
other.
Soul is not abstract.
You inhabit the material world.
We are small in the face of your mystery, and we feel it.
When we can’t see what’s ahead,
anxiety and despair overshadow us.
Be with us in these moments.
Counter these shadowed places with abiding reminders of your light.
Help us see past our own fears so that we might make a habit of blessing
others,
rather than scrambling to establish our own comfort first.
God, we bring our small and mortal selves to you.
Like the wind, gust among us.
We pray this in the name of the God
who is at once our Parent, Sibling, and Life Itself.
Amen.
(Vox Prayer Team)
Scripture
We invite you to hear from the Gospel according to John 3:3-8
3 Jesus answered him, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom
of God without being born from above.” 4 Nicodemus said to him, “How
can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time
into the mother’s womb and be born?” 5 Jesus answered, “Very truly, I
tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of
water and Spirit. 6 What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of
the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not be astonished that I said to you, ‘You must be
born from above.’ 8 The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the
sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes.
So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
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
Is there a part of yourself you need to reintegrate for wholeness?
How can you imagine God as your mother comforting you today?
Resources
- Book: This Here Flesh: Spirituality, Liberation, and the Stories that Make Us by Cole Arthur Riley
Benediction
Lord, like Nicodemus, we sometimes wonder what it means to be saved.
Our view of you from the crowd is obstructed.
With you out of our sightline,
others are eager to inform us what salvation requires of us.
You tell us that
a child does not do the work when they are being born.
They are moved through the process
by a laboring, sweating mother
fierce with love.
When we doubt your nature,
remind us of this salvation.
When we lose sight of your kingdom,
remind us of this salvation.
When we are too weary to go on,
remind us of this salvation.
Let this reminder free us to be yours.
Help us to walk in the fluidity of Spirit,
aiming for your ways of righteousness and shalom wherever we go.
Forgive us when we are wrong,
and help us be wrong in love.
We pray this in the name of God, our Mother,
Christ, our Teacher,
and the Spirit, our Mystery.
Amen.
(Vox Prayer Team)
[Photo by Steve Johnson]