Liturgy
Wherever you have come from to be here today,
dearly beloved,
no matter how frayed or ragged you feel,
you are held together by a divine
and reconciling love.
Along with Saint Patrick, Lord, we remind ourselves of your presence:
“Christ with me,
Christ before me,
Christ behind me,
Christ in me,
Christ beneath me,
Christ above me,
Christ when I lie down,
Christ when I arise.”
God, may our vision be drawn toward your love today.
Let our sight be trained on your grace.
Fill our periphery,
dazzle our eyes,
clear our short-sightedness.
Bless us with the reminder
that, in your kingdom,
all manner of things shall be well.
In the name of the God who holds us,
Christ, our firstborn brother,
and the Spirit, the warm spark of the world,
Amen.
(Vox Prayer Team)
Scripture
We invite you to hear from the book of Colossians 1:15-23
15 The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all
creation. 16 For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on
earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or
authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. 17 He is
before all things, and in him all things hold together.
18 And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the
firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the
supremacy. 19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him,
20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on
earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the
cross.
21 Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds
because of your evil behavior. 22 But now he has reconciled you by
Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight,
without blemish and free from accusation—
23 if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move
from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and
that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I,
Paul, have become a servant.
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 & Reflection
What wisdom could we learn if we explored the broader history of the church with humility and curiosity?
Are there areas of Christian tradition that are unhelpful to our growth, and what would it look like to let go of them and explore other areas?
What are some ways we might embrace our collective imperfection as a community?
Benediction
Beloved of God,
forgiven and reconciled, set free from ourselves,
we carry within us a flickering match of grace.
May we be granted the gift
of glimpsing this light in others this week:
those who do not usually cross our paths,
who work and look and vote and live
differently from us.
May the reconciling spirit of Christ
stir our souls
to say along with Gerard Manley Hopkins,
“Christ plays in ten thousand places,
Lovely in limbs, and lovely in eyes not his
To the Father through the features of our faces.”
We pray this in the name of our infinitely creative God,
Christ who delights in our details,
and the Spirit who makes her home in us.
Amen.
(Vox Prayer Team)
[Photo by weston m]