This blog is a record of the call to worship, Scripture readings, and prayers from our Sunday liturgies. If you are interested in writing something for the liturgy, or if you have a concern about any aspect of our liturgy, please email jamie@ubcwaco.org.
Call to Worship
We have gathered to behold the Lamb of God
Who takes away the sins of the world
But our eyes struggle to see Him clearly
God, as we sing, pray, and listen
transform the way we see
Not only to see how You are with us
but how You would have us
be with one another
Amen
Scripture
Psalm 40:1-12
I waited patiently for the Lord;
the Lord inclined to me and heard my cry.
The Lord drew me up from the desolate pit,
out of the miry bog,
and set my feet upon a rock,
making my steps secure.
The Lord put a new song in my mouth,
a song of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear,
and put their trust in the Lord.
Happy are those who make
the Lord their trust,
who do not turn to the proud,
to those who go astray after false gods.
You have multiplied, O Lord my God,
your wondrous deeds and your thoughts toward us;
none can compare with you.
Were I to proclaim and tell of them,
they would be more than can be counted.
Sacrifice and offering you do not desire,
but you have given me an open ear.
Burnt offering and sin offering
you have not required.
Then I said, “Here I am;
in the scroll of the book it is written of me.
I delight to do your will, O my God;
your law is within my heart.”
I have told the glad news of deliverance
in the great congregation;
see, I have not restrained my lips,
as you know, O Lord.
I have not hidden your saving help within my heart,
I have spoken of your faithfulness and your salvation;
I have not concealed your steadfast love and your faithfulness
from the great congregation.
Do not, O Lord, withhold
your mercy from me;
let your steadfast love and your faithfulness
keep me safe forever.
For evils have encompassed me
without number;
my iniquities have overtaken me,
until I cannot see;
they are more than the hairs of my head,
and my heart fails me.
John 1:29-42
The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him and declared, “Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks ahead of me because he was before me.’ I myself did not know him; but I came baptizing with water for this reason, that he might be revealed to Israel.”
And John testified, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ And I myself have seen and have testified that this is the Son of God.”
The next day John again was standing with two of his disciples, and as he watched Jesus walk by, he exclaimed, “Look, here is the Lamb of God!” The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. When Jesus turned and saw them following, he said to them, “What are you looking for?”
They said to him, “Rabbi” (which translated means Teacher), “where are you staying?” He said to them, “Come and see.” They came and saw where he was staying, and they remained with him that day. It was about four o’clock in the afternoon. One of the two who heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother.
He first found his brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which is translated Anointed). He brought Simon to Jesus, who looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You are to be called Cephas” (which is translated Peter).
Prayer
This week's prayer was written in conjunction with this video that our friends from Jesus Said Love asked us to show:
God of the Vulnerable,
Our world is plagued with broken systems that protect one another.
Somewhere in that nest of brokenness, is the trafficking industry.
God, this evil feels too great for us to combat, but let it not be too great for You.
For those who are at risk of being trafficked, we ask that you would protect them, surrounding them with people who care for them and who notice them.
For those who have been trafficked, we ask that you would continue to be with them in their pain, cultivating hope, but more than this, we ask that you would deliver them and set them on a path to healing and wholeness.
For those organizations whose work it is to seek and save the trafficked and combat the systems that sustain their plight, we ask that you would give them strength, wisdom, and courage.
And for those who traffic, we pray that Your Light would come to them, setting fire to the evil they have cultivated, and that from the ashes, you would form them into something new.
We ask these things in the name of Jesus Christ, the Slaughtered Lamb, by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.