Liturgy 4-9-2017

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

Today, we gather alongside the rabble who welcomed Jesus into Jerusalem

Proclaiming, “Blessed is the One
who comes in the name of the Lord.”

Blessed is the One Whose power is made perfect in weakness

Who draws victory out of defeat
hope out of pain
And life out of death.

Lord Christ, who emptied Yourself for our sake,

Teach us to wear our weakness as You wore Yours
So that we can be more fully formed into your image.

Amen.

Scripture

Psalm 31:9-16

Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I am in trouble;
my eye is consumed with sorrow,
and also my throat and my belly.
For my life is wasted with grief,
and my years with sighing;
my strength fails me because of affliction,
and my bones are consumed.

I have become a reproach to all my enemies and even to my neighbors,
a dismay to those of my acquaintance;
when they see me in the street they avoid me.
I am forgotten like a dead man, out of mind;
I am as useless as a broken pot.

For I have heard the whispering of the crowd;
fear is all around;
they put their heads together against me;
they plot to take my life.

But as for me, I have trusted in you, O Lord.
I have said, "You are my God.
My times are in your hand;
rescue me from the hand of my enemies,
and from those who persecute me.

Make your face to shine upon your servant,
and in your loving-kindness save me.”

Philippians 2:5-11

Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,

who, though he was in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God
as something to be exploited, 

but emptied himself,
taking the form of a slave, 
being born in human likeness. 

And being found in human form,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to the point of death-- 
even death on a cross. 

Therefore God also highly exalted him
and gave him the name
that is above every name, 

so that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bend, 
in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 

and every tongue should confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord, 
to the glory of God the Father.