Liturgy 8-19-2018

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 worship the Living God

to direct our attention to the One in whom we live
and move and have our being

to step into God’s story

and find our own stories reimagined

and to seek the Spirit of God

to form us in the way of Christ
and awaken us to the Kingdom of God in our midst

Amen.

Scripture

Exodus 12:1-4, 5-10, 11-14

The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt: This month shall mark for you the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year for you. Tell the whole congregation of Israel that on the tenth of this month they are to take a lamb for each family, a lamb for each household. If a household is too small for a whole lamb, it shall join its closest neighbor in obtaining one; the lamb shall be divided in proportion to the number of people who eat of it.

Your lamb shall be without blemish, a year-old male; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats. You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month; then the whole assembled congregation of Israel shall slaughter it at twilight.

They shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. They shall eat the lamb that same night; they shall eat it roasted over the fire with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted over the fire, with its head, legs, and inner organs. You shall let none of it remain until the morning; anything that remains until the morning you shall burn.

This is how you shall eat it: your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it hurriedly. It is the passover of the Lord. For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike down every firstborn in the land of Egypt, both human beings and animals; on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord. The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live: when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague shall destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.

This day shall be a day of remembrance for you. You shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord; throughout your generations you shall observe it as a perpetual ordinance.

John 6:51-58

Jesus said, “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” So Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day; for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink.

Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever.”

Prayer

This week's prayer was for teachers and students as they enter another year of education, and it was written by Allison Figley:

Father,

A prayer for education in the current broken state of society seems an overwhelming task. The statistics that label schools as a direct pipeline to prisons are simultaneously undeniable and heartbreaking. Students who are homeless, hungry, abused, or parentless enter classrooms seeking respite from the hand they have been dealt, and we expect them to focus on such seemingly trivial matters as grammar, algebra, and standardized tests. For teachers, administrators, counselors, parents, and students alike, the reality is daunting and seemingly insurmountable. It is unfortunately no surprise that over 1.2 million high school students drop out each year in the US alone, equating to 1 student every 26 seconds.

However discouraging the statistics may be, Lord, help those of us who serve as educators to remember 2 Corinthians 4:16-18:

16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

On those days that that “one kid” in our class is disruptive and refuses to participate, remind us that the same student might not know where he is sleeping that night, and give us patience and gentleness.

When a student talks back and is sent to the office on a daily basis, remind us of the student from the past just like her who apologized three years later for the way she behaved, and give us peace and understanding.

When the student who struggles daily but works so hard finally experiences a “light bulb” moment, give us the sense of mind to celebrate with him in the moment, sharing our joy with love and kindness rather than quickly moving on for lack of time.

As Galatians 6:9 charges us,

9 Let us not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up.

Father, we pray that all who have been called to the mission of education, no matter their title, would remember these words. Though we may not always glimpse the harvest from the seeds we have sown in the moment, the blessing will come if we don’t give up and do everything in love as 1st Corinthians 16:14 implores us. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.

As a church, Father, remind us to pray often for both educators and students, to build them up and encourage them on their respective journeys. And as a new school year begins, let us all remember what Nelson Mandela claimed: “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” In a world that needs a drastic change for the better, we as educators pray for the courage, faith, hope, and love to be the catalyst for this change. To be the light in the darkness that so many students desperately seek. And we pray, as in Ephesians 3:16-19, “...that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being,  so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”

We love you, Lord, and praise you for the gift and privilege of education. May we all be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God both this school year and always.

In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.

Liturgy 8-5-2018

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 worship the God of mercy

the One who is slow to anger
and abounding in steadfast love

to be caught up in God’s story

and to find our own stories changed

to be transformed by the Spirit of God

that we might bear the Kingdom of God
in our ordinary lives

amen.

Scripture

Psalm 51:1-13

Have mercy on me, O God,
    according to your steadfast love;
according to your abundant mercy
    blot out my transgressions.

Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
    and cleanse me from my sin.
For I know my transgressions,
    and my sin is ever before me.

Against you, you alone, have I sinned,
    and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you are justified in your sentence
    and blameless when you pass judgment.

Indeed, I was born guilty,
    a sinner when my mother conceived me.
You desire truth in the inward being;
    therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart.
Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
    wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

Let me hear joy and gladness;
    let the bones that you have crushed rejoice.
Hide your face from my sins,
    and blot out all my iniquities.

Create in me a clean heart, O God,
    and put a new and right spirit within me.
Do not cast me away from your presence,
    and do not take your holy spirit from me.

Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
    and sustain in me a willing spirit.
Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
    and sinners will return to you.

Mark 6:1-13

He left that place and came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him. On the sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astounded. 

They said, “Where did this man get all this? What is this wisdom that has been given to him? What deeds of power are being done by his hands! Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him. 

Then Jesus said to them, “Prophets are not without honor, except in their hometown, and among their own kin, and in their own house.” And he could do no deed of power there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and cured them. And he was amazed at their unbelief.

Then he went about among the villages teaching. He called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. 

He ordered them to take nothing for their journey except a staff; no bread, no bag, no money in their belts; but to wear sandals and not to put on two tunics. He said to them, “Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave the place. If any place will not welcome you and they refuse to hear you, as you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them.” 

So they went out and proclaimed that all should repent. They cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them.

Liturgy 7-22-2018

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 worship the God who saves

the one who is making all things new

to enter into the story of God and the people of God

that our own stories might be changed

and to seek the Spirit of God

hoping to formed more fully in the way of Christ,
that we might bear his self-giving love
in our ordinary lives

Amen

Scripture

Jeremiah 23:1-6

Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! says the Lord. Therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who shepherd my people: It is you who have scattered my flock, and have driven them away, and you have not attended to them.

So I will attend to you for your evil doings, says the Lord. Then I myself will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the lands where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, and they shall be fruitful and multiply. I will raise up shepherds over them who will shepherd them, and they shall not fear any longer, or be dismayed, nor shall any be missing, says the Lord.

The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. And this is the name by which he will be called: “The Lord is our righteousness.”

Mark 6:30-34, 53-56

The apostles gathered around Jesus, and told him all that they had done and taught. He said to them, “Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while.” For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. And they went away in the boat to a deserted place by themselves. Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they hurried there on foot from all the towns and arrived ahead of them. As he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things.

When they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret and moored the boat. When they got out of the boat, people at once recognized him, and rushed about that whole region and began to bring the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was. And wherever he went, into villages or cities or farms, they laid the sick in the marketplaces, and begged him that they might touch even the fringe of his cloak; and all who touched it were healed.

Prayer

This week's prayer was from the Iona Community Worship Book:

O God of life, of all life and of each life,
We lay our lives before you.
We give our lives to you, from whom nothing in us is hidden.
You are before us, God, you are behind;
You are around us, God, you are within.
O God of life, you know the secret thoughts of every heart.
We bring the faith that is in us, and the doubt;
We bring the joy that is in us, and the sorrow.
O God of life, you are in the light, and in the darkness.
We bring the knowledge that is in us, and the ignorance;
We bring the hope that is in us, and the despair.
O God of life, O generous Spirit,
Renew us with your life,
Today, tomorrow, and always.
Amen.

Liturgy 7-8-2018

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 devote our attention
to the Creator and Sustainer of all that is

to worship the One whose power
is made perfect in weakness

to enter into God’s story

and reimagine our own stories

in the Light of the Spirit of Truth

that we might be formed more fully
in the way of Christ.

Amen.

Scripture

Ezekiel 2:1-5

The Lord said to me: O mortal, stand up on your feet, and I will speak with you. And when the Lord spoke to me, a spirit entered into me and set me on my feet; and I heard the Lord speaking to me.

The Lord said to me, Mortal, I am sending you to the people of Israel, to a nation of rebels who have rebelled against me; they and their ancestors have transgressed against me to this very day.

The descendants are impudent and stubborn. I am sending you to them, and you shall say to them, “Thus says the Lord God.” Whether they hear or refuse to hear (for they are a rebellious house), they shall know that there has been a prophet among them.

2 Corinthians 12:2-10

I know a person in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know; God knows.

And I know that such a person—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know; God knows— was caught up into Paradise and heard things that are not to be told, that no mortal is permitted to repeat.

On behalf of such a one I will boast, but on my own behalf I will not boast, except of my weaknesses. But if I wish to boast, I will not be a fool, for I will be speaking the truth. But I refrain from it, so that no one may think better of me than what is seen in me or heard from me, even considering the exceptional character of the revelations.

Therefore, to keep me from being too elated, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me, to keep me from being too elated. Three times I appealed to the Lord about this, that it would leave me, but he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.”

So, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities for the sake of Christ; for whenever I am weak, then I am strong.

Mark 6:1-13

Jesus came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him. On the sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astounded.

They said, “Where did this man get all this? What is this wisdom that has been given to him? What deeds of power are being done by his hands! Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us?”

And they took offense at him. Then Jesus said to them, “Prophets are not without honor, except in their hometown, and among their own kin, and in their own house.” And he could do no deed of power there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and cured them. And he was amazed at their unbelief.

Then he went about among the villages teaching. He called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. He ordered them to take nothing for their journey except a staff; no bread, no bag, no money in their belts; but to wear sandals and not to put on two tunics.

He said to them, “Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave the place. If any place will not welcome you and they refuse to hear you, as you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them.”

So they went out and proclaimed that all should repent. They cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them.

Liturgy 6-17-2018

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 worship the One in whom we live
and move and have our being

the Father of all creation,
who cares for the suffering and lowly of the world

seeking to be formed more fully in the way of Christ

the One in whom the Father’s love was embodied,
who displayed for us how we might love one another

and to be shaped by the Spirit of God

to be formed in the way of Christ,
and to embody the love of the Father
in our living and moving in this time and place

Amen.

Scripture

Ezekiel 17:22-24

Thus says the Lord God:
I myself will take a sprig
from the lofty top of a cedar;
I will set it out.

I will break off a tender one
from the topmost of its young twigs;
I myself will plant it
on a high and lofty mountain.

On the mountain height of Israel
I will plant it,
in order that it may produce boughs and bear fruit,
and become a noble cedar.

Under it every kind of bird will live;
in the shade of its branches will nest
winged creatures of every kind.

All the trees of the field shall know
that I am the Lord.

I bring low the high tree,
I make high the low tree;
I dry up the green tree
and make the dry tree flourish.
I the Lord have spoken;
I will accomplish it.

Mark 4:26-34

Jesus said, “The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground, and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how. The earth produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head. But when the grain is ripe, at once he goes in with his sickle, because the harvest has come.”

He also said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for it? It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.”

With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it; he did not speak to them except in parables, but he explained everything in private to his disciples.

Prayer

Our Father's Day Prayer was adapted from a prayer on a blog called Ordinary Time, which I believe was adapted from a Father's Day mediation that was written by Kirk Loadman-Copeland:

Holy God, whom we call Father, we give you thanks for the people who have been fathers to us, and we pray for all sorts and conditions of fathers.

For fathers who have striven to balance the demands
of work, marriage, and children.

For fathers who, lacking a good model, have worked to become a good father.

For fathers who by their own account were not always there for their children, but who continue to offer those children, now grown, their love and support.

For fathers who have been wounded by the neglect and hostility of their children.

For fathers who, despite divorce, have remained in their children's lives.

For fathers who, as stepfathers,
freely chose the obligation of fatherhood
and earned their stepchildren's love and respect.

For fathers who have lost a child to death,
and continue to hold the child in their heart.

For those who are about to become fathers for the first time.

For those men who have no children, but offer fatherhood to whomever might need it.

For those men who have "fathered" us in their role as mentors and guides.

And for those fathers who have died, but live on in our memory and in the communion of your Saints, whose love continues to nurture us.

For all of these, we give you thanks.

In the midst of the complexity of emotions that surround days like this, we ask that you would hold our joy and pain together and use us to care for one another.

All this we ask of You who are both father and mother to us all, in the name of Jesus Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Liturgy 5-27-2018

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 worship
the Creator and Sustainer of all that is

the One in whom we live and move and have our being

we have gathered to devote our attention
to the Word who became flesh

the One who has entered into our condition,
shared in our suffering,
and shown us what love is

we have gathered to embrace the Spirit of God

the One who dwells among us as Advocate and Comforter,
and is making all things new

hoping to be formed in the way of Christ

that we might be the Body of Christ in the world.

amen.

Scripture

Isaiah 6:1-8

In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty; and the hem of his robe filled the temple. Seraphs were in attendance above him; each had six wings: with two they covered their faces, and with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew.

And one called to another and said:

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
the whole earth is full of his glory.”

The pivots on the thresholds shook at the voices of those who called, and the house filled with smoke. And I said: “Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”

Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holding a live coal that had been taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. The seraph touched my mouth with it and said: “Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out.” Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I; send me!”

John 3:1-17

There was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. He came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God.”

Jesus answered him, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.” 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?”

Jesus answered, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be astonished that I said to you, ‘You must be born from above.’ 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.”

Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?” Jesus answered him, “Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things?

“Very truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen; yet you do not receive our testimony. If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.

“Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

Trinity Sunday Reading

This is a reading arranged from For All God's Worth by N.T. Wright:

Left to myself, the god I want is a god who will give me what I want.  He—or more likely it—will be a projection of my desires.  At the grosser level, this will lead me to one of the more obvious pagan gods or goddesses, who offer their devotees money, or sex, or power. All idols started out life as the god somebody wanted.

At the more sophisticated level, the god I want will be a god who lives up to my intellectual expectations: a god of whom I can approve rationally, judiciously, after due consideration and weighing up of theological probabilities.  I want this god because he, or it, will underwrite my intellectual arrogance.  He will boost my sense of being a refined modern thinker.  The net result is that I become god; and this god I’ve made becomes my puppet.  

Nobody falls down on their face before the god they wanted.  Nobody trembles at the word of a home-made god.  Nobody goes out with fire in their belly to heal the sick to clothe the naked, to teach the ignorant, to feed the hungry, because of the god they wanted.  They are more likely to stay at home with their feet up.

But on one particular day in the year we celebrate the God whom we didn’t want—how could we ever have dreamed of it?—but who, amazingly, wanted us.  In the church’s year, Trinity Sunday is the day when we stand back from the extraordinary sequence of events that we’ve been celebrating for the previous five months—Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Good Friday, Easter, Ascension, Pentecost—and when we rub the sleep from our eyes and discover what the word ‘god’ might actually mean.  

These events function as a sequence of well-aimed hammer-blows which knock at the clay jars of the gods we want, the gods who reinforce our own pride or prejudice, until they fall away and reveal instead a very different god, a dangerous god, a subversive god, a god who comes to us like a blind beggar with wounds in his hands, a god who comes to us in wind and fire, in bread and wine, in flesh and blood: a god who says to us, ‘You did not choose me; I chose you.’

You see, the doctrine of the Trinity, properly understood, is as much a way of saying ‘we don’t know’ as of saying ‘we do know.’  To say that the true God is Three and One is to recognize that if there is a God then of course we shouldn’t expect him to fit neatly into our little categories. The doctrine of the Trinity affirms the rightness, the propriety, of speaking intelligently about the true God, while at the same time affirming intelligently that the true God must always transcend our grasp of him, even our most intelligent grasp of him.

When St. John the Divine found himself looking into the open door of heaven, he didn’t see the god he might have wanted; he saw all creation worshipping the awesome and majestic creator God; and, when he looked closer, he saw a Lamb that had been killed and was now alive forevermore.  The doctrine of the Trinity declares the mystery which is above all else what this broken world needs to hear: that the true God is not detached from the evil of this world, but has come to share it and bear it in his own body.

Prayer

Living God, you have gifted us with breath in a particular time and a particular place.  

As we navigate the varied paths of our lives, we ask that you would form us more fully in the way of Christ—that you would make of us the body of Christ—because in Christ we have found hope and care. 

We ask that you would make us mirrors of that hope and care, that you would teach us to bear one another’s burdens as he did; to stand with-and-alongside when we would rather offer advice, prayers, and platitudes from a safe distance.

And in our bearing of one another’s burdens, we ask that your Spirit would be our Advocate and Comforter—that when our words fail to express the burdens we share, the Spirit would offer truth, and when our minds are full of noise, that the Spirit would whisper peace.  

And indeed, we ask that you would form us in the Spirit, making of us advocates and comforters, that we might bear your light in our time and place until Your will is done on earth as it is in heaven.

Amen.

Liturgy 5-20-2018

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

Creator God, who hovers above the waters of our lives

speak meaning into our chaos
and weave our stories into Yours

Holy Fire, who burns yet does not consume

form us in to the way of Christ
and set your love in our hearts

Breath of Life, who dwells among us

draw us into your work in creation
and teach us to seek the fullness of life
for all of Your creatures

amen

Scripture

Psalm 104:25-35, 37

O Lord, how manifold are your works!
in wisdom you have made them all;
the earth is full of your creatures.

Yonder is the great and wide sea
with its living things too many to number,
creatures both small and great.
There move the ships,
and there is that Leviathan,
which you have made for the sport of it.

All of them look to you
to give them their food in due season.
You give it to them; they gather it;
you open your hand, and they are filled with good things.
You hide your face, and they are terrified;
you take away their breath,
and they die and return to their dust.

You send forth your Spirit, and they are created;
and so you renew the face of the earth.
May the glory of the Lord endure for ever;
may the Lord rejoice in all the Lord’s works.
The Lord looks at the earth and it trembles;
touches the mountains and they smoke.

I will sing to the Lord as long as I live;
I will praise my God while I have my being.
May these words of mine please the Lord;
I will rejoice in the Lord.
Bless the Lord, O my soul.
Hallelujah!

John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15

Jesus said to his disciples, ”When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father, he will testify on my behalf. You also are to testify because you have been with me from the beginning.

“I did not say these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you. But now I am going to him who sent me; yet none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your hearts. Nevertheless I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.

And when he comes, he will prove the world wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: about sin, because they do not believe in me; about righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will see me no longer; about judgment, because the ruler of this world has been condemned.

“I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine. For this reason I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

Acts 2:1-22

When the day of Pentecost had come, the disciples were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.

Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. Amazed and astonished, they asked, "Are not all these who are speaking Galileans?

And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs-- in our own languages we hear them speaking about God's deeds of power."

All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, "What does this mean?" But others sneered and said, "They are filled with new wine."

But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them, "Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o'clock in the morning.

No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel:

`In the last days it will be, God declares,
that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh,
and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
and your young men shall see visions,
and your old men shall dream dreams.

Even upon my slaves, both men and women,
in those days I will pour out my Spirit;
and they shall prophesy.
And I will show portents in the heaven above
and signs on the earth below,
blood, and fire, and smoky mist.

The sun shall be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood,
before the coming of the Lord's great and glorious day.
Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.' "

Prayer

This week's prayer was from The Iona Community Worship Book (73-74):

Spirit of truth and judgement,
who alone can cast out
the powers that grip our world
at the point of crisis,
Give us your discernment,
That we may accurately name what is evil,
And know the way that leads to peace,
Through Jesus Christ,

Spirit of integrity,
You drive us into the desert
To search out our truth.
Give us clarity to know what is right,
That we may abandon the false innocence
Of failing to choose at all,
But may follow the purposes of Jesus Christ

God of history,
You share our joys and crushing sorrows,
You hear the cries of the afflicted,
You fill the hungry,
And you set free the oppressed.
We pray for the end to all injustice.
Inspire us with the all-embracing love of God,
Challenge us with the sacrificial love of Jesus,
Empower us with the transforming love of the Spirit,
That we and all God's people may live and be free!

Amen.

Liturgy 5-13-2018

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.

Mother's Day Intro

The following is a reading with which we began our liturgy. The majority of this reading is an adaptation of a text written by Amy Young.  You can find her original post here.

As you likely know, today is Mother’s Day.  

We acknowledge Mother’s Day in our liturgy because motherhood is a metaphor that can tell us something about who God is—namely, the One who has birthed us and who comes alongside us as we grow, nurturing us, guiding us toward maturity, and sustaining us along the way.  

It is no secret that Mother’s Day can be a day of complex emotions, both
joyous and sorrowful, and so:

To those who gave birth this year to your first child—we celebrate with  you.

To those who lost a child this year – we mourn with you.

To those who are in the trenches with little ones every day and wear the
badge of food stains – we appreciate you.

To those who step-parent - we walk with you on these complex paths

To those who are single mothers -- we have deep respect and
admiration for you.

To those who have lived through driving tests, medical tests, and the overall testing of motherhood – we are better for having you in our midst.

To those who experienced loss through miscarriage, failed adoptions,
running away, or any othercircumstance—we mourn with you.

To those who walk the hard path of infertility, fraught with pokes, prods, tears, and disappointment – we walk with you. Forgive us when we say foolish things. We don’t mean to make this harder than it is.

To those who are mentor moms, and spiritual moms – we need you.

To those who are foster moms -- we appreciate you, and we thank you.

To those who will have emptier nests in the upcoming year – we grieve
and rejoice with you

To those who have warm and close relationships with your children – we
celebrate with you.

To those who have disappointment, heart ache, and distance with your
children – we sit with you.

To those who lost their mothers this year – we grieve with you.

To those who experienced abuse at the hands of your own mother – we
acknowledge you and we will walk with you.

To those who are single and long to be married and mothering your own
children - we mourn that life has not turned out the way you longed for it to be.

To those who placed children up for adoption – we join you in holding that child in your heart.

And to those who are pregnant with new life, both expected and
surprising – we anticipate with you.

This Mother’s Day, we walk with you. Mothering is not for the faint of heart and we have real warriors in our midst. We remember you.

Call to Worship

we have gathered to worship the Creator

the One Who gave birth
to all of creation, and has numbered
every hair on our heads

to be formed by the Wisdom of God,

the One Who gathers the vulnerable
like a hen gathers her children
under her wings

through the power of the Spirit,

the One Who greets
every newborn creature
with the kiss of life
and is raising the world
from death to glory

amen.

Scripture

Psalm 1

Happy are those
who do not follow the advice of the wicked,
or take the path that sinners tread,
or sit in the seat of scoffers;
but their delight is in the law of the Lord,
and on the Lord’s law they meditate day and night.

They are like trees
planted by streams of water,
which yield their fruit in its season,
and their leaves do not wither.

In all that they do, they prosper.
The wicked are not so,
but are like chaff that the wind drives away.

Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;
for the Lord watches over the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked will perish.

John 17:6-19

You have entrusted Me with these men who have come out of this corrupt world order. I have told them about Your nature and declared Your name to them, and they have held on to Your words and understood that these words, like everything else You have given Me, come from You.

It is true that these men You gave Me have received the words that come from You and not only understood them but also believed that You sent Me. I am now making an appeal to You on their behalf.

This request is not for the entire world; it is for those whom You have given to Me because they are Yours. Yours and Mine, Mine and Yours, for all that are Mine are Yours. Through them I have been glorified.

I will no longer be physically present in this world, but they will remain in this world. As I return to be with You, holy Father, remain with them through Your name, the name You have given Me. May they be one even as We are one.

While I was physically present with them, I protected them through Your name. I watched over them closely; and only one was lost, the one the Scriptures said was the son of destruction. Now I am returning to You. I am speaking this prayer here in the created cosmos alongside friends and foes so that in hearing it they might be consumed with joy.

I have given them Your word; and the world has despised them because they are not products of the world, in the same way that I am not a product of the corrupt world order. Do not take them out of this world; protect them from the evil one.

Like Me, they are not products of the corrupt world order. Immerse them in the truth, the truth Your voice speaks. In the same way You sent Me into this world, I am sending them. It is entirely for their benefit that I have set Myself apart so that they may be set apart by truth.

Prayer

God, who is both Father and Mother to us all, we thank you for the gift of another day of life, and for the ability to share this gift in community.  

We thank you for every good gift that you’ve given us, and today we are thankful for the gift of every kind of mother in our midst, and every kind of mother that you have given us in our own lives. 

We ask that every joy we associate with our experiences with motherhood would teach us about the way you love us.  

And we ask that every pain we associate with our experiences with motherhood would not overwhelm us, but that we might bear it together, and You with us.

Amen

Liturgy 4-22-2018

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 worship the One who made all things

the One who is making all things new

to enter the story of God and the people of God

and find our own stories transformed

to learn to see our neighbors as God does

that we might learn to love as God does

Amen.

Scripture

Psalm 23

The Eternal is my shepherd, cares for me always.
The Eternal provides me rest in rich, green fields
   beside streams of refreshing water,
  soothes my fears;

The Eternal makes me whole again,
   steering me off worn, hard paths
   to roads where truth and righteousness echo the Name.

Even in the unending shadows of death’s darkness,
   I am not overcome by fear.
Because You are with me in those dark moments,
   near with Your protection and guidance,
   I am comforted.

You spread out a table before me,
   provisions in the midst of attack from my enemies;
You care for all my needs, anointing my head with soothing, fragrant oil,
   filling my cup again and again with Your grace.

Certainly Your faithful protection and loving provision will pursue me
   where I go, always, everywhere.
I will always be with the Eternal,
   in Your house forever.

John 10:11-18

Jesus said, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand, who is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away—and the wolf snatches them and scatters them.

The hired hand runs away because a hired hand does not care for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold.

I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again.

No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father.”

Prayer

This week's prayer was written by Maggie Griffin:

God,

We are especially grateful that you’ve given us each other. 

You gift us communities and places in which we are able to be ourselves and become ourselves.  

You use us to craft stories, plays, and melodies that point us to humanity’s many conditions, so we can better understand your people. 

You use us to teach others about art and nature, sparking awe and wonder about Your creation. 

You use us to create children’s programming to share your message of radical inclusivity, radical empathy, radical humility, and radical love. 

You use us, each in our own way, with different passions, skills and talents to offer one another a better, broader, brighter picture of your character.

You use us to offer community to each other at our loneliest; to show us grace when we can’t look ourselves in the mirror; to remind us of our part in the gospel when we’ve written ourselves out; to challenge each other when we become complacent; to sit with each other in doubt and grief and to celebrate with each other in times of joy and redemption.

God, today we are particularly grateful for the gift of the individuals who are soon graduating.  Thank you for the ways in which their presence, passion, and talents have formed our community. 

Amen.

Liturgy 4-15-2018

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 worship the Risen Lord

Boundless Love, Embodied

to be drawn into God’s story

and find our own stories transformed

to bear the marks of the Risen Christ

that our lives might embody
the hope of Resurrection

amen.

Scripture

Psalm 4

Answer my prayers, O True God, the righteous, who makes me right.
    I was hopelessly surrounded, and You rescued me.
Once again hear me; hide me in Your favor;
    bring victory in defeat and hope in hopelessness.

How long will you sons of Adam steal my dignity, reduce my glory to shame?
    Why pine for the fruitless and dream a delusion?

Understand this: The Eternal One treats as special those like the Eternal.
    The Eternal will answer my prayers and save me.

Think long; think hard. When you are angry, don’t let it carry you into sin.
    When night comes, in calm be silent.

From this day forward, offer to God the right sacrifice from a heart made right by God.
    Entrust yourself to the Eternal.

Crowds of disheartened people ask, “Who can show us what is good?”
    Let Your brilliant face shine upon us, O Eternal One, that we may know the undeniable  
    answer.

You have filled me with joy, and happiness has risen in my heart, great delight and unrivaled    
     joy,
    even more than when bread abounds and wine flows freely.

Tonight I will sleep securely on a bed of peace
    because I trust You, You alone, O Eternal One, will keep me safe.

Luke 24:36b-48

Jesus himself stood among the disciples and said to them, “Peace be with you.” They were startled and terrified, and thought that they were seeing a ghost. He said to them, “Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself. Touch me and see; for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” 

And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering, he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate in their presence. 

Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.” 

Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and he said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.

Prayer

This week's prayer was from The Iona Community Worship Book:

O God,
Early in the morning,
When the world was young,
You made life in all its beauty and terror;
You gave birth to all that we know.

Hallowed be Your Name

Early in the morning,
When the world least expected it,
A new born child crying in a cradle
Announced that You had come among us,
That you were one of us.

Hallowed be Your Name

Early in the morning,
Surrounded by self-interested religious leaders,
Anxious statesmen
And silent friends,
You accepted the penalty for doing good,
For being God:
You shouldered and suffered the cross.

Hallowed be Your Name

Early in the morning,
A voice in a guarded graveyard
And footsteps in the dew
Proved that You had risen,
That You had come back
To those and for those
Who had forgotten, denied and destroyed You.

O God, bring new life,
Where we are worn and tired,
New love,
Where we have turned hard hearted
Forgiveness,
Where we have wounded,
And the Joy and freedom of Your Holy Spirit
Where we are the prisoners of ourselves.

Amen

Liturgy 4-8-2018

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 worship
the Creator and Sustainer of all that is

the Lord of Resurrection,
making all things new

seeking to be drawn into God’s story

and to draw God’s story into our own

to be drawn together in one heart and soul,
clothed in the extraordinary grace of God

that our lives might be reflections
of Resurrection hope.

Amen

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Scripture

Psalm 133

How good and pleasant it is
   when brothers and sisters live together in peace!
It is like the finest oils poured on the head,
   sweet-smelling oils flowing down to cover the beard,

Flowing down the beard of Aaron,
   flowing down the collar of his robe.
It is like the gentle rain of Mount Hermon
   that falls on the hills of Zion.

Yes, from this place, the Eternal spoke the command,
   from there the Eternal gave the Eternal’s blessing—life forever.

Acts 4:32-35

During those days, the entire community of believers was deeply united in heart and soul to such an extent that they stopped claiming private ownership of their possessions. Instead, they held everything in common.

The apostles with great power gave their eyewitness reports of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. Everyone was surrounded by an extraordinary grace.

Not a single person in the community was in need because those who had been affluent sold their houses or lands and brought the proceeds to the emissaries of the Lord.

They then distributed the funds to individuals according to their needs.

Prayer

This week's prayer was written and read by Tylor Standley:

God of all we know and, more importantly, all that we do not know, 

We come to continue the two-thousand-year celebration of the resurrection of your son. Some of us as doubters, and some with unshakeable faith. We ask for your patience when our doubt gives way to despair, and for your forgiveness when our certainty gives way to zealous intolerance.

We come to listen to stories of the signs you performed in the presence of your disciples, signs that point us toward the cloud of unknowing, and the clarity that comes when we enter there--signs that reveal the mystery that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God who gives life.

Sometimes, it is frustrating that we can only read of these signs from disciples who were there—disciples who heard, who saw with their eyes, who looked at and touched with their hands the revelation of the Word of Life. Easter was so long ago.

And yet, Easter is not over, for we are your Resurrection People and you are revealed by our togetherness. So, we gather not just to hear about signs, we gather to make them. We gather, because by doing so we see your body with our eyes, we look at and touch with our hands. 

Let those of us who have believed be of one heart and soul, let us share all things in common. And through our unity with one another, let us be unified with you. Let us be children of love and peace.

Amen.

Liturgy 4-1-2018

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 worship the Living God

proclaiming that Christ has died, Christ is Risen,
and Christ will come again

to be drawn into God’s story

and find our own stories changed
into stories of Resurrection

that we might be formed into Resurrection people

sowing life where there is death
and hope where there is brokenness.

Amen

Scripture

Isaiah 25:6-9

On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples
a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wines,
of rich food filled with marrow, of well-aged wines strained clear.

And he will destroy on this mountain
the shroud that is cast over all peoples,
the sheet that is spread over all nations;
he will swallow up death forever.

Then the Lord God will wipe away the tears from all faces,
and the disgrace of his people he will take away from all the earth,
for the Lord has spoken.

It will be said on that day, Lo, this is our God;
we have waited for him, so that he might save us.

This is the Lord for whom we have waited;
let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.

Mark 16:1-8

When the sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint Jesus.

And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. They had been saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?”

When they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had already been rolled back. As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man, dressed in a white robe, sitting on the right side; and they were alarmed.

But he said to them, “Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Look, there is the place they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him, just as he told you.”

So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.

Prayer

This week's prayer was written and read by Sharyl Loeung:

Risen One
Author of Light
and Life
You are victorious

We are here today because
You Are Victorious

Some of us here today need to know victory
We need to know victory in our own lives
We need to know that Light conquers darkness

So we look to you this Easter season and we ask you to show up
Show up along the road as we travel
May your presence be as real to us as it was on the Road to Emmaus, but
May we recognize you
See you
& may we point you out for each other along the way

Liturgy 3-25-2018

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 worship the One whose mercy endures forever

the One whose love unfolds in our brokenness

to step into the story of God and the people of God

and find our own stories transformed

that we might take up the mind of 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.

Amen

Scripture

Isaiah 50:4-9a

The Lord God has given me
the tongue of a teacher, 
that I may know how to sustain
the weary with a word. 

Morning by morning he wakens--
wakens my ear
to listen as those who are taught. 

The Lord God has opened my ear,
and I was not rebellious, 
I did not turn backward. 

I gave my back to those who struck me,
and my cheeks to those who pulled out the beard; 

I did not hide my face
from insult and spitting. 

The Lord God helps me;
therefore I have not been disgraced; 
therefore I have set my face like flint,
and I know that I shall not be put to shame; 
he who vindicates me is near. 

Who will contend with me?
Let us stand up together. 
Who are my adversaries?
Let them confront me. 
It is the Lord God who helps me;
who will declare me guilty?

Mark 11:1-11

When they were approaching Jerusalem, at Bethphage and Bethany, near the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples and said to them, “Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately as you enter it, you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden; untie it and bring it.

If anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ just say this, ‘The Lord needs it and will send it back here immediately.’” They went away and found a colt tied near a door, outside in the street.

As they were untying it, some of the bystanders said to them, “What are you doing, untying the colt?” They told them what Jesus had said; and they allowed them to take it. Then they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it; and he sat on it.

Many people spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut in the fields. Then those who went ahead and those who followed were shouting,

“Hosanna!
Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!
Blessed is the coming kingdom of our ancestor David!
Hosanna in the highest heaven!”

Then he entered Jerusalem and went into the temple; and when he had looked around at everything, as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve.

Prayer

This week's prayer was written and read by Emma Wood:

God, we have a problem.
Our culture is sick and, unknowingly, we have caught humanity’s disease.

In our separation from You who birthed us,
We have become vulnerable to fear, power, oppression and the seduction of knowing.

Remind us that you cannot be understood. Remind us that as we grasp to be formed into kingdom people that we will never get it right because of our humanness.

God, you know that we have good intentions. But it seems that our world has made you one dimensional. Our feeble attempts at knowing you have made you male, aged, power seeking, and exclusive.

We have begun to hate you in your fullness. Misogyny has run rampant in our governments, institutions, organizations, gatherings and households. We have denigrated your divine feminine attributes. We have admonished boys and men when they dared to feel. We have systematically created a world in which women have been assigned second class citizenship. We have pathologized the feminine imago dei.

We have labeled women as “emotional,” “sensitive” and “irrational,” we have blamed them for their own abuse, exploitation and oppression. We have denied that this sin is an issue, we have felt justified as we’ve pointed out all the ways in which women are treated fairly in this world. We have suggested that perhaps their lack of representation at the highest levels can be explained by their inherent inferiority. By biological differences. By innate skills and qualities that end up being fulfilled in devalued social positions. We have criticized your creation time and time again until it has become our truth. Lord, forgive us for our ignorance.

Let us not forget that

Lord, you are our Dayspring, the source of life, a mother nursing her child.

You are our Comfort, a mother hen drawing her chicks under wing.

You are Wisdom, the intuition of felt knowledge, that which cannot be rationalized.

Lord, You are Mercy. You became flesh and told a story in which Jesus overthrew power structures and spoke radical, inclusive, misfit love. A story in which time and time again Jesus turns the systems of the world on its head by elevating the role of women, intentionally affirming their value and dignity.

This is the story of the Lenten season in which we anticipate with bated breath the living Christ, the good news in which, through finding the tomb empty, women are the very first humans to witness your promise fulfilled. God, thank you for breaking the rules our world has constructed, thank you for revealing your inclusive truth through the Word and through the Gospel message.

God, we need help.

Help us to see you in your fullness, and to see your fullness in all people.

Help us to question gender roles and oppressive power structures.

Open our eyes to the ways in which we have internalized a God made in man’s image- and give us strength and humility to listen to and privilege the voices of women, the feminine and the oppressed amongst us.

In a world where the feminine circle has been placed below the masculine line we are reminded that you have revealed yourself as a circle, alpha and omega, beginning and end, as eternal.

I pray that UBC can become a people that hold man’s image of you loosely, that this image be laid down as we humbly embrace your mystery. 

Amen.

Liturgy 3-18-2018

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 worship
the Forgetful God revealed in Jesus Christ

to devote our attention
to the One whose compassion blots out our sin

seeking to be formed by the renovating memory of God

into people whose hearts mirror God’s own

whose minds are open to the wisdom of the Spirit

and whose lives are joined
with God’s work of re-Creation in the world.

Amen.

Scripture

Jeremiah 31:31-34

The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt—a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says the Lord.

But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, “Know the Lord,” for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.

John 12:20-33

Now among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks. They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus.

Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.

Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor.

“Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say—‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.”

The crowd standing there heard it and said that it was thunder. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.” Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not for mine. Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” He said this to indicate the kind of death he was to die.

Prayer

This week's prayer was written and read by Emmy Edwards:

God,
We want to see You.
We want to know You.
We want to love You.

Merciful God,
Forgive us for the ways we close our eyes when You show us Your face in the faces of the downtrodden.
Forgive us when we hid our minds from You in shame, fear, or guilt.
Forgive us when we love our own designed comfort instead of You.

Mysterious God,
So today, even in the wilderness, we ask for new eyes, new minds, and new hearts.

We ask to see You more – even if it’s just to expand our world.
We ask to know You more – even if it’s just to know how greatly we’re known by You.
We ask to love You more – even if it’s just to grasp at the hem of your cloak.

God,
You are relentless in Your pursuit of us and all Your beloved.
You invite us to see You, to know You, and to love You.
You invite us to be redeemed.
Today, and moment by moment each day, will You give us the grace to say yes?

Amen

Liturgy 3-11-2018

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 worship
our Creator and Sustainer

seeking rest in the wilderness of Lent

and hoping to be formed
more fully in the way of Christ

to make his self-giving love our own

and to seek the wisdom of the Spirit of God

that we might pursue the Kingdom of God
with our lives

Amen

Scripture

Numbers 21:4-9

From Mount Hor the Israelites set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom; but the people became impatient on the way.

The people spoke against God and against Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we detest this miserable food.”

Then the Lord sent poisonous serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many Israelites died. The people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned by speaking against the Lord and against you; pray to the Lord to take away the serpents from us.”

So Moses prayed for the people. And the Lord said to Moses, “Make a poisonous serpent, and set it on a pole; and everyone who is bitten shall look at it and live.”

So Moses made a serpent of bronze, and put it upon a pole; and whenever a serpent bit someone, that person would look at the serpent of bronze and live.

John 3:14-21

Jesus said, “Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil.

For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed. But those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God.”

Prayer

This week's prayer was written and read by Kim Stübben:

God,

So much of the time things are unexplainable, they are so difficult that they are beyond comprehension, so painful that they defy logical thought, so confusing that hope is hard to grasp onto. 

But you make ways. That sounds cliche, but I know it’s true because you promise that you make ways. When life gets to be a way where we can’t fathom making it, somehow we do. Somehow, regardless of what life is or where it takes us, you are there. 

So much of the time I want to know why. I want to know what the purpose is for it all. I want to know the reasons things happen. Why do we suffer? Why is pain so prevalent? Why, how, can we be the source of so much pain?

Though we can’t know why (even though we try so much of the time to make sense of it all), help us to be aware when we are the cause. We can’t control so much of what happens in our world, but help us navigate the way you set, the path you wish us to go. Help us bring light into the darkness, even when it is us that dim the light. 

Amen. 

Liturgy 3-4-2018

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 worship the Living God

the God of gentle whispers
and turned-over tables

to be transformed in this wilderness of Lent

to learn to see our own brokenness

and to invite the Spirit of God

to breathe life into our desert places

amen

Scripture

Exodus 20:1-17

Then God spoke all these words:

I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; you shall have no other gods before me.

You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.

You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me, but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments.

You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not acquit anyone who misuses his name.

Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy. For six days you shall labour and do all your work. But the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work—you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns.

For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and consecrated it.

Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

You shall not murder.

You shall not commit adultery.

You shall not steal.

You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

John 2:13-22

The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables.

Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. He told those who were selling the doves, “Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!”

His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.” The Jews then said to him, “What sign can you show us for doing this?” Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”

The Jews then said, “This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?” But he was speaking of the temple of his body.

After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this; and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.

Reading

This week's reading was from Barbara Cawthorne Crafton in a book called Break and Wine:

We didn't even know what moderation was. What it felt like. We didn't just work: we inhaled our jobs, sucked them in, became them. Stayed late, brought work home – it was never enough, though, no matter how much time we put in.

We didn't just smoke: we lit up a cigarette, only to realize that we already had one going in the ashtray.

We ordered things we didn't need from the shiny catalogs that came to our houses: we ordered three times as much as we could use, and then we ordered three times as much as our children could use.

We didn't just eat: we stuffed ourselves. We had gained only three pounds since the previous year, we told ourselves. Three pounds is not a lot. We had gained about that much in each of the twenty-five years since high school. We did not do the math.

We redid living rooms in which the furniture was not worn out. We threw away clothing that was merely out of style. We drank wine when the label on our prescription said it was dangerous to use alcohol while taking this medication. "They always put that on the label," we told our children when they asked about this. We saw that they were worried. We knew it was because they loved us and needed us. How innocent they were. We hastened to reassure them: "It doesn't really hurt if you're careful."

We felt that it was important to be good to ourselves, and that this meant that it was dangerous to tell ourselves no. About anything, ever. Repression of one's desires was an unhealthy thing. I work hard, we told ourselves. I deserve a little treat. We treated ourselves every day.

And if it was dangerous for us to want and not have, it was even more so for our children. They must never know what it is to want something and not have it immediately. It will make them bitter, we told ourselves. So we anticipated their needs and desires. We got them both the doll and the bike. If their grades were good, we got them their own telephones.

There were times, coming into the house from work or waking early when all was quiet, when we felt uneasy about the sense of entitlement that characterized all our days. When we wondered if fevered overwork and excess of appetite were not two sides of the same coin – or rather, two poles between which we madly slalomed. Probably yes, we decided at these times. Suddenly we saw it all clearly: I am driven by my creatures – my schedule, my work, my possessions, my hungers. I do not drive them; they drive me. Probably yes. Certainly yes. This is how it is. We arose and did twenty sit-ups. The next day the moment had passed; we did none.

After moments like that, we were awash in self-contempt. You are weak. Self-indulgent. You are spineless about work and about everything else. You set no limits. You will become ineffective. We bridled at that last bit, drew ourselves up to our full heights, insisted defensively on our competence, on the respect we were due because of all our hard work. We looked for others whose lives were similarly overstuffed; we found them. "This is just the way it is," we said to one another on the train, in the restaurant. "This is modern life. Maybe some people have time to measure things out by teaspoonfuls." Our voices dripped contempt for those people who had such time. We felt oddly defensive, though no one had accused us of anything. But not me. Not anyone who has a life. I have a life. I work hard. I play hard.

When did the collision between our appetites and the needs of our souls happen? Was there a heart attack? Did we get laid off from work, one of the thousands certified as extraneous? Did a beloved child become a bored stranger, a marriage fall silent and cold? Or, by some exquisite working of God's grace, did we just find the courage to look the truth in the eye and, for once, not blink? How did we come to know that we were dying a slow and unacknowledged death? And that the only way back to life was to set all our packages down and begin again, carrying with us only what we really needed?

We travail. We are heavy laden. Refresh us, O homeless, jobless, possession-less Savior. You came naked, and naked you go. And so it is for us. So it is for all of us.

Liturgy 2-25-2018

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 worship the Eternal One

the one who hears the cries of those who suffer
and draws near to those who mourn

following Jesus into the wilderness of Lent,

hoping to be formed more fully in the way of Christ

and learning to live in the hope of God’s story

until our hope gives way to glad fruition

amen

Scripture

Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16

When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said to him, “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless. And I will make my covenant between me and you, and will make you exceedingly numerous.”

Then Abram fell on his face; and God said to him, “As for me, this is my covenant with you: You shall be the ancestor of a multitude of nations. No longer shall your name be Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you the ancestor of a multitude of nations.

I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you. I will establish my covenant between me and you, and your offspring after you throughout their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you.

God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. I will bless her, and moreover I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall give rise to nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.”

Mark 8:31-38

Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. He said all this quite openly.

And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”

He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.

For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life?

Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”

Reading

This week's reading was an excerpt from a series of Lenten meditations by Yolanda Pierce.  You can view the whole series here, and find the full post that the excerpt is from here:

My Lenten meditation is: “Help me to have faith, O God, when I just cannot believe the cruelties of this age.” It is an important prayer because I never want to become indifferent to hate and injustice. I never want to grow accustomed to children dying in jail cells alone. I never want food deserts and poisoned water to become the usual state of affairs. I want my disbelief to propel me to work harder, pray more, and turn over tables.

Prayer

This week's prayer was written by Martin Luther King, Jr.:

We thank thee, O God, for the spiritual nature of man.  We are in nature but we live above nature. Help us never to let anybody or any condition to pull us so low as to cause us to hate.  Give us strength to love our enemies and to do good to those who despitefully use us and persecute us.  The thank thee for thy Church, founded upon thy Word, that challenges us to do more than sing and pray, but go out and work as though the very answer to our prayers depended on us not upon thee.  Then, finally, help us to realize that man was created to shine like stars and live on through all eternity.  Keep us, we pray, in perfect peace; help us to walk together, pray together, sing together, and live together until the day when all God's children, Black, White, Red, and Yellow will rejoice in our common band of humanity in the kingdom of our Lord and of our God, we pray.

Amen.

Liturgy 2-18-2018

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 worship the Lord of all creation,

the One who is gracious, merciful,
and abounding in steadfast love

to follow Jesus into the wilderness of Lent

and face the truth about ourselves;
our brokenness, and our fears

to open ourselves to the transformation of the Spirit

that we might be formed more fully in the way of Christ

Amen.

Scripture

Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16

When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said to him, “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless. And I will make my covenant between me and you, and will make you exceedingly numerous.” 

Then Abram fell on his face; and God said to him, “As for me, this is my covenant with you: You shall be the ancestor of a multitude of nations. No longer shall your name be Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you the ancestor of a multitude of nations. 

I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you. I will establish my covenant between me and you, and your offspring after you throughout their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you.

God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. I will bless her, and moreover I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall give rise to nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.”

Mark 1:9-15

In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”

And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him.

Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.”

Reading

This is an excerpt from God of the Oppressed by James Cone (93-94):

Story is the history of individuals coming together in the struggle to shape life according to commonly held values.  The Jewish story is found in the Hebrew Bible and the Rabbinic traditions.  The early Christian story is told in the Old and New Testaments, with the emphasis on the latter as the fulfillment of the former.  The white American story is found in the history of European settlements struggling against dark forests and savage people to found a new nation.  The Black American story is recorded in the songs, tales, and narratives of African slaves and their descendants, as they attempted to survive with dignity in a land inimical to their existence.  

Every people has a story to tell, something to say to themselves, their children, and to the world about how they think and live, as they determine and affirm their reason for being.  The story both expresses and participates in the miracle of moving from nothing to something, from nonbeing to being. 

When people ask me, “How do you know that what you say is true?” my reply is: “Ultimately, I don’t know and neither does anybody else.” We are creatures of history, not divine beings.  I cannot claim infinite knowledge.  What I can do is bear witness to my story, to tell it and live it, as the story grips my life and pulls me out of nothingness into being.   

However, I am not imprisoned within my story.  Indeed, when I understand truth as story, I am more likely to be open to other people’s truth stories.  As I listen to other stories, I am invited to move out of the subjectivity of my own story into another realm of thinking and acting.  The same is true for others when I tell my story.

It is only when stories are abstracted from a concrete situation and codified into Law or dogma that their life blood is taken away and thus a people begins to think that its ways of thinking and living are the only real possibilities.  When people can no longer listen to other people’s stories, they become enclosed within their own social context, treating their distorted visions of reality as the whole truth. 

Prayer

This week's prayer was written by Mary McLeod Bethune:

Father, we call Thee Father because we love Thee.

We are glad to be called Thy children, and to dedicate our lives to the service that extends through willing hearts and hands to the betterment of all mankind. We send a cry of Thanksgiving for people of all races, creeds, classes, and colors the world over, and pray that through the instrumentality of our lives the spirit of peace, joy, fellowship, and brotherhood shall circle the world.

We know that this world is filled with discordant notes, but help us, Father, to so unite our efforts that we may all join in one harmonious symphony for peace and brotherhood, justice, and equality of opportunity for all men. The tasks performed today with forgiveness for all our errors, we dedicate, dear Lord, to Thee. 

Grant us strength and courage and faith and humility sufficient for the tasks assigned to us.

Amen.

Liturgy 2-11-2018

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 devote our attention to the Lord of all

to worship the God
revealed in Jesus Christ

to embrace what God would have us know
about who God is

and what God would have us know
about who we are

that we might be drawn into God’s story

and join with God in the work
of new life in the world.

Amen.

 

Scripture

Psalm 50:1-6

The Lord, the God of gods, has spoken;
and has called the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting.

Out of Zion, perfect in its beauty,
God reveals Godself in glory.

Our God will come and will not keep silence;
before God there is a consuming flame,
and round about God a raging storm.

God calls the heavens and the earth from above
to witness the judgment of God’s people.

"Gather before me my loyal followers,
those who have made a covenant with me
and sealed it with sacrifice."

Let the heavens declare the rightness of God’s cause;
for God is judge.

Mark 9:2-9

Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain apart, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no one on earth could bleach them.

And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, who were talking with Jesus. Then Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”

He did not know what to say, for they were terrified. Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice, “This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!” Suddenly when they looked around, they saw no one with them any more, but only Jesus.

As they were coming down the mountain, he ordered them to tell no one about what they had seen, until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead.

Poem

truth
by gwendolyn brooks

And if sun comes
How shall we greet him?
Shall we not dread him,
Shall we not fear him
After so lengthy a
Session with shade?

Though we have wept for him,
Though we have prayed
All through the night-years—
What if we wake one shimmering morning to
Hear the fierce hammering
Of his firm knuckles
Hard on the door?

Shall we not shudder?—
Shall we not flee
Into the shelter, the dear thick shelter
Of the familiar
Propitious haze?

Sweet is it, sweet is it
To sleep in the coolness
Of snug unawareness.

The dark hangs heavily
Over the eyes.

Prayer

This week's prayer was written by W. E. B. Du Bois:

In these first beginnings of new life in the world, renew in us the resolution to persist in the good work we have begun.  Give us strength of body and strength of mind and the unfaltering determination to carry out that which we know to be good and right.  

Forgive all wavering in the past service of Thy cause and make us strong to go forward in spite of our own distrust in ourselves. 

Out of the death of winter comes ever and again the resurrection of spring: so out of evil bring good, O God, and out of doubt determination. Amen.

Liturgy 2-4-2018

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 devote our attention
to the Living God

to be formed more fully in the way of Christ

who, on the night he was betrayed,
took bread, blessed it, and said

this is my body which is for you
do this in remembrance of me

in the same way, he took the cup also after supper, saying

this cup is the new covenant in my blood
do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me

for as often as we eat this bread and drink this cup

we proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes

Amen.

Scripture

Isaiah 40:21-31

Have you not known? Have you not heard?
Has it not been told you from the beginning? 
Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? 

It is the Lord who sits above the circle of the earth,
and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; 
who stretches out the heavens like a curtain,
and spreads them like a tent to live in;
who brings princes to naught,
and makes the rulers of the earth as nothing. 

Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown,
scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth, 
when the Lord blows upon them, and they wither,
and the tempest carries them off like stubble. 

To whom then will you compare me,
or who is my equal? says the Holy One. 
Lift up your eyes on high and see:
Who created these? 

The One who brings out their host and numbers them,
calling them all by name; 
because this One is great in strength,
mighty in power, 
not one is missing. 

Why do you say, O Jacob,
and speak, O Israel,
"My way is hidden from the Lord,
and my right is disregarded by my God"?
Have you not known? Have you not heard?

The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
The Lord does not faint or grow weary;
the Lord’s understanding is unsearchable.
The Lord gives power to the faint,
and strengthens the powerless.

Even youths will faint and be weary,
and the young will fall exhausted;
but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength,
they shall mount up with wings like eagles,
they shall run and not be weary,
they shall walk and not faint.

Mark 1:29-39

After Jesus and his disciples left the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told him about her at once. He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them.

That evening, at sundown, they brought to him all who were sick or possessed with demons. And the whole city was gathered around the door. And he cured many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him.

In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed. And Simon and his companions hunted for him. When they found him, they said to him, “Everyone is searching for you.”

He answered, “Let us go on to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came out to do.” And he went throughout Galilee, proclaiming the message in their synagogues and casting out demons.

Poem

"Caged Bird" by Maya Angelou

A free bird leaps
on the back of the wind   
and floats downstream   
till the current ends
and dips his wing
in the orange sun rays
and dares to claim the sky.

But a bird that stalks
down his narrow cage
can seldom see through
his bars of rage
his wings are clipped and   
his feet are tied
so he opens his throat to sing.

The caged bird sings   
with a fearful trill   
of things unknown   
but longed for still   
and his tune is heard   
on the distant hill   
for the caged bird   
sings of freedom.

The free bird thinks of another breeze
and the trade winds soft through the sighing trees
and the fat worms waiting on a dawn bright lawn
and he names the sky his own

But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams   
his shadow shouts on a nightmare scream   
his wings are clipped and his feet are tied   
so he opens his throat to sing.

The caged bird sings   
with a fearful trill   
of things unknown   
but longed for still   
and his tune is heard   
on the distant hill   
for the caged bird   
sings of freedom.

Prayer

This week's prayer was written by Martin Luther King, Jr. (Thou, Dear God, 63):

O God, our gracious heavenly Father, we thank thee for the inspiration of Jesus the Christ, who came to this world to show us the way.  And grant that we will see in that life the fact that we are made for that which is high and noble and good.  Help us to live in line with that high calling, that great destiny.  In the name of Jesus we pray.  Amen.