Offertory Prayer for Palm Sunday
Holy God, we shout “Hosanna” along with the crowd. “Save us! We beseech thee.” And somehow, this chance we have to give our money is a grace of your salvation. A way to escape the self-focus that threatens to consume our lives. So open our hearts. Open our hands. Accept our gifts, O God, we…
Loving and Hating Life
I’ve posted a new page with today’s sermon on John 12: 20-33. It includes the words “sex” and “hell”–if that’s an incentive to read it (or not). 🙂
Call to Worship for Lent 4B
I thought I posted this yesterday, but apparently it disappeared into cyberspace. Here’s the call to worship we’ll be using this week, which draws on Numbers 21:4-9 and John 3:14-21. The chorus is from the psalm. Call to Worship When we are lost in the wilderness, God’s steadfast love endures forever. When we complain about…
Offertory Prayer for Lent 4B
Holy Christ, you have lifted up your life for our lives. We lift up to you now these fruits of our life’s work; this money that has been given to us, we now give to you. May this offering be used toward healing, toward peace, toward abundant life for all people. Amen.
Wednesday Worship Pieces: Lent 3
The ten commandments and turned-over tables. What a great week to be a preacher! Here is the prayer of confession and offertory prayer we are using this week. Prayer of Confession O God, Have mercy on us. You draw us to holy places, and we fail to look for you. You speak to us holy…
Take up your Cross
I have posted the sermon I preached last year on Matthew 16:21-28, which is a parallel passage to this week’s Gospel reading in Mark 8:27-38. (This poor little post has been languishing in my draft folder all week. Oops.)
Worship Pieces for Lent 2
Call to Worship (from Romans 4:13-25) Â The promise to Abraham and Sarah and to their descendants came through faith. The inheritance is based on God’s grace and is for all of us who are connected through the centuries, connected to Abraham and Sarah and all their descendants through faith– Faith in the God who opened…
Prayer of Confession
I’ve been neglecting the blog lately in my efforts toward the Creative Arts Lenten Retreat. We have 28 people doing the retreat this year! I’m really enjoying leading the retreat experience–and now that it’s up and running I have a little more time for the blog. Here is the prayer of confession and assurance of…
Fun with Finger Labyrinths
I’ve been working on the materials for the Creative Arts Lenten Retreat today. In thinking about the holy space of wilderness, I was inspired to create a finger labyrinth. You can find plenty of labyrinth images online to print out, though I found it strangely soothing to draw my own. (Mine is a classic 7-circut…
Spacious Faith 