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…
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.)
Call to Worship (from Romans 4:13-25) 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…
Here is a sestina I wrote as a reflection on my own baptism and on this week’s reading from Mark 1. Sestina: Baptism At eight-years-old I gave my life to Jesus–or at least that’s what I promised before my dad–our pastor–dunked me in the water. And up I came–a new creation, my sins cleaned away,…
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…
For those of you still thinking about whether or not to sign on for this year’s Creative Arts Lenten Retreat, please note that tomorrow–Valentine’s Day, is the last day to order the retreat kit with the art supplies. The PDF of the written booklet will be available any time. I am so glad to…
This prayer of confession is based on Daniel 3. (I cannot wait to preach this text on Sunday!) Holy One, Sometimes we are like Nebuchadnezzar, wanting to be in charge, desperately and destructively trying to control everyone around us. God of freedom, forgive and transform us. Sometimes we are like the Chaldeans, jealous of those…
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…
Here is the call to worship we will use this week. Our text is Jeremiah 18:1-11. We come to worship God, Creator of mountain, sea, sky, and land. We come to praise God, Fashioner of all creatures–even you, even me. We offer ourselves to God, Who forms and transforms in power with grace. Amen.
For this week’s call to worship, I decided to add to a piece I had written for an earlier Sunday when we were doing the Narrative Lectionary. I edited it a bit and added in the kings and prophets to reflect that we are a bit further along in our journey through scripture. This week…
Spacious Faith 