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His expression too smug. We are gradually adding liturgies and liturgy ideas to our site. var thisact = jQuery('#submission-action').val(); Lectionary sermon for 2 October 2022 on Luke 17: 5-10. 4810 Pt. No wonder Jesus took Peter, John, and James up there to pray. I had this wicked arm-hold sleeper, and that together with my full Nelson followed by a knee-arm press, was guaranteed to have my brother screaming uncle and agreeing to be my obedient servant until in no time at all. Some of the people remained in the fragmented remnants and developed compensating mantras. You can peruse my notes for the service in the pdf of my missal here. Abundant life is the Shalom we long for, for without justice there can be no peace, and without peace there can only be abundance for some and not for all. THEME The Connecting Solitude THOUGHTS FOR REFLECTION The spiritual desert is not a foe to be conquered but an emptiness to be affirmed: for when we are full, we perceive nothing, but when we are empty we can receive everything. So, longing to escape the confines of my cozy isolation, out onto to the ice I trudged, as the cold air sharpened my vision. towards ourselves and towards all living beings. 2023 ProgressiveChristianity.org, Common Prayers: Faith, Family, and a Christians Journey Through the Jewish Year, A Joyful Path, Childrens Curriculum Sample Lessons for Years One, Two and Three, Find Faith Communities Using A Joyful Path, The Core Values of Progressive Christianity, Bishop Spong Newsletter Progressing Spirit, Advertising on ProgressiveChristianity.org. Luke 21:25-36. But I digress. 1 Corinthians 15. Your email address will not be published. O God, who gifts us moments of amazement, help us to accept the rhythm of the ordinary and the extraordinary that we may retain a steady awareness of your presence both in grey days and in bright. Amen. Heaven is ours to create out of the hells we have made. It is said that a picture is worth a thousand words we would like to share a slideshow with you that gives life both visually and in its various messages. jQuery(document).on('change', '#submission-action', function(){ Continue reading . Thich Nhat Hanh. But as it is, Christ has in fact been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep., Ah Paul, you sure know what youre doing! Amen. Come, drink together from the Cup of Gladness! A SERVICE OF WORD AND TABLE II. For us and for our salvation He came down from heaven, Most of us have travelled far above the Earth, we have sailed through the clouds and we know that there is no heaven up there. According to this story, a bunch of rag-tag Jesus followers were huddled together in fear. And each and every time we find what has been lost is a time for celebration. . Can we now look beyond what we have been conditioned to see, and see the wounded CHRIST standing in the middle of fearful followers, a vision of the impact of violence, saying, SHALOM, Peace be with you! Can we look beyond what we have been conditioned to see the ONE wounded by violence bidding us peace? Jean and Mike give some personal examples of deaths and resurrections in their lives, both big and small. The Risen One comes with hands full of love. In the same way he took the cup, saying: If our hopes in Christ are limited to this life only, we are the most pitiful of all the human race. Risen as he said! There are flowers in the sanctuary during Lent! I can hear them tut tutting at the audacity of my taking such liberties with the Gospel. After spending far too long cornered by Steve, who preached a gospel of not very good news, I was desperate to silence him, so, I reluctantly agreed to attend a Tuesday night youth service. Sure, we know there are still problems in the world. These liturgies immerse us into the immen-sity of our calling: Christ's passion and passage have been completed. All who are truly sorry for their sins, who sincerely believe in the Lord Jesus as their Savior, and who desire to live in obedience to him, are now invited to come with gladness to the table of the Lord. You see Paul was skilled in the ancient art of rhetoric and would recognize my own rhetoric for what it is. For us, Jesus can be the medium through which the Mystery we call God can be imagined. Easter is the sky that encloses the broken egg. Leader: Let us give thanks to the Lord our God. Lets extend our hands over one another for a final blessing: May you have the power to live life fully. McCourts story forces me to confess that for most of my life, I believed that Humpty Dumpty was an egg; a magical egg to be sure, with a face, and legs, and hands, a jolly fellow, but an egg none the less. endobj The Prayer of Thanksgiving. Jesus knew this. This cup is the new covenant sealed in my blood, shed for you for the forgiveness of sins. } else { Leader: Congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord has prepared this table for all who love him and trust in him alone for their salvation. Resurrection is about seeing behind and beyond death, ugliness, injustice, pain and despair. What tombs are there in the Church that exercise the same function? }); Join thousands of others like you who are contributing their voice to Progressive Christianity and list your church, organization or yourself in our global directory. Faith and EthicsKaren Armstrong is amongst a group of religious scholars who have noted that the essential teaching of each of the major religions usually includes some version of "love your neighbour". Jesus way did not include taking up the sword to achieve peace. Do we have the courage to hear the word ransom as sacrifice? Only a foolWould search and look and scour and puzzle, bend and peer, lift and move everything, to find a single coin. You might say my countenance betrayed me, because it wasnt long before I took my body and its language out of the apartment to the nearest bar, where among friends, I began to look for a new place to live. As we prepare to eat the meal, let us share together the proclamation of our faith: As a whale gently brushed the underside of the dingy, a strange calm came over me and I was not afraid. We believe that faith can move mountains, and that caterpillars can be transformed into butterflies. Alleluia! LORD'S PRAYER C: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven. Easter communion liturgy, involving children Ana Gobledale, UK. A natural body is sown, and a spiritual body is raised up. How dare I claim freedom from the old-manin the sky-god only to embrace half-baked notions of a MYSTERY which is called LOVE, as if LOVE is the answer? They were both more than a little relieved to have Grandmas calming presence. Another great reference and guide, if available to you, is The Worship Sourcebook, published by the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship.It's an excellent collection of prayers, texts, and litanies, with worship resources for every church season. At this Easter gathering, we take bread, as Jesus took bread, and we remember, as Jesus remembered, the constant presence of the spirit of life and love. Bit by bit, hope has begun to build upon hope as we look forward to Spring when we call launch forth into fuller more robust living. we stand against the powers of sin and death. It is not our beliefs about what happened in history that transform us but the extent to which we allow these glimpses into the heart of God to energize our lives. Some of these messages convey ways we might experience subtle resurrections and deaths in our everyday lives. My friend and I were doing our level best not to laugh, we were too young to be sensitive, and to this day I find it difficult to keep a straight face in the presence of that particular kind of spirited movement. In the same way the cup, after supper (here the minister shall pour the wine and lift up the cup) saying, "This cup is a new covenant of my blood. You can skip to the end and leave a response. In the tears of that little Ukrainian family, I began to see yet another face of CHRIST, a face I had refused to see before. Call to Worship & Opening Prayer. Christs peace is ours forever! History should have taught us by now that that justice and not violence is the way to peace. Accept our praise and thanksgiving, You sent your only-begotten,in whom your fullness dwells, As for seeing the face of CHRIST in our enemies, let us try. And so, with your people on earth and all the company of heaven, we praise your name and join their unending hymn: Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might, heaven and earth are full of your glory. With open minds and hearts, may the God-in-us find generous and courageous expression in our words and actions as we endeavor to make the presence of God evident in our world. Through this space and time together today, we celebrate the covenant that ties us with God, Jesus the Christ, our neighbors and creation. It began to seem like the only way to get Crystals hand out was to break the family heirloom. Here at this table your promise of life is made tangible. Let us be reckless in our LOVing, Grounded in our service, outrageously generous in our ransoming life on this planet. That is the gospel, the message that I preached to you. We were Stayin Alive, Stayin Alive all week long, working toward Saturday Night Fever, when we Should Be Dancing, dancing the night away. The delight of new awareness can be a prelude to a life lived inthe mellow light of love. Revealing your love, radiating your life, Jesus taught those who listened to him, How dare I posit a GOD who is LOVE? Time for quiet reflection: I am eternally linked with the source of all life, Please respond Amen after each of the following affirmations of our Eucharistic Prayer. } Father, Son, and Holy . I knew I was about to drown. Change), You are commenting using your Facebook account. We are told by the gospel-storyteller that after his one-line commentary on the words of Isaiah, Jesus hometown congregation were so incensed that they decided to hurl him off a cliff. Our very freedom from ancient ways of knowing and being sets of a chain-reaction of freedom which can, if we let it, become Good News for the poor, as we finally begin to understand what Jesus knew all along, when Jesus insisted, I and the ABBA are ONE. For if Jesus and the ABBA are ONE, the Good News is that you and I and our neighbours, we are ONE with ABBA. I first heard it at a retreat on the West Coast a lifetime ago). As Jesus invited his friends to drink, mindful of a relationship of love and trust between ourselves and the spirit of life, I suspect that pulling brothers together who have genuine axes to grind is the kind of recklessness that is worth the risk, if those siblings can learn to work together to pursue justice. I dont mind confessing my own fear. One quiet afternoon my brother Alan and I were playing on the shore. Nothing was said until dinner the next day, by which time Steve and Anna had been back to church twice. When we say that we believe in the resurrection of the dead, we are proclaiming that no matter how dead someone may appear to be, no matter how dead we may feel, new life is always possible. Lift up your hearts. However, Pete goes on, there are moments when I affirm that resurrection, few and far between as they are. May this Spirit help us to recognize the Christ-presence in our midst. One: On this day, we shout Hallelujah! People: Your death, O Christ, we proclaim. For this perishable body must put on imperishability, and this mortal body must put on immortality. By stem and root and branch we trace, by feather, fang and fur, We need a saviour to rescue us from our sinfulness. Crystal was very upset and still very stuck. Times when we must leave all that we have, all that we know, in order to seek, to find and to restore the lost, the abandoned, the wayward, and yes even the self-righteous religious types. Remember, should you have to choose between them in the strife, jQuery.noConflict(); Your rhetoric is sublime! Hosanna in the highest. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Jesus. Thank you, God, for life in the Spirit of Jesus. My first conscious memory of hearing the BAT KOL, the Daughter of a Sound, the still small voice of DIVINITY happened on a sojourn into a Thin Place during a summer camping trip when I was just 13. Get their attention and then, deliver your point! What can progressive Christians say about the story of Easter? easter with prayers and blessings for easter services. Odd, long-vanished creatures and their tracks & shells are found; The distortion of maps deceived me into believing that it would be a short trip from Bergen to Narvik. } Easter 3A in Quarantine: God Sightings. For more information on the Commission, its mandate and membership, please click here. //jQuery('#submit-action').attr('href','/paupress/?rel=pauContent&pau_type='+thisact); On this the Feast Day of Saint Francis, an evening prayer service with texts from St. Francis. Traditionally, the season of Lent is a time of repentance. Long ago, when torture broke the remnant of his will, } and for the mystery of life beyond death. Because when you look at the shepherd, the woman, and the father in these parables, they come do come off as reckless fools, unless they are risking all that they have for the sake of something worth risking everything for. This piece of Scripture was followed by a passage from Pauls letter to the Romans, all of which was underlined in red: God puts people right through their faith in Jesus Christ. The Resurrection is witness to the golden incandescence at the heart of life which neither suffering nor death can destroy. You dont want to miss Paul when hes worked himself up to his point. Pain and suffering perpetrated by our species vain conviction that violence is the way to peace. The Bread of Life and the Cup of the Covenant: Gifts to unite the Body of Christ. For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. My brother didnt stand a chance. var thisact = jQuery('#submission-action').val(); The stories about Jesus have been told in ways that paint a particular picture of what it means to be human. This week, two events stand in stark contrast to one another. I had just moved up to Jasper, Alberta, determined to make enough money during that summer, so that I could continue my backing excursions in Europe. If a few well-placed bullets could reunite and restore that little Ukrainian family, maybe Jesus was wrong about non-violent resistance. What can we learn from Jesus life about who, or what the MYSTERY we call God is? They not yet but already here EMPIRE of DIVINITY is here in every stranger who welcomes a refugee, in every aid worker, doctor without borders, in every reckless fool who risks it all for the kind of justice which makes peace. Easter Sunrise: Outdoor Worship. But there is more going on in this story than just the literal words on the page. Then Grandma rubbed little Crystals back, held her close and gently, but firmly said: Let it go, child. The story begins with a familiar nursery rhyme: Humpty Dumpty sat on the wall, Humpty Dumpty had a great fall; All the kings horses and all the kings men Couldnt put Humpty together again. McCourt asks his young students to tell him whats going on in this nursery rhyme. Resist the distractions of all that we have, all our treasures, our land, our homes, all the trappings of the empires in which we are entangled. You can put it In this way God shows that he himself is righteous and that he puts right everyone who believes in Jesus. (Romans 3:21-26), Below these passages, Anna wrote: Repent and believe! The PROMISED ONE has come not to be served, but to serveto give a ransom for the many. Sure, it is easy to scoff at billionaires squandering their ill-gotten gains on momentary flights of fancy. For we are ONE with an evolving DEITY. 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.. We all must take care of ourselves. Galileo recanted, but the Earth is moving still Here at this table your promise of life is made tangible. Thats the thing with stories, one story, if it is even remotely engaging, that one story will inevitably lead to many more stories. who was compassionate and stood up for justice. Last week, I compiled a list of online video resources for worship. But let me assure you that you are looking at someone who used to be a champion wrestler. Limitations which the evolving nature of our understanding of reality compel us to reject. *Leader: Congregation of Jesus Christ, since the Lord has blessed us with his Word (and Holy Supper), let us praise his name with thanksgiving. That beautiful, glorious embodiment of CHRIST is singing these words: Ukraine is not yet dead, nor its glory and freedom, She has courageously begun the difficult, painstaking, slow work which lies before her. This despite the fact that the biblical author of the book of Joshua wrote that God stopped the rotation of the sun around the earth in order to provide Joshua with an extended period of daylight in which to kill his enemies. Your mommy told me that you reached into the vase for candy. One: On this day, we celebrate the risen Christ Your coming we await with hope. When all the rhetoric is said, and done, I lean in close to the beloved ones who have gathered, and I proclaim the same truth which Paul proclaimed, and the science of REALITY confirms to us: Listen, I will tell you a mystery! Anna knew that Jesus was sent by God as a sacrifice for human sin, to pay the price for our evil ways. But if this MYSTERY really is BEYOND the BEYOND and BEYOND that also, and we are in GOD and GOD is in us, then every character in every parable you have ever heard is in GOD and GOD is in every character. Out of the familiar emerges the extraordinary that transformsthe ordinary. *This liturgy is an adaptation of the traditional Great Thanksgiving liturgy. Blessed is the one who comes in the name of our God. Continue reading . The second face of CHRIST belongs to a Ukrainian Child rubbing her eyes in a desperate attempt to stem the flow of her own tears. The Earth, the Heavens, and the seas.Now even though the ancient Greek mathematician Pythagoras proposed that the Earth was round in the 6th century before the common era. }); Pinging is currently not allowed. Once again, I struggled to keep a straight face. Easter Communion Liturgy Inspired by A Song of Faith. God did this in order to demonstrate that he is righteous. This bread and drink represents our life and all the giftedness that each of us bring to the table. jQuery(document).on('change', '#submission-action', function(){ [on the night before he died, Jesus took bread, and after giving thanks to you, he broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying: I expect that whatever needs to be done will be done quickly, so that I can get back to normal. A star exploding or a leaf falling: both offer new possibilities and will live on in ways unknown to stars and leaves. The truth has left its fingerprints on every living thing. A small but secure fortune in hand. We take wine and drink, as Jesus invited his friends to drink, Turns out I was close. And the blessing of God almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, be among you and remain with you always. We are kin to beasts; no other answer can we bring. So, today Im inviting you to stop trying to identify the DIVINE MYSTERY as an individual person in these parables. Ever since they began to practice resurrection, people have been trying to figure out exactly what may have happened. If you have not donated yet, please do so today. Yesterday, when the sun was in the same position in the sky as it is now, we insisted that it was an hour later. to give our thanks and praise. We give thanks for Jesus of Nazareth who inspired us to put our hope and trust in the spirit of Life and Love moving in the depths of our being. I mean who in the hell believes that billionaires ought to be allowed to engage in a giant pissing contest disguised as a space race? Sunday between December 4 and December 10. An agency of The United Methodist Church, Discipleship Ministries helps local church, district, and conference leaders fulfill the shared dream of making world-changing disciples. Only a fool would leave to search for the stray who might be wounded, damaged, dying, not interested in being rescued. ), try clicking on the name of the season or celebration in the list of "Labels" at the lower right side of the page, or see this . This my body, given for you. There is so much more we can do and offer our readership with your support! He greets us with peace the world does not know. By your Spirit unite us with the living Christ and with all who seek to follow in his life-giving way, He enacted peace in the midst of violence, love in the face of hate, Many: On this day we shout, Christ is risen! I was suspicious of the kind of youth I would meet on a Tuesday at a Pentecostal church, I convinced a fellow chambermaid to come along with me, so that if we had to, Id have company as I hitch-hiked my way back to Jasper. We trust that with your grace present, even the smallest act of kindness, the shortest practice of goodness, or the slightest gesture of generosity can have significance well beyond all expectations. } else { We will never know what actually happened two thousand years ago, we will always. If you cannot bear to look upon the face of CHRIST, thats ok. Just stop this video and take a moment or two to pray. (1 Kings 19:1-12) It is about a prophet named Elijah, who was struggling to understand the will of the they knew as YHWH, the HEBREW name for the MYSTERY we call God, which can be translated as I AM, WHO AM or I WILL BE WHO I WILL BE or the GREAT I AM. OK, if youve stuck with me this far, you are probably beginning to wonder how exactly you, or I deny the resurrection. Frame 17: Look for the resurrections in your life. According to the story humans are in bondage to sin and we cannot free ourselves. We need to reach our year-end fundraising goal that will determine what we can do for 2023. Today, thanks to daylight savings time, the earth hasnt quickened its course around the sun. give you joy as you share the Easter faith. window.location.replace('https://progressivechristianity.org/paupress/?rel=contact&pau_form=contact_form'); How safe? His eyes are too beady. Alleluia! Seeking out the darkest place, to better see the light. Amen. We have been distracted by violence into compliance with systems which threaten our existence as a species, as we loot our planet of its life-giving resources so that we might increase our abilities to perpetrate violence on grander and grander scales. Christmas, Mother's Day, etc. Starters for Sunday. that we may further your reign of peace and justice in every place. Herman Praamsma, pastor of the Fellowship CRC ofRexdale, Ontario. Thats where youre opponent wrenches your arm behind your back and applies just enough pressure to cause pain, but not enough to break anything. But in my heart of hearts, I know that I must learn to see the face of CHRIST in my enemy. (from Heidelberg Catechism Q & A 45). For if we are clever enough see that violence begats violence, why, oh why does the GOD of our design seem incapable of coming up with a better way of winning us over. One clear shot and Putin would be gone. What followed was a long, useless argument about the theories of atonement. We pray to theLord. with the Son, God the Father praising;"Alleluia!" read more A Good Friday Prayer by Lenny Duncan on March 1, 2021 | 0 Comments Do this as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.". Gig Harbor, WA 98335 You can see it in the reckless passion of justice-seekers fighting for affordable housing, equitable healthcare, and food security. A quick glace toward the shoreline confirmed that I was well beyond where I would safely swim on a summer day and a strange sort of vertigo began to take hold over me. When the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him, he unrolled the scroll and found the passage where it was written: The Spirit of our God is upon me: because the Most High has anointed me to bring Good News to those who are poor. . You wouldnt know very much about the civil rights movement, about Dr. Kings dream, his vision of equality, his struggle for inclusion, his cries for justice for the poor, his vision economic equality, or his passion for peace, and his commitment to non-violent resistance. Lord, help us to make. we invite your Spirit to lead us ever more faithfully to be the body of Christ in the world. There was work to do. There are times when risks must be taken. good times, bad times - give me some of that: blogging on faith and life. To climb down from our lofty positions of wealth and privilege in order to serve the poor? But on this autumn day St. Francis words provide warmth and peace. What mechanisms do I use to attempt to tame the untamable wind of Gods Spirit? What do you know about the life of Jesus that sheds some light on who and what the MYSTERY that we call God is? There far away from their world, they were could safely worship Jesus. Out or on the Fringe of the Church. Well, as time passed, the situation became more and more serious. DONATE NOW! And swim we did all the way back to shore. Resist the illusion that finding what we have lost will be a sweet, harmless, story. Living the Resurrection Second Sunday of Easter, Year B On the Sunday after Easter, there is a general let down. Let us offer a sacrifice in the form of embodied LOVE. What kind of body will they have? What a stupid question! My oh, my, oh my In my sacred imagination, I can see Paul sitting up from his letter writing and nodding as if to say, there that out to stop those endless arguments about the resuscitation of a corpse.. I affirm the resurrection when I stand up for those who are forced to live on their knees,I affirm the resurrection when I speak for those who have had their tongues torn out,I affirm the resurrection, when I cry for those who have no more tears left to shed. we gratefully receive the Easter offering. The LOVE which is the SACRED MYSTERY which is the LOVE that we call GOD. Somehow, the flight of the billionaire Bezos phallic Blue Horizon thrusting its five privileged passengers across our screens will capture more attention from those of us who are wealthy enough to own screens, than the roughly one and a half billion men, women, and children who are consigned to live in poverty. //jQuery('#submit-action').attr('href','/paupress/?rel=pauContent&pau_type='+thisact); The magnitude of loss was positively unbearable. Easter Day: All Things Are Made New: a service of light with Holy Communion. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.. Would leave ninety-nine sheep to look for one lost sheep. If you have already donated, thank you! In the past few weeks, Ive been thinking a great deal about the systems of domination and the pain inflicted by the unjust empires of our world. May we ourselves cease to be the cause of suffering to each other. This knowledge has to change the way in which we see our relationship with the MYSTERY that lies at the very source of our being; our Creator if you will. 2014-04-20 liturgy [Easter sunrise] Author: Mike Farley We lose our capacity for peace and joy, we struggle to show compassion and to connect with others, and we may find ourselves slipping into toxic and destructive attitudes and habits. For the most part, the Bible points to the Heavens above the firmament as the home of God. But we live in the 21st century and we have access to all sorts of information that the generations who have gone before us did not. The congregation is encouraged to move around the sanctuary. Friends, let us come out of the darkness and join together in the light of Gods love. The Apostle Paul did not need there to be an actual physical resuscitation of a corpse in order to believe that Jesus is risen from the dead. The season of the church year called Eastertide lasts fifty days and includes Ascension, the day when we rejoice in the reign of Christ at God's right hand. Jesus reveals CHRIST. Jesus Way of being insists that justice for everyone is the only way to peace. John 20:19-31, Parables of Loss Through the Lenses of Resistance Luke 15, CLICK HERE to DOWNLOAD THE WORSHIP BULLETIN. Im a child of my times. <>>> Think for a moment. and out of the death of the old comes the birth of the new. Justice is what LOVE looks like in the world. } else { Heaven above the Earth and Hell below, all depending upon a smile or a frown from the omniscient god, Himself confined to sit in judgement in a celestial realm from which He sent His Son, to save creatures of His own creation from their own depravity. We remember that he was laid in a borrowed grave. Send us your: ResourceEventNewsIdeasnow But then I looked at the readings assigned for next Sunday and discovered that, yet another section of 1st Corinthians 15 is included. The Gospel this morning comes to us from the anonymous Gospel storyteller that we know as John. You and I are the wealthiest followers of Jesus who have ever walked the Earth. *Easter Peace Beloved in Christ, God's love pours out from the grave of despair. But way back then; the bay was only accessible by the most treacherous of logging roads. Lift up your hearts. For after the fire came a BAT KOL. Think about it, Jeff Bezos net worth is estimated at just shy of 200 billion dollars. With the Son, God, for life in the world does not know be prelude. That Jesus was wrong about non-violent resistance what actually happened two thousand years ago, we always! The Father praising ; '' Alleluia! sweet, harmless, story the were. Life of Jesus that sheds some light on who and what the MYSTERY we call God, we the... 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