CONGREGATIONAL PRAYER
Dearest Lord, we thank you for yet another sunrise, another morning, another opportunity to embrace the day, embrace life and embrace grace. Should we ask ourselves if we take for granted the fact that our lungs took in breath and eyes opened? Did we, in the moment of our waking, begin to obsess about the day, the hours and the minutes that lie ahead of us awaiting our decisions about all that must be accomplished. Are we able to understand the invitation to participate in the Sabbath...rest? In this sacred time let our thoughts meander through your spiritual realm, pondering the eternal, lingering gently in the ethereal, wondering and smiling always at the extravagance of your love. Teach our bodies and our minds to rest and take their repose in You, O Lord, in the name of the Christ we pray. Amen
OFFERTORY THOUGHT
I confessed it, out loud in front of witnesses just the other day: “There is one thing that can panic me and make lose my cool and that is a “zero” balance in my bank accounts...savings and checking.” I won’t dare to say “we have all been there,” but I am sure I am not alone in this heart dropping, eye popping, throat gulping, cold sweat producing experience. Indeed I only had a few table scraps to feed the yowling monster to tide it over for a day or two until other resources arrived. In sympathy I offered up a prayer for the church’s Financial Secretary and Treasurer who I am pretty sure break into a cold sweat every week of the long hot sparse offering summer.
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Monday, August 9, 2010
August 8, 2010 "DOING THE WALK OF LIFE"
CONGREGATIONAL PRAYER
Glorious God, Sovereign of the Universe, Giver of light and life, we are glad to lift our voices as one to praise your most Holy name. We have longed to walk in right paths, guided by your Spirit, but we must confess that we are, too often, halted along the way by our own fears and prejudices. Help us always to rejoice in the good, which moves us ever forward. Teach us to listen in love reminding us that You alone are equipped to judge the merits of humankind. Cause us to know that You are not one to place obstacles before us as we walk through life; you present us with opportunities. We are awed by moments and occurrences in our daily existence when we recognize your intervention, your indelible mark, your unmistakable footprint, amazed at your attention to the details of what we need to see, to learn and to experience. Thank you, in the name of the Christ. Amen.
OFFERTORY THOUGHT
In 1985 Dire Straits released “The Walk of Life,” a song dedicated to the London subway storytellers, singer, guitar players called “the tunnel buskers.” Johnny down in the tunnels trying to make it pay. They are doing the walk of life , the traditional journey of a storyteller, carrying their stories from town to town turning people’s dark nights into brighter days. “Here comes Johnny and he'll tell you the story. Hand me down my walkin' shoes. Here come Johnny with the power and the glory. Backbeat the talkin' blues. He got the action he got the motion. Yeah the boy can play, dedication and devotion turnin’ all the night time into the day.” He do the walk, he do the walk of life.” Wow! What a concept—bringing folks stories that turn their darkness into light.
Glorious God, Sovereign of the Universe, Giver of light and life, we are glad to lift our voices as one to praise your most Holy name. We have longed to walk in right paths, guided by your Spirit, but we must confess that we are, too often, halted along the way by our own fears and prejudices. Help us always to rejoice in the good, which moves us ever forward. Teach us to listen in love reminding us that You alone are equipped to judge the merits of humankind. Cause us to know that You are not one to place obstacles before us as we walk through life; you present us with opportunities. We are awed by moments and occurrences in our daily existence when we recognize your intervention, your indelible mark, your unmistakable footprint, amazed at your attention to the details of what we need to see, to learn and to experience. Thank you, in the name of the Christ. Amen.
OFFERTORY THOUGHT
In 1985 Dire Straits released “The Walk of Life,” a song dedicated to the London subway storytellers, singer, guitar players called “the tunnel buskers.” Johnny down in the tunnels trying to make it pay. They are doing the walk of life , the traditional journey of a storyteller, carrying their stories from town to town turning people’s dark nights into brighter days. “Here comes Johnny and he'll tell you the story. Hand me down my walkin' shoes. Here come Johnny with the power and the glory. Backbeat the talkin' blues. He got the action he got the motion. Yeah the boy can play, dedication and devotion turnin’ all the night time into the day.” He do the walk, he do the walk of life.” Wow! What a concept—bringing folks stories that turn their darkness into light.
August 1, 2010 "THAT OTHER HALF"
CONGREGATIONAL PRAYER
Our most glorious and loving God, we lift our voices in prayer, to offer, first our thanks and praise. In these first moments of prayerful connection we remember to rejoice in your love and persistent patience with your creation. Our thoughts are full of our appointment calendars; our i-phones, cell phones messages, i-pods, and facebook pages are crammed full with messages and information. Sometimes if feels like we are being turned on a spit basted, prodded, inundated, stimulated, percolated, and saturated hourly. But, here, gracious Lord, we can embrace moments of peaceful communion being reminded, as we contemplate your word, what is truly important. Let us be those who cull from every encounter and every conversation, new insight into what it means to be a Christian. In the name of the Christ we pray. Amen.
OFFERTORY THOUGHT
My Father always said: “It’s important to see how the other half lives.” I knew the point he was making. Not everyone in the world possesses what we possess and realizing that might make me a better person. For those of us who see ourselves in the middle between the rich and the poor, it’s not about halves, it more like 3rd’s; the third that is fiscally above me and the third that is fiscally below me. But it can’t really be 3rd’s either, because 80% of the world’s population lives on less than $10 per day. I guess that puts all of us in the other 20%.
Our most glorious and loving God, we lift our voices in prayer, to offer, first our thanks and praise. In these first moments of prayerful connection we remember to rejoice in your love and persistent patience with your creation. Our thoughts are full of our appointment calendars; our i-phones, cell phones messages, i-pods, and facebook pages are crammed full with messages and information. Sometimes if feels like we are being turned on a spit basted, prodded, inundated, stimulated, percolated, and saturated hourly. But, here, gracious Lord, we can embrace moments of peaceful communion being reminded, as we contemplate your word, what is truly important. Let us be those who cull from every encounter and every conversation, new insight into what it means to be a Christian. In the name of the Christ we pray. Amen.
OFFERTORY THOUGHT
My Father always said: “It’s important to see how the other half lives.” I knew the point he was making. Not everyone in the world possesses what we possess and realizing that might make me a better person. For those of us who see ourselves in the middle between the rich and the poor, it’s not about halves, it more like 3rd’s; the third that is fiscally above me and the third that is fiscally below me. But it can’t really be 3rd’s either, because 80% of the world’s population lives on less than $10 per day. I guess that puts all of us in the other 20%.
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