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Submit Your Own! April 3, 2011 By David von Schlichten April 3, 2011 Fourth Sunday in Lent, Year A Call to Worship Leader: Even in Death Valley at midnight, People: the light of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit shines. Leader: We are children of light. People: We wake up, rise from the dead. Christ shines on us. Invocation God of David and the man born blind, true sight comes only from you. Teach us to look beyond appearances and to walk in the shadow of the cross, which leads to the light of Easter dawn. In the name of the Rabbi we pray. Amen. Prayer of Confession Theoluminescent Lord, guide us. We continue in sin, even though you have baptized us. You’re right in front of us, but we refuse to see you. We get so caught up in our usual way of seeing things that we are blind to new ways you work in our lives. We fixate on outward appearances, including our own, instead of on what really matters. We are in denial about our sins, or we try to hide them from God. For the sake of the Healing Rabbi, forgive us. Correct our spiritual myopia. Yes. Words of Assurance Leader: Amazing grace! God forgives us. How sweet the sound People: that saves wretches like us. Leader: We once were lost People: but now are found, Leader: were blind People: but now we see. Prayer of Inspiration Rabbi-Ruach, illumine us with the Word. Yes. Prayers of the People You alone have created the Church, the baptized community of saints. We praise you for leaders such as Benedict the African and Mikael Agricola. We learn from theologians such as Dietrich Bonhoeffer. You inspire us through artists such as Albrecht Duerer and Lucas Cranach. Rod-and-Staff God, (congregational response: you lead us.). Your creation astounds us, including humanity’s spectrum-diversity. Humble us to open our eyes to one another, to see you in each other. Keep us from being Pharisaical. Rod-and-Staff God, . . . Continue to heal Japan. Grant us the stamina to help Japan long-term. Rod-and-Staff God, . . . You amaze us with your healing power. Shine your light on those in need. [Add names.] Shine through us, that we may be agents of healing. Rod-and-Staff God, . . . You may add other praises and petitions here. We glorify you for hearing us. In the name of Jesus we praise. Amen. Offertory Prayer As your children, we present you these gifts for your glory and for helping those in need. Benediction Leader: God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, anoints you, shines on you, People: calls us to follow the cruciform shadow. Leader: We dwell in God’s house People: from this time on and forevermore. Yes.
David von Schlichten, poedifier March 27, 2011 By David von Schlichten March 27, 2011 Third Sunday in Lent, Year A
Call to Worship Leader: O come, let us sing to the LORD; People: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation! Leader: We thirst for the Good News, People: and Christ quenches that thirst. Water gushes from the Saving Rock. Yes! Invocation Lord of the Samaritan woman, we praise you for baptizing us and sustaining us with your life-giving Word. Theo-hydrate us to invite others though words and actions to the love of Jesus the Messiah. In his name we pray. Amen. Prayer of Confession Jesus, we are quick to sin. You bathe and refresh us, but we act dried out. We quarrel and test God, as they did at Meribah and Massah. We are eager to be judgmental and exclusionary, as we so often are toward the world’s Samaritan women. We cling to categories that keep people labeled as outsider, as other. We are quick to blame you for suffering and neglect to allow the Spirit to transform suffering into hope. Jesus, Messiah, Rabbi, forgive us. Please. Wash us. Yes. Words of Assurance Jesus meets you at the well and declares the Good News to you. All your sins are forgiven. We are the people of God’s pasture, and the sheep of Christ’s hand. Prayer of Inspiration Holy Spirit, through our Word-proclamation, once again pour God’s love into our hearts. Yes. Prayers of the People What a wonderful church you have created, God. We praise you for baptizing and guiding us through the Holy Spirit. Remind us to live wet. Life-Water Lord, (congregational response: teach and revive us.). What an extraordinary creature we humans are, and we owe it all to you, God! Thank you for our diversity, intelligence, and talent. Bless the United States and folks everywhere, especially the suffering people of Japan. Bring peace to Libya. Make us tireless in our efforts to help each other without hope for personal gain. Life-Water Lord, . . . We enjoy games and fun. Thank you, God, for recreation. Help us always to take time for harmless play, that we may find refreshment that will help us to serve you better. Life-Water Lord, . . . Often, Heavenly Mother, we are prejudicial. We are quick to other one another, hasty to exclude people. Teach us to un-other one another, regardless of gender, political party, ethnicity, religion, nationality, or sexual orientation. Life-Water Lord, . . . You astound us with your healing, which falls upon us like spring rain. Heal everyone in need now, including all we mention here. [Add names]. Lead us to help with healing. Life-Water Lord, . . . You may add other praises and petitions here. These prayers we send to you, knowing that you will respond with life-giving love. You will deliver us from the desert. In the name of Jesus we pray. Amen. Offertory Prayer With this offering, we worship you and bow down. We bend the knee before you, our Maker. Benediction Leader: God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, has given us the living water. People: With the Samaritan woman as a role model, we leave to share the Good News.
David von Schlichten, poedifier March 20, 2011 By D March 20, 2011 Second Sunday in Lent, Year A Call to Worship Leader: For God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, so loved the world that God gave the Son, People: so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. Leader: The LORD will keep us from all evil. People: The LORD will keep our going out and our coming in from this time on and forevermore. Invocation We praise you, God, for saving us by faith in the lifted-up Son. Lead us from night into day. Through these forty days, increase our dedication to following the Spirit. In the name of the Rabbi we pray. Amen. Prayer of Confession Forgive us, LORD, for our sins. We do not trust you to help us. You call us and save us by faith, but we think we earn our salvation. We hide in the darkness rather than proclaiming you in the light. We get too busy and distracted to repent and renew during Lent. For the sake of Christ, forgive us our sins. Create in us clean hearts. Please. Words of Assurance Christ, the God who saves Abraham and Nicodemus, forgives you all your sins. Prayer of Inspiration Mysterious Ruach of God, we are born of water and you. Through our sermon, teach us the Word. Amen. Prayers of the People Covenant-God, we praise you for the communion of saints. Tutor us to trust in your grace and to follow your Spirit. Our help comes from you, LORD, (congregational response: who made heaven and earth.). Covenant-God, we exalt you for humanity’s magnificent diversity. Humble us to unite in the name of caring for one another. We ask a special blessing for the people of Japan as they struggle to recover from that horrible disaster. Our help comes from you, LORD, . . . Covenant-God, we thank you for our Jewish siblings as they celebrate Purim. We remember with gratitude Queen Esther’s clever and courageous strategy that led to saving the Jews from genocide. Embolden us to protect the persecuted. Our help comes from you, LORD, . . . Covenant-God, spring arrives tomorrow! Finally! Thank you! Our help comes from you, LORD, . . . Covenant-God, you are generous with your healing grace. Heal everyone in need, including those we mention now in our hearts or out loud. [Add names]. Our help comes from you, LORD, . . . You may add other praises and petitions here. We praise you for being our keeper. We know you hear our prayers. In the name of Jesus we praise. Amen. Offertory Prayer We present these offerings in response to your love. Benediction Leader: Savior of Abraham, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, has redeemed us through the love of the cross. People: We walk in the light, leading people out of the dark.
David von Schlichten, poedifier March 13, 2011 By David von Schlichten March 13, 2011 First Sunday in Lent, Year A
Call to Worship Leader: In the wilderness, throughout the forty days, People: God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, is ever our mighty fortress against the Devil. Leader: We repent, seeking a Spirit-guided spring-cleaning for the soul People: as we prepare for the Passion and the Paschal victory. Invocation Spirit, lead us into the wilderness so that we may return renewed. In the name of Jesus we pray. Amen. Prayer of Confession We acknowledge our sin to you, Jesus. We are dust. We know that hiding our sin, denying it, hurts us and that through forgiveness comes happiness. We listen to slithering liars with their too-good-to-be-true promises. We make dietary changes during Lent that help us to lose weight but do not foster spiritual growth. We put you to the test with silly bargains or risky lifestyles. We are quick to sell our souls for the sake of money, prestige, or career. Jesus, deliver us from the Evil One. Forgive us. Create in us clean hearts. Please. Words of Assurance Through Christ, your transgression is forgiven, your sin is covered. Be glad in the LORD and rejoice. One human’s act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all. Christ’s obedience makes us righteous. Prayer of Inspiration Ruach, by the Word, strengthen us against Satan. Yes. Prayers of the People God of Eden, we praise you for the Church. We give special gratitude for your servant Patrick, who returned to Ireland, the land of his former enslavement, to bring Christianity to the people. Teach us to have such courage and dedication. Help us to observe St. Patrick’s Day, not with drunkenness, but with sober, joyful commitment to you. Lord of the Forty Days, (congregational response: we worship and serve only you.). God of the Wilderness, direct Libya and other countries in the Middle East toward peace. Lead us Americans to be helpful and not meddlesome or jingoistic. Lord of the Forty Days, . . . Wilderness-Lord, during Lent, lead us through our disciplines to have greater devotion to loving you and others. Lenten disciplines are not to be primarily about weight-loss but soul-gain. Lord of the Forty Days, . . . Edenic Elohim, you are generous with your healing power. Heal all in need now [Add names], and teach us to assist you with healing. Lord of the Forty Days, . . . Mother, lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the Evil One. Lord of the Forty Days, . . . You may add other praises and petitions here. These prayers we place before you as we remember that we are merely dust, children of Adam and Eve. In the name of Jesus we pray. Amen. Offertory Prayer Knowing that we are naked, we humbly present some of your riches back to you for your glory, including through the healing of the world. Benediction Leader: The Lord, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, is with us as we face temptation. People: Through Christ, the kingdom is ours forever.
David von Schlichten, poedifier
Sermon on the Transfiguration By David von Schlichten Sermon on the Transfiguration at St. James Evangelical Lutheran Church, Youngstown, PA on Sunday, March 6, 2011, Sunday of the Transfiguration, Year A, The Reverend Dr. David von Schlichten
The Transfiguration: So What? (word count: 663)
Today we’re commemorating the Transfiguration, that moment when Jesus, standing on a mountaintop, becomes dazzling white, Moses and Elijah appear on either side of him, a bright cloud surrounds him, and the voice of God announces, “This is my son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!” The Transfiguration is amazing. The Transfiguration is indeed amazing. Can you imagine being Peter, James, or John and witnessing Jesus becoming dazzling white; Moses and Elijah, who have been dead for centuries, appearing on either side of him; a bright cloud surrounding you; and the voice of God speaking? There is no denying the miraculous, epiphanic nature of the Transfiguration, but I find myself wondering: So what? I don’t mean to be disrespectful, but I find myself wondering what the significance of the Transfiguration is. It seems redundant to me. Sure, the Transfiguration shows Jesus’ divine power, but through the miracles we see Jesus’divine power. I mean, this is a guy who raises the dead to life and drives away evil spirits. Haven’t we already seen plenty of evidence of Jesus’ divine power? If the point of the Transfiguration is that Jesus has divine power, then the Transfiguration seems unnecessary, because we have plenty of other stories that show us that Jesus has divine power. So what are we supposed to learn from the Transfiguration? What is the point? Maybe the point of the Transfiguration is to provide us with a break from the dreariness of the world, a ray of hopeful light. We go through the day in and day out of illness, oppression, demons, full of darkness, wondering if it’ll ever get better, if God is real and makes a difference and cares. Then boom! The Transfiguration, full of God’s grandeur, an epiphany moment, like the star leading the wisemen—a moment of holy light that assures us, yes, God is real and has extraordinary power. Alleluia. We tend to think that such moments as the Transfiguration, with all their light and holy power, are a break from reality. “The Transfiguration’s nice and everything, but that’s not reality. Reality isn’t mountaintop brightness. Reality is drudgery, paying the bills, struggling to make it.” But maybe it’s the other way around. Maybe events like the Transfiguration are the true reality, and the dark, dreary, mundane ways of life are not. After all, the Transfiguration reveals God’s glory to us, and isn’t God’s glory the overarching reality? It’s easy for us to conclude that the slings and arrows of this world are what life is all about, but there is more. There is God. God is the ultimate reality. God in all his glorious, luminous, super-neon power is the ultimate reality, and at the center of that reality is God’s omnigalactic love. God’s supernovae love is the highest reality, the fullest reality, the consummate reality. The awesome grandeur of the Transfiguration isn’t a break from reality. It points to the highest reality. Alleluia. In fact, as we see in the imagery of Revelation 21 and 22, someday our whole existence will be full of Transfiguration-radiance. In the New Jerusalem, God will dwell with us, and there will be no need for light of lamp or sun, for Christ will be our light. In other words, the Transfiguration is a preview of the glory that we, the baptized, will enjoy forever. And what makes possible that eternal, transfiguration joy? Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ descending from the mountaintop. Jesus Christ climbing the hill of the skull, Golgotha. Jesus allowing the world’s darkness and brutality to beat him and nail him to a tree. Jesus hanging on the cross. On the hill. Taking on the world’s misery so that the world’s misery is not the final reality for us. Because of Christ embracing the world’s misery, the final reality for us is Transfiguration. Alleluia. What’s the point of the Transfiguration? The point is that, because Christ endured suffering and evil, there is much more to our lives than suffering and evil. [First Page] [Prev] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 [Next] [Last Page] Return |
