a community creating for the relentless return of Sunday
Gracious God, too often we say we choose you and yet we do not live in your light. Forgive us for the many times when our heart, our words, and our actions don’t show we have chosen to follow you. Hear the honest pleas of our hearts for forgiveness as we ask for another chance to love you with all we are and to love our neighbors as ourselves. Christ, in your mercy hear our prayers. Amen.
Choose This Day
Choosing and choice are hard.
I first thought this as I looked at row upon row
of conditioner and shampoo
after living where I had a choice of
having one or none-
Forty to fifty choices!
What if I choose the wrong one?
“Choose!”, commands Joshua.
Choose between your liberator,
or one who has done nothing.
Choose between false promises of prosperity, rain and good crops
And freedom.
And I imagine, being an Israelite, being myself,
seeing gods lined up on the shelf
like shampoo and conditioners,
IRAs, pension plans, the “right School” the “right Major”, the right candidate for office, the job, the little gods of everyday life that pull and push me
and I turn and walk outside
buying nothing,
choosing to live as though God has already grabbed me up.
How can I choose?
I’ve already been claimed.
Submitted by Rev. Jason Carle, Overland Park Presbyterian Church, Overland Park KS
You, Lord, have been our dwelling place in all generations. You free us, you provide for us, you have even given your self to us. Yet so often we forget that this is your story, and try to take the lead. We confess that we have turned from your way and gone our own ways. We have served other gods. We have loved you with our words but not with our actions. Forgive us, and turn us yet again to your path. Give us courage to follow you, and to proclaim in our lives that we worship and serve only you.
Submitted by Rev. Teri Peterson, the Presbyterian Church of Palatine, IL
One: God calls us to worship, lifting our voices and our hearts in praise.
All: God calls us to worship, lifting our hands and our resources to serve.
One: God calls us to worship, when we are together and when we are alone.
All: God calls us to worship, in the sanctuary and on the street corner.
One: God calls us to worship, with our everyday choices and our Sunday best.
All: God calls us to worship, in song and prayer and in doing justice and loving kindness.
One: God calls us to worship.
Submitted by Rev. Teri Peterson, the Presbyterian Church of Palatine, IL
God, you are creating a world where everyone can live an abundant life. We confess that we often work against your creative spirit, instead creating systems that privilege a few and leave behind the rest. We confess that we benefit from injustice, and we often do not want to give up our spot at the top. We confess that sometimes the words we say and sing in the sanctuary do not match our actions in other parts of the building, let alone other spaces in our lives. We confess that we prefer to offer you what is easy and hope that is good enough to get us through the week. Forgive our inconsistent faith, our hypocrisy, our hard-heartedness. Open us to your way, and give us courage to walk your path of healing, reconciliation, justice, and peace.
~silence~
All (sung): Come and fill our hearts with your peace (Taize)
Submitted by Rev. Teri Peterson, the Presbyterian Church of Palatine, IL
recent comments