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Year B

poem: choose this day

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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

confession: other gods

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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

confession: you know us

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All: God, you know us inside out, when we lie down and when we rise. Your knowledge is so complete and wonderful, we can never comprehend it. But that doesn’t stop us from believing we have it all figured out. Forgive our arrogance and misplaced pride. You are everywhere present. Whether we find ourselves in the depths of despair or the heights of heaven, you are there. But that doesn’t stop us from trying to confine you to one day of the week, one place in the future, one holy book, or one favorite pew. Forgive us when we ignore your call, and when we try to hide from your gaze. Forgive us when we act as if you cannot see, when we restrict your love to our understanding, and when we claim that your presence is just for some.

~silence~

One: God, you look on us with love, no matter who we are or where we have been.
All: We count blessings like grains of sand, and when we come to the end, still we will be with you. Silence in us any voice but your own, and guide us as we walk your way. Amen.

CTW: God is a baker

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One:    God is a baker, providing an abundance that surpasses our hopes,

All:     We come to give praise to the One who feeds and nourishes us with love.

One:    God mixes and kneads, bringing together many to create one.

All:     We come to be re-created, many grains into one loaf, broken for the world.

One:    God is a baker who provides for the hungry, and calls us to do the same.

All:     We come to be strengthened to feed and nourish others.

One:    God offers us the bread of life, mysterious in its brokenness that makes us whole.

All:     We come to worship the Baker who is the Bread of Life.

 

Submitted by Rev. Teri Peterson, the Presbyterian Church of Palatine, IL.

confession: confined

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All:     You are a God whose very being is community, and you call us into relationship with you and one another. You long to take up residence in our lives, in our bodies, in our churches. We confess that we simultaneously want much less than that, and much more. When we confine you to an intellectual belief, forgive us. When we live as if our relationship with you affects only the afterlife, forgive us. When we insist that your love can be earned and lost, forgive us.

~silence~

One:    Come to us again, O God, in the ordinary stuff of life, and remind us to seek your face.
All:     We pray in the name of Jesus, bread of life and light of the world. Amen.

 

Submitted by Rev. Teri Peterson, the Presbyterian Church of Palatine, IL.