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Ordinary 2C-8C

CTW: formed, known, appointed

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One:    The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, as it had come to many others before him:
All:     I formed you, I know you, I appoint you.
One:    And Jeremiah, like many others before and since, protested.
All:     But God doesn’t take excuses, and sent him to go and speak and build and plant.
One:    God put the words into his mouth, that he might proclaim good news.
All:     Still God puts God’s word out into the world through human mouths!
One:    The word of the Lord comes to us, too, in this place and this time: I formed you, I know you, I appoint you.
All:     And so we come to worship, to be made yet again into the builders of God’s kingdom.

 

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

Sunday’s Coming: working toward February 3

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Ah, Souper Bowl Sunday! Are you doing anything special for this day? Do you participate in the Souper Bowl of Caring? Do you have a liturgy for that? Do you incorporate it into the communion? Or just let it be?

With just two Sundays left before Lent, it probably shouldn’t be surprising that we have Jesus getting into trouble. And, as is typical in Luke, he’s getting into trouble for challenging the status quo of exclusivity and “chosenness.” He uses the moment of adoration to give a challenging word, and the people appear to have been listening–and they definitely had a reaction. What is the good news for your context in this story?

We also have this week the call of the prophet Jeremiah, who apparently considered himself too young for the task. Or perhaps he’d simply internalized the message that young people should be seen and not heard. Either way, God went for “I have put my words in your mouth” as the solution to the problem–a much quicker way than with the whole Moses-and-Aaron situation, but equally uncomfortable and challenging for one who wasn’t sure about the whole thing! Especially since the task given to Jeremiah is one that will have the people in uproar…pluck up and tear down, build and plant. Again, challenging the status quo is never popular, and Jeremiah certainly did that.

The psalm seems perfectly matched to these two texts–it’s only by keeping their eyes on the one who called them were Jeremiah or Jesus able to pass through the midst of the people who reached out to stop their message. It’s hard work to be a prophet, and it’s nearly impossible work if our hope is misplaced.

And then we have the infamous love chapter. While many cringe when it’s included in weddings, perhaps here is a chance to redeem it for everyday grace. (Sort of like how I love when Psalm 23 comes up so I can rescue it from funerals.) Aside from the usual tricks of replacing the word love with God, or with your own name, or whatever–how can you imagine this might be used in our liturgy? I can imagine reading it responsively as we often do the psalms, or making it the basis of a prayer of confession (because come on–how often do we love like this?). Perhaps there’s an affirmation of faith in there? Or even the ground of a full service worth of liturgy?

What are you thinking about for this week?

(I’m away from the internet this week, so please get to work in the comments so I can have something to work with when I get home! LOL.)

confession: opposites

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Holy God,
you have brought us together as one body with many members,
each of us with gifts given according to your Spirit.
We confess that we struggle to discern what role we are called to do.
We speak when you call us to listen.
We listen when you call us to walk.
We walk when you call us to wait.
We wait when you call us to do.
Through the power of your Holy Spirit,
show this community who you have called us to be.
Guide us through this tension of One and yet many
that we might strive for the greater gift of unity
and play the part of disciples of the one Spirit.  Amen.

Submitted by Stephen Fearing, student at Columbia Theological Seminary

call to confession for the annual meeting worship service

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On days like today it is easy for us to celebrate all we have done, while forgetting what God has done. It is easy to look back with rosy glasses and then turn our eyes to the future, unreflective. But God calls us to honesty in both our individual and collective lives, so let’s take this moment to reflect on the ways we have failed ourselves, one another, the church, the world.

(begin in silence, then follow with unison prayer of confession)

 

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

confession: the gift of the Word

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God of the ages,
you gift us with your Word,
written in the Bible and lived out in Jesus Christ.
Yet we ignore this gift.
We pretend that it doesn’t make sense in our world.
We read it without trusting you to open it to our understanding.
We act as if your word is always the same,
when it is in fact you who does not change.
Forgive us, O God.
Help us to hear your eternal Word anew in our hearts and our lives,
and show us how to live it out in our world, now and always.

Inspired by a reading of Nehemiah 8:1-10.
Submitted by Rev. Andy James, First Presbyterian Church, Whitestone, New York.