The Second Week of Lent #InclusiveChurch

[Music] you [Music] [Laughter] [Music] to [Music] you [Music] hmm [Music] you [Music] so [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] do [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] do [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] the lord be with you hello friends my name is joshua holland and i have the privilege of serving as youth director here at city church san francisco welcome to our online worship today we're so thrilled that you've decided to join us from wherever you're tuning in from whether it's the bay area another state or around the world thank you for choosing to be president with us today as we continue in the season of lent let's begin our call to worship from psalm 134 please stand if you are able come bless the lord all you servants of the lord who serve god by night and by day let us lift up our hands to the holy place and bless the lord lift up your hearts lift up your voices in praise may the lord maker of heaven and earth bless you from zion pray with me triune god we bless your name creator son and spirit many of us show up in this virtual space this morning exhausted anxious distracted burdened caring pain and many of us need your spirit to breathe life into us so we ask that you would attune our bodies to be present in this time and in this moment so that we can listen to the words of your son and fellowship with him at the table give us the gift of being present give us eyes to see ears to hear and hearts willing to receive the abundance of gifts that you have for us today amen sing praising god who reigns above the god of all creation the god of power the god of love the god of our salvation where healing all my soul is filled and every faith is to god all praise and glory [Music] by god's almighty power i've [Music] [Music] [Music] is [Music] the lord is never [Music] instead [Music] glory to god hear the grateful song [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] good called the confession is from genesis 3 19. you are dust and to dust you shall return these words in genesis remind us the truth about our mortality and this truth is meant for our liberation recognizing our mortality frees us from the myth of self-sufficiency protects us against hypocrisy and ultimately humbles us so i encourage you to use this time to release whatever you're carrying in your heart to god who knows our frailty as scripture says and still moves to us in love let's say the prayer of confession together gracious god out of your love and mercy you have created us out of the dust of the earth to love and serve you and our neighbors forgive us and restore us when we allow our mortality to lead us to anxiety and fear and renew our hope when we lose sight of the resurrection life you show us in jesus help us believe that our work and worship are not in vain that our longing for beauty and our struggles for justice and mercy are worthwhile because your kingdom is eternal help us to rest in the knowledge that you are in charge and your love never fails amen take a moment now for silent confession now hear these words of encouragement give thanks to the lord for god is good god's steadfast love endures forever in our anguish we cried to the lord and god answered by setting us free the lord is our strength and our song god has become our salvation we will not die but live and will proclaim what the lord has done give thanks to the lord for god is good god's steadfast love endures forever this is the good news thanks be to god and now that we've received god's peace let's extend that peace to each other this is something you can do to those around you on our live chat or through text but first from me to you the peace of christ be with you all foreign [Music] may the mind of christ my savior from day to day by his love and power controlling all i [Music] do [Music] and may the peace of our creed in our lives forever rain that we maybe come to comfort those angry for pain [Music] and may the love of jesus fill us as the waters fill the sea christ's exalting [Music] this is victory oh hey miss wendy oh hi chicken yeah i'm here for the blessing of the chickens the blessing of the chickens the but wait wait no no there's there's not a blessing of the chickens but it is time for the blessing of the children and the youth oh sorry chicken we are so glad oh wait ivan ivan ivan it's time for the blessing of the children where are you oh hey okay ivan's here so we are ready for the blessing of the children and the youth ivan do you have anything that you want to share before we bless them yes i have a reading from the book of matthew the bible so it says little children were brought to jesus in order that he might lay his hands on them and pray the disciples spoke sternly to those who brought them but jesus said let the little children come to me and do not stop them for it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs ivan thanks a lot i love that verse and so people of god what is our prayer for these children and youth may the lord be with you and children what do you say and also with you awesome merciful god you call us by name and promise to each of us your constant love watch over these children and youth deepen their understanding of the gospel strengthen their commitment to follow the way of christ and keep them in the faith and communion of your church increase their empathy and love for others and bring them to the fullness of your peace and glory through jesus christ our lord amen and ivan what do we all say thanks be to [Music] god [Music] have mercy on [Music] have mercy on [Music] me lord have mercy [Music] oh me [Music] mercy on us [Music] [Applause] [Music] happiness [Music] have mercy on me [Music] mercy on me oh lord have mercy [Music] well good morning city church my name is jonathan gunlock i serve as the executive pastor here and it's so good to be with you today using the magic of these online platforms like facebook youtube and all the other ones to join with you from my living room here in glen park san francisco to your homes all over the bay area and even even beyond city church aspires to be an inclusive community of jesus followers seeking the good of the city we're rooted in a christian faith that values curiosity and the ongoing guidance of the spirit as we make room for everyone to belong to that end we welcome everyone in our community life into our community life regardless of race ethnicity age physical or mental capacity sexual orientation gender identity or expression or socioeconomic or marital any marital status if you're new to city church i'd invite you to fill out the digital connect card which you should see in the group chat and this is just a way for us to get to know you a bit better and to hear more about your interests and how we can be of service to you as a faith community i also want to highlight just a couple opportunities coming up very soon this week in the life of our community the first one this will be great it's this thursday um at seven o'clock we're calling it covid one year later it's a special session that we're going to have with a member of our own community dr susan phillip with the one year anniversary it's hard to believe but the one year anniversary of covet and the lockdowns coming up and the hopefulness of the vaccines that are coming online it'll be great to sit down with dr phillip to hear more of what how the city is approaching these issues and what we can um learn from her and from each other you know city church is so fortunate to have leading vir virologists heart from you say medical professionals and public health professionals among our membership dr phillip currently serves as the acting health officer for san francisco and plays a critical role in our city's public health response so join us for this informative time and importantly bring your questions because a big portion of this time will be dedicated to taking questions from from you about safety treatments about vaccines about the city's approach to reopening all that kind of thing so this will stream on all platforms this thursday march 4th at 7 o'clock the second thing um you've probably heard by now that we as a church community are marking this season of lent by engaging in a spiritual walking practice we're doing this solo and we'll be doing this as as a community and we've been blessed by the leadership of jonathan stahls who lives in denver colorado and if you've been practicing this last week the spacious unhurried walking practice that we were looking into together you can maybe drop a note about that in the chat and i already saw some of that was happening early on in the service but what have you experienced um how has it been for you this week also this week that's coming up the practice is going to continue with another solo walk but this time around the themes of sunsets spirals and shadows sunsets spirals and shadows and we're going to hear from jonathan now for a few minutes and i encourage you to just open up some interior space to really listen because jonathan moves through the world at a different pace than most of us are used to and we need to learn from him so let's do that now i'm going to turn it over to jonathan now peace and blessings and love and space and movement beautiful community human beloveds um week two of our wondrous movement lenten series walking unhurried movements specifically as an invitation my name is jonathan stahls i'm recording this from denver city park also home to the rooted beloved home of arapahoe cheyenne and ute my pronouns are he his i identify as lgbtqia plus so just welcome to these invitations if you are just joining us for the first time this is the second week of a series our first week leans there's no rules with these frames and invitations however they land however they land with you your unique pace your unique body your unique relationship to moving in this way that we honor that and tend to that and so the first week was focused or leaning into movement with self and specifically honoring opening and deepening the journey deep within how that how can our movement honor and bring up an open and honor and tend to the things living within us the truth the true things the loud things the hard things the soft things the tender things the joyous things all of it the specific invitation for this week and again we lean in there are no rules so this can be filtered with families and kids anything be creative make them yours but the theme that we're leaning into in this lenten season alongside your beautiful community roots into these i'm framing them under these under these umbrellas sunsets spirals and shadows so we let's bring that in let's just move with that let's feel it sunsets spirals and shadows and so the lean in the lean around why sunsets why spirals why shadows is that we're leaning into with week one we leaned into honoring all the things going on in the inner world and we're still doing that in all of these invitations and this specific invitation for this week is to be extra extra attentive to all the natural world wants to teach us wants to draw out of us wants to instill in us wants to speak with permission for us ahead of us behind us deep within us creation god spirit in the trees in the sky in the earth that we are radically a part of this world and so with the sunsets i i so deeply and passionately invite you to protect specific time in the transitions in the big complex stories that are different every day in our big beloved sky the way the clouds transition and evolve and emerge the way the sun and the colors in the sky speak of horizons that are new and unseen and then allowing those permissions allowing those frames of connection to move us and inspire us in our own lives that we how am i how are you moving with transition and unseen things and that spirals the spirals and the leaves and the flowers and the sticks and the plants that speak so loudly and the branches that reach and say i'm going to grow here so i can survive and get more air and more light and more nourishment that they speak of non-linear time spaces between the binaries as an lgbtq person to the lgbtq beloveds plus beloveds in this space those spirals look for them look for them in the bark look for them in the trees look for them in the way the ice melts look for them in the dirt look for them in the clouds seek them take photos of them draw them this week and the third thing are shadows just being mindful of shadows they move with us they move all around us what does that mean what do they mean what are they teaching us what are they opening within us this this complex and so humbling profoundly humbling journey alongside lent with shadow in you and in me and in all of us as we journey so blessings please take some time to listen and lean into the guided meditation this week and the resource document with some extra practices i would love to hear how this is flowing with you so please comment on the videos please engage and connect to insight timer where i share these practices [Music] connect with me on patreon on social media and all the things be honored and i'm grateful to be alongside of you in this way sunset spirals and shadows this week [Music] peace thank you thank you so much jonathan a full version of that video can be found on our website and on youtube we're also going to stream it immediately following the service on igtv so you can all see that again there and there's a longer version of it actually and this week's lenten practices and all the weeks are combined in a really nicely organized section of our website so go there you can see it all there's lots of resources done week by week and as jonathan mentioned he's also putting these on insight timer so if you use that that app you can find it there as well so thanks so much take a look at all that and now we're going to listen to our scripture reading this morning from mark chapter 8. the scripture reading today is from the gospel of mark chapter 8 verses 28 through 38. jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of caesarea philippi and on the way he asked his disciples who do people say that i am and they answered him john the baptist and others elijah and still others one of the prophets he asked them but who do you say that i am peter answered him you are the messiah and he sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about him then he began to teach them that the son of man must undergo great suffering and be rejected by the elders the chief priests and the scribes and be killed and after three days rise again he said all this quite openly and peter took him aside and began to rebuke him but turning and looking at his disciples he rebuked peter and said get behind me satan for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things he called the crowd with his disciples and said to them if any want to become my followers let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me for those who want to save their life will lose it and those who lose their life for my sake and for the sake of the gospel will save it for what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life indeed what can they give in return for their life those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation of them the son of man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his father with the holy angels the word of the lord well good morning again city church you know we're in the second week of lent and we're exploring a sermon series that we're calling again and again god's sacred refrain because we're on the journey to the cross with jesus but reminded again and again all along the way the steady constant call of a faithful god on that journey but you know even though this is the second week of lent i know for many of us this feels like the second year of lent because it was almost exactly a year ago that we went into lockdown and embarked on this long confusing painful journey of stripping away so much of what ordinarily brings us joy and connection and then just experiencing so much loss along the way and like a lot of you i'm sure i found myself reflecting on those early days of march last year a lot in the last few days in particular i actually preached the last service where we gathered together in person at the russian center when we were all still there on march 8th last year and that night kristen and i went out for her birthday dinner we went to the progress on fillmore and that would turn out to be the last meal we've had at a restaurant and i missed that place and then in what seems absolutely crazy now i actually got on a plane the next morning and went to a wilderness spirituality retreat in new mexico in the in the high desert at ghost ranch i know many of you have been there and that was the week the world literally fell apart and i was in the desert and i didn't have a cell signal and a few days later i flew home on an empty 777 there might have been 10 people on this enormous plane we found out school was being canceled i did my pandemic stock up grocery runs which kristen still makes fun of me about because in fact last night she reminded me we still have three unopened bottles of cholula from those runs i did a year ago and i don't know what i was thinking you know there were four or five bottles i guess at the time but maybe i was hoping that lockdown could include a lot of tacos or something i don't know but it's still here all the cholula it got home that evening and the sun was going down on that first evening of lockdown and we typically as a family we had a lenten practice where we wouldn't use artificial light at night we did this for several years just lots of candles and oil lamps and it was contemplative and it was pretty it was really dark in our house but but that night as the world was falling apart i turned and looked at kristin and just said like we're not we're not doing this anymore right we're not doing lent anymore we're not turning the lights off and she seemed to agree and so instead i spent that first night of lockdown watching the news on tv and eating my way through an entire one pound bag of peanut m ms now just to be clear when you're at the grocery store in the checkout line and you get the big pack of peanut m ms you can like share with some people those are usually four ounces four ounces i ate a pound of peanut m m's that first night of lockdown in lent which just felt like the least lefty thing i could do at that moment but here we are a year later a year later and we're still in it it feels like lent 20 20 never ended and so when we come to a passage like the one today where we meet a jesus that tells us we have to take up our cross and lose our lives i completely understand if you just don't feel like you've got it in you right now to hear much of that but right at the beginning right at the beginning i want to give us a little encouragement because there's a lot going on in this passage for sure and jesus uses some very stark language but he's also giving us the key the key to finding life the key to finding a true life and full life even now even in a pandemic this is actually the turning point in mark's gospel okay this is where mark finally tells us who jesus really is and it takes place in a conversation jesus has walking with his disciples having just made a turn in their journey and now heading in the general direction of jerusalem where he ultimately would be crucified and walking along jesus asks his closest friends these disciples that are with him he asked them who do people say i am who do people say i am and they answered him john the baptist and others elijah and still others said you're one of the prophets he asked them but who do you say i am peter answered him you are the messiah and he sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about him so by this point jesus already has a very strong public reputation many people are coming to see him as a great prophet and a healer in the spirit of others who had gone before like john the baptist or elijah but jesus makes this question crystal clear to his disciples who do you say i am what am i really to you and peter jumps in as peter is prone to do he's the first to articulate something though that i imagine was on the edge of many of their minds that jesus isn't merely a great prophet in a long line of hebrew prophets he's much more that he's the long-awaited messiah of israel the christ the anointed one the one the prophets had always said would come and save and heal the oppressed nation and i want us to see that initially initially at least peter's response is rooted in great attentiveness and great faith in fact in matthew's account of the scene a different account in matthew jesus actually praises peter saying blessed are you peter for for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood but by my father in heaven but but here jesus also says keep it a secret and mark notes he says this sternly he's serious keep this a secret and what we'll see is the reason they had to keep it a secret was because they had no idea what the messiah was actually here to do they still had so much to learn because at the time there were a lot of different ideas and predictions about who this messiah would be but they all in one way or another expected a messiah who would deliver a victory in freedom for the from the for the people of israel over their roman oppressors as the catholic scholar mary healy says the whole understanding of messiah needed to be purged of its human triumphalistic connotations before it could be proclaimed openly to the world jesus mission had nothing to do nothing to do with using political or military power to overthrow the enemies of israel it had everything to do with overthrowing the power of sin through the cross jesus has to radically reinterpret for the disciples what the messiah was all about and he tells him tells them that while they're all waking making their way generally towards jerusalem he says we're going to get there we're going to get to jerusalem and when they get there when we get there everyone from the religious establishment is going to reject me and it's going to have me killed and in verse 32 mark says jesus said all this quite openly it's a key word because mark doesn't use that word anywhere else it's openly or plainly and he's trying to make sure jesus is trying to make sure changing his tone to make it crystal clear the messiah is going to suffer and die and peter hears that and he wants none of that remarkably he he actually has the hubris to pull jesus aside to set him straight to rebuke him to set him straight peter's like jesus come here for a second why why did you just say such a crazy thing that you must suffer and die i mean we just agreed you're the messiah you just gave me the ultimate shout out and said that i had heard that straight from god you praised my faith but we all know the messiah saves us the messiah is victorious a dead messiah a dead messiah is a failed messiah jesus and we've already had a few of those as a nation so please don't confuse these poor disciples like this go back in there and tell them you're going to win tell them we're going to win and you know i don't know i don't know what peter expected to happen next but i bet it wasn't this because jesus turns and looks at his disciples now hear this he is talking to peter but he turns and looks straight at the rest of the disciples to make sure they hear what he's about to say and then to peter he says the words you never want to hear the son of god say to you get behind me satan get behind me satan now i can only imagine the surge of confusion and instant regret shooting up peter's spine as this happens because apparently he's made a serious miscalculation in trying to set jesus straight and reminds me of the time when i was six years old and in my six-year-old brain i thought i had figured out a clever way to stay out extra late with my friends by clearly explaining to my mother that she wasn't really my boss and she couldn't really tell me what to do because in my my six-year-old logic my dad was my boss and clearly you can only have one boss i mean that's just like an uncontroverted six-year-old fat and dad wasn't home at the moment and as i'm giving her my mom this masterful legal argument and as i see the look of dumbfounded just a mix of dumbfounded anger but it was severe spread over the face of the woman who brought me into the world and was listening to her six-year-old kid explain why she has no authority over his life i knew i had just made a major miscalculation that this wasn't going to end well and i honestly don't remember much of what happened next but i remember that feeling much like peter probably had in that moment but i love this scene because on the one hand jesus gets really mad he's really disturbed by what peter's doing and i think it shows us a bit of jesus humanity that he could be tempted and maybe even triggered in a sense that peter's so-called rebuke wasn't just a small mistake but it actually this is the key it actually set the very same temptation in front of jesus that satan had tried in the wilderness that we we heard about last week in fred's sermon peter is unknowingly doing satan's work here and so jesus calls him satan and says get behind me and that's an interesting phrase in the greek because it literally means get back in line get back in line get back to following me because what you're doing here peter is from the devil it's pure ego you're looking for a quick victory and that has nothing to do with why i've come that's that's what's embedded in what jesus is saying and then jesus expands his audience further so now he's not only addressing the disciples and peter but he calls the crowd the broader crowd that's traveling with him calls them close in to join with the disciples and he teaches them saying look it's in verse 34 look if any want to become my followers let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me for those who want to save their life will lose it and those who lose their life for my sake and for the sake of the gospel we'll save it now it's difficult for us today to imagine the shocking intensity of the point that jesus is making to the crowd that day these are people who are looking for a leader and some are beginning to see jesus as the messiah but what he's saying is the path he's leading them on is the death march it's a death march that a lowly criminal would take to their crucifixion where the romans would make the condemned carry their own crossbar just like they did jesus the crowd would have just been stunned to hear this the singaporean scholar tan kim wants says there cannot be a more vivid way of stating the cost of following the messiah in the first century context the implication of the saying is that the followers of the messiah are not those who carry swords to depose pretenders to the throne but crosses to die with him no greater statement of self-renunciation and opposition to violence can be stated and you know for some in that crowd and eventually even for peter himself the teaching proved to be literal a life of following jesus would eventually mean losing their physical lives and for some today particularly we're following christ or sharing the good news of his inbreaking kingdom of justice and peace where that runs a fowl of the powers of empire following jesus can still be a life-threatening decision in some places at some times but you know for most of us taking up our cross and losing our life to find it is something far more subtle but so important so important but as we look at that the first thing the first thing we have to do is to examine what version of jesus we're really trying to follow anyway because one of the most unsettling realizations of my adult life especially over the last few years is to see in sometimes horrifying ways how we are capable of making jesus into almost anything we want him to be like peter we can create a messiah to support almost any cause to confirm almost any bias i mean in my own life just in my own life so far i've tried following signs and wonders jesus i've tried following moral purity jesus i've tried following crazy end times rapture jesus that's a that's a really fun one you can really lose yourself in and for a short a short while in my young adult life i even tried to follow a version of christian nationalism jesus and you know there's plenty of other ones there's prosperity jesus there's q and on jesus in fact on january 6th there were a shocking number of jesus saves signs in that mob that stormed the capitol but a true encounter with jesus a true encounter will never be one where his messiahship is used for our purposes even for our highest and most noble intentions say that again our a true encounter with the messiah with jesus can never be one where his messiahship is used for our purposes even for our highest or most noble intentions a true encounter with jesus is first and foremost an invitation to let go to let go of our demands on life and to meet a messiah who takes our sin our suffering our violence allows it to consume him on the cross but even as that happens he transforms the trajectory of human history and then calls us to live into that same pattern of sacrificial self-giving love that can both transform the world and and meet our deepest need for connection it does both does both the real jesus the real messiah is offering us a key to being truly alive now and it comes in this paradoxical form probably the greatest wisdom statement of all time you have to lose your life to find life you have to give your life away for the sake of others and for the sake of the world to find your deepest joy mary healy also says jesus is referring to a total shift a total shift at the center of gravity in one's life a reckless abandonment to him that entails the letting go of all one's attachments and agendas now on the one hand that can seem like an overwhelming task to give your life away but at least for today for this sermon for the this week ahead lent week two covid week 50 i just want us to think about it as a choice that we get to make in small ways a dozen times a day every day we're confronted by at least a dozen opportunities to take up our cross and let go of our tight grasp on life cynthia borjo says something really important so let's really listen to this in any life situation in any life situation confronted by an outer threat or opportunity you have a choice between two options you can either harden and brace defensively or you can yield and soften internally the first response will plunge you immediately into your small self with its animal instincts and survival responses the second will allow you to stay aligned with your heart where the odds of a creative outcome are infinitely better for me i'm trying and i say i'm trying to see the cross in each of those small moments of conflict or contradiction in the pain points that emerge that often catch me off guard and there's that split second moment of decision a split second moment of decision to either harden embrace defensively or to yield and soften internally and to see what creative possibilities emerge and these small small moment-by-moment surrenders are the path of the cross and the path of life in the now and it's a path of life that proves itself to me when i get it right which is sometimes but it just as equally proves itself to me when i get it wrong which is often but this subtle way of the cross and our momentary reactions can be our daily teacher whether we're getting it right or we're getting it wrong it can be our daily teacher if we let it like when we realize we're clinging to an obsession and we we just loosen our grasp a little bit when we feel that first twinge of defensiveness but we pause pause to listen and consider when we feel like we've got no time to give away but then we risk investing time in someone else anyway when we're alerted that our best laid plans may have been flawed but we don't double down and we open up to new possibilities when our kids interrupt us for the 100th time when we're trying to work from home and we're tempted to think they actually want us to lose our jobs and we welcome them anyway when we hear the experience of another human being that challenges our core beliefs or threatens our privilege and we embrace at least the possibility of changing our lives and in all the many ways the spirit each day is asking us to let go of our insatiable need for security and to trust in the promises and creativity of god when i'm able to live like that which is only sometimes it's amazing the world opens up the world becomes full of possibility connections form serendipity just happens and i'm not in control of any of it i'm just a mere participant in the creative life of the spirit but it only happens when i'm willing to embrace the way of the cross and to give my life away so this week when i was thinking about this passage i kept coming back to a favorite poem of mine by rilke and this is from his um collection of sonnets to orpheus it's a series of poems i think it's maybe 50 of them of them or so or rioki is entering into the greek myth of orpheus and eurydice and you don't need to know that story to get the passage but there's a lot going on but rilk is essentially encouraging this character orpheus to let go to let go of his obsession his deep love is deep grief over his lost eurydice to do the most counter-intuitive thing the counter-intuitive thing he could think of and let it go and what rilke says is be forever dead in your identity be forever dead in your identity and climb back singing climb back praising as you return to connection here among the disappearing in the realm of the transient be like a ringing glass that shatters as it rings be like a ringing glass that shatters as it rings i think rilke is echoing something close to jesus here give your life away give your life away in astonishing degrees and you will find true life everything in this world is changing and disappearing anyway so climb back praising as you return to connection and be like a ringing glass that shatters as it rings let go of what you're clinging to of your obsession and take the risk that beneath the small death of letting go beneath the small death of letting go you will find the true spring of life that will water your deepest need and connect you with your true self and with the world around you take the risk of embracing these small deaths the small surrenders and see what happens rumi says something i love rumi says when was i ever made less by dying when was i ever made less by dying so this week ahead let's be attentive let's be attentive to these small ways we're being asked to die to ourselves let's practice the posture of softening and letting go of not grasping for what we think we need but exploring what life is truly is waiting for us what life is truly waiting for us on the other side of these small surrenders god be with us this week as we try to do that all together amen so we're now coming to a time where we'll take our offering and we want you to know how grateful we are for the gifts that continue to come in online and through the mail each week to support the work of city church in san francisco and beyond the work of the church is active and busy even during covet and lockdowns and we do need we do need and we appreciate your support let's now turn our attention to the offering prayer you'll find it on page six in the digital worship guide and it'll also be on your screen let's pray together eternal source of love in your kindness you have made us in your image help us to live into the fullness of our humanity as we give ourselves to the care and redemption of all you have made for the sake of him who gave himself for us jesus christ our lord amen [Music] so [Music] so [Music] so [Music] [Applause] [Music] do [Music] [Applause] [Music] do [Music] [Music] do [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] so [Music] well good morning friends as we come now to the celebration of holy communion i invite you to participate as fully as you are comfortable with today i'll give you a moment towards the end of the liturgy to go and gather your own elements but today regardless of whether you do fully participate or just watch i invite you to make this a sacred time for yourself knowing that in this ritual we participate spiritually in the life and death and resurrection of jesus the meeting place of the human and the divine where we proclaim through death and through suffering new life for ourselves and for the world but we'll begin though by confessing together the apostles creed together saying i believe in god the father almighty creator of heaven and earth i believe in jesus christ his only son our lord he was conceived by the power of the holy spirit and born of the virgin mary he suffered under pontius pilate was crucified died and was buried he descended to the dead on the third day he rose again he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the father he will come again to judge the living and the dead i believe in the holy spirit the holy catholic church the communion of saints the forgiveness of sins the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting amen the lord be with you and also with you lift up your hearts we lift them up to the lord let us give thanks to the lord our god it is right to give our thanks and praise blessed are you lord god for you have shown us the mercy promised to our ancestors and manifested in all your saints you have remembered your holy covenant with us the oath that you swore to abraham and enacted through moses to rescue us from oppression and to make us free to serve you without fear today in all our days we come to dwell with you and to join with angels and archangels and all the company of heaven in a hymn of unending praise singing holy holy holy lord your heaven and earth are full of your glory [Music] blessed is he who comes in the name of the lord [Music] god most high you sent jesus as a prophet and a promise to give knowledge and to show the way to become free from committing violence and oppression through him you sowed the seeds of our own transformation when he died and was buried in the earth and raised on the third day together we proclaimed the mystery of the faith christ has died christ is risen christ will come again now you invite us to participate in this same mystery through these elements derived from that same earth in which christ was buried and raised send now your holy spirit that the bread that we break and the wine that we drink may be for us the body and blood of your son jesus christ continue the work you have begun in us make us people of tenderness and mercy who show power through weakness authority through grace and triumph through sacrifice to you our creator redeemer and sustainer we pray amen the lord jesus on the night that he was betrayed he took bread and when he had given thanks he broke it and he gave it to them saying take eat this is my body which is given for you do this in remembrance of me in the same way after supper you took the cup saying this cup is the new covenant in my blood do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me for whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup you proclaim the lord's death until he comes christ our passover is sacrificed for us therefore let us keep the feast i invite you now to take a moment to go and gather your own elements the body of christ the bread of heaven take and eat the blood of christ the cup of salvation take and drink please join me now for a communion prayer loving god may we who are partakers at this table reflect the life of jesus and word indeed that all the world may know his power to liberate and heal through christ our lord we pray amen we'll continue now praying for the needs of the world with sarah doll let us pray for the needs of our church our city and our world loving god you came to us as a king enthroned on a cross and you call your followers to join you there daily turn our eyes and our hearts away from wealth privilege power youth and pleasure teach us to see your son on the cross is the place where true beauty real glory and life raising goodness are found and make us into a people who dare to follow him there lord have mercy christ have mercy as we look out at our world lord jesus show us the people who are already carrying crosses daily people who risk their own safety or power or a shot at a comfortable life in order to follow you show us the people who are being driven to crosses because they make the powers of this world afraid or because the systems that make us feel comfortable do not value them help us to see them honor them pray for them and join them show us now in a quiet moment the places you are calling each of us to step alongside others who are bearing your peaceful suffering love into the world at great cost lord have mercy christ have mercy jesus your call to deny ourselves and take up your cross is also a daily matter in the smallest moments of our lives teach us faithfulness in following you in the hard work of loving others even when it feels like it might kill us our spouses our parents our children our friends our colleagues our enemies we pray for parents still overseeing school at home roommates still navigating a sheltered life together parent partners who cannot get enough space from one another families still divided by politics or religious identity give us the courage and the strength each day to show up with love lord have mercy christ have mercy jesus you do not call us anywhere that you have not gone first even into death remind us that your cross is the door we can walk through safely into life that overflows and never dies help us welcome it with joy we ask all these things in your name who taught us to pray our father in heaven hallowed be your name your kingdom come your will be done on earth as in heaven give us today our daily bread forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us save us from the time of trial and deliver us from evil for the kingdom the power and the glory are yours now and forever amen lord i need you oh i need you every hour i need you my mind my righteousness oh god how i need [Music] lord i come lord i confess bowing here i find my rest without you i fall apart you're the one who guides my heart [Music] every hour i need [Applause] [Music] [Applause] my righteousness the sinner runs deep your grace is found [Music] [Music] lord i need you i need every [Music] oh [Music] so teach my song to rise to you and temptation comes my way [Music] so teach my [Music] when i cannot stand [Music] lord i need you need you every hour i need you my one defense my [Music] now please receive and respond to the benediction may the peace of god which surpasses all understanding guard your hearts and minds in christ jesus and the blessing of god almighty the father the son and the holy spirit be among you and remain with you always amen just a couple quick announcements of youth cgs meet tonight from 5 to 6 30 on zoom for discussion on the help my unbelief series there's also a youth parent connect tonight at 8 pm on zoom and that will be talking with teenagers about race centering prayer again every thursday 7 a.m and this thursday evening in particular just remember the conversation with dr susan phillip on covid one year later at 7 pm so with that let us go forth to serve the world as those who love our lord and savior jesus christ thanks be to god go in god's peace and have a great sunday [Music] [Music] my [Music] [Music] so so [Music] [Music] food [Music] [Music] waiting [Music] do [Music] do [Music] [Applause] so [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] you

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Length: 88min 35sec (5315 seconds)

Published: Sun Feb 28 2021