J. Michael Laidlaw - "What Shall I Bring?" (January 29, 1984)
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Transcript
Transcripts may contain inaccuracies.
(organ music plays) | 0:03 | |
(choir sings) | 17:49 | |
(organ music plays) | 18:52 | |
(choir sings along with organ music) | 19:31 | |
- | Grace and peace to you in the name | 22:59 |
of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, | 23:02 | |
by whose death and resurrection our sins are forgiven, | 23:05 | |
and we are made a redeemed people. | 23:10 | |
Let us therefore confess our sins to God. | 23:15 | |
O Redeeming One, our source and our destiny, | 23:28 | |
our very beings cry out for your presence. | 23:33 | |
Our souls ache for your mercy. | 23:37 | |
Hear with patience our confession. | 23:40 | |
We have been a rebellious people, | 23:43 | |
choosing our will rather than yours. | 23:46 | |
The wisdom of this age claims our loyalty. | 23:50 | |
The values of this age have become our gods. | 23:54 | |
The weak, we exploit. | 23:58 | |
The sorrowing, we ignore. | 24:01 | |
Conflicts increase, and we are timid disciples. | 24:03 | |
Oh Yahweh, we lament our sin. | 24:09 | |
By your divine foolishness, do now unsettle us. | 24:13 | |
By your love, put to flight our arrogance, | 24:18 | |
our greed, our treacheries. | 24:22 | |
By your grace, redeem us. | 24:25 | |
And saving us, arouse in us a thirst for what is just, | 24:28 | |
a hunger to be merciful, and a passion for peace, | 24:34 | |
that your vision of the kingdom | 24:39 | |
may be realized on Earth as it is in Heaven. | 24:41 | |
Through Jesus, Christ and Lord, amen. | 24:46 | |
The Lord is gracious and merciful, | 25:13 | |
slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love. | 25:15 | |
Your sins are forgiven for his sake. | 25:21 | |
Let us give thanks for God is good | 25:28 | |
and God's love is everlasting. | 25:31 | |
- | Thanks be to God whose love creates us. | 25:35 |
Thanks be to God whose mercy redeems us. | 25:39 | |
Thanks be to God whose grace leads us into the future. | 25:43 | |
Let us pray. | 25:58 | |
Almighty God, in whom are hid all the treasures | 26:00 | |
of wisdom and knowledge, open our eyes | 26:03 | |
that we may behold wondrous things out of your word, | 26:06 | |
and give us grace, that we may clearly understand | 26:10 | |
and heartily choose the way of your love. | 26:14 | |
Through Jesus Christ our Lord, amen. | 26:17 | |
The Old Testament lesson is from Micah, chapter 6:1-8. | 26:22 | |
Hear now what the Lord is saying. | 26:30 | |
Up, state your case to the mountains. | 26:33 | |
Let the hills hear your plea. | 26:36 | |
Hear the Lord's case, you mountains, | 26:38 | |
you everlasting pillars that bear up the Earth, | 26:41 | |
for the Lord has a case against his people | 26:44 | |
and will argue it with Israel. | 26:47 | |
O my people, what have I done to you? | 26:50 | |
Tell me how I have wearied you. | 26:53 | |
Answer me this. | 26:56 | |
I brought you up from Egypt. | 26:57 | |
I ransomed you from the land of slavery. | 27:00 | |
I sent Moses and Aaron and Miriam to lead you. | 27:03 | |
Remember my people what Balak, | 27:07 | |
King of Moab, schemed against you, | 27:09 | |
and how Balaam, son of Beor, answered him. | 27:12 | |
Consider the journey from Shittim to Gilgal | 27:16 | |
in order that you may know the triumph of the Lord. | 27:19 | |
What shall I bring when I approach the Lord? | 27:23 | |
How shall I stoop before God on High? | 27:26 | |
Am I to approach him with whole offerings | 27:29 | |
or yearling calves? | 27:32 | |
Will the lord accept thousands of rams | 27:34 | |
or ten thousand rivers of oil? | 27:36 | |
Shall I offer my eldest son for my own wrongdoings, | 27:39 | |
my children for my own sin. | 27:44 | |
God has told you what is good, | 27:47 | |
and what is it that the Lord asks of you? | 27:50 | |
Only to do justice and to love kindness | 27:55 | |
and to walk humbly with your God. | 27:58 | |
Here ends the reading from the Old Testament. | 28:00 | |
The Epistle lesson is from 1 Corinthians chapter 1:18-31. | 28:06 | |
This doctrine of the cross is sheer folly | 28:13 | |
to those on their way to ruin, but to us, | 28:15 | |
who are on the way to salvation, it is the power of God. | 28:19 | |
Scripture says I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, | 28:23 | |
and bring to nothing the cleverness of the clever. | 28:28 | |
Where is your wise man now? | 28:32 | |
Your man of learning, or your subtle debater. | 28:35 | |
Limited all of them to this passing age. | 28:39 | |
God has made the wisdom of this world look foolish | 28:42 | |
as God in his wisdom ordained, | 28:46 | |
the world failed to find him by its wisdom, | 28:49 | |
and he chose to save those who have faith | 28:52 | |
by the folly of the Gospel. | 28:55 | |
Jews call for miracles, Greeks look for wisdom, | 28:58 | |
but we proclaim Christ, yes Christ nailed to the cross, | 29:02 | |
and though this is a stumbling block to Jews | 29:07 | |
and folly to Greeks, yet to those who have heard his call, | 29:09 | |
Jews and Greeks alike, he is the power | 29:14 | |
of God and the wisdom of God. | 29:17 | |
Divine folly is wiser than human wisdom, | 29:21 | |
and divine weakness stronger than human strength. | 29:24 | |
My brothers and sisters, think what sort | 29:28 | |
of people you are who God has called. | 29:31 | |
Few of you are people of wisdom by any human standard. | 29:34 | |
Few are powerful or highly born. | 29:39 | |
Yet to shame the wise, God has chosen | 29:42 | |
what the world counts folly, and to shame what is strong, | 29:45 | |
God has chosen what the world counts weakness. | 29:49 | |
He has chosen things low and contemptible, mere nothings, | 29:52 | |
to overthrow the existing order, and so there is no place | 29:56 | |
for human pride in the presence of God. | 30:00 | |
You are in Christ Jesus by God's act in the presence of God. | 30:03 | |
Excuse me, for God has made him our wisdom. | 30:08 | |
He is our righteousness. | 30:13 | |
In him, we are consecrated and set free, | 30:14 | |
and so, in the words of scripture, | 30:18 | |
if a man must boast, let him boast of the Lord. | 30:20 | |
Here ends the readings from the Epistle lesson. | 30:23 | |
(organ music plays) | 30:33 | |
(choir sings along with music) | 30:44 | |
Will the congregation please stand | 34:22 | |
for the reading of the Gospel lesson? | 34:24 | |
When he saw the crowds, he went up the hill. | 34:31 | |
There he took his seat, and when his disciples | 34:35 | |
had gathered around him, he began to address them, | 34:38 | |
and this is the teaching he gave. | 34:42 | |
How blessed are those who know their need of God. | 34:44 | |
The kingdom of Heaven is theirs. | 34:48 | |
How blessed are the sorrowful. | 34:50 | |
They shall find consolation. | 34:52 | |
How blessed are those of a gentle spirit. | 34:55 | |
They shall have the Earth for their possession. | 34:58 | |
How blessed are those who hunger | 35:01 | |
and thirst to see right prevail. | 35:03 | |
They shall be satisfied. | 35:06 | |
How blessed are those who show mercy. | 35:08 | |
Mercy shall be shown them. | 35:11 | |
How blessed are those whose hearts are pure. | 35:13 | |
They shall see God. | 35:16 | |
How blessed are the peacemakers. | 35:19 | |
God shall calm them his daughters and sons. | 35:21 | |
How blessed are those who have suffered | 35:25 | |
persecution for the cause of right. | 35:27 | |
The kingdom of Heaven is theirs. | 35:29 | |
How blessed are you when you suffer insults | 35:32 | |
and persecution and every kind of calumny for my sake. | 35:36 | |
Accept it with gladness and exaltation, | 35:42 | |
for you have a rich reward in Heaven. | 35:45 | |
In the same way, the persecuted the prophets before you. | 35:48 | |
Here ends the reading of the Gospel. | 35:52 | |
(organ music plays) | 35:57 | |
(choir sings along with music) | 36:06 | |
- | And this will be our special prayer | 37:07 |
that we'll be free enough to dare to love our enemy. | 37:11 | |
Praying together, | 37:16 | |
may the words of my mouth | 37:20 | |
and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable | 37:23 | |
in your sight, O Lord, our strength, | 37:25 | |
our only hope, and our redeemer, amen. | 37:30 | |
It frightens me really. | 37:42 | |
It frightens me that it's all beginning to make sense. | 37:45 | |
It's all beginning to look so sane | 37:50 | |
and rational and pragmatic even. | 37:53 | |
This is one of the dangers of being | 37:59 | |
in church as often as I am. | 38:01 | |
This point to which I come and at which I say | 38:06 | |
a fine thing this Christianity, a fine thing. | 38:09 | |
Makes sense, makes good sense. | 38:14 | |
Because I find myself believing all sorts | 38:20 | |
of things in church that I would never let folks | 38:23 | |
pull over on me out in the real world. | 38:27 | |
Out there, where lovers make love, | 38:31 | |
and flowers grow, | 38:36 | |
and babies are born, | 38:38 | |
and marriages fail, | 38:41 | |
and junkies die, and the sacred | 38:44 | |
and the secular collide in a most inelegant way. | 38:49 | |
It's not supposed to be this way of course, and I know it. | 38:56 | |
And you know it too, I imagine. | 39:00 | |
SĆøren Kierkegaard knew it when he said | 39:04 | |
that Christianity has taken a great stride into the absurd, | 39:06 | |
and when he said remove from Christianity its ability | 39:12 | |
to shock, and it is all together destroyed. | 39:17 | |
It then becomes a tiny, superficial thing | 39:22 | |
capable neither of inflicting deep wounds, | 39:27 | |
nor of healing them. | 39:32 | |
What frightens me most, I think, what frightens me most | 39:36 | |
is that the craziness of it all, | 39:40 | |
this Gospel of Christ crucified, | 39:42 | |
has given way to the coziness of it all, | 39:46 | |
this sort of snug and warm and comfortable feeling | 39:49 | |
that we have, when you and I can come together | 39:53 | |
and sing our hearts out and pray our heads off | 39:58 | |
and preach our tongues numb, and still not hear | 40:01 | |
or feel or sense or imagine | 40:06 | |
the cutting edge of it all, | 40:11 | |
the madness of it all. | 40:14 | |
As I say, it has begun to make sense, | 40:18 | |
and it hardly shocks anymore, if at all. | 40:23 | |
And when I say it doesn't shock anymore, | 40:27 | |
I am speaking, you see, of this new thing. | 40:30 | |
This logos become sarx, word become flesh, | 40:35 | |
the manger and Bethlehem, the cross | 40:41 | |
and the suffering servant, Gethsemane and Golgotha, | 40:45 | |
of the grand and holy and preposterously redemptive nature | 40:49 | |
of these places and people and events. | 40:55 | |
To borrow from the old Dane, | 41:01 | |
the absurd has begun to sound reasonable. | 41:04 | |
Or maybe it's not so much reasonable | 41:13 | |
as that we're numb, | 41:15 | |
numb you and I, to the bite in it all. | 41:18 | |
I look at my life, and I look at your lives, | 41:23 | |
and I look at our lives here together, | 41:27 | |
and I see how much we have accommodated, | 41:31 | |
made room for, been seduced by the wisdom of the world. | 41:34 | |
This daily wisdom, shrewdness, cleverness | 41:40 | |
that we do so take pride in and depend on to get by with | 41:45 | |
on this demanding planet. | 41:50 | |
And it's no wonder I suppose. | 41:54 | |
We've got to get by after all we tell ourselves. | 41:57 | |
And from the looks of things, we get by pretty well | 42:01 | |
when all is said and done and the sun | 42:05 | |
goes down and the debts are settled. | 42:07 | |
Perhaps, perhaps the sermon on the mount | 42:12 | |
will suffice, as illustration I mean. | 42:15 | |
How blessed are those of the gentle spirit. | 42:19 | |
They shall have the Earth for their possession. | 42:22 | |
How blessed are the peacemakers. | 42:26 | |
God shall call them his daughters and sons. | 42:29 | |
Or from the sermon on the plain, which is Luke's variation | 42:34 | |
of the same thing, you see, the same sermon. | 42:38 | |
Love your enemies. | 42:41 | |
Do good to those who hate you. | 42:45 | |
Give to everyone who asks of you. | 42:49 | |
When someone takes what is yours, don't demand it back. | 42:53 | |
Pray for those who treat you spitefully. | 42:59 | |
This, this is radical stuff. | 43:07 | |
This talk about love and unquestioned philanthropy | 43:13 | |
and a gentle encounter with an ungentle world. | 43:18 | |
These are the seeds of revolution, | 43:22 | |
of an old humanity giving way | 43:26 | |
to a new humanity. | 43:31 | |
It's no wonder, it's no wonder | 43:36 | |
that the first Christians were thought to be drunk on wine. | 43:38 | |
It's not surprising that King Festus thought Paul's defense | 43:44 | |
of the Christian faith merited a psychiatric examination. | 43:50 | |
You are mad is how old Festus put it to Paul. | 43:56 | |
You are mad. | 44:01 | |
And quite likely he was, quite likely he was, | 44:06 | |
because that sort of allegiance to the faith | 44:13 | |
requires a certain madness, a certain | 44:16 | |
enlightened lunacy if you will. | 44:21 | |
And maybe that's it. | 44:25 | |
Maybe it's wise that we have become, and it's mad | 44:28 | |
that we are not, until there's hardly any difference | 44:33 | |
at all between what we believe in here | 44:38 | |
and what we live out there, until the beatitudes | 44:41 | |
let us say sound something like this. | 44:45 | |
How blessed are the peacemakers. | 44:49 | |
They'll have done to them | 44:53 | |
what they are loathe to do to others. | 44:55 | |
How blessed are those who show mercy. | 44:58 | |
They'll have it done to them a second time. | 45:02 | |
How blessed are those who are persecuted | 45:06 | |
for the sake of righteousness. | 45:10 | |
They shall be called fanatics. | 45:13 | |
And so I'm beginning to understand, | 45:20 | |
I'm beginning to better understand now why it is | 45:23 | |
that God sees fit to place into our midst | 45:26 | |
prophets and skeptics, poets and jesters, | 45:30 | |
children and clowns, that through these, | 45:36 | |
through these the very radical, pervasive, | 45:41 | |
insane, foolish word of God | 45:44 | |
may somehow reach us | 45:48 | |
and touch us and transform us | 45:53 | |
and lift us at least | 45:57 | |
a little bit out of ourselves and into grace. | 45:59 | |
What shall I bring inquired one of those prophets. | 46:08 | |
What shall I bring? | 46:12 | |
That prophet, that contemporary of Isiah, | 46:15 | |
that one whose names and words | 46:19 | |
would be invoked years later when defenders | 46:22 | |
of yet another prophet named Jeremiah | 46:25 | |
would say wait, wait, Micah said, | 46:27 | |
and Jeremiah would be gotten off the hook one more time | 46:34 | |
because of what Micah had said. | 46:40 | |
What shall I bring when I | 46:44 | |
approach the Lord was the question. | 46:45 | |
Of course, there was more to the inquiry than that. | 46:49 | |
There was a bargain to be struck hopefully, | 46:54 | |
and what the interrogator really wanted to know was this: | 46:58 | |
Just how much is enough? | 47:02 | |
How many calves, rams, | 47:06 | |
rivers of oil, my eldest child, | 47:10 | |
how much do you require Yahweh? | 47:14 | |
How little can I get by with? | 47:18 | |
And then the answer, and it's an answer so deceptive | 47:23 | |
in its brevity, so radical in its requirements, | 47:28 | |
and what does the Lord require of you? | 47:34 | |
Only to do justice | 47:38 | |
and to love kindness | 47:42 | |
and to walk humbly with your God. | 47:45 | |
In other words, | 47:50 | |
it's not your piety and your songs | 47:53 | |
and your show of solemn faces that I want. | 47:57 | |
Not even your money and your goods unless given in love. | 48:01 | |
No, what I want of you is for you | 48:06 | |
to move away from your worship of power | 48:09 | |
to the use of your power as a means of worship. | 48:13 |
- | God is urging, | 0:03 |
a living, | 0:06 | |
a living sacrifice. | 0:08 | |
And if today, | 0:13 | |
if today that lacks sufficient particularity | 0:15 | |
then let Jesus provide that. | 0:19 | |
Hungering to see right prevail. | 0:23 | |
Making peace. | 0:28 | |
Showing mercy. | 0:32 | |
In a world inclined toward violence and vengeance, | 0:35 | |
as Christians, ours is a different mandate. | 0:40 | |
Here you and I are in a world beset by violence | 0:46 | |
and all forms of brutality and death. | 0:50 | |
And the question arises, | 0:54 | |
what can be done? | 0:57 | |
How can these impulses to hurt and destroy, | 0:59 | |
how can these impulses be transformed into the desire | 1:03 | |
to heal and to make whole? | 1:07 | |
How can these savage impulses, | 1:12 | |
so close to the surface of each of us, | 1:15 | |
be recycled somehow into creativity? | 1:18 | |
The wisdom of the world says that the only way to cope | 1:26 | |
realistically with evil is the way of the tiger. | 1:29 | |
That is, to give destructiveness a dose of its own medicine | 1:34 | |
by inflicting pain back on those who hurt others. | 1:38 | |
Employing violence, | 1:44 | |
employing violence to curb violence. | 1:47 | |
And it is this idea, this notion, | 1:52 | |
that lies at the heart of the philosophies of war, | 1:56 | |
and capital punishment. | 2:00 | |
But when you and I reflect seriously on this, | 2:04 | |
it is to see that it is no solution at all. | 2:09 | |
Indeed, it is simply buying into the same sickness | 2:13 | |
that we are trying to cure. | 2:17 | |
The truth of the matter is, | 2:21 | |
my sisters and brothers, | 2:22 | |
the truth of the matter is, | 2:25 | |
the way of the tiger does not bring peace | 2:27 | |
to the jungle at all. | 2:32 | |
Presently, | 2:37 | |
presently, the conventional wisdom of the world | 2:39 | |
says put to death James Hutchins. | 2:42 | |
And Velma Barfield, too. | 2:47 | |
And the many others so condemned. | 2:50 | |
Eye for an eye, life for a life. | 2:53 | |
Violence for violence. | 2:58 | |
But Jesus repeatedly mandates another way. | 3:04 | |
The way of mercy. | 3:08 | |
Which is to say, returning not evil for evil, | 3:10 | |
but good for evil. | 3:14 | |
Martin Luther King called it the asymmetrical response. | 3:18 | |
Living out grace in the presence | 3:23 | |
of all that threatens grace. | 3:26 | |
As Christians, as human beings, | 3:30 | |
exercising our capacity to love, | 3:33 | |
rather than to destroy. | 3:37 | |
Our age has come to equate justice | 3:43 | |
with vengeance, with retribution. | 3:46 | |
But in fact, in the biblical scheme of things, | 3:50 | |
which is to say, God's scheme of things, | 3:52 | |
they are not the same at all. | 3:55 | |
Indeed, if that were God's notion of justice, | 3:58 | |
then you and I would have no grace to declare. | 4:02 | |
No gospel to savor. | 4:07 | |
No hope. | 4:10 | |
It is Abraham Heschel who reminds us, | 4:16 | |
divine justice | 4:20 | |
involves God's being merciful, | 4:23 | |
compassionate. | 4:27 | |
And then, another reminder from Heschel, | 4:30 | |
though human justice would require | 4:33 | |
that Abel's blood be avenged, | 4:35 | |
Cain is granted divine pardon | 4:39 | |
and protection. | 4:44 | |
No, God does not intend that justice dissolve | 4:47 | |
into retribution. | 4:52 | |
They are not one and the same. | 4:55 | |
And that is why Micah spoke as he did. | 4:58 | |
And that, in fact, is behind the Sermon on the Mount. | 5:02 | |
Justice, justice and mercy, dwell together | 5:08 | |
as kindred spirits. | 5:14 | |
And they have as their purpose, the enhancing | 5:17 | |
of human life, | 5:22 | |
and human community. | 5:25 | |
Not its destruction. | 5:28 | |
Do justice, says the prophet. | 5:31 | |
Show mercy, urges the Christ. | 5:36 | |
Pursue reconciliation. | 5:41 | |
And the miracle of it all, by God, | 5:48 | |
is that it works. | 5:51 | |
Over and over and over again. | 5:54 | |
When the Sermon on the Mount is adopted as a lifestyle, | 5:58 | |
change occurs. | 6:03 | |
Destructiveness is transformed into creativity. | 6:06 | |
Curdled hatred, recycled, into love. | 6:11 | |
If the way of the tiger, | 6:19 | |
if the way of the tiger does make us more beast like, | 6:22 | |
and it does, | 6:28 | |
then the way of the Christ does hold forth | 6:32 | |
the potential for transforming life | 6:36 | |
and bringing peace, | 6:42 | |
shalom, to a violent world | 6:44 | |
and troubled relationships. | 6:49 | |
What shall I bring? | 6:54 | |
Inquires Micah for each of us. | 6:58 | |
And his, though Spartan, declares its own truth. | 7:02 | |
In Hebrew, Micah means who is like Yahweh. | 7:07 | |
Who is like Yahweh, indeed. | 7:13 | |
None. None that I know. | 7:19 | |
And yet, and yet, | 7:24 | |
perhaps I have forgotten. | 7:29 | |
Perhaps we have forgotten. | 7:32 | |
So God created humankind in his own image. | 7:38 | |
In the image of God, | 7:44 | |
he created humankind. | 7:47 | |
For what purpose? | 7:54 | |
Thy kingdom come, they will be done. | 7:57 | |
Where? On earth, on earth, | 8:02 | |
as it is in heaven. | 8:08 | |
An implausible hope, | 8:12 | |
undoubtedly a foolish hope. | 8:15 | |
But someone, somewhere, | 8:19 | |
once upon a time, | 8:22 | |
did propose a prayer that includes that vision. | 8:25 | |
What shall we bring, you and I, | 8:32 | |
when we approach the Lord? | 8:36 | |
What shall we bring? | 8:39 | |
Only, only the doing of justice, | 8:43 | |
and the loving of kindness, | 8:48 | |
and the walking humbly, with the God who creates us. | 8:51 | |
What God requires of us, you see, | 8:58 | |
is not something outside of ourselves. | 9:01 | |
But rather, our very selves. | 9:06 | |
That righteousness will indeed prevail, | 9:11 | |
and mercy be shown, | 9:16 | |
and the sorrowing comforted, | 9:19 | |
and the earth embraced by shalom. | 9:22 | |
For Christ's sake, and in his name, | 9:31 | |
Amen. | 9:39 | |
- | (organ music) | 9:49 |
- | (hymn sung by congregation) | 10:42 |
- | Let us affirm what we believe. | 14:25 |
We believe in God, who has created and is creating, | 14:29 | |
who has come in the truly human Jesus, | 14:35 | |
to reconcile and make new. | 14:38 | |
Who works in us and others by the spirit. | 14:41 | |
We trust God, who calls us to be the church, | 14:45 | |
to celebrate life and its fullness, | 14:49 | |
to love and serve others, | 14:52 | |
to seek justice and resist evil, | 14:55 | |
to proclaim Jesus, crucified and risen, | 14:58 | |
our judge and our hope, in life, in death, | 15:02 | |
in life beyond death, God is with us. | 15:07 | |
We are not alone. | 15:11 | |
Thanks be to God. | 15:13 | |
The Lord be with you. | 15:16 | |
congregation | And also with you. | 15:18 |
- | Let us pray. | 15:20 |
Oh, God, | 15:37 | |
giver and sustainer of life, | 15:39 | |
hear our prayers this day, as we lift | 15:44 | |
the concerns of our hearts and our minds to you. | 15:48 | |
For the sick. | 15:56 | |
Oh, God, the source of all healing, | 16:02 | |
we offer our prayers on behalf of those who are sick, | 16:05 | |
and we name them now in our hearts before you. | 16:09 | |
Give special comfort to those | 16:29 | |
with chronic or life threatening disease. | 16:31 | |
And give strength to their families and loved ones. | 16:34 | |
Bless those who grieve. | 16:39 | |
And give hope to those whose lives seem empty, | 16:41 | |
meaningless, and full of despair. | 16:45 | |
For the oppressed, | 16:51 | |
oh God, the source of all justice, | 16:55 | |
we offer our prayers on behalf of the oppressed. | 16:58 | |
Give us courage to speak and act | 17:03 | |
when injustice prevails. | 17:05 | |
And give us hope when the task of righting wrongs | 17:07 | |
seems overwhelming. | 17:11 | |
We pray this day for our lawmakers, | 17:14 | |
and those who govern us, and all national leaders. | 17:17 | |
Give them wisdom, oh God. | 17:21 | |
Give them patience and strength of purpose. | 17:23 | |
We pray for all prisoners of conscious everywhere. | 17:27 | |
And for those on death row in North Carolina, | 17:30 | |
and in the United States, and for their families, | 17:34 | |
and their victims' families. | 17:37 | |
For the world. | 17:47 | |
Oh God, the source of all beauty, | 17:49 | |
and creator of all, | 17:52 | |
forgive us for our poor stewardship of this world. | 17:55 | |
Increase our awareness of the beauty of your creation, | 17:59 | |
even as we care for it. | 18:03 | |
Bless the farmers and those who provide us with food. | 18:06 | |
And keep us ever mindful of the swollen bellies | 18:09 | |
of our starving brothers and sisters here and abroad. | 18:12 | |
Bless our relationships with each other. | 18:19 | |
May our homes be havens of peace, | 18:23 | |
and our marriages and friendships a sacrament, a sign, | 18:26 | |
of your gracious love. | 18:32 | |
As we leave here this day, may our lives show forth | 18:36 | |
what our lips have proclaimed. | 18:40 | |
For we ask it in the name of our Lord and Savior | 18:42 | |
Jesus Christ, who taught us to pray: | 18:45 | |
Our Father, who art in heaven, | 18:49 | |
hallowed be thy name. | 18:52 | |
They kingdom come, thy will be done, | 18:54 | |
on earth as it is in heaven. | 18:58 | |
Give us this day our daily bread, | 19:00 | |
and forgive us our trespasses, | 19:03 | |
as we forgive those who trespass against us. | 19:06 | |
Lead us not into temptation, | 19:10 | |
and deliver us from evil, | 19:12 | |
for thine is the kingdom, the power | 19:14 | |
and the glory, forever. | 19:17 | |
Amen. | 19:20 | |
- | (quiet organ music) | 19:24 |
- | (louder organ music) | 21:17 |
- | (choir sings) | 21:32 |
- | (organ music) | 26:57 |
- | (hymn sung by congregation) | 27:17 |
- | These gifts, oh God, are but a symbol | 28:24 |
of the gifts of our lives. | 28:26 | |
A living sacrifice, given in response | 28:28 | |
to the good news of our salvation. | 28:32 | |
Accept and bless them, we ask in Jesus name, Amen. | 28:35 | |
- | (organ music) | 28:44 |
- | (hymn sung by congregation) | 29:24 |
- | The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ | 32:19 |
and the love of God and the fellowship | 32:21 | |
of the Holy Sprit be with you all. | 32:24 | |
- | (choir singing) Amen. | 32:29 |
- | (organ music) | 32:52 |
Item Info
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