Call to Prayer
Leader Let Us gather in the welcome of our Triune God, Creator, Christ, and Holy Spirit.
Gathered: Lord, it is good for us to be here.
Lighting the Christ candle
Leader Jesus Christ is the Light of the world. Gathered: The Light no darkness can overcome
Invitation Song to Lectio Divina, written and gifted by music minister John Penoyar of Hinesburg, Vermont
Were not our hearts burning as He spoke Were not His words words we longed to hear Were not our eyes opened in the breaking of the bread Were not our hearts burn -ing as He spoke
Our God is here He walks among us When two or three of us are gathered in his name Our God is here and he surrounds us And all creation sings the glory of his name
And we shall rise, as he is risen And though he promised us we did not understand Yes we shall rise as he is risen And we will know him when he calls to us by name.
Lectio Divina Guidelines Leader: - During the first reading, listen for the overall sense of the passage. Select a word or phrase that captures your attention, as though the Holy Spirit were flashing a light from the text to your heart, asking you to notice it. Like the disciples on the road to Emmaus, allow your eyes to be opened and your heart to be warmed as God speaks to you.
Leader: During the second reading let us listen for the feelings, sensations and connections that God's Word stirs in us. What message might God be speaking into your life now?. Leader: - During the final reading let us attend to our own hearts for a response to God’s love. What response will you carry forth from this encounter with the Living Word into the world? Leader: Let us now rest in the silence and attend once more to the presence of Christ among us. We hold a quiet space to hear God speaking in our hearts.
"Anointed", Lauren Wright Pitman, American artist, graphic designer, and theologian, 2018
"This is the posture that Jesus calls all of us into; a profoundly uncomfortable, shockingly reverent position; coming face to face, intimately engaging with the residue of Christ’s footsteps to smell and almost taste the journey of Christ."
John 12:1-8 Mary anoints Jesus for his burial
1 Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. 2 There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those reclining with him. 3 Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus's feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.4 But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said, 5 "Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?" 6 (He said this not because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; he kept the common purse and used to steal what was put into it.) 7 Jesus said, "Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. 8 You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me."
Lord's Prayer (contemporary, inclusive, holistic translation)
Leader: In gratitude for Jesus’ presence among u let us speak aloud the prayer he taught us to say to the God who loves us:
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O most Compassionate Life-giver, may we honor and praise you; May we work with you to establish your new order of justice peace and love; Give us what we need for growth, And help us, through forgiving others, to accept forgiveness. Strengthen us in the time of testing, that we may resist all evil, For all tenderness, strength and love are yours, now and forever. Amen.
Closing Prayer
Creator God, you prepare a new way in the wilderness and your grace waters the desert. Help us to recognize your hand working miracles beyond our imagining. Open our hearts to be transformed by the new thing you are doing, so that our lives may proclaim the extravagance of your love for all, and its presence in Jesus Christ. Amen. |