Cycle A Lent 5

4/6/2014 Confession

Sunday Title:  Lament Sunday 

Sermon Title: “Why Wait for the Resurrection?”

Previously:  

Sunday Title:  Death Sunday 

Sermon Title: “Facing Death. (ahead of time)”

Sunday Title:  Redeem Sunday

Sermon Title: “From the Frying Pan into the Fire?”

Sunday Title:  Dry Bones Sunday

Sermon Title: “How Dry are your Bones?”

Sunday Title:  Trust Sunday

Sermon Title: “In God We Trust - Easier Said than Done”

Scripture Cuttings:

Ezekiel 37:1-14 "Mortal, can these bones live?" I answered, "O Lord God, you know."

Psalm 130 O Israel, hope in the Lord! For with the Lord there is steadfast love, and with him is great power to redeem.

Romans 8:6-11 To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.

John 11:1-45 I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?

All may make the sign of the cross in remembrance of baptism

as the presiding minister begins:

P:  In the Name of the Father, and the Son, + and the Holy Spirit.

C: Amen

P:  Let us take this time to be honest with God. (pause)

  O Lord...

C: you know where our confidence lies;

you see we trust our abilities,

  our strength, even our intuition.

We rely on our intelligence ahead of your faithfulness.

You make us stewards,

  but we think we are masters.

And not until we see the death of the flesh

  do we consider turning to your Spirit.

Save, O Lord, your people.

Forgive us the sins we know in our heart.

Save us from the sins we hide. (pause for reflection and self-examination)

P:  Lord are we dried up...

C: is our hope lost, are we cut off completely?

P:  Even though our flesh is dead because of our sin, the Spirit of the one who gives life to the whole house of Israel, the Spirit of the one who raises Christ from the dead, gives new life to our mortal bodies. (For Christ's sake our sins are forgiven). And we may live trusting not in our own flesh but rather in the Spirit of God that dwells in us. In the name of the Father, and the Son, + and the Holy Spirit.

C: Amen. -wjw

P:  The peace of the Lord be with you always!

C: And also with you!

during Lent the Absolution may be withheld

Cycle A Lent 4

3/30/2014 Confession

Sunday Title:  Power & Light Sunday

Sermon Title: Who is In-Charge?

Previously:  

Sunday Title:  Complete Sunday

Sermon Title: Redemption as completion

Sunday Title:  Gift Sunday

Sermon Title: “Invitation to the Light”

Sunday Title:  Darkness Sunday 

Sermon Title: “I was blind but now I see” 

Sunday Title:  Change Sunday 

Sermon Title: “Thank goodness we don’t have to change!”

Scripture Cuttings:

1 Samuel 16:1-13 The Lord said to Samuel, "How long will you grieve over Saul? I have rejected him from being king over Israel. Fill your horn with oil and set out; I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided for myself a king among his sons."

Psalm 23 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord my whole life long.

Ephesians 5:8-14 For once you were darkness, but now in the Lord you are light. Live as children of light—for the fruit of the light is found in all that is good and right and true.

John 9:1-41 Jesus said, "I came into this world for judgment so that those who do not see may see, and those who do see may become blind." Some of the Pharisees near him heard this and said to him, "Surely we are not blind, are we?" Jesus said to them, "If you were blind, you would not have sin. But now that you say, 'We see,' your sin remains."

Confession:

All may make the sign of the cross in remembrance of baptism

as the presiding minister begins:

P:  In the Name of the Father, and the Son, + and the Holy Spirit.

C: Amen

P:  Lord, we do not see as you do, open our eyes. (pause)

  O Lord...

C: we love what we have made for ourselves,

the way we like to do things,

  we love it so much we think

    what makes us comfortable

      is also what makes us right.

We are so secure in our “rightness”

  we don’t try to please you Lord.

We miss your way because we are set in our way.

Forgive us Lord the sins we know in our heart.

Save us Lord from the sins we evade.

   (pause for reflection and self-examination)

P:  Lord shepherd us...

C: along the right pathways

    for your name sake. Amen

P:  God does not desire for us to walk in darkness. God sends the light of Christ into our world. The light to expose our sin and call us again to right relationship. (For Christ's sake our sins are forgiven). Through the Holy Spirit our eyes can be opened again. In the name of the Father, and the Son, + and the Holy Spirit.

C: Amen. -wjw

P:  The peace of the Lord be with you always!

C: And also with you!

during Lent the Absolution may be withheld

Cycle A Lent 3

3/23/2014  Confession

Sunday Title:  Question Sunday

Sermon Title: “Is the Lord with us or not?”

Previously:

Sunday Title:  Need Sunday

Sermon Title: “Wants vs. Needs”

Sunday Title:  Desert Sunday

Sermon Title: “Water in the Desert”

Sunday Title:  Water Sunday

Sermon Title: “The Basic Thirst”

Exodus 17:1-7 ...‘Why do you test the Lord?’ But the people thirsted there for water; and the people complained against Moses and said, ‘Why did you bring us out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and livestock with thirst?’

-or-

Moses…called the place Massah (test) and Meribah, (quarrel)

because the Israelites quarreled and tested the Lord saying,

“Is the Lord among us or not?”

Psalm 95 O come, let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker! For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.”

Romans 5:1-11 But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us.

John 4:5-42 A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, ‘Give me a drink.’ 

-or-

 “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.”

All may make the sign of the cross in remembrance of baptism

as the presiding minister begins:

P:  In the Name of the Father, and the Son, + and the Holy Spirit.

C: Amen

P:  From our wilderness of sin let us make our confession to the God who knows everything we have ever done. (pause)

  O Lord...

C: you know what we thirst for,

and it is not your righteousness.

  You know how we cling to the ways of old,

without regard for the evil in them,

  and how we reject even your living water

    because it means change.

Lord you know in our hour of greatest need

  we find a quarrel

  instead of turning to your faithfulness.

Save us Lord from the sins we know in our heart.

Save us Lord from the sins we hide.

     (pause for reflection and self-examination)

P:  Lord you are a great God...

C: the rock of our salvation. Amen

P:  For the Lord who made all the earth and freed God’s people from slavery has offered us a hope in sharing the glory of God. God proves love for us, that while we were still sinners Christ died for us, that we might be saved through him. (For Christ's sake our sins are forgiven)And God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us. In the name of the Father, and the Son, + and the Holy Spirit.

C: Amen. -wjw

P:  The peace of the Lord be with you always!

C: And also with you!

-or-

P:  In the Name of the Father, and the Son, + and the Holy Spirit.

C: Amen

P:  The Lord is our Maker

C: and our provider.

P:  Shall we bring our parched lives before God. (pause)

  Merciful God...

C: we live in a spiritual wasteland,

and thirst for pleasures that do not satisfy.

  We grumble about the life we are given,

    and complain throughout your greatest gifts.

We suffer the tyranny of the urgent,

  allowing crisis to direct our days,

    and fatigue to set our nights.

So rarely are we ready to accept your grace

  maybe because we know our way but not your way..

Forgive the sin we recognize.

Save us from the sin we shroud. (pause for reflection and self-examination)

P:  The Lord our Maker does indeed provide all our needs. Even to call us out of the desert we make. Though God knows all our sin he chooses to redeem. For this God has sent his Son to give us the living water. (For Christ's sake our sins are forgiven) When we receive the living God we may become true worshipers, in Spirit and truth. To the glory of the Father, and the Son, + and the Holy Spirit.

C: Amen. -wjw

P:  The peace of the Lord be with you always!

C: And also with you!

during Lent the Absolution may be withheld

Cycle A Lent 2

3/16/2014 Confession (s)

Sunday Title:  Journey Sunday

Sermon Title: “Journey from the Sensible to the Spiritual”

Previously:

Sunday Title:  Blessing Sunday

Sermon Title: Where are you going?

Sunday Title:  Faithful Sunday

Sermon Title: “Faithful Blessing”

Sunday Title:  Invitation Sunday 

Sermon Title: “Invitation to Faithfulness” 

Sunday Title:  Champion Sunday   

Sermon Title: “A Crisis of Tradition”

Scripture Cuttings:

Genesis 12:1-4a Now the Lord said to Abram, ‘Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.’”

Psalm 121 I lift up my eyes to the hills- from where will my help come?  My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.

Romans 4:1-5, 13-17 Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.

John 3:1-17 For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

All may make the sign of the cross in remembrance of baptism

as the presiding minister begins:

P:  In the Name of the Father, and the Son, + and the Holy Spirit.

C: Amen

P:  From where is my help to come?

C: My help comes from the Lord,

   the maker of heaven and earth!

P:  Let us make our confession to the God who watches over us. (pause)

  O Lord...

C: I boast to myself

  in my pride

    what a righteous person I am.

I am proud to be here so early on this morning.

  I give to your church what I can.

    I am a good person.

      I have done all that I should do,

even from birth,

  at my Baptism, born again of the water and of the Spirit.

I say I have faith,

  yet Lord, I resist you each day,

    holding on to the will born in my flesh

      and unyielding to your will born of the Spirit.

Save me Lord from the sins I know in my heart.

Save me Lord from the sins I hide. (pause for reflection and self-examination)

P:  Lord...

C: teach me to trust your Spirit. Amen

P:  The Lord shall preserve us from all evil. Even when we distract ourselves. For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him shall not perish but may have eternal life. (For Christ's sake our sins are forgiven) Through the power of the Holy Spirit we may receive this gift, not as wage due our work but as being reckoned by God as righteous. In the name of the Father, and the Son, + and the Holy Spirit.

C: Amen. -wjw

P:  The peace of the Lord be with you always!

C: And also with you!

during Lent the Absolution may be withheld

-or-

All may make the sign of the cross in remembrance of baptism

as the presiding minister begins:

P:  In the Name of the Father, and the Son, + and the Holy Spirit.

C: Amen

P:  The Lord is our keeper,

C: our mistakes should not haunt us,

  nor our sin destroy us.

P:  Let us call upon God with true repentance. (pause)

  Merciful God...

C: we forget you decide righteousness

and so we pretend to earn your favor

  with our acts of piety.

We would rather win our salvation

  than listen to your promise.

We trust ourselves

  not your faithfulness.

Save, O Lord, your people.

Forgive the sin in our understanding.

Redeem us from our ignorance. (pause for reflection and self-examination)

P:  The very God who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist sends the Son into the world, not to condemn but to save. The Son will be lifted up. And we will be saved. (For Christ's sake our sins are forgiven) We will be a blessing to all of nations to the glory of the Father, and the Son, + and the Holy Spirit.

C: Amen -wjw

P:  The peace of the Lord be with you always!

C: And also with you!

during Lent the Absolution may be withheld