God’s Vision: Receive It

Service of Worship (Saturday, June 29, 2013)

http://www.ucc.org/synod/video.html

WELCOME

PROCLAMATION: Habakkuk 2: 1a “What’s God going to say to my questions? I’m braced for the worst.  From the rampart’s edge I’ll scan the horizon.  I’ll wait to see what God says…” 

INVITATION: Mark 6: 30-32 “So many were coming and going: the apostles had no leisure even to eat. They gathered around Jesus, and told him all that they had done and taught.  Jesus said to them, ‘Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while.’ And they went away in the boat to a deserted place by themselves.”

SILENCE

CHANT (No. 3): “I am Opening”

I am o-pen-ing.  I am o-pen-ing.  My heart is read-y to re-ceive.

We are o-pen-ing.  We are o-pen-ing.  Our hearts are read-y to re-ceive.

(Repeat as cued)

SILENCE

RESPONSIVE PRAYER:  Open us to your peace, Gentle Dove, that bitter tears of grief and longing for vengeance may give way to sounds of laughter and the blessed touch of compassion.

Open us to your justice, Holy One, that the cries of the weak and the prayers of the poor may be heard throughout the land and turn our hearts of stone into hearts of flesh.

Open us to your truth, Living Word, that every word we speak and every action we take may bear witness to the light of Christ and the glory of your image within us.

Open us to your grace, Guide and Guardian, that regrets of the past and fears of the future may hold no power over us in the present, as we rest secure in your presence.

SILENCE

PSALM 46: 1-3; 8-10a: God is our refuge and strength,  a very present  help in trouble.
God is a safe place to hide, ready to help when we need help.
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change,  though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea;

We stand fearless at the cliff-edge of doom, courageous in seastorm and earthquake!

Come, behold the works of the Lord;

Attention, all!  See the marvels of God!

Who makes wars cease to the end of the earth; breaks the bow, and shatters the spear;

Bans war from pole to pole, breaks all the weapons!

God calls:  “Be still, and know that I am God!”

Be still and know that I am God. 

Be still and know that I am. 

Be still and know.

Be still.

Be.  

SILENCE

CHANT: “I am Opening”

I am o-pen-ing.  I am o-pen-ing.  My heart is read-y to re-ceive.

We are o-pen-ing.  We are o-pen-ing.  Our hearts are read-y to re-ceive.

(Repeat as cued)

MEDITATIVE POEM: “I Let Go of My Accumulations by Howard Thurman”

My ego is like a fortress. I have built its walls stone by stone to hold out the invasion of the love of God.
But I have stayed here long enough. There is light, over the barriers, Oh my God.
The darkness of my house forgive and overtake my soul.

I relax the barriers. I abandon all that I think I am, all I hope to be all that I believe I possess.

I let go of the past, I withdraw my grasping hand from the future, and in the great silence of this moment, I alertly rest my soul.

As the sea gull lays in the wind current, so I lay into the spirit of God, my dearest human relationships, my most precious dreams.  I surrender to God’s care all that I have called my own.

I give back all my favorite things which I withhold in my storehouse. I let go.

I give myself unto thee O my God. Amen.

SILENCE

CHANT: “I am Opening”

I am o-pen-ing.  I am o-pen-ing.  My heart is read-y to re-ceive.

We are o-pen-ing.  We are o-pen-ing.  Our hearts are read-y to re-ceive.

(Repeat as cued)

SCRIPTURE: Habakkuk 2: 2-3 “And then God answered: ‘Write this. Write what you see.  Write your vision out in big block letters so that it can be read on the run. This vision-message is a witness pointing to what’s coming. It aches for the coming—it can hardly wait!  And it doesn’t lie.  If it seems slow in coming, wait.  It’s on its way. It will come right on time.’”                                                                       

INVITATION TO WRITE THE VISION

PASSING THE PEACE: You are invited to say: “Together let us seek God’s vision.”