Holy Week 10W Worship

There are 10W worship posts for the Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of Holy Week at www.10worship.blogspot.com

10W for April 6th, Good Friday in the Narrative Lectionary.

The following is a 10 minute worship for April 6th, Good Friday in the Narrative Lectionary. You can either listen on the flash player below or download it to your favorite music program to sync with your mp3 player by clicking on "DOWNLOAD" or play it on your smartphone's music player by clicking PLAY . You now also have the option of receiving these notices each week and on festival days by signing up for the 10W constant contact email list on the 10W blog or on your phone by texting 10W to 22828. The song for the day is,"Near the Cross" by Lorie Line from the CE "The Heritage Collection"  which can be purchased HERE

10W for April 6th, Good Friday

The following is a 10 minute worship for April 6th, Good Friday. You can either listen on the flash player below or download it to your favorite music program to sync with your mp3 player by clicking on "DOWNLOAD" or play it on your smartphone's music player by clicking PLAY . You now also have the option of receiving these notices each week and on festival days by signing up for the 10W constant contact email list on the 10W blog or on your phone by texting 10W to 22828. The song for the day is,"Beneath the Cross of Jesus" by Lorie Line from the CD "The Heritage Collection, Vol 4" which can be purchased HERE

Poem for April 6th, Good Friday John 18:1-19:42

Who is this man
They cried
This one
--welcomed just three days ago
as the Messiah
the one who would bring peace to the nation
peace to the world
who is this man
who claims to be the Son of God
who would dare to tempt
the systems we have set in motion
we are
--they cried with a voice united
civilized people
we have our laws and order
--and our punishments for those
--who like our friend here
--choose
----(or are chosen)
----to be more than we have room for
this Jesus from Nazareth
hung up there
in pain and death
--just like any common
--------------(scapegoat)
------------------criminal
the King of Jews
with no kingdom of this world
and few to follow
Our
--------(law and order)
------------------Justice has a way
to keep things from getting
out-------------of----------------control
with anyone
------(God)
who would disrupt
this life of ours
who
-------is this Jesus of Nazareth
-------(Father)
that he should come here
where we have things
as we want them
-----------(forgive them)
and want nothing more
------(for they know not what they do)

10W for April 5th, Maundy Thursday in the Narrative Lectionary

The following is a 10 minute worship for April 5th, Maundy Thursday in the Narrative Lectionary. You can either listen on the flash player below or download it to your favorite music program to sync with your mp3 player by clicking on "DOWNLOAD" or play it on your smartphone's music player by clicking PLAY . You now also have the option of receiving these notices each week and on festival days by signing up for the 10W constant contact email list on the 10W blog or on your phone by texting 10W to 22828. The song for the day is,"One Bread, One Body" by John Michael Talbot from the CD "Table of Plenty" which can be purchased HERE

10W for April 5th, Maundy Thursday.

The following is a 10 minute worship for April 5th, Maundy Thursday. You can either listen on the flash player below or download it to your favorite music program to sync with your mp3 player by clicking on "DOWNLOAD" or play it on your smartphone's music player by clicking PLAY . You now also have the option of receiving these notices each week and on festival days by signing up for the 10W constant contact email list on the 10W blog or on your phone by texting 10W to 22828. The song for the day is,"How Deep the Fathers Love for Us" by the Break Forth Band from the CD  "Break Forth Vol 3" which can be purchased HERE

Poem for Maundy Thursday Mark 14:12-26

Sitting amid the ones who had come so far
was the Christ
the Immanuel
serving these few
Who were gathered at this table with him
(take)
and in a somber moment
that pierced through time
Christ looked at each of the ones gathered
And broke the bread
(this is my body)
to share with all there
in a way that had been done
in so many other Passover meals
and like no other meal
this moment
--held in time
--suspended between what was
----and what will be
was here
as the moment floated into eternity
he gave thanks
(this)
in this somber moment
that pierced through time
and took the cup
given to all
(is my blood)
that they might share with one another
what had been given them
(of the covenant)
feeling the presence of one another
in a new way
in the presence of this Christ
the moment begin to pass
but not back into a world that was
the night was new
and almost alive
as Christ went out
(which is poured out for many)
to pray

10W for April 1st in the Narrative Lectionary, Palm Sunday

The following is a 10 minute worship for April 1st, in the Narrative Lectionary, Palm Sunday. You can either listen on the flash player below or download it to your favorite music program to sync with your mp3 player by clicking on "DOWNLOAD" or play it on your smartphone's music player by clicking PLAY . You now also have the option of receiving these notices each week and on festival days by signing up for the 10W constant contact email list on the 10W blog or on your phone by texting 10W to 22828. The song for the day is,"Hosanna Blessed One" by the Jay Beech Band from the CD "Everyone who is thirsty, come" which can be purchased HERE

10W for April 1st, Passion Sunday

The following is a 10 minute worship for April 1st, Passion Sunday. You can either listen on the flash player below or download it to your favorite music program to sync with your mp3 player by clicking on "DOWNLOAD" or play it on your smartphone's music player by clicking PLAY . You now also have the option of receiving these notices each week and on festival days by signing up for the 10W constant contact email list on the 10W blog or on your phone by texting 10W to 22828.  The song for the day is,"Weeping Over Jerusalem" by Dakota Road from the album, "Build Up" which can be purchased HERE

Poem for Sunday of Passion Mark 14:1-15:47

Some knew
--at least in part
what you were saying
some heard the words you spoke
so gentle
--so clear
about what was to come
your death
the kingdom
some heard
--and followed you because they heard
without fully understanding it
--there was an urgency in your eyes
----they could sense the pain
----the anguish
--in the moment
and silently
--lovingly
she anointed the one who would be the messiah
for what was to come
blessing that which was to be given
for all humanity
while the rest of the world was about its business
--its agendas
that pit one against another
this one knew
of the bud that was to burst into beauty
in a kingdom breaking in
to the business and agendas of our lives
with love

Opening Litany based on Psalm 118

Pastor: Give thanks to the Lord who is good, whose love endures forever.

Congregation: Let everyone say, God’s love endures forever.

Pastor: Open the gates of righteousness and we will enter and give thanks to the Lord.

Congregation: They are the gates through which I may enter and give thanks for the Lord has become my salvation.

Pastor: I marvel when I see that which was rejected by the world, has become the foundation of humanity

Congregation: This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.

Pastor: Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord,

Congregation: with boughs in hand we will join the festal procession.

Pastor: You are our God and we give you thanks and exalt your name

Congregation: Give thanks to the Lord who is good and whose love endures forever.

"Hosanna!"??

Sunday April 1st, Mark 11: Many people spread their cloaks on the road, while others spread branches they had cut in the fields. Those who went ahead and those who followed shouted, "Hosanna!" "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!" The people were ready for a real King, not just a foreign dictator. The celebration was festive and the crowds were caught up in excitement and hope as Jesus entered the city through the East Gate. At that same time, entering the city through the West Gate, was Pilate dressed in all his military might and followed by the legions of soldiers. He represented that foreign power and was moving into the city to maintain control during the Passover. The Passover after all celebrated a time when the Jewish population won its freedom from an earlier political empire, Egypt. Pilate was the presence and essence of the military authority who was here to protect the integrity and the image of Caesar, who was known as “the son of god” in this far away place. The timing and method of entry Jesus chose was a direct confrontation to the political and religious and military power represented by Pilate and the temple authorities. Hosanna to the prince of Peace, not the lord of war. Hosanna to the Hope of the World, not the control of the world. Hosanna to “The” “Son of God,” not the son of god wannabe. Hosanna to your hopes and dreams, but not necessarily your safety and security. Hosanna, today……..

religion that loses

Monday April 2nd, Mark 14:1 Now the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread were only two days away, and the chief priests and the teachers of the law were looking for some sly way to arrest Jesus and kill him. The chief priests and teachers of the law were a part of the ruling elite. They had figured out their niche under this foreign domination. They were also aware that if they did not maintain the order, Pilot would just come in with the military and maintain order his way. Pilots way would involve lots of bloodshed and that niche of power and prestige enjoyed by the chief priests and teachers of the law would be gone. They were the large landowners that possessed some of the land that Herod had taken from the peasants. They were the ones who had the authority and power to rule under Pilate, maintain control and collect the taxes, and reap a good profit, while Pilate lived in more pleasant accommodations in Caesarea by the sea. It was just another case of religion and politics working together hand in hand, to maintain control and the status quo. It is the natural tendency of any religious organization, whether they call themselves organized or not. When it happens, it is always the integrity of the religion that loses. How are these same scenarios being played out today?

in memory of her

Tuesday April 3rd, Mark 14:7 She poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare for my burial. I tell you the truth, wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her." Jesus has been telling the twelve disciples, on their journey from Caesarea Philippi to Jerusalem, what leadership entails. They, like you and I most of the time, didn’t get it. Judas takes a very pragmatic approach to ushering in the kingdom by forcing a confrontation between Jesus and the authorities. Some say it was a plan he and Jesus had worked out all along, most others, and I agree, say didn’t get it either. I think most of us, most of the time, don’t get it. Mark inserts the story of this unnamed woman between those two points. In the midst of it all, she gave of herself totally and worshiped Jesus. She was at her wits end which means she had very little of her ego to push and only Jesus to seek. She exemplified the idea of the servant leader Jesus was trying to get through to the disciples. She becomes the first Christian, worshiping what would be the risen Christ even before the crucifixion. She got it. Sometimes in the midst of life and, yes, even death, we forget what the center of both life and death is all about. Sometimes we don’t get it. We still think it is about “us” singular and not “us” as a part of the body of Christ. Look to the example of this unnamed woman and follow Christ by being a servant leader. In the midst of it all, she got it, and it starts with loving the Lord your God with all you heart, soul and minds.

bad rap

Wednesday April 4th, Mark 14: 10 Then Judas Iscariot, one of the Twelve, went to the chief priests to betray Jesus to them. Judas does get a bad rap. It is nice to have a villain on which to place blame. It absolves us of our responsibility. What Judas did was place his own agenda ahead of Jesus’ plan. He tried to get Jesus to do what “he” wanted him to do. The messiah was recreated in “his” image. Not much different from the rest of the disciples. Not much different from you and I. It has been going on since that tree thing in the garden. The disciples didn’t get what the unnamed woman with the perfume got. Judas didn’t get what the unnamed woman got. Judas’ sin was that he acted on his inclinations as opposed to the other disciples who did nothing. It is so easy to get caught up in that take charge doing, and in the process put Jesus in the back seat. It is so easy to use Christianity to control others. It is even easier to not get it at all and do nothing. It is so easy to choose power and death over servant and life. Judas stands as a warning to us all on how easily we can, and do slip into that same mindset as Judas and set in motion what we would want Jesus to do. It is also a warning not to slip into the mindset of the rest of the disciples and do nothing. Where are you on that continuum?

New Covenant

Thursday April 5th, Mark 14:22 While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, "Take it; this is my body." Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, and they all drank from it. "This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many,” Jesus renewed the covenant God made with Moses, not with more laws, but by sharing a meal. Jesus redefined what had come to be understood as rules of right and wrong, with hospitality and the communal concept of sharing, servanthood and relationship. It was the continuation of the practice of Jesus to include everyone at the table and to see that all were feed. This meal was a reminder of the feeding of the five thousand where the miracle was when the masses were inclined to share what they were hording and there was an abundance left over. This meal was the Passover meal that celebrated the liberation from captivity from Egypt, and in practice now celebrates the liberation of humanity from all bondage. Finally it is the taking of the body and blood, of the total giving of the self for the sake of the kingdom, to which we are all called. It is servanthood, it is sharing, it is relationship, it is life.

NOT RECOGNIZE

Good Friday, April 6th, Mark 14:30 "I tell you the truth," Jesus answered, "today--yes, tonight--before the rooster crows twice you yourself will disown me three times." But Peter insisted emphatically, "Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you." It is not something we like to admit, but most of us have either laughed at or told off color or racial or sexual jokes. These seemingly innocent gestures poke fun at and demean another person or group of persons created in the image of God. These jokes deny the totality of Christ in your life. To tell or laugh at them is to scream to the world, “I DO NOT KNOW HIM.” By screaming, “I DO NOT RECOGNIZE THE VASTNESS OF THE BODY OF CHRIST.” We have all disowned Christ, not three times but three times infinity, and the beat goes on. Pray today that God would kick you extra hard when you are about to laugh at or tell a “I do not know him” joke. And I mean, Extra hard!!

abandonment

Saturday April 7th, Mark 15:34 And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?"--which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" There are times when we feel alone and abandoned. On the cross, Christ faced the total abandonment of our love that sin represents. When did you last feel totally alone or Abandoned? Christ understands. When did you last feel forgotten and misunderstood? Christ understands. When did you last feel used and abused? Christ understands. Often when we feel most alone, it is not that God is absent, but rather that we are in such a hole that all we can see is darkness. Off in the distance there may be a glimmer of light, but we refuse to acknowledge it. Find a copy of the poem footsteps, read it. I know it is well worn and schmaltzy, but there are times it is still worth rereading. Remember your alone time, and know that God was with you then and will be with you in your next alone time, and always. Now read the 23rd psalm.

10W for March 26th, the Annunciation of our Lord.

The following is a 10 minute worship for March 26th, The Annunciation of Our Lord. You can either listen on the flash player below or download it to your favorite music program to sync with your mp3 player by clicking on "DOWNLOAD" or play it on your smartphone's music player by clicking PLAY . You now also have the option of receiving these notices each week and on festival days by signing up for the 10W constant contact email list on the 10W blog or on your phone by texting 10W to 22828. Please help fund this ministry by clicking HERE and making a small donation to Christ Our Savior Lutheran Church. The song for the day is,"Stables" by Dakota Road from the album, "Love Can Break Through" which can be purchased HERE

Poem for March 26th, The Annunciation of our Lord, Luke 1:26-46

The young and innocent one
wondered at the hearing of the words
    (Greetings)
that thundered from on high
and yet so close
she could almost reach out
    and touch
      the messenger
          Gabriel
words that announced to the world
a new time
a new life
that would come to all people
    (you who are highly favored)
through the womb
of this one
innocent one
called Mary
though the world did not know
and the people did not know
and those in power did not know
and even Mary did not know
still
all
all that is
all that was
all that will be
would be changed
by the message
to this one innocent one
    (the Lord)
that a child shall be born
and they shall call
    (is)
his name
    (with you)
Jesus

10W for March 25th, the 5th Sunday in Lent NL, The Close of the Age

The following is a 10 minute worship for March 25th, in the Narrative Lectionary, The Close of the Age. You can either listen on the flash player below or download it to your favorite music program to sync with your mp3 player by clicking on "DOWNLOAD" or play it on your smartphone's music player by clicking PLAY . You now also have the option of receiving these notices each week and on festival days by signing up for the 10W constant contact email list on the 10W blog or on your phone by texting 10W to 22828. Please help fund this ministry by clicking HERE and making a small donation to Christ Our Savior Lutheran Church. The song for the day is,"I Lift My Eyes" by Dakota Road from the album, "Boundless Love" which can be purchased HERE

10W for March 25th, the 5th Sunday in Lent, A Clean Heart

The following is a 10 minute worship for March 25th, the 5th Sunday in Lent, A Clean Heart. You can either listen on the flash player below or download it to your favorite music program to sync with your mp3 player by clicking on "DOWNLOAD" or play it on your smartphone's music player by clicking PLAY . You now also have the option of receiving these notices each week and on festival days by signing up for the 10W constant contact email list on the 10W blog or on your phone by texting 10W to 22828. Please help fund this ministry by clicking HERE and making a small donation to Christ Our Savior Lutheran Church. The song for the day is, "Create in me a clean heart" by John Michael Talbot and Terry Talbot from the album "The Painter," which can be purchased HERE

Opening Litany based on Psalm 51

Pastor: Have mercy on us O God, with your unfailing love and great compassion blot out all our transgressions.

Congregation: Wash away all our iniquities and cleanse us from our ever sin. For we are aware of our transgressions, the thoughts of those things that stand between us and the God who loves us are always on our minds.

Pastor: When it comes right down to it we realize that it is against God, and God only that we have sinned and done that which is shameful in the sight of God.

Congregation: Should the Lord judge us, that judgment would be justified. I have been full of myself and not God from the beginning, perhaps even before I was born.

Pastor: the Lord desires that truth would be an intimate part of who we are as the basis for teaching us wisdom that would guide our every move.

Congregation: Cleanse us O Lord with your gracious good will, wash us with your grace and we will be clean. Let us hear once again of your joy and gladness.

Pastor: Hide your face from all our sins O Lord and blot out all our iniquities.

Poem for 5th Sunday in Lent John 12:20-33

Perched on the end of its stock
Out of the reach of the ground
A grain grows
Golden
Full of life that is
And is to be
In the bringing forth of life
Not only to itself
But to all who partake

Lord help me
  (unless)
to face
  that which has been faced
  for generation after generation
  (a grain of wheat)
that which makes no sense
and yet is the only thing
  that makes sense
  (falls)
I fear what is to come to all
I fear accepting my death
As real
And facing the unknown
  (to earth)
even Christ’s soul was troubled
and felt agony
at the facing of what
  was
    to
      be
        (and dies)
But I know
  in my innermost self
that to live
I must let go
To truly live
I must accept all of life
  even death
and not hang on to my self
  as god
  (it remains alone)
I thank you Lord
For your Son
Who died
  (but if it dies)
that I might live
  (it bears much fruit)

see the world not as a “me” but as an “us.”

Sunday March 25th, Jeremiah 31: 31 "The time is coming," declares the LORD, "when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. 32 It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt. As children grow in years, parents change the way they deal with them. The household rules for a 10 year old are much different than for a 3 year old. The Lord took the children of Israel by the hand and gave them a covenant at Sinai, the covenant we call the Ten Commandments. It was a good set of external rules for where the children of God were in life at that time. Now that they no longer need to be led by the hand, now that they have grown up a bit, it is time for something different. Well, not really different, but a new way to get to the same old ideas that call us to love God and love others. The reason we as a society hang on to the Ten Commandments so tightly is that it is easier to pretend we are in control with external rules than with the internal idea inherent in the call to love one another. God calls us to that higher, more mature calling, to love one another. We are called to move beyond the “what is in it for me, to what would be best for us”, and the move does not come easy. Most of the political debate going on regarding taxes is based on arguing the point that what’s in it for me is the correct God given way to go. What they just don’t get is God’s calling to the more mature nature within each of us to see the world not as a “me” but as an “us.”

two year old temper and tempter tantrum

Monday March 26th, Jeremiah 31: 33 "This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time," declares the LORD. "I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. God will still be our God and we will still be God’s children, but we are older and hopefully more mature now. Everything shouldn’t have to be laid out in black and white in front of us. Now that humanity is older and wiser as the children of God, we have some responsibility. We are not told what to do in every situation except to operate out of the love that God has shown us. It makes for disagreements and disunity, but also opens the door to opportunity and growth. Our spiritual maturity shows in whether we use the disagreements for discussion and growth or judgment and regression. Our current political discourse seems to be regressing quickly, going toward the judgment and regression. Hopefully a little discussion and growth can happen as we move in the other direction and the more mature voices among us get their voices. Love God and love others, that is what life is all about. All that judgmental, anti-women and gays and kill the vote talk is nothing more than the two year old temper and tempter tantrum making a lot of noise. Hopefully they will soon tire and go to sleep and the adults can get some work done.

pontification

Tuesday March 27th, Jeremiah 31: 34 No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest," declares the LORD. "For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more." The trouble with most expressions of Christianity is that we still try to teach our neighbor what is right or wrong according to us, and assume that it is what is right or wrong for them. Instead of inviting others to join in the conversation, we want them to sit down, shut up and listen to us as we pontificate. God would rather that we trust the word of God also in their hearts and join in conversation rather than coercion, correction and manipulation. What if they make mistakes along the way??? It just proves that they are more like us than we want to admit and for that God has promised to remember their sins no more. The good news is that same promise extends to our pontification also.

violence that kills community

Wednesday March 28th, John 12: 20 There were some Greeks in town who had come up to worship at the Feast. 21 They approached Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee: "Sir, we want to see Jesus. The Greeks refers not just to those from Greece, but to all from outside the Jewish faith. This new thing that Jesus was ushering into the world, it is not just for a few, it is not just for the frozen chosen, it is not just for those who have the correct knowledge or understanding, it was and is for all. This new thing is that all inclusive love that is the essence and attraction to a God of love who calls us to love one another. They will find out what being a part of the community of God entails soon enough. For now they simply want to see Jesus. Our job as the children of God is to help people see Jesus and announce that the kingdom is near. Often their first glimpse of Jesus is the actions and acceptance by the ones who claim to follow this Jesus. Soon, they, the ones who want to see Jesus, as we, the ones who think we know what Jesus is like but still have a lot to learn, will work out what this new community, with these new people, is, and how it operates. Soon we will discover together the dynamics of this community’s expression of God’s love, forgiveness and calling. That is when change happens again and we get to discover anew the new and ever changing dynamics of community living in the lap of God’s love. When that ceases to happen, when we cease living in the lap of God’s love, community dies. Remember, violence is inviting someone into a situation that must remain unchanged. It is the kind of violence that kills community.

grow together, work togethe

Thursday March 29th, John 12: 24 "Listen carefully: Unless a grain of wheat is buried in the ground, dead to the world, it is never any more than a grain of wheat. But if it is buried, it sprouts and reproduces itself many times over. We see this enacted again and again, year after year, and yet, it seems to escape us, or does it? Jesus uses the metaphor to explain not only his need to go to the cross, but our need to pick up our cross and follow. The more we hang onto life, the smaller that life becomes. As the days are getting longer and warmer, and as the wannabe green thumb begins to itch, see what nature can teach you about the God who created nature. Birch trees grow in groups of three or more; last year’s plants that die to self, rise to new life; small little seeds, when nurtured and cared for can grow into amazing, life giving organisms; all the different plants need one another in order to grow healthily, bio-diversity, like all diversity, helps maintain that health. The easy part is the learning, the harder part is the applying. We need to grow together, work together, give of ourselves and embrace the amazing newness of life and ideas in each and every generation.

what a ride!!

Friday March 30th, John 12: 25 In the same way, anyone who holds on to life just as it is destroys that life. But if you let it go, reckless in your love, you'll have it forever, real and eternal. Lest you missed the lesson in nature, Jesus gives us a great big hint. This lesson spoken just before the crucifixion carries a double message of not holding on to your life, your ideas, you ego too closely and the call to pick up your cross and follow. Holding on tightly to your life won’t bring it to life; instead it will have the effect of snuffing the glory out of it. We are called rather to pick up our cross and love recklessly. In doing so, not only is our life saved, but the lives around us come to life a bit more. God’s love is about relationships, not rules. Rules always tend to become about us and maintaining the status quo over time. Relationships must always be fluid to grow and when they stop growing, they start dying. “The purpose of life’s journey is not to arrive at the grave with a well-preserved body, but rather to Slide in Sideways, completely used up, yelling and screaming, what a ride!” — Author Unknown. I think that is the kind of life God calls us to.

that voice

Saturday March 31st, John 12: 27 "Right now I am storm-tossed. And what am I going to say? "Father, get me out of this'? No, this is why I came in the first place. 28 I'll say, "Father, put your glory on display.'" A voice came out of the sky: "I have glorified it, and I'll glorify it again." 29 The listening crowd said, "Thunder!" Others said, "An angel spoke to him!" 30 Jesus said, "The voice didn't come for me but for you. Jesus began his ministry when he was baptized in the river Jordan by John, and the voice came from heaven saying, “this is my son in whom I am will pleased.” After teaching the disciples Jesus took Peter, James and John up on the mountain and was transfigured before them and the voice of God spoke, “this is my son, my beloved, listen to him.” Jesus then began the journey toward Jerusalem and the crucifixion, teaching the disciples along the way the meaning of being a self-giving child of God. And now in the garden, the Greeks, those outside the Jewish tradition came seeking this new teaching, this Jesus, and again the voice of God glorifies Jesus’ name for the sake of the whole world. The voice is for us. The message of God’s love, forgiveness, wholeness, the message of God’s kingdom breaking in, lives, primarily in the sharing of that message beyond our borders of comfort. It is the theological equivalent of bio-diversity.

10W for March 19th, Joseph, the Guardian of Jesus

The following is a 10 minute worship for March 19th, Joseph, the Guardian of Jesus. You can either listen on the flash player below or download it to your favorite music program to sync with your mp3 player by clicking on "DOWNLOAD" or play it on your smartphone's music player by clicking PLAY . You now also have the option of receiving these notices each week and on festival days by signing up for the 10W constant contact email list on the 10W blog or on your phone by texting 10W to 22828. Please help fund this ministry by clicking HERE and making a small donation to Christ Our Savior Lutheran Church. The song for the day is, "What a Wonderful World" by Louis Armstrong from the Album, "What a Wonderful World" which can be purchased HERE

10W for March 18th, the 4th Sunday in Lent NL, The Sound of a Nightingale.

The following is a 10 minute worship for March 18th, the 4th Sunday in Lent NL, The Sound of a Nightingale. You can either listen on the flash player below or download it to your favorite music program to sync with your mp3 player by clicking on "DOWNLOAD" or play it on your smartphone's music player by clicking PLAY . You now also have the option of receiving these notices each week and on festival days by signing up for the 10W constant contact email list on the 10W blog or on your phone by texting 10W to 22828. Please help fund this ministry by clicking HERE and making a small donation to Christ Our Savior Lutheran Church. The song for the day is, "The Sacrifice Acceptable" by the Jay Beech Band from the Album "Everyone Who Is Thirsty, Come" which can be purchased HERE

10W for March 18th, the 4th Sunday in Lent, Lifted Up

The following is a 10 minute worship for March 18th, the 4th Sunday in Lent, Lifted Up. You can either listen on the flash player below or download it to your favorite music program to sync with your mp3 player by clicking on "DOWNLOAD" or play it on your smartphone's music player by clicking PLAY . You now also have the option of receiving these notices each week and on festival days by signing up for the 10W constant contact email list on the 10W blog or on your phone by texting 10W to 22828. Please help fund this ministry by clicking HERE and making a small donation to Christ Our Savior Lutheran Church. The song for the day is, "If I Be Lifted Up" by Emmylou Harris from the album "Angel Band" which can be purchased HERE

Poem for 4th Sunday in Lent John 3:1-17

Perched high in our own protection
we search
looking for that one someone out there
who will give us
          almost
what we are looking for
that one someone who will drag us along
on coattails of almost making it
We search the crowd
      busy and on its way
for one
      lover
          friend
                  teacher
who will give us that edge
that way
of fulfilling the desires within
sitting here
perched up high and finding nothing
in a world busy preaching but not hearing
I don’t even see the scene change
            (God)
Suddenly a newness splits the air
and is sucked into our
     lungs
         heart
              soul
almost painfully filled with life
       (so loved the world)
drawing us onward into the crowd
       (that Christ was given)
of life and death swirled together
        (that whoever)
in search
        (believes)
of the fullness that must come
         (lives)
from out there somewhere

So you wanna go back to Egypt

Sunday March 18th, Numbers 21: 4 They set out from Mount Hor along the Red Sea Road, a detour around the land of Edom. The people became irritable and cross as they traveled. 5 They spoke out against God and Moses: "Why did you drag us out of Egypt to die in this godforsaken country? No decent food; no water--we can't stomach this stuff any longer." So you wanna go back to Egypt where it's warm and secure. Are sorry you bought the one way ticket when you thought you were sure? You wanted to live in the land of promise but now it's getting so hard. Are you sorry you're out here in the desert Instead of your own back yard? Eating leaks and onions by the Nile, Ooh what breath for dining out in style, Ooh, my life's on the skids, building the pyramids. Well there's nothing do but travel and we sure travel a lot, 'Cause it's hard to keep your feet from moving when the sand gets so hot. And in the morning its manna hotcakes, we snack on manna all day, and we sure had a winner last night for dinner flaming manna soufflé. From Keith Green’s song, “So you wanna go back to Egypt” Some people just want to complain no matter what God gives them. I think it is the old wanting to be in charge thing, I prefer to let God be God.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MD9W61KZYxk&feature=related

Hell is truth seen too late

Monday March 19th, Numbers 21: 8 GOD said to Moses, "Make a snake and put it on a flagpole: Whoever is bitten and looks at it will live." 9 So Moses made a snake of fiery copper and put it on top of a flagpole. Anyone bitten by a snake who then looked at the copper snake lived. The first thing to do with a life threatening issue is to face it. Only then can you start to deal with the issue. Sometimes the issue is so great it is difficult not to face, like the economy. Sometimes, the big issues of the day only serve to hide some smaller, but very important issues, like our continued new “isms” of gay rights, women’s rights, voter rights, abortion choice rights, family planning rights, etc. There is even the continuing resistance to deal with climate change. Perhaps Now is the time to face these and other critical issues. Whether or not there is a natural cyclical pattern that is contributing to global warming, dumping millions of tons of garbage into the atmosphere, rivers and oceans is not helping. Going back to the 50’s on women’s reproductive, economic and family planning rights is not helping. Turning voter rights back to the Jim Crow days is not helping. Overturning the lessons learned in the last great depression is not helping. Hell is truth seen too late and if we don’t stop the bozos on the far right, it will be hell. The Kingdom is near, let us build a world that comes close to God’s vision of peace, rights and hope for all.

flipping the "Me"

Tuesday March 20th Ephesians 2: 4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. The “us” that is referred to in this statement of God’s love and mercy is not just the “you and me.” The “us” is the “all” of us. One of the real tragedies we constantly have to deal with is the loss of the “all” feeling in the word us. We are constantly flipping the “We” to a “Me.” When the young man tried to get Jesus to define who the neighbor was, Jesus told him the story of the Good Samaritan and asked who acted like a neighbor. It is not about who they are, it is about who we are. When we find ourselves defining “us” in the narrow sense, it is because our hearts can only conceive of love in a narrow sense. God is not limited by the narrowness of our prejudice. God loves all creation, all cosmos, all children. The reality is that God deals with all of God’s children with grace, and fortunate are the ones who “get” that. Our job is not to narrow the focus, but to go into all the world with the message that the kingdom is near, God’s love is near, God’s grace is near, and we, your brothers and sisters are near. It is when we start to get the nearness and the inclusiveness of who our brothers and sisters are that we start getting it also.

God prepared in advance

Wednesday March 21st, Ephesians 2: 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. What good works has God prepared in advance for you to do today? It is true we are saved by grace. The next step however is to reach out and be graceful to others. It is when we move from being recipients only of God’s grace to being the bringers of God’s grace that we really start to get it. In the midst of every crisis is an opportunity. The crisis we are now facing is a crisis of major power change. This ripple in the comfort zone of the haves is getting much more attention than the plight of the have nots has ever gotten. Can we grasp this economic difficulty as an opportunity to work toward the economic changes needed to overturn the direction of the last 30 years and open the door to the poorest in the world? As we cut back on the number of times we go out to eat, can we find an opportunity to allow someone we don’t know to feed their children at home? For the sake of our brothers and sisters in Christ we have never met, and never will meet, can we give up 1% of our future wealth to help bring about an increase in their survival? In the story of the Good Samaritan, who do you want to be remembered as, the one who maintained their righteousness through purity and passed by or the one who was truly righteous in God’s eyes and stopped to help? We are saved by grace it is true, but it is not, as Bonhoeffer would say, Cheap Grace. It is Costly Grace that compels us into action. Not action to be saved, but action because we are saved, because we are the children of God, because we are, like it or not, brothers and sisters in Christ.

God so loved the Cosmos

Thursday March 22nd, John 3: 16" For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. A better translation is that God so loved the cosmos that he gave his one and only Son. It is not just about us, it is about the whole world. When we pay little attention to the destruction of this planet through climate change, we give little heed to the cosmos God so loved. When we allow our addiction to oil to drive our ways and wars, killing not only our brothers and sisters in Christ over there, but also our own grandchildren and great grandchildren right here with the pollution we create, we give little heed to the cosmos God so loved. God so loved the cosmos, and we are called to do the same. For God did not send his Son into the “world” to condemn the world, but to save the “world” through him. Like the old Carly Simon song, You’re So Vain. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQZmCJUSC6g) I bet you thought this verse was about you. It is about “us.” All of us.

light

Friday March 23rd, John 3: 19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. Christ came into the world to bring salvation to all of humanity. God so loved the cosmos he gave his only son to save not only you and I, but to save the whole world, all of creation. Yet, humanity still finds ways to live in the shadows. It is the shadows where we can justify our bailout bonuses as something good. It is in the shadows that we can read of the economies effects on wall street and not see what is happening were there are no real roads. Looking at something in the light sometimes hurts, but as with the snake Moses held up in the wilderness, looking at it in the light is the only way we can begin to be cured. Facing that which is killing you is the first step and any twelve step program, for good reason. Without first facing that which is killing us we remain in the darkness, and without the light of Christ, there is no cure.

shine

Saturday March 24th John 3: 21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God." The call is for Christians is to come into the light and look around. As you view all of creation know that all of creation is important to God, and as you view all of humanity know that all of humanity is important to God, and as you view every generation know that every generation is important to God. What one thing would you do to show God’s love and grace in the world? What one thing would you change in your life today for the sake of the cosmos God so loved? We are called to be co-creators with God in this world. Our sin is always and forever to destroy and put asunder that which God has created and joined together. Shine a little light around your life this day and be a part of the process of God’s creative love in the world.

10W for March 11th, the 3rd Sunday in Lent in the Narrative Lectionary, The Greatest Commandment

The following is a 10 minute worship for March 11th, the 3rd Sunday in Lent in the Narrative Lectionary, The Greatest Commandment. You can either listen on the flash player below or download it to your favorite music program to sync with your mp3 player by clicking on "DOWNLOAD" or play it on your smartphone's music player by clicking PLAY . You now also have the option of receiving these notices each week and on festival days by signing up for the 10W constant contact email list on the 10W blog or on your phone by texting 10W to 22828. Please help fund this ministry by clicking HERE and making a small donation to Christ Our Savior Lutheran Church. The song for the day is, "We're Family" by the Jay Beech Band from the album "One Body Alive" which can be purchased HERE

10W for March 11th, The 3rd Sunday in Lent, Turning the Tables

The following is a 10 minute worship for March 11th, The 3rd Sunday in Lent, Turning the Tables. You can either listen on the flash player below or download it to your favorite music program to sync with your mp3 player by clicking on "DOWNLOAD" or play it on your smartphone's music player by clicking PLAY . You now also have the option of receiving these notices each week and on festival days by signing up for the 10W constant contact email list on the 10W blog or on your phone by texting 10W to 22828. Please help fund this ministry by clicking HERE and making a small donation to Christ Our Savior Lutheran Church. The song for the day is, "The Rebel Jesus" by Dakota Road from the album "Love Can Break Through" which can be purchased HERE

Poem for 3rd Sunday in Lent John 2:13-22

So pure was the water
So clean and pure
As Jesus came out of the river Jordan
And the dove came
Landing there
So pure
So simple
Was the moment
And the words
----this is My Son

so pure was the mist
so clean and pure
as the Light enveloped Jesus on the mountain
and the voice came
and was heard there
so pure
so simple
was this moment
and the words
----this is My Son
--------Listen to Him

Listen to Him
Can you hear amid the drone
Of the voices calling
And selling
--the doves
----and oxen
------and sheep
on the steps of the temple
dedicated to the worship of God
turned now into
a respectable place
where budding capitalist can ply their trade
turning the burning desires of humanity
drawn to a closeness with God
into a reasonable profit
----in their definition
in the name of love

This Is My Father’s House
But you have made it into
A temple of human desire
And lust
For power
----(money)
and it will fall
fall from the weight of those
--------on top
weighted down by the greed
of an honest living
amid the poor

so pure was the air
so clean and pure
as Jesus’ life slipped from him
and a world changed
as Christ arose in three days
the temple rebuilt
so pure
so simple
and the words
were remembered
This is My Son
Listen to Him

Opening Litany based on Psalm 19

Pastor: The heavens declare the glory of God and the skies proclaim the work of creation. Day after day the cosmos pours forth speech and night after night it reveals knowledge.

Congregation: The heavens use no speech, no words, no sound is heard, yet the voice of God extends from the cosmos into all the earth.


Pastor: Each day the sun shines on creation, bringing joy to all God has made.

Congregation: It rises at one end of the heavens and makes its circuit to the other; nothing is deprived of its warmth and joy.


Pastor: So too the law of the LORD is perfect and refreshes the soul. The guidance of the Lord is trustworthy bringing simple truth to our world.

Congregation: The ways of the LORD are right, bringing joy to the hearts of the people. The ways of the Lord are radiant, giving light to our eyes. The wonders of the LORD are forever and the teaching of the LORD form the foundation of all we do.


Pastor: The ways of the LORD are more precious than gold, they are sweeter than honey. But the ways of the LORD also guide our ways both revealing and forgiving our hidden faults. Making us pure through the presence of the LORD in our lives.

Congregation: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O LORD my Rock and my Redeemer.

back seat to our passions

Sunday March 11th, Exodus 20: 2 I am GOD, your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of a life of slavery. 3 No other gods, only me. Here we take our stand, sort of. We like to let the words roll off our tongue, talk as if we believe them, confess it when asked, but then our lives often tell a different story. When it comes to the bottom line however, “GOD your God” ends up taking a back seat to our passions flavor of the day. This is what the temptation in the garden with the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was all about. Which comes first, your desires and wants or God’s plan for you and for your life and for this world? You can get at the answer by answering some other questions. How many hours a day to you spend in study and prayer? Have you ever taken a Sunday off from worship? Do you invite many of the people you meet to join you in worship? Do you go out of your way to serve others, knowing that in doing so you serve God? The list goes on and on. The promise for GOD to be our God also goes on and on. We all fall short, but God comes through. I am GOD your God is the promise of grace in the midst of our humanness. God’s grace is what saves the day as well as saving our bacon.

ignoring Sabbath

Monday March 12th, Exodus 20: 8 Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Work six days and do everything you need to do. 10 But the seventh day is a Sabbath to GOD your God. Don't do any work--not you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your servant, nor your maid, nor your animals, not even the foreign guest visiting in your town. 11 For in six days GOD made Heaven, Earth, and sea, and everything in them; he rested on the seventh day. Therefore GOD blessed the Sabbath day; he set it apart as a holy day. The Sabbath was made for humanity, not humanity for the Sabbath. When we don’t take time to rest and reflect on God’s love in our lives, life just seems to start losing meaning and beauty. It is not about embracing sloth one day a week, it is about dedicating your refreshment in life at least one day a week. Spend it in the yard, spend it on your family, you can even spend it going fishing or snowmobiling, but never forget to spend it with God, with worship. You won’t go to hell for ignoring Sabbath worship, but you will make your life, slowly, one week at a time, a living hell as all those relaxing activities simply become hollow and just more work. This is another one of those laws that is really grace in disguise. Too busy to attend worship this week? Try going to www.10worship.blogspot.com and signing up to receive 10w worship emailed to you every week.

lust

Tuesday March 13th, Exodus 20: 16 No lies about your neighbor. 17 No lusting after your neighbor's house--or wife or servant or maid or ox or donkey. Don't set your heart on anything that is your neighbor's. This is the covet, or lusting thing that gets us all in trouble. One problem is that our economy is based on getting people to want something they do not have, or even need and then selling it to them. For all the talk about the virtues of capitalism during election year, getting people to buy something they don’t need, and don’t even particularly want is what keeps the economy going. That is what advertising is all about and as we can see now, it is rather a house of cards. When this advertising works we find that if we don’t want (lust after) what or neighbor has, we want (lust after) something better. What God is trying to warn us about is how easy it is to move from lusting to action. It doesn’t matter if it is drug addict, David and Bathsheba, big banks or the couple that lives at the end of the street, in the movement from lust into action we are all capable of mowing down anyone or anything in the way of something we lust after, especially if it or they are close. It is all too easy to justify our actions and not even see our ethics or the other guy lying in the dust when we are through. Lust is the desire for salt from someone who is dying of thrust. In the end we only make things worse for ourselves and others and leaves victims in its wake.

bit of housecleaning

Wednesday March 14th, John 2: 13 Not long before the Jewish festival of Passover, Jesus went to Jerusalem. 14 There he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves in the temple. He also saw moneychangers sitting at their tables. 15 So he took some rope and made a whip. Then he chased everyone out of the temple, together with their sheep and cattle. He turned over the tables of the moneychangers and scattered their coins. To change the focus on temple worship, there needed to be a bit of housecleaning. Change comes hard, we are experiencing that now. But then we have experienced it before and lived through it. Worship is more than going through the motions, more than bringing your offering, setting through a sermon, singing a few songs that you would never listen to if they were on the radio, and talking to a few people until you can get out the door and onto your own life. Worship is more than sacrifice. Jesus replaced simply doing sacrifice with his own body and blood. Instead of buying off God with our sacrifice or good behavior, we are called into a relationship with God and with one another around the table. What thought systems in your life need to be changed to return your church experience to a worship experience? What in your worship needs to be changed in order to change church back into Worship? The answer is never going back to what we used to do, that was for back then, what we are talking about is now. What will be fresh about your worship this week?

damn doves

Thursday March 15th, John 2: 16 Jesus said to the people who had been selling doves, "Get those doves out of here! Don't make my Father's house a marketplace. The doves and all the other animals were used to sell to people who had traveled to Jerusalem to make a sacrifice at the temple. It was convenient. They did not have to travel a long way with the sacrificial animal. The money changers also helped because they could exchange the people’s money for coins that did not have the face of one of the various local rulers on it. To use such coins in the temple was forbidden and was considered a form of idolatry. All the systems in place were for very good and helpful reasons in the beginning. But like most seemingly good ideas that make things easier, they had morphed in their focus from helping the other to helping the self. These formerly helpful systems made a good profit off the poor who had traveled long distances. The system worked so well no one ever thought about how it worked against the down and out of God’s creation except those who were down and out. That is until Jesus came along. The system worked well, but what needed changing was the system. How convenient is church for those who regularly attend, and how is that convenience keeping others out? Do we perhaps need to make church a bit more inconvenient for the church goers in order to make it more welcoming for those who are not there? Look at your worship planning and execution this week and look for the barriers we put in place for the other.

essence of worship

Friday March 16th, John 2: 18 The Jewish leaders asked Jesus, "What miracle will you work to show us why you have done this?" 19 "Destroy this temple," Jesus answered, "and in three days I will build it again!" In trying to trivialize Jesus the temple rulers tried to set the rules of engagement. Jesus caught them off guard with the “destroy the temple” thing. They had replaced God as the balance point in their life with the temple. They couldn’t control God, but they could run the temple. Jesus was just trying to give them a hint about rebalancing things. At the time this was written, the temple was destroyed and the followers of YHWH were looking for some center in their lives. How has the church of today simply replaced the temple of old? How has the liturgy (the way we worship) the dogma (the way we think) the hot button issues (the way we act) taken over for the love and grace of God? After the resurrection some in the temple even got what Jesus was talking about? Have we, after all these years simple replaced the central temple with all our little temples? Have we in the process closed the doors to most of the children of God? What are some of the things you see as untouchable in your church experience? What do you see as the essence of worship? How does your worship experience reflect the image of an insider experience to those left out?

How would your church change

Saturday March 17th, John 2: 20 The leaders replied, "It took forty-six years to build this temple. What makes you think you can rebuild it in three days?" 21 But Jesus was talking about his body as a temple. 22 And when he was raised from death, his disciples remembered what he had told them. Then they believed the Scriptures and the words of Jesus. Actually, Jesus was talking about the whole structure of religious activity for all of humanity. Things were changing, the temple was no longer the center, and the church is no longer the center, it is Christ. Later when the talk of the resurrection was in the air, they remembered. Have you ever had one of those Ah Ha! Moments? The world was out of balance, things just don’t seem what they should be, and then Jesus sets things running smooth again. Not even the disciples saw it coming. How could your world improve by centering it on Jesus? How would your church change by centering it on Jesus? What if you just threw out the whole worship service this weekend and started the service with the question: what would make today’s worship experience meaningful for you to experience the love and forgiveness of Christ?