10w for March 3rd, "Lost & Found" Lent 3 in the Narrative Lectionary.

The following is a 10 minute worship for March 3rd, "Lost & Found" Lent 3 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 right side of the 10W blog where it says "Please Join our email list" or on your phone by texting 10W to 22828. The song for the day is,"Borning Cry" by Shelbey Picek from the CD "Following His Lead"  which can be purchased HERE

10w for March 3rd, "Nourish a little longer" Lent 3

The following is a 10 minute worship for March 3rd, "Nourish a little longer" Lent 3. 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 right side of the 10W blog where it says "Please Join our email list" or on your phone by texting 10W to 22828. The song for the day is,"He Was a Farmer" by Larry Olsen from the CD "Water & Dirt" which can be purchased HERE

Opening Litany based on Psalm 119: 167-176

Pastor: I follow your ways O Lord, and it fills my soul with love. You see all that lies before me and help me walk on the right path in life.

 Congregation: Hear my pleas O Lord and help me to understand your word and the direction you would have me go in life. 

 Pastor: I shall bring forth praise and sing for joy when I remember your promises and ways.

 Congregation: Be near me Lord God to catch me when I fall. Though I am not perfect, I have chosen your way and your word and promise of salvation is my strength and delight.

 Pastor: Help me to follow your ways in my life and fill my lips with praise.

 Congregation: When I stumble and go astray, lead me back to your fold Dear Lord and teach me your ways.

Poem for 3rd Sunday in Lent Luke 13:1-9

I don’t feel good

I hurt

and in looking for a why

I find

a them evil has befallen

and I grin

with the assumed connection of

they’ll get theirs

and I feel better somehow

for now

and then I must search again

for a someone

who

in their pain

makes my hurt

less

for now

then through the foggy mist

of my prayer dreams

I hear a voice of God

calling me to repent

calling me to hurt

for the them

calling me to forgiveness

calling me to love

in the midst of my hurt

and feel for the first time

my pain truly disappearing

I think

but I don’t have time to worry about that now

someone needs me.

Opening Litany based on Psalm 63

Pastor: O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water and jobs are scarce.

Congregation: We have seen you when we gather in the sanctuary and there we beheld your power and your glory. Because your love is better than life, our lips will forever glorify you.

Pastor: I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands.

Congregation: When we gather as a people we find our souls, the spirit of God within us, will be satisfied as with the richest of foods; our spirits rise with singing lips and mouths that praise you.

Pastor: In the still of the night I remember you; my thoughts are of you through the watches of the night.

Congregation: Because you are our help, we will sing in the comfort and protection of your mighty wings. Our spirits are drawn to your Glory and Grace and your right hand upholds us and makes our spirits soar.

Wiley One

Sunday March 3rd, 1 Corinthians 10: 1 For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers, that our forefathers were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. 2 They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. 3 They all ate the same spiritual food 4 and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ. 5 Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered over the desert. Baptism is not fire insurance; it is a calling, a relationship and a grafting into body of Christ. Baptism is not the beginning of the process; it is the public celebration of a process that began at your birth. Baptism is not a solo event, as you are grafted onto the body of “Christ”; you are grafted into a connection, a relationship, with all the other parts of the “Body of Christ.” The generation that crossed through wilderness, including Moses, did not enter the promise land. What entered into the promise was a new creation, a new relationship. When we enter the promise land, it too is a new creation for us singularly and for us as a part of the body made new in Christ. As the baptized the children of God, we may not know where we are going, the road ahead has many twists and turns and a lot of compost, but there is one guarantee about this journey, we are never alone. God has promised to walk with us and re-graft us to that body whenever we fall, or are knocked off by that “Wiley One” we often refer to as life.

baptized!!!!

Monday March 4^th, 1 Corinthians 10 : 11 These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come. 12 So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don't fall! 13 No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.  This was a popular refrigerator magnet a while back among some of my evangelical friends.  The bumper sticker theology was shortened to, “God never gives you more than you can bear.”  In listening to them however it often seemed as if they were talking about someone else, not themselves, a common problem of those ruled by the light headed feel good pop religion.  Reality from a personal perspective is often different.  Sometimes it seems as if God’s idea of what we can bear and our idea of what we can bear are miles apart.  Life pushes us sometimes.  When it does, at least know that you are not alone.  Luther is purported as having thrown an inkwell at the devil one day and yelling, “I have been baptized.”  I don’t suggest throwing inkwells, even if you could find one.  But you can emphatically claim your baptism in less messy ways.  Claim it.  Remember your baptism in the midst of the calamities of life and hang on.  You are not alone, ever!!!!  Look to the Gospel, sometimes a little compost in our lives is just what we need to grow.  

good compost

Tuesday March 5^th, Isaiah 55: 1 “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. 2 Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare. Ouch, the piety police who always insist on putting the word “earned” in front of Grace are not going to like this text.  But then, the reality is that most of us spend the majority of God’s gifts on the most ungodly things.  Gifts include not only our money, but our time, our mental energy, our dedication.  Most of our spending goes to fill the hole left in our soul by not spending our gifts on God stuff.  I have chosen to not make worship an intimate part of my life so I will buy a snow machine, cabin, trip, car, house, etc, etc, etc,….. And for the kids, they need spiritual growth so I must enroll them in some sport they will never continue into adulthood that meets every Sunday morning and then feel bad they don’t have a spiritual connection. I must have the American dream in order to be fulfilled because I have rejected the very thing that will fill me, gathering with the body of Christ and being a part of the body of Christ.  Most wars, fights, angers, spending sprees, and therapies are about trying to fill the holes in lives by people who feel powerless because they have put all their energy, money, time and God's gifts into worthless stuff that doesn't even make good compost.  Without all that spending on the wrong stuff, this world could feed and nourish everyone.  Just think of a world where everyone can contribute to the positive in life.  God does, and simply calls us to participate.  

show mercy

Wednesday March 6^th, Isaiah 55:  6 Seek the LORD while he may be found; call on him while he is near.  7 Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the LORD, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon. Even the most evil person, is a child of God, if not in our eyes, at least in God’s eyes.  Anyone can come across as evil if they are self-centered enough or sometimes, just different.  Throw some power and money behind the difference and you have real trouble, and if motivated sufficiently by the “Wiley One”, money.  God’s calling is to turn to the Lord in the midst of the compost in your life.  God will not only show mercy, but show you how to show mercy.  Mercy is how we learn to properly fill the holes in our lives and show mercy to others.  Without God, we are just kind of vacant, which others refer to as potholes.  

hide the smell

Thursday March 7^th, Luke 13:  1 Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. 2 Jesus answered, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? 3 I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.  We all seem to be concerned about how someone else might be a little bit worse than we are.  We think it makes us look and feel good.  Look God, over there, as we take the opportunity to do our own little dastardly deed.  It doesn’t work however.  We all know that, but we do it anyway.  Jesus turns the focus from what others are doing wrong; to what we could be doing that is right.  Our calling is not to blame the victim, but to help the victim who is a part of the Family of God, because without them, we are less than we are called to be.  The compost we most often see in others is what we most often are stepping in.  Why did we start that war anyway?  Is it really their fault or are we just trying to hide the smell in our turf?

grow

Friday March 8^th, Luke 13:  6 Then he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree, planted in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it, but did not find any. 7 So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, ‘For three years now I’ve been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven’t found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?’  What are the good fruits we should be busy producing?  Is it swords into plowshares or binding up the broken hearted?  Is it release for the captives or proclaiming the year of the Lord’s jubilee?  Or perhaps is it showing kindness, mercy and forgiveness for all, is it practicing forgiveness?  When we want to judge others, remember that our own fruit bearing deserves the ax most the time, and those difficulties, the compost in our lives may be God’s way of letting our own antics fertilize our life so it can grow.  Perhaps learning justice and mercy is a better way to go.  

bury it

Saturday March 9^th, Luke 13: 8 “‘Sir,’ the man replied, ‘leave it alone for one more year, and I’ll dig around it and fertilize it. 9 If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.’ “God’s response to all this chop ‘em down mentality, is to get some fertilizer, and not the artificial stuff either, real honest to goodness organic full of life compost the way God intended.  God’s response to our lack of fruitfulness is to offer nurture for our souls, often from the very crap we try to give others.  Instead of throwing around a bunch of compost blame, perhaps we should put it to good use and bury it, let our own human made difficulties in life offer the substance needed to grow through God’s grace.  Then maybe things could grow and bear fruit.  When life hands you a bunch of compost, don’t hang onto it, bury it, use it,  and let what God has given you bear fruit.  

Poem for 2nd Sunday in Lent NL Luke 13:1-9

It’s so easy to look

And see the pain

In the world out there

That’s not all that sane

And say to ourselves

It must be God’s will

That evil has come

And yet still

I just don’t know why

Some suffer so much

Didn’t they follow God’s plan

Or his commandments and such

Christ tell us No

And never does say

Why the evil’s on them

Why it happens this way

Then the word comes to us

The word to repent

Don’t worry about them

See how your own life is bent

The fig tree grows

So green and so tall

But without bearing fruit

Some say it will fall

Poem for 2nd Sunday in Lent Luke 13:31-35

Always the world

always trying

always pushing

always demanding

---- it’s way

NOW!!

and we are expected to

JUMP

through the hoop

---- held by the system

---------- someone

who cares not for us

---- our hopes

---- our dreams

---- our passions

but only for power

to say

JUMP!!

Christ brings new life

---- new hopes

---- new dreams

---- new passions

that move in their own world

God’s world

where we may still

 Jump

---- if we want to

even through a hoop

---- if we think best

but in the end

we KNOW
Christ came into this world for

us

that forgiveness and life may be

ours

and all of life here

is seen in a new way

10w for February 24th, Tower of Siloam, L2NL

The following is a 10 minute worship for February 24th, Tower of Siloam, L2NL. 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 right side of the 10W blog where it says "Please Join our email list" or on your phone by texting 10W to 22828. The song for the day is,"Let Us Go to the House of The Lord" by the Jay Beech Band from the CD "Everyone Who is Thirsty, Come"  which can be purchased HERE

10w for February 24th, Weeping over Jerusalem, L2.

The following is a 10 minute worship for February 24th, Weeping over Jerusalem, L2. 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 right side of the 10W blog where it says "Please Join our email list" or on your phone by texting 10W to 22828. The song for the day is,"Weeping over Jerusalem" by Dakota Road from the CD "Build Up" which can be purchased HERE

Opening Litany based on Psalm 122

Pastor: I rejoiced with those who said to me, “Let us go to the house of the LORD.”

Congregation: Our feet rejoiced standing in the gates of the New Jerusalem, and now we are called to be city built on a hill where all the tribes and nations go up to Praise the name of the Lord our God. 

Pastor: We rejoice in the light that brings hope to the world and to our lives as we prepare for the coming of the Lord.:

Congregation: let our light shine forth in this world as we live as the children you have called us to be. 

Pastor: Pray for the peace of the world and for peace in the Holy Land that all those you live may live secure and without walls.

Congregation: For the sake of our families and friends we will live in the hope of peace as we say to all, “Peace be with, and within you.”

Pastor: For the sake of the house of the LORD our God let us seek a shared prosperity for all the children of God

Congregation: I rejoiced with those who said to me, “Let us go to the house of the LORD.” 

There has to be some mistake!!!!

Sunday February 24^th, Genesis 15 : 1 After this, the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision: "Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward."  2 But Abram said, "O Sovereign LORD, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?" 3 And Abram said, "You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir." Oh, the promise of God is great and sure, but it is for me!?!?!?!  It can’t really be for me!  There has to be some mistake!!!!  I know who I am, surely God must know what I am like deep down inside!!  We all get stuck in this practical, pragmatic, three dimensional world from time to time, a world with limits and shortages and needs that seem to outweigh abilities.  The promises of God are great but we need to be practical, how about three squares and a roof in the midst of an economy where I don’t even know if I will have a job tomorrow.  While we are at it Lord, let’s make it a nice roof, and maybe another cabin or house with a nice roof on the river for vacations, and a nice truck to pull the boat I will need for the river at the cabin, and a nice car to drive when I am not at the cabin, Oh, and don’t forget the big screen HDTV so I can watch shows that tell me what reality is and yes I know this will occupy most of my Sabbath time, but I will get to church once in a while, and, and, and, and, and……..   In the midst of all of our “Yah but” excises in life, God continues with the promise and the call.  Our job is to connect with the promise once in a while and live this life accordingly, our call is to reach out to others and tell them of, and be a part of, that same promise.  

Terra Firma

Monday, February 25^th, Genesis 15 : 5 He took him outside and said, "Look up at the heavens and count the stars—if indeed you can count them." Then he said to him, "So shall your offspring be." 6 Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness. 7 He also said to him, "I am the LORD, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to take possession of it." 8 But Abram said, "O Sovereign LORD, how can I know that I will gain possession of it?" Sometimes even in the midst of all the promises of God and all the blessings of God in our lives, we still have our doubts.  We all have the capacity to, as the song says, stand on the promises of God with one foot, but we want the other foot firmly planted on what we perceive as terra firma.  With that foot on terra firma, we can feel we have a bit of control and we tend to feel we can trust God more completely in this state where we don’t completely trust God.  We can look back on all the times that God has been with us in our life with that blessed assurance, but we still have doubts while looking ahead.  Our prayer is for God to give us a clear vision of Kingdom, but we close our eyes and sometimes our hearts when we pray.  Keeping the vision of the Kingdom in our sights is what keeps us on the path, but we still want a man-made map in our hands.  Loosing site of the Kingdom while looking at the map is what causes us to veer off the path and into the quicksand of this world.  When we find ourselves sinking into that terra not so firma we know we have once again seemingly wrestled control from God.  It is not true God is reaching for us in the midst of our sinking doubts, but we are still able to think that as long as we are still sinking.  

we don't even care

Tuesday February 26^th, Genesis 15:  9 So the LORD said to him, "Bring me a heifer, a goat and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon."  10 Abram brought all these to him, cut them in two and arranged the halves opposite each other; the birds, however, he did not cut in half. 11 Then birds of prey came down on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away. God did not need animal sacrifice any more that God needs many of the traditions and rituals and liturgies in our worship today.  We have them because We Need them to help us see and know and feel and hold onto the promises of God.  As we change over time, our needs, and correspondingly our traditions and rituals and liturgies in our worship change.  We no longer feel the need for the sacrifice of heifers, goats and rams, but each generation does get a bit uneasy when the hymns and language of worship change into the language of the next generation.  When we realize that all these things are just props to help us grasp the wonder of the grace of God, when we begin to realize our sacred hymns and rituals, our ancestors hymns and rituals, and our children’s hymns and rituals are all gifts from God to help us grasp the enormity of God’s grace, it is easier to let others have their props also.  Most church fights are about the props, perceptions and last generation’s sacred cows, not the promises of God.  When I talk about the issues of LGBT clergy, my children look at me as if I am a dinosaur, and say “Dad, you do realize that our generation doesn't even care we are so far past that, don’t you?” Then I realize that God’s idea of grace is far beyond my ability to grasp also.  The promise is for me, but it is also for my children, grandchildren, and the generations yet to come, and all my sacred cows are simply chattel to be consumed in the passing of the torch.

along the road

Wednesday February 27^th, Philippians 3: 17 Christian sisters and brothers, live your lives as I have lived mine. Watch those who live as I have taught you to live. 18 There are many whose lives show they hate the cross of Christ. I have told you this before. Now I tell you again with tears in my eyes. 19 Their god is their stomach. They take pride in things they should be ashamed of. All they think about are the things of this world.  The ones Paul is talking about would include some of us all the time and all of us some of the time.  We do tend to get overly concerned about how we are going to make it in this world and a bit underly (I made up that word) concerned about the calling of the next.  We are not alone.  When Jesus died on the cross, he died alone and forsaken, all had fallen away.  Keep your eyes on the cross, sooner or later we all get there, the gift is walking with Jesus along the way.  When we divert our eyes on all the cares and concerns of this world, we lose sight of the cross, we lose sight of Christ.  When we are so blinded by politically partisan or ecclesiastically partisan fights, it is simply the tempter trying, and often succeeding in turning our eyes away from the cross, away from Christ.  Keep your eyes and your heart and your soul focused on the cross, on Christ and you will not lose your way, and along the road, your enemy will become your brother or sister.  

Lenten Alleluia

Thursday February 28^th, Luke 13: 31 At that time some Pharisees came to Jesus and said to him, "Leave this place and go somewhere else. Herod wants to kill you."  Good practical advice from those who only had Jesus’ best interest at heart!! Herod was a brutal and power hungry ruler who had killed his own children at the prospect of threat, and Jesus was bound to be in trouble with the authorities if he stayed.  The trouble was that their solution gave more glory to the strength and brutality of Herod than to the promise of God.  It was a practical suggestion, but not a promise solution. How much time and focus do we put on the practical not the promise solutions in our life?  Our political sphere seems to be driven by fear.  The message comes from the Tea parties, gun lobbies, and all the hype on the far right piety police that carries the message of fear.  Perhaps focusing on the grace of promise (seek ye first the Kingdom of God and its righteousness) over the practicality of fear will put everything into clear focus (and all these things will be added unto you, and you can sing alleluia during Lent) 

FNLC

Friday March 1^st, Luke 13 :  32 He replied, "Go tell that fox, 'I will drive out demons and heal people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will reach my goal.' 33 In any case, I must keep going today and tomorrow and the next day—for surely no prophet can die outside Jerusalem!  This is an example of an Eye on the Kingdom life.  It’s a new definition of “No Fear.”  Instead of an X games slogan, it should be a church slogan.  NFLC, No Fear Lutheran Church, I like it!  It was the word of God from the cradle to the cross.  It was the word of God from the time the angles spoke to the shepherds out in their fields by night, to words to the thief on the cross with Jesus, fear not, the Lord is with you; today you will be with me in paradise.  It was the word spoken to the disciples and the people, Fear Not, you have a little bread and some fish, and you can feed them.  Come on out of the safety of the boat and take a few steps.  I know Saul used to kill Christians for a living, but he is one of mine now.  Take and eat and don’t call anything I have made unclean, don’t be afraid of what you think always has been.  Fear Not, and live a Kingdom focused life. And in three days, on Easter, you will see the light.

Dominus Flevit

Saturday March 2^nd, Luke 13 :  34"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! 35 Look, your house is left to you desolate. I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.'"  There is a church not far down the hill from the garden of Gethsemane, it is called Dominus Flevit which means The Cry of the Lord.  It was designed by architect Anton Barluzzin and is one of the later churches in the area built between 1953 and 1955.  It looks out over Jerusalem, the mosaic on the altar is a hen spreading her wings over some young chicks, the window holds the cup and bread symbol of God’s continued presence with us in communion.  The shape of the building is reminiscent of a tear drop.  The church supposedly marks the spot where Jesus cried out the words from this text.  God’s plan for our life is always much grander than the reality of our individual or corporate lives.  All have sinned and fallen short of the glory God has in store for your life.  Come, live your life under the wings, the protection, the love, and the call to fear not, of God.  Live the promise, and don’t let the foxes scatter you.  The wings of the one who loves you will protect you.  

10w for February 17th, Good Samaritan, L1NL.

The following is a 10 minute worship for February 17th, Good Samaritan, L1NL. 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 right side of the 10W blog where it says "Please Join our email list" or on your phone by texting 10W to 22828. The song for the day is,"Healer" by Dakota Road from the CD "Break These Chains"  which can be purchased HERE

10w for February 17th, Out In The Wilderness, L1

The following is a 10 minute worship for February 17th, Out In The Wilderness, L1. 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 right side of the 10W blog where it says "Please Join our email list" or on your phone by texting 10W to 22828. The song for the day is,"Out in the Wilderness" by the Jay Beech Band from the CD "Everyone who is Thirsty, Come" which can be purchased HERE

Poem for 1st Sunday in Lent Luke 4:1-13

Sometimes we know

We just know

And yet we strive for all that is in us

For those things

------------- thoughts

----------------- directions

that will lead us down

-------- the path

-------------- we wish not to go.

That will lead us to the one

-------------- we wish not to serve,

but we are drawn

by all the humanness within us

we are drawn

until

we find the strength

---- somehow

and the presence of mind

---- from somewhere

to say

Hear my people

---- The Lord is our God

---- The Lord is One

and in that moment

we know

---- we just know

all the power

---- prestige

-------- and glory

the world has to offer

---- are only fleeting

a moments spotlight

---- exchanged

--------- for the joy

that comes from the God who created all the Joy

--------------------------------------------- life

and calls us to put down our walls

of glory

for the joy of life

lived to its fullness

in Christ

Opening litany based on Psalm 91

Pastor: Those who live in the shelter of the Most High will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty. This I declare about the LORD: who alone is my refuge, my place of safety; my God in whom I trust.

Congregation: For the Lord will rescue you from every trap and protect us from that which brings death. Our Sheltering God will cover with her feathers and shelter us with caring and protective wings. The faithful promises of God are our armor and protection.

Pastor: Do not be afraid of the terrors of the night, nor the arrow that flies in the day. Do not dread the disease that stalks in darkness, nor the disaster that strikes at midday for though a thousand may fall at your side or ten thousand are dying around you, these evils will not touch you for you are never alone. Open your eyes and see how those without the knowledge of God feel so alone at these times.

Congregation: If we make the LORD your refuge and the Most High our shelter, no evil will conquer us; no fear will come near our home for we will be surrounded by angels who will protect us wherever you go.

Pastor: They will hold you up with their hands so you won’t even hurt your foot on a stone. The LORD says, “I will rescue all whom I love and will protect those who trust in my name.

Congregation: The Lord says that when we call the Lord, the Lord will answer. “I will be with them in trouble. I will rescue and honor them. I will reward them with a long life and give them my salvation,” declares the Lord.

sparkle

Sunday February 17^th, Deuteronomy 26: 8 So the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with great terror and with miraculous signs and wonders. 9 He brought us to this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey; 10 and now I bring the firstfruits of the soil that you, O LORD, have given me." Living with recognition that all you have comes as a gift from God keeps ever before us the idea that we are gifted for a purpose.  That purpose is for ourselves, but it is also for others and for the sake of the Gospel.  As Jesus put it, we are called to love the Lord our God with all your heart, soul and mind, and our neighbors as our self.   There is no self-made man or woman, neither on Wall Street, main street nor pearly gates street, we are all gifted for a purpose.  All is gift.  But in this world, oh how far we have come from that idea, and with such devastating results.  Live your life with the graciousness that comes with knowing it is all a gift.  Live your life with the graciousness that comes with knowing the reason you have been given that gift is to share with others.  Live your life graciously.  It is then you will find that life begins to sparkle as it becomes closer to what God had intended.  Live your life. Live!!!

open

Monday February 18^th, Deuteronomy 26: Place the basket before the LORD your God and bow down before him. 11 And you and the Levites and the aliens among you shall rejoice in all the good things the LORD your God has given to you and your household.  The gift of God’s grace is for you, and you, and you, and you, and you.  That includes the aliens among you.  There is nothing here about fences and armed patrols to keep the aliens out, nothing about taking our jobs or going to our schools, or going to our hospitals.  In God’s world view, there is no “our” jobs, schools, hospitals or anything else, it is all a gift from God.  In God’s kingdom, no one is an illegal alien.  The only act of illegality is the act of trying to deny the kingdoms, God’s in heaven and God’s on earth, to others.  Every act of exclusion in this world is a rejection of God and God’s love.  It doesn't work, and in the end God even loves you.  So open your hearts to others and perhaps it will help open your eyes to God.  

heal the whole family

Tuesday February 19^th, Romans 10: 8 But what does it say? "The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart," that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: 9 That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.  We are into the Lenten season. Soon it will be Easter and we will have among us all those who attend worship only on those high Holy Days.  We sometimes even refer to “them” as CEO’s (Christmas, Easter Only).  For those of us in the church it is easy to lament, “Where are they the rest of the year?”  And feel very self-righteous about our ranting.  And yet, the fact that they show up at all is a testimony that there is indeed something in the hearts of all that draws us to God.  The word is near and they feel it, as do hopefully, you.  Something brings them to worship, something speaks to their hearts, and God gives us once again an opportunity to proclaim a word of faith and be the people of God.  Perhaps this year we will move beyond “our” traditions and speak to the word in their hearts, speak the word they have been longing to hear, but have not heard from us because we are too busy taking care of our own.  That is when the Gospel truly becomes the Good News and comes back to heal the whole family of God, including you and me.

diminished world view

Wednesday February 20^th, Romans 10: 12 For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, 13 for, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." In God’s view there are no second class citizens, no one deserving of “minimum” wage, no one to be denied the right of marriage, no don’t ask or tell, no one we can indiscriminately drop bombs on or hope the drones aim correctly, no one who is an “other.”  For Christ there is no difference. All are richly blessed, all are our brothers and sisters, our children and grandchildren and all are called to the kingdom.  Some respond in ways that are different than our ways and we can debate the merits of these ways, but to deny that we all are all the children of God is sheer folly and the ones making that claim are the one who suffer with its diminished world view and diminished kingdom view.  

break the stranglehold

Thursday February 21^st, Luke 4:  1 Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert, 2 where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry.  3 The devil said to him, "If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread."  4 Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone.'" The Romans knew the secret of calming the masses, it was called “bread and circus.”  Give them a little something to eat and the first century version of reality TV in the arena and with this little bit of distraction, the government can get away with murder, literally.  Not much different from our cry for more tax cuts (for which only the truly wealthy prosper) lack of regulation (for which only the truly wealthy prosper) and war (for which only the truly wealthy prosper and the rest of us offer the lives of our sons and daughters) at our tea party meetings (which the truly wealthy never attend unless they are paid).  As long as the war machine and lack of regulation turns a good profit on Wall Street for those at the top, and the rest of us can buy the illusion that we too can get there someday if only these other little people don’t take it away from us, the world goes on and the devil remains in control of the conversation.  Jesus’ refusal to turn the stones into bread is a call for us also to return to the Word of God for our sustenance and in the process break the stranglehold of the one who tempts us all.  

free to love

Friday February 22^nd, Luke 4:  5 The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. 6 And he said to him, "I will give you all their authority and splendor, for it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. 7 So if you worship me, it will all be yours."  8 Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.'" Just think, no war, no famine, we would all get along, dumbly following along like a herd of animals. There would be no free will and no ability to hate. There would also be no ability to love, no ability to hoard and therefore no ability to share.  The cost to Jesus and to humanity would be denying that we are created in God’s image, which is what allows us to love, give, care and be a child of God.  Once again, Jesus turns our heads from our own self destructive desires to the word and world of God and the hope, faith, love and caring it brings into the world.  We were created but a little lower than the angels, free to love because we are free to hate.  

bread and circus

Saturday February 23^rd, Luke 4:  9 The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. "If you are the Son of God," he said, "throw yourself down from here. 10 For it is written: “‘He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully; 11 they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.'"  12 Jesus answered, "It says: 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'" 13 When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time. Those opportune times come again and again in the life of Jesus.  There is Peter on the mountain, “let us build three booths.”  The soldier at the cross, “If you are the Christ, then come on down from there.”  The home town crowd, “do for us as you did in Capernaum.”  And from you and I, “if only you do this for me, I will follow you.”  Jesus doesn't lead us away from life, but into it where we find the opportunity to “be” the body of Christ.  Bread and Circus can dull our eyes and our hearts for a while, but in the end, it is being a part of the body of Christ that sustains life, here and now and in the life to come.   

10w for February 13th, Ash Wednesday.

The following is a 10 minute worship for February 13th, Ash Wednesday. 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 right side of the 10W blog where it says "Please Join our email list" or on your phone by texting 10W to 22828. The song for the day is,"Create in Me a Clean Heart" by John Michael Talbot from the CD "The Painter"  which can be purchased HERE

Poem for Ash Wednesday Matthew 6:1-16

Is my hair straight?

How about this tie

---- does it match

the rest of the image

---- (help me)

I wish to present?

------------ an image

I sometimes make a show

for the world

--------------- so busy making shows

yet

-------- I long for something more

-------- (Lord)

-------- I long to uncork

------------- that stream

-------- of passion

------------- within me

that passion

----- that draws me toward the light

----------- and illumines

---------------- my innermost

---------------------- Yes I dare let go

----------------------------- self

------ (to place)

protected now

by the walls of expectation

built on the unfulfilled dreamings

of what should be.

But there are those times

when

------- for some reason

------------- beyond me

I live in a world filled with people

-------- alone

----- (my trust)

and in those brief glorious moments

I become

----- whole

----- (in)

and cry

----- for no reason

----- seeing no eyes upon me

----- and I Thank You

----- (You)

--------- Lord

Opening Litany based on Psalm 51 for Ash Wednesday

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 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 and 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.

Congregation: Create in us a pure heart, O God and renew a steadfast spirit within us.

10w for February 10th, The Transfiguration

The following is a 10 minute worship for February 10th, The Transfiguration. 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 right side of the 10W blog where it says "Please Join our email list" or on your phone by texting 10W to 22828. The song for the day is,"Change of Heart" by Janie Lidey from the CD "Just Breath It In"  which can be purchased HERE

Poem for The Transfiguration of our Lord Luke 9:28-36

In the Joy filled intensity of our excitement

we look up and catch a glimpse

-- of something unseen

---- (This)

beyond the realm of all we know

----- and feel

--------- and hear,

beyond the encounter of those special moments in life

when every part of existence

------------------------------ is focused

on the here and now,

and for a brief moment

---------------------------- all is just right,

beyond even the pureness of joy

that comes in the perfection of religious expression

----- amid the rising voices

---------- and the spine tingling timelessness

---- of our worship

---- (is)

into this came an almost moment in time

rising from the mist of exhausted ecstasy

---------- on a high mountain top

---- (My)

 apart

---- from a world seething in hunger and pain

longing

---- to see that to which they have turned

------------- a blind eye.

Here

---- in the almost place and time

comes the light

---- (Son)

that can burn through even the blindness

------------------ of not looking

---------- or looking too hard

with our eyes focused on that unseen moment

that we almost notice.

Here at this time

The Son of God leads us down

------------------------------------ into

--------------------------------------- the world around us

to see

the glory of God

in the poor and lost in the midst of our world,

to see the pureness of unbounded timelessness

in the moment of love expressed

to one who knows not love

to see

---- by not trying to focus on that faint glimmer

--------------------------------------------------- off high

------------------------------------------- in the distant mist

---- (Listen to Him!)
Christ

---- in those around us!

Opening Litany based on Psalm 99

 

Pastor: The LORD reigns, let all the nations of the world look in awe before the mighty God who sits enthroned between the cherubim. 

Congregation: Great is the LORD in Zion who is exalted over all the economic powers and the nations. Let us praise the great and awesome name of the Lord our God who is Holy of Holies, Lord or Lords and King of Kings. 

Pastor: The King of Glory is mighty. The Lord of all loves justice and establishes equity in the world. 

Congregation: We will exalt the LORD our God and worship at his footstool for he alone is Holy.

Pastor: Moses and Aaron were among his priests, Samuel was among those who called on his name; they called on the LORD and he answered them. He spoke to them from the pillar of cloud; they kept his statutes and the decrees he gave them.

Congregation: Oh LORD our God, You answered them; You were to Israel a forgiving God.  Oh Lord our God, You speak to us, and you are a forgiving God calling us to share the love of Christ. 

Pastor: I will Exalt the LORD our God and worship at his Holy Places, for the LORD our God is holy.

Congregation: We will Exalt the LORD our God and worship at his Holy Places, for the LORD our God is holy.