Tomorrow's Offering

Goodness ... between this post and the previous two posts it seems I'm uploading the entire worship service. Don't let all of these previews keep you from gathering for worship.

This Sunday is the last Sunday of the season of Epiphany. The Transfiguration of Jesus is the segue from Epiphany to Lent every year, and so we will look at some of the implications of the Transfiguration tomorrow. In my sermons I continue to focus on the effect a relationship with Jesus has on people. Tomorrow's focus is a bit different from that, but I won't tell you how different because I don't want you to know everything that is going to happen tomorrow.

Tomorrow is also Superbowl Sunday, of course. I have full faith that you'll be able to tear yourself away from the early morning coverage of the big game. Maybe I would be more interested in the game if my team were playing. Or, maybe I would be more interested in the game if the team I least want to win weren't almost a lock to win. Enough football.

I invite you to pray for a member of our church whose pain is too deep for publication on this blog. He is in the ICU clinging to a life that he appears not to want. Terrible. God will know who it is.

Here's the pastoral prayer:

Prayers of the Church for Grandview
February 3, 2008

To say, “O God,” is to utter something too great for us. To say, “Father in heaven,” is to speak more than we understand. We come to you this morning because you have assured us, through the loving example of your Son, that you have invited us into your presence. You are magnificent beyond the ability of our feeble words to describe you. The fullness of your glory is too much for us.

Thank you for the glimpse of your glory that you gave to Peter, James, and John on the mountain where your Son’s nature bent the borders of heaven and caused your celestial light to gush. Thank you for Peter, James, and John’s faithfulness to preserve that private moment for us, for allowing us to see it through their weary eyes.

Surrounded, O God, by worlds we don’t know; surrounded by a cloud of witnesses; surrounded by the gift of the Holy Spirit and the gift of the Kingdom of God we call upon you to be the force of healing for those of us who are sick, the gift of comfort for those of us who grieve, the gift of protection for those of us who are facing evil, the gift of joy for those of us who are worn thin by our responsibilities.

Fill us, we pray, with confidence in your ability to deliver as we bring to you our deepest concerns and fears in the silence:

silence

Forgive us when our doubt becomes so strong that it tramples our faith. Forgive us when our attempts at knowledge become so certain to us that they trample all our doubts. Forgive us for, secretly or openly, loving impurity. Forgive us for become comfortable with anger and hate. Forgive us for ignoring people you have called us to serve, content in our selfish sloth.

Thank you, O God, for the gifts that you have given us that allow us to serve. Thank you for the warmth and protection this building provides. Help us to be inviting and welcoming in this place. Give the stranger among us a vision of community. Give the community among us a vision of the stranger. Call us together for the sake of your kingdom, for the sake of serving those in need as we proclaim the beautiful news of Jesus Christ and your love to all people.

We pray as your Son has taught us …