Worship Prayers March 24

CENTERING PRAYER*      *J. Birch, faithandworship.com

God of light and God of night, creator of seed and mountain, raindrop and fountain, we bring our offering of praise. God of right and God of might, lover of child and childless, rich and homeless, we bring our offering of praise.

CALL TO WORSHIP

Everyone who thirsts:

Come to the waters, seek the Lord, repent and return so that you may live.

All who are hungry for righteousness:

Come to the waters, seek the Lord, repent and return so that you may live.

All who need the help of God:

Come to the waters, seek the Lord, repent and return so that you may live.

PRAYER OF CONFESSION

Holy God, we confess we have grown complacent in our response to you. You set before us a rich feast of blessing, but we are drawn to lesser things that can never satisfy. You call us to attend to urgent needs in the world, but we indulge our own desires. Our ways are not your ways; our thoughts do not ascend to your thoughts. Forgive us when we fall short of your claim upon our lives. Disturb our complacency and quicken our desire for a more fruitful life. Be patient, we pray, as we amend who we are, in the hope of becoming who you intend us to be. We ask this in the name of our Savior, your Son, Jesus Christ. (Silent Confession)

AFFIRMATION OF FAITH – The Apostles’ Creed

For the sermon, click here.

Scripture for March 31

Luke 15:1-3 New International Version (NIV)

15 Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus.2 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

3 Then Jesus told them this parable:

Luke 15:11-32 New International Version (NIV)

The Parable of the Lost Son

11 “There was a man who had two sons. 12 The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his propertybetween them.

13 “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. 14 After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. 16 He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.

17 “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ 20 So he got up and went to his father.

“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.

21 “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’

22 “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. 24 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.

25 “Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. 27 ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’

28 “The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. 29 But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’

31 “‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 32 But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”

New International Version (NIV)

Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

James Tissot – The Return of the Prodigal Son (Le retour de l'enfant prodigue) – Brooklyn Museum

Daily Prayer March 29

If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.

• Morning Psalms 22; 148
• First Reading Jeremiah 11:1-8, 14-17
• Second Reading Romans 6:1-11
• Gospel Reading John 8:33-47
• Evening Psalms 105; 130

New every morning is your love, great God of light, and all day long you are working for good in the world. Stir up in us the desire to serve you, to live peacefully with our neighbors, and to devote each day to your Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ the Lord. God of all times and places, in Jesus Christ, lifted up on the cross, you opened for us the path to eternal life. Grant that we, being born again of water and the Spirit, may joyfully serve you in newness of life and faithfully walk in your holy ways. God of all joy, fill our souls to overflowing with the fullness of your grace. Lord, remind us of your triumph over the tragedy of the cross, and your victory for us over the powers of sin and death, so that we may reflect your glory as disciples of Jesus Christ, our risen Lord. (Add your prayers.) Amen.

With God's help and love may your lives be blessed and your labors fruitful as you offer yourselves gladly in the service of our common Lord.

(Opening sentences, prayers, and blessings are from the Book of Common Worship. Readings are from the daily lectionary in Daily Prayer. Both are published by Westminster/John Knox Press.)

There is a Strength

There is a poem about prayer by Helen Lowrie Marshall.   In it, she refers to the strength, peace and joy that comes through prayer.  Prayer gives you power.  When you take things to the Lord regularly, you are renewed and empowered.  You have the confidence and faith to tackle any problem knowing you have the power of the Lord behind you.   Prayer dresses you in the armor of the Lord to do His battle.

Photo by Ben White on Unsplash

Prayer also brings you peace.  With the Lord steering the ship, there is not as much to worry about.  The seas of life are calm and your life is put in a better order.  It is easier to see the horizon and to face the future when you are calm about the present.  Having the peace of Christ allows you to know the future will be good and right, even though there may be problems you are addressing today.

Finally, giving your thoughts to God gives you a great sense of joy.  You are lifted above and beyond the roubles of the world.  God doesn't answer every prayer, but He listens to all of them.  Knowing that He is listening brings one profound joy.  You are never alone.  No matter what the situation, there is someone to talk to and share your problems with.  This peace and joy helps to provide the strength that is gained from prayer.

In our busy world we don't always have time to take moment to pray.  We get in bed at night too tired to thank God for our day.  We eat dinner in shifts because of our busy schedules and don't take time to say grace.  It only takes a moment, but we seem even too busy for that.  We can gain so much by prayer.  It's so simple, so why can't we find time to do it?  Try and make this Lent a time for more prayer in your life and in your family.  Take the time.  You'll see with prayer that you have strength, peace and joy and a refreshed, renewed, body made whole.  God bless you.

Dear God, 
We pray to You today.  We pray because we know You listen.  You listen and give us strength, peace and joy.  Help us to slow down and talk with You at every turn of our day. Amen.

Psalm 118: 19-29

Luke 23: 1-25

Reprinted from St. Mark Presbyterian's 1998 Lenten Devotional with permission of the author, Kathy Klos

Ragamuffin Gospel Week 2

Click here for a video of the on-line discussion from last week.  Remember Week 3 will be discussed on-line at noon or at church at 6 PM in room 102.

Prayer from p. 234 The Ragamuffin Gospel:

O God, I seek you, but my heart is fickle.

I believe: please help my unbelief.  When all I can do

is want to want you, take my crumb of faith and break it

like bread to feed thousands, beginning, by Your mercy, 

with me.  You reject no desperate, sinful, seeking, child.

You say only and always, Come! I come to You, God.

Pour out Your Sprit on me.

Speak Your words of life to this child.

I pray in Jesus' name, amen.

Lost or Found

Luke 15:31-32 New International Version (NIV)

31 “‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 32 But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”

In 1988, Dave and I took our daughters on a trip to Scotland.  While there, we visited St. Giles Cathedral where I bought crosses for my daughters, my mother and me.  I thought it would be very symbolic that the five of us had identical crosses from St. Giles Cathedral because Scotland is our ancestral home.  And St. Giles is like the mother church for Presbyterians.

I treasured that necklace but worried that I might lose it some day, so I took it to a jeweler to have him solder the sliding loop which attached the cross to the chain.  While walking across the parking lot with the necklace in the little brown envelope, the cross slipped out.  I didn't notice it was missing from the envelope for several days.  When I went back to the jeweler and the parking lot, it wasn't there.

I have mourned the loss of that symbolic tie that bound me, my mother and my daughters to our ancestral home until I taught a class last fall on crosses.  We were to bring in a cross that meant a lot to us.  Again I thought back to my missing cross.  In the class, Debbie related a similar story of a cross that had been her mother's that she had lost.  I started thinking about the missing crosses and the hymn Amazing Grace kept going through my head.  "I once was lost but now am found"  The flip side of losing something so precious, is someone else may have found it.  And, it may have come to them at a low point in their lives.  Hopefully the warm feelings and love that were attached to that cross were passed on to them.  Now, I am at peace and don't think of it as being lost, but rather found.

Jaclyn Morgan

Marion Medical Mission

Unsafe water and lack of basic sanitation kills more people annually than all forms of violence, including war. In the world, 663 million people do not have access to clean water. About half of the world’s population who lack clean water live in Africa.

Marion Medical Mission has played an active role in the fight against dirty water. Since 1990, they have built over 31,000 wells in Malawi, Tanzania and Zambia providing over four million people with a sustainable source of safe drinking water. Without Christ, that would not have been impossible! With Him, all is possible. And by His power, we believe that countless millions of others will receive life-giving water.

It's not too late to give up coffee, soda, wine for Lent.  By drinking just water during Lent, you can help in two ways.  First, you can appreciate having clean water to drink anytime you want.  But also the money you save by drinking water can be donated to Marion Medical Mission so others can share in the luxury of clean water.

Worship Prayers for March 17

CENTERING PRAYER* 

God of Love, God of Peace, this fractured word cries out in pain, burns deep into my soul, and challenges me to make a difference.
God of Love, God of Peace, God of this world, scarred by grief and tears ignorance and  fear, soften hearts of stone and begin with mine.
God of Love, God of Peace, create within me a heart for people, a desire for change, for new beginnings to start this day.

CALL TO WORSHIP (Psalm 27)

The LORD is my light and salvation; whom shall I fear?

The LORD is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

One thing I asked of the LORD, that will I seek after:

to live in the house of the Lord all my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to inquire in his temple.

Come! Let us worship our saving LORD together.

PRAYER OF CONFESSION

Merciful God, you made us citizens of heaven, but we confess we have set our minds on earthly things. We let our desire for security restrain our commitment to serve the poor. We let our fear of danger curb our obligation to love our enemies. We let our love of things dull our generosity to the needy. We let our craving for public status prevent our honesty about hidden sins. Yet, you know the desires of our heart and nothing is hidden from you. By the power of the Holy Spirit, conform our sin-weakened bodies to the glory of Christ, that we may be the body of Christ for the world. (Silent Confession)

For the sermon,"Catching Stones", Click Here.

*J. Birch, faithandworship.com

Scripture for March 24

Luke 13:1-9 New International Version (NIV)

Repent or Perish

Photo by Kawin Harasai on Unsplash

13 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. 4 Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? 5 I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.”

6 Then he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree growing 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?’

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.’”

New International Version (NIV)

Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Daily Prayer March 22

Rejoice in the Lord always; again, I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near.

• Morning Psalms 22; 148
• First Reading Jeremiah 5:1-9
• Second Reading Romans 2:25-3:18
• Gospel Reading John 5:30-47
• Evening Psalms 105; 130

Jesus, Good Shepherd of the sheep, by whom the lost are sought and guided into the fold: Feed us and we shall be satisfied, heal us and we shall be whole, and lead us that we may be with you, with the Father and the Holy Spirit. Almighty God, by grace alone you call us and accept us in your service. Strengthen us by your Spirit, and make us worthy of your call. Blessed are you, Lord God of all creation. In the beginning you separated light from darkness and placed all your works in our hands. You have given us the light of day that we might see your wonders in all we say and do; you give us the gentle darkness of the night that we might rest from our burdens and be refreshed in body and spirit. Break through the darkness of our sins with the splendor of your mercy and love. Send your light to dispel our fears and anxieties and fill us with hope and joy. Glory, praise, and honor are yours, O God. (Add your prayers.) Amen.

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

(Opening sentences, prayers, and blessings are from the Book of Common Worship. Readings are from the daily lectionary in Daily Prayer. Both are published by Westminster/John Knox Press.)

Presbyterian Women's Retreat 2019

Deuteronomy 14:2 New International Version (NIV)

2 for you are a people holy to the Lord your God. Out of all the peoples on the face of the earth, the Lord has chosen you to be his treasured possession.

Twenty-eight women gathered at Toddhall in Columbia, IL, for the 22^nd Annual St. Mark Women’s retreat on March 8-9, 2019.  This year’s theme was Treasured—You are a Gem. 

Our Bible study led by Marie Holt, Stacey Caplinger, Christy Brewer, and Laurie Dolson focused on how from coal to diamonds, we are continually being transformed in Christ and reflecting his glory and light into the world.  In Deuteronomy 14:2 it is written, “For you are holy to the Lord your God; it is you the Lord has chosen to be his treasured possession.”  The women committed to keeping their lights shining in word, deed and song.  Right on cue, the sun even came out after the gloomy rain!

The women enjoyed fellowship time as they put together informational packets about Newborns in Need, PW’s newest mission project.  Thanks to Shirley Boeker and Louise Grothe for organizing this activity.  Packets will be distributed to the congregation as a collection of needed items begins in April.  In a “show and tell” session we shared gems and treasures from our lives with one another.  The jewel theme carried on in a most enjoyable retreat game night.  The real sparkle at the retreat came from the creation of necklaces following the direction of Lynn Laux, our own jeweler-in-residence.  

Before leaving retreat, the women again gathered in prayers of thanksgiving, reflection on how God’s love shines through us and a community meal. 

The retreat was a product of love, dedication, time and talents.  Thanks to everyone who helped make this truly a treasured time.  Mark your calendars now for the 2020 retreat February 28-29!