Author: SusannahDB

One of Sunday’s Scriptures is the 10 commandments from Exodus. If you haven’t read them in awhile, it might be a good time to read them again.

One-Let us be called to worship. God has given us the ten best ways to live.

All-It is hard to live as God commands.

One-God’s ways bring fullness of life.

All-We know we should follow God’s commands.

One-We are all God’s beloved. God’s commandments help us treat each other as beloved.

All-We are ready to hear God’s word and work together to follow our God.

 

 

 

For forty years, my Dad served in full-time ordained ministry in churches around the Midwest. He retired last June. Today’s worship words are his words. This is how he ended worship each Sunday as he sent the congregation out into God’s world. Thank you, Dad, for letting me share your words.

 

We have gathered today in God’s house to hear again God’s good news, to share in God’s presence, and to share with one another. Now let us go forth from this place to take all that we have heard and done here and offer it up to others, so they too can know of our God and seek to follow.

And now may the God who created us, the Christ who has saved us, and the Holy Spirit who guides and protects us each day, bless, preserve, and keep us for this day and forevermore. Amen.

Holy One, While many are asleep because it is nighttime, many of your children are awake. And so we pray. We pray for those who are restfully sleeping. We pray for parents who wish they were sleeping and instead find themselves rocking infants or caring for sick children. Gracious God, we give thanks for all those working the night shift. They are keeping us safe, keeping our stores open, keeping our heat on and lights working, keeping our roads clear of snow and ice, and doing so many other jobs we don’t even understand. We remember those who find it difficult to sleep at night because of pain or loss or other changes in life. In the cold of winter, we lift up to you everyone who does not have a safe and warm place to sleep at night. Watch over all your children, we pray. For all who are awake worrying, send your peace. And for those who are awake because they love the nighttime, we give thanks. In the dark of night, we give thanks for the diversity of gifts present in your children. Thank you for the night owls and early birds and everyone in between. Thank you for creating all of us in your image. Thank you for the gift of sleep whenever it comes to us. Amen.

In this Sunday’s readings there is a theme of staying with one you respect and staying where things are amazing. Instead of allowing us to always stay, sometimes God calls us away. Sometimes away is off the mountaintop back to our ordinary lives. Sometimes away means saying good-bye to a mentor or friends or our plans for how things should be. Our prayer for illumination before reading Scriptures is a time for us to open ourselves to where God is calling us and where God might be leading us away from where we’d prefer to be. Let us pray.

Holy One, We make great plans, and you surprise us with different plans. We turn to your Word expecting to hear what we’ve always heard, and you urge us to open our ears to new possibilities. We will try. Speak to us through the words of your Holy Scripture, and we will try to listen as if for the first time. Amen.