Worship Words

Recently, I had the opportunity to spend some time in San Diego. I highly recommend everyone take a trip to San Diego. The weather was wonderful. It is a very walkable city. It is also a heartbreaking city with so many homeless sleeping on the sidewalks and asking for money. While I was there a tour I took and a friend I met up with both recommended that I stroll down the Martin Luther King Jr. Promenade. After taking this walk, I recommend this to anyone who visits San Diego.

Along the sides of the paved walkway are quotes from Martin Luther King, Jr.

“I want to suggest some of the things that should begin your life’s blueprint. Number one…should be a deep belief in your own dignity, your worth, and your own somebodiness…always feel that you count. always feel that you have worth, and always feel that your life has ultimate significance.”

“As long as there is poverty in the world I can never be rich…As long as diseases are rampant…I can never be totally healthy…I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be.”

 “Everybody can be great because anybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You don’t have to know about Plato and Aristotle to serve. You only need a heart full of grace, a soul generated by love.”

“Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or the darkness of destructive selfishness. This is the judgement. Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, what are you doing for others?”

And my favorite part (a huge thank you to my friends for sharing the secrets of this place with me) is the labyrinth. Although the city calls it a hedge maze, there is only one way to enter and one way to exit which means I’ll be calling it a labyrinth. If you look closely as you walk through the labyrinth, you’ll see suggestions for changes you might make in your life. You’ll be asked to shed the cloak of things that are hurting yourself and other, and you’ll be asked to don the cloak of behaviors and attitudes that remind us to love each other. I will include these words at the end of the post as a closing prayer or benediction. As you reach the sculpture in the center, you’ll see beautiful shininess inside of the sculpture placed there. Be sure to spend a few minutes looks for the words hidden on the sculpture. And then you can go back the way you came in. Hopefully, you’ll remember to shed what needs to be shed and don what needs to be donned.

Shedding the cloak of oppression and Donning the cloak of recognition.

Shedding the cloak of fear and Donning the cloak of trust.

Shedding the cloak of prejudice and Donning the cloak of respect.

Shedding the cloak of malice and Donning the cloak of compassion.

Shedding the cloak of bitterness and Donning the cloak of forgiveness.

Shedding the cloak of despair and Donning the cloak of hope.

Shedding the cloak of weariness and Donning the cloak of courage.

Shedding the cloak of ignorance and Donning the cloak of wisdom.

Shedding the cloak of darkness and Donning the cloak of light.

As I was writing, I keep moving from a joyful Palm Sunday benediction to a benediction that attempted to convey the variety of emotions present on Passion Sunday. I wanted to stay with Palm Sunday and focus on the gospel lesson. On Palm Sunday, I like to wave a palm, join in a procession of palm brach wavers, and be joyful. I am not against Passion Sunday where the whole Holy Week story is read. It just wasn’t what I wanted as the focus for this benediction.

This is a responsive benediction with palm waving!

One-Blessed in the One who comes in the name of the Lord!

All-Hosanna! (wave palms).

One-Blessed are all God’s children.

All-Hosanna! (wave palms).

One-Blessed are we to hear God’s word and share God’s love with each other.

All-Hosanna! (wave palms).

One-Blessed are we as we journey through Holy Week.

All-Hosanna! (wave palms).

One-Feel and know the love of God this week as we walk with Jesus and experience the Holy Spirit moving among us.

All-Hosanna! (wave palms).

One-Amen!

In Sunday’s Scripture from Numbers, we meet the Israelites at a point where they are beyond frustrated, and so they complain. This Scripture might have hit me a little too close to home. For all those times I have been frustrated about things that really didn’t matter and overlooked things and people who did matter and need my attention, I ask forgiveness. If any of this applies to you too, please pray with me.

Faithful God,

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.

The Five Finger Prayer is not my creation. I’m sharing it because I believe praying is important and I know most of can use reminders to pray more often. This is a different and fun way to do it. I like it because it works for all ages. Why not give it a try and if it is new to you, share this idea with someone else.

Start by looking at your hand. You’ll be using your hand to remind you of those in need of prayer.

Your Thumb-Your thumb is closest to you and reminds you to pray for those who are closest to you. Pray for and give thanks for your family and friends.

Your Pointer-Pray for those who point you in the right direction. Who leads you? Who are the ones to whom you listen? Pray for those who guide and direct you and pray that you’ll be open to hearing and listening to their words.

Your Tallest Finger-Pray for those in positions of power. Pray for our government and all our leaders. Pray for those with whom you agree and disagree.

Your Ring Finger-This finger is your weakest finger. Pray for those who are seen as the weakest or lacking in power. Remember in your prayers those who are ill, hungry, living with violence or war, homeless, or lonely.

Your Pinky-Finally, you can pray for yourself.

I’ve recently been reflecting on how often our Scriptures remind us that Jesus prayed. In this coming Sunday’s gospel reading, we’ll hear, “In the morning, while it was still very dark, Jesus got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed” (Mark 1: 35). If the five finger prayer can enhance your prayer life, I hope you’ll use it. And if it doesn’t work for you, that’s okay too.