Liturgy w/communion for March 15, 2015 (Lent 4 - B)

Texts:  Numbers 21:4-9; Psalm 107:1-3, 17-22; Ephesians 2:1-10; John 3:14-21

Call to Worship
In this place, the community of faith
is reminded of the promise:
God's love endures forever!
In spite of our impatient grumbling,
despite our attraction to the shadows:
Christ's light shines in us!
When we think our hands our empty,
when we have no music in our souls:
the Spirit fills us with glad songs, 
and creates us for good works!

Prayer of the Day
You reach deep
into your pockets
stuffed with mercy
and fill our empty souls;
refusing to be in
the condemnation business,
your rebuild
our shaky foundations
with your everlasting love;
you hear our cries
of loneliness and lament,
and reach down
to lift us into your presence.
Good and Generous God,
we give you thanks!

You save us by your grace,
so we may joyfully serve
our sisters and brothers;
you slide over
to make room for us
at your Table;
you step into
our shadowed lives
to take us by the hand
and lead us
into the light.
Healing Word:
we give you thanks!

You calm our impatience,
so we may tell of
God's presence in our midst;
you silence our grumbling,
to teach us joy's anthems;
you shower us with kindness,
so we may overflow
with love.
Spirit of Obedience,
we give you thanks.

God in Community, Holy in One,
we give you thanks for your steadfast love,
even as we pray as Jesus has taught us, saying,
(The Lord's Prayer)

Call to Reconciliation
By nature, we are impatient, irritated, grumbling, disobedient children, always demanding our way. But God, who is good and kind and gentle, comes to transform us, by grace, into the people we are meant to be.  Let us open ourselves to the One who overflows with love for us, as we confess our sins to God.

Unison  Prayer of Confession
   The Light of the world has come, Ceaseless Creator, but we admit we love the shadows all around us.  For there, we can boast of our achievements, rather than point to your grace; there, we can grumble of our unhappiness with you, instead of singing your praises; there, we can give into our natural anger, and not be touched by your call to be agents of peace and hope.

Forgive us, Eternal Love:
    lead us from the shadows of sin
        into the light of your joy;
    raise us up, as your children,
        so we may knell in service to others;
    shower us with the grace, the hope, the peace
    you have brought to us through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. 

Silence is kept

Assurance of Pardon
Let the community of faith say so:
God's love endures forever!
Let those gathered in grace say so:
God's love endures forever!
Let those gathered from all parts of the world say so:
God's love endures forever!
This is the good news for us:
God's love endures forever. 
Thanks be to God.  Amen.

Prayer of Dedication/Offering
As we have been gathered in this place because of the faithfulness of those who have gone before us, so we pray that the gifts we offer in these moments might be used to reach out to those in all corners of the world who need hope, who hunger for food and justice, who yearn for peace, and who long for your graceful presence in their lives.  In Jesus' name, we pray.  Amen.

Great Prayer of Thanksgiving
May the God of the Lenten pilgrimage be with you.
And also with you.
Offer all you have and are to your God.
We bring our hearts, our hopes, our minds, our bodies.
Sing praises to the One whose love is constant and true
We sing joy, life, and peace to our God. 

Bypassing the emptiness of chaos,
you set out be way of creation
to bring beauty and goodness
into being, God of every moment.
You offered us the immeasurable riches
of your gracious and joyous heart:
   brooks rippling over stone paths,
   crocuses blooming in snowy fields,
   songbirds melting the winter of our mornings,
but we were impatient,
   speaking against your dreams and hopes
   and in favor of sin and death.
Through the prophets, you sent your word
which could heal us and bring us back to you,
   but we refused to give up
   living among our foolish passions.
So then you sent your Child,
to deliver us from all our distress,
and to gather us home.

With those who are rich in your mercy,
with those who long to draw near to you,
let your redeemed sing your praises:

Holy, Holy, holy are you, Steadfast Love.
From every corner of creation, your praises are sung.
Hosanna in the highest!

Blessed is the One who comes to save everyone and everything.
Hosanna in the highest! 

Though you are holy, you set out
by way of Bethlehem, God of wonder,
to redeem us from all that separates us from you.
Though we spoke in anger and rebellion,
constantly opposing you,
   your Word came speaking of grace.
Though we chose to follow the course
of the world which lead us the wrong way,
   your Light came into the shadows
   to show us the way to the kingdom.
Though we ignored his teachings and life,
and were complicit in his suffering,
   your Life broke the power of death,
   your Weakness broke the strength of sin.

As we remember how Jesus was lifted up on the cross,
as we celebrate how Jesus was lifted up from the grave,
we speak of that mystery that by grace we are saved:

Christ died, calling us back to you;
Christ was raised, so all the world might be saved;
Christ will come, lifting us up to bring us to you. 

Pour out your Spirit upon this Table
and the gifts of the bread and the cup,
that they might bless those you have gathered here.
It is by your grace that the broken bread
is able to strengthen us to serve;
it is by your peace that the cup
nourishes us to pray for others.
As we are made new by these simple gifts,
send us out by way of
   the broken, that we might bring healing;
   the oppressed, that we might offer freedom;
   the hungry, that we might feed them;
   the lonely, that we might offer a family.

And when, by your grace, we are gathered
from north and south, and from east and west,
not by anything we have done, but by your love,
we will join our sisters and brothers,
the saints and sinners, the complainers and the committed,
in singing our songs of thanksgiving to you,
God in Community, Holy in One.  Amen.

Sending
As you leave this place,
remember you are God's community in the world:
for God's love endures forever!
As you leave this place,
remember you are alive with Christ:
for Christ's light shines
in the deepest shadows!
As you leave this place,
remember the gifts God offers to you:
for the Spirit fills us with good works to do,
and glad songs to sing to the world!

(c) 2015 Thom M. Shuman