Worship Text February 7, 2021

Morning Worship Text
February 7, 2021 


Before we begin, gather a candle or small light, your Bible, a cross,  a piece of bread and a cup of juice or water. Place them at the center of a calm area in your home and gather comfortable seating for all who will join you. Place your phone, tablet  or computer where you can see and hear it. You may want to connect a charger, rather than rely on battery.

 

 

Welcome
  
 

Musical Mediation:   
“Just a Closer Walk”                         Andra Moran, guitarist
-public domain, used with performer’s permission

 

Focus:
God of life, God of hope, God of all

Lift us on your love like eagle's wings

Sustain us; Guide us; Heal us

Then send us forth into the world

That we may love as you love. Amen.

~ written by Terri, and posted on RevGalBlogPals. http://revgalblogpals.blogspot.ca/



Lighting the Christ Candles  We light our candles or lights.
Voice One: In the beginning, God said,
Voice Two: Let there be light, and there was light!
Voice One: We light these candles today,
Voice Two: Because God is with us in this time and in all these places!

 
 

 

Call to Worship            

Voice One: Have you heard?
Voice Two: Our God is the everlasting God, Creator of the ends of the earth.
Voice One: Did you know this?
Voice Two: God does not faint or grow weary.
Voice One: You didn't miss it, did you?
Voice Two: God’s understanding is unsearchable.
Voice One: Have you not heard?
Voice Two: God gives power to the faint and strengthens the powerless.
Voice One: Have you heard the good news?
Voice Two: Those who wait for God will renew their strength
they shall mount up with wings like eagles.
Voice One: We come to hear.
Voice Two: We come to know.
ALL: Thanks be to God.

~ adapted from a piece written by Joanna Harader and posted on Spacious Faith. https://spaciousfaith.com/

                                                                
Invocation
Holy Spirit:
With astonishment,
we see that you renew our strength,
constantly.
Allow us not to forget your presence,
Even in adversity.
And, in our turn,
we will renew our gratefulness and we
will sing for your love.
Amen

~ posted on the Sacred Pauses blog. http://www.sacredpauses.com/




Scripture: Isaiah 40:21-31 & Mark 1:29-39

Isaiah 40:21-31
 

Have you not known? Have you not heard?


Has it not been told you from the beginning?


Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?

It is he who sits above the circle of the earth,
    

and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers;


who stretches out the heavens like a curtain,
    

and spreads them like a tent to live in;
 

who brings princes to naught,
    

and makes the rulers of the earth as nothing. 

Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown,
    

scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth,


when he blows upon them, and they wither,
    

and the tempest carries them off like stubble.

To whom then will you compare me,
    

or who is my equal? says the Holy One.


Lift up your eyes on high and see:
    

Who created these?


He who brings out their host and numbers them,
    

calling them all by name;


because he is great in strength, mighty in power,
    

not one is missing.

Why do you say, O Jacob,
    

and speak, O Israel,
“My way is hidden from the Lord,
    

and my right is disregarded by my God”?


Have you not known? Have you not heard?


The Lord is the everlasting God,
    

the Creator of the ends of the earth.


He does not faint or grow weary;
    

his understanding is unsearchable.
 

He gives power to the faint,
    

and strengthens the powerless.


Even youths will faint and be weary,
    

and the young will fall exhausted;


but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength,
    

they shall mount up with wings like eagles,


they shall run and not be weary,
    

they shall walk and not faint.

Mark 1:29-39
 

As soon as they left the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told him about her at once. He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them.
 

That evening, at sunset, they brought to him all who were sick or possessed with demons. And the whole city was gathered around the door. And he cured many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him.
 

In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed. And Simon and his companions hunted for him. When they found him, they said to him, “Everyone is searching for you.” He answered, “Let us go on to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came out to do.” And he went throughout Galilee, proclaiming the message in their synagogues and casting out demons.
 

-New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

 

 
Meditation

Invitation to the Table The bread and cup and placed on the table for the Lord’s Supper.



 

Prayer of Communion Elders this month are Linda Blair and Kathy Sharp.


 

 

Words of Institution  We break the bread and lift the cup as the words are spoken.

 

 The Lord's Supper We share in the bread and cup as we hear the music.


 

Communion Mediation     
 

“One Spirit of Love”      Paul Svenson, composer        Mary Bondurant, pianist
-Chalice Hymnal, Merrick & Polk, eds. Chalice Press (St. Louis): 1995.                                                                    


 

Prayer of Thanksgiving: The Lord’s Prayer


Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy
will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and
forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead
us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.  Amen.


 

Prayers of the People:
 

You lift us up to the heights, Holy One.
On wings like eagles you enable us to
soar with the possibilities
of transformation,
both within our own souls
and within this world which needs so much care.

Teach us Lord, to wait upon you.

And yet it is not the bright skies
where we most often live.
We are here with our feet on the ground—
your feet planted firmly beside us
as we try to walk without fainting:
walk through the shadows of
death and ill-health and addiction;
as we walk through life changes:
moves, births, aging, loss.

Teach us Lord, to walk at your pace.

We need your strength to not grow weary
as we continue to hope for new life
amidst old attitudes and injuries.
We long to run and not grow faint
as we challenge bitterness and hurt
that seep into our own daily encounters;
and as we work for your compassion and wholeness
for all people, and all creatures, and the very earth.

Teach us Lord, to run in your time.

Lift us up to the heights, Holy One,
so we may again catch a glimpse
of the vast possibilities of your peace
even as we pray for it here on earth.

Teach us Lord, to wait upon you.

In Jesus' name we pray, Amen.

~ adapted from a prayer posted in http://preachingsophia.blogspot.ca/2012/02/prayer-for-eagles-wings.html

Challenge for Discipleship
 

God of life, God of hope, God of all

Lift us on your love like eagle's wings

Sustain us; Guide us; Heal us

Then send us forth into the world

That we may love as you love. Amen.

~ written by Terri, and posted on RevGalBlogPals. http://revgalblogpals.blogspot.ca/

 

Blessing     We speak in unison.


The Light that was in one place and at one time,

 is now in all places and all times, 

for God has placed the light in us.   

We abide in peace!  

And we go forth into the world as children of God!


 

 

Postlude

“Open the Eyes of My Heart”                        Worshiplyrics
-used with church licensure