Online Worship – February 28, 2021

Today in worship, we will be reminded that again and again, we are called to listen. This is part of our invitation as people of faith—to not only speak, pray, and sing, but to listen. And I will be the first to say, listening is hard. From our toddler years on up, we struggle to listen, particularly when we don’t know what we’re listening for or we don’t agree with what we’re hearing. So for just a moment, as we gather ourselves for worship, I want to invite you to join me in a kinesthetic call to worship by embodying our prayer as I prompt you. Let us listen, let us pray:

Family of faith, I invite you to close your eyes. Rest your feet on the floor beneath you. Release any tension you are holding—In your jaw, your neck, your shoulders, your hands, your legs, your feet.
Take a deep breath in and slowly let it out. The Hebrew word for breath (ruach) is the same word for Spirit.
So as you breathe, imagine that it is God who is filling up your lungs with energy and love.
Trust that God is as close as your very breath. Now I invite you to still your mind. Imagine your mind as a river.
Thoughts will drift into view; they always do. However, instead of holding onto those thoughts, allow yourself to let them float by. And listen. Listen deep. Listen far. Listen wide. Listen. The sound of your breath is the sound of the Divine. This is a holy space. Let us worship God.

Open the eyes of my heart, Lord.
Open the eyes of my heart; I want to see You; I want to see You;
Open the eyes of my heart, Lord.
Open the eyes of my heart; I want to see You; I want to see You;
To see You high and lifted up, shining in the light of your glory.
Pour out your power and love as we sing “Holy, holy, holy.”
Holy, holy, holy. Holy, holy, holy.
Holy, holy, holy, I want to see you.
Holy, holy, holy. Holy, holy, holy.
Holy, holy, holy, I want to see you.

One: Listening God,
All: Take what is closed in us and open it. Take what is distracted in us and settle it. Take what is hurting in us and hold it. Take any and all parts of us that create distance from you. For we are like Peter, O God. We argue what we don’t know. We fear what we cannot see. And we almost always speak sooner than we listen. So open us, settle us, hold us, and forgive us. We long to hear you more clearly. We long to know you more fully. With hope we pray, and with gratitude we confess. Amen.

The mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting. I declare to you, in the name of Jesus Christ, we are forgiven. May the God of mercy, who forgives us all our sins, strengthen us in all goodness, and by the power of the Holy Spirit keep us in eternal life. Amen.

Jason Wheeler, tenor, accompanied by Heasuk Che, piano.

 

Brooke Tucker, Director of Faith Formation.

 

Rev Dr Jeffrey Beebe

 

23 You who fear the LORD, praise him!
All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him; stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel!
24 For he did not despise or abhor the affliction of the afflicted;
he did not hide his face from me, but heard when I cried to him.
25 From you comes my praise in the great congregation;
my vows I will pay before those who fear him.
26 The poor shall eat and be satisfied;
those who seek him shall praise the LORD. May your hearts live forever!
27 All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the LORD;
and all the families of the nations shall worship before him.
28 For dominion belongs to the LORD, and he rules over the nations.
29 To him, indeed, shall all who sleep in the earth bow down;
before him shall bow all who go down to the dust, and I shall live for him.
30 Posterity will serve him; future generations will be told about the Lord,
31 and proclaim his deliverance to a people yet unborn, saying that he has done it.

Creator God,
We cannot hear the trees growing—seeds pushing up through the dirt into the sun. And we cannot hear a single drop of rain, missing one in the many. We cannot hear the weight of people’s grief, a burden that so often is silent. And we cannot hear when hearts are changed, but you can. You hear it all. So once again, we come to you with bowed heads and hopeful hearts, asking that you would lend us your ears. Help us to hear as you hear so that we can live as you lived. We are listening. Amen.

1 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said to him, “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless. 2 And I will make my covenant between me and you, and will make you exceedingly numerous.” 3 Then Abram fell on his face; and God said to him, 4 “As for me, this is my covenant with you: You shall be the ancestor of a multitude of nations. 5 No longer shall your name be Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you the ancestor of a multitude of nations. 6 I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you. 7 I will establish my covenant between me and you, and your offspring after you throughout their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you.
15 God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. 16 I will bless her, and moreover I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall give rise to nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.”

Barbara Davis, Kathy Link, Julie Pearson, Judith Spurrell, Lillian Warner, and Bob Wright. Accompanied by Jillian Koenig (flutist) and Heasuk Che (pianist).

 

We are standing on holy ground, and I know that there are angels all around;
Let us praise Jesus now; we are standing in his presence on holy ground. (Repeat)

31 Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. 32 He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. 33 But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”

34 He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 35 For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. 36 For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? 37 Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? 38 Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”
1 And he said to them, “Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see that the kingdom of God has come with power.”

2 Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain apart, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, 3 and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no one on earth could bleach them. 4 And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, who were talking with Jesus. 5 Then Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” 6 He did not know what to say, for they were terrified. 7 Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice, “This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!” 8 Suddenly when they looked around, they saw no one with them any more, but only Jesus.

As you leave this space, may your mouth speak of God’s goodness. May your arms hold those in need. May your feet walk toward justice. May your heart trust its worth. May your soul dance in God’s grace. And may this be your rhythm—again and again and again, Until God’s promised day. In the name of the Lover, the Beloved, and Love itself, go with courage, go with heart, go in peace. Amen.

Blest be the tie that binds our hearts in Christian love.
The fellowship of kindred minds is like to that above.