PREPARING FOR WORSHIP
- Take a deep breath, exhaling it slowly and let the breath that escapes your body be a cleansing moment when all the anxiety that besets you is expelled.
- Do this breathing exercise again.
- Do it again.
- Now remember a time of comfort and joy.
- Focus on God’s hand in creating, sustaining and guiding you to this place of peace.
- Finally, give thanks for what God has done in your life and say outloud “O GOD I GIVE YOUR NAME PRAISE AND I AM READY TO ENTER INTO THIS TIME OF WORSHIP.”
OPENING PRAYER
For Your abiding
presence, O God, hear our thanks. You have guided us through war,
sustained in times of want, and brought forth food from the fields.
In all of life, your hand has sustained us. Hear us now as we pray
for:
- Those who have fallen ill (provide
the names of those you know whose health is compromised)
- Those who live in isolation from
those they love (provide names of those you know who are isolated or
in quarantine)
- Those who provide health care in
midst of this pandemic (provide names of those you know who are
members of the health care team)
- For troubled parents who have yet
another worry on their hands.
- For those in positions of
leadership and government.
- For those involved in research who
are seeking a treatment and a vaccine.
- For your own personal health —
both physical and mental.
- For the nourishing of your soul
that trust and hope might remain strong.
For all this we
pray. Amen.
SCRIPTURE — PSALM 23 (NEW REVISED
STANDARD VERSION)
1The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.
2He makes me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside still waters;
3he restores my soul. He leads me in right paths for his name’s sake.
4Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil; for you are with me; your rod and your staff— they comfort me.
5You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
6Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord my whole life long.
A Sermon by The Rev. Jeffrey Long-Middleton
Bradford Congregational Church of the United Church of Christ March 22, 2020
“The Still Waters of Faith: An Exploration of the 23rd Psalm”
“…he leads me beside still waters…” Psalm 23:2i
His
job was on the line and his face carried the weight of uncertainty.
He did not know how long his job would last. Like all of us, the
present moment was all he knew, all he could trust.
Ellen
and I had gone out to eat while in New Orleans celebrating the
wedding of our friends’ daughter. We had gone to one of the
myriads of hotels and sat at the bar — in large part because they
had a television tuned to CNN. Louisiana had zero cases of Covid-19
when we left the state of Vermont on Wednesday. It was now four days
later and the number of cases had grown to 77 by Sunday. The hotel
had an eerie feeling of winding down, of becoming a mere shell of
unused capacity.
As
one is want to do, we talked with the barkeeper. There was no smile
on his face. He told us that he didn’t think the hotel would be
open by the end of the week. He would be without a job.
Continue reading guided worship 3/22/2020 →
