Roy Berkenbosch

This opening of Worship originally appeared in "Rattling Heaven's Door: A Six-Week Series on the Lord's Prayer."Opening of WorshipSong"O Lord, Hear My Prayer" (st. 2) Communaute de TaizéCall to WorshipWe gather on this Sunday to draw wisdom and courage from the One whose life and death and resurrection give us hope.In this time of worship, we draw apart from life’s busyness to wrestle God in prayer, as Jesus taught.Song"O Lord, Hear My Prayer" (st. 1) Communaute de Taizé

This is part of the worship series, "Rattling Heaven's Door”Series Introduction Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 Week 5 | Week 6Week Six: The sixth petitionFor yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.The Opening of WorshipOpening LitanyWe gather on this day to celebrate God’s everlasting power: our Maker, ever creating. Christ on a donkey, our King. Holy Spirit, brooding over the world.Holy, Holy, Holy, One God Almighty, your glory fills all the heavens and the earth!Song“O Lord, Hear My Prayer” (st. 2) BerthierSilenceWe wrestle God in prayer, as Christ taught:Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one. For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.SilenceA time of reflectionSong“Majesty” WesleyPassing of God’s PeacePrayer of ConfessionLike Jerusalem, O Christ, our sin must cause you to weep: For we confess, the things that make for peace are hidden from our eyes.We seek your mercy.Your house of prayer for all the nations, we have made a den of robbers.God, forgive us.With the crowds, we shout hosanna, little knowing who you really are.Christ, show us grace.Assurance of PardonDo not be afraid, daughter of Zion. Look, your king is coming, sitting on a donkey’s colt! (John 12:17)Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! (John 12:13)This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee.Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven!Hear the promise of this servant king: “Truly I tell you, if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and if you do not doubt in your heart, but believe that what you say will come to pass, it will be done for you. So I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” —Mark 11:23–24 NRSVUESong“Meekness and Majesty” KendrickSilenceSong“Nothing Can Trouble” St. TeresaPrayers of the PeopleThe focus of this prayer is petition and intercession, including an invitation for different people to offer spoken prayers.Proclamation of the WordPrayer for IlluminationScriptureMatthew 21:1–11Sermon "Yours is the Kingdom . . ." Sermon NotesWords like kingdom, power, and glory are risky words. The world loves them. Kings and presidents build kingdoms and defend them with murderous intensity. Power is often used for self-interest and the control of others. And glory is what comes to those who wield more power than others.The meaning of these three words is captured and summarized in the life of Jesus. Ideas of power and glory that are divorced from his life and ministry are either false or incomplete. He wields neither the power of the sword nor of the popular vote, but the power of obedience to the law of unfailing love, the power of forgiven sin, the power of relinquishment. The power of embrace. The subversive power of powerlessness.His glory is not that of raised flags and marching bands but of scars that speak of sacrificial love. His glory is, of all things, a cross. He is nothing like what the people expected then or even today. He is a contrary king, a contrary power, a contrary glory.And he bids us follow him. What might the world be like if we did? What might I be like?Response to the WordSongOfferingEveryone comes forward to place their offerings in a basketSong"You God Are My Firmament" (st. 1–2) WinterPrayerThe focus of this prayer is thanksgiving, including invitation for people to offer spoken prayers.Song"You God Are My Firmament" (st. 3) WinterService of Communion"Concelebration" WiseThis is a sung liturgy for the Lord's Supper composed by Joe Wise. During the communion, a singer introduced verses and phrases the congregation echoed. Other sung arrangements of the Lord's supper liturgy include "The Lord Be With You" RienstraDismissalClosing PrayerWe Go ForthGo into the world knowing that the kingdom, the power, and the glory are God’s.The world is charged with the grandeur of God.Song“To God Be the Glory” CrouchRevised Common LectionaryYear A: Lent—Liturgy of the Palms

This is part of the worship series, "Rattling Heaven's Door”Series Introduction Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 Week 5 | Week 6Week Five: The fifth petitionAnd lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. The Opening of WorshipSong"O Lord, Hear My Prayer" (st. 2) Communaute de TaizéCall to WorshipWe gather on this Sunday to draw wisdom and courage from the One whose life and death and resurrection give us hope.In this time of worship, we draw apart from life’s busyness to wrestle God in prayer, as Jesus taught.Song"O Lord, Hear My Prayer" (st. 1) Communaute de TaizéOpening LitanyOn this day, we step boldly, humbly into the presence of our God, praying with our suffering Savior the prayer he taught us to pray:Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one.Sustaining God, we know that peace lies in the heart of darkness—in the wilderness of the soul.Something prompts us to keep still, to trust and to listen to your voice.—adapted from a prayer by Thomas Merton in New Seeds of Contemplation (New York: New Directions, 1972), p. 237Lead us not into temptation.Deliver us from evil.Lord, lead us not into the temptation of self-righteousness. Keep us from false use of our tongues, or inappropriate silence. Do not let us fall into the temptation of self-righteousness or believing that we are free from sin.Save us Lord, from earth-destruction—this can’t be your will; save us from all that is evil, without and within. Grant commitment to that which is wholesome, and help us to be good to our neighbor, as we would have you do to us.SilenceA time of reflectionSong“My Faith Looks up to Thee” (st. 1, 3) PalmerPassing of God’s PeacePrayer of ConfessionWe bring to you, O Lord, the wastelands of our lives, when faith and hope are dust and ashes, when the fruit of the Spirit is not in evidence, when love does not find expression in us.—adapted from Worshiping Ecumenically (Geneva: WCC Publications, 1995), pp. 32-33Help us to follow you into the desert to fast, denying false luxury values, refusing the tempting ways of self-indulgence, the way of success at all costs. Jesus, our Brother, help us to follow you.Help us to follow you to town and city, to heal and restore, to cast out self-destructive fears.Jesus, our Savior, help us to follow you.—adapted from a prayer by Christopher Duraisingh (India) in Bread of Tomorrow, pp. 64-65You give us shelter in the wilderness and make for us a home in the wastelands.From you comes the courage to discover that the risen Christ will lead us from temptation and deliver us from evil.You offer daily bread, Lord, in this desert, in this wasteland of temptation; you extend living water.Holy is your name!Temptation flees from your light, O Lord, and evil cowers in the shadows.SilenceSong“Go to Dark Gethsemane” (st. 1) MontgomerySilenceThe people are invited to pray in silenceAssurance of PardonAs a father has compassion for his children,   so the Lord has compassion for those who fear him.For he knows how we were made;   he remembers that we are dust.But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting   on those who fear him,   and his righteousness to children’s children,to those who keep his covenant   and remember to do his commandments.—Psalm 103:13–14, 17–18 NRSVUESong“Nothing Can Trouble” St. TeresaPrayers of the PeopleThe focus of this prayer is petition and intercession, including an invitation for different people to offer spoken prayers.Proclamation of the WordScriptureMatthew 6:5–13; James 1:12–18Sermon "Lead Us Not into Temptation"Sermon Notes The Heidelberg Catechism teaches that we have three sworn enemies: the devil, the world, and our own flesh. Jesus teaches us to pray this petition because he knows the softness of our own convictions and the hard reality of deep temptation. He knows our tendency to take the road most traveled—the path of least resistance.The Bible takes the devil seriously. It says we have an adversary, a destroyer, the deceiver of the whole world who misrepresents God and creates confusion. He is sometimes called the accuser, for he despises God’s love for us; sometimes Diabolos, which means the splitting one—for he seeks to divide us from God and against each other and even against ourselves, causing us to dis-integrate. He prowls around this world like a lion looking for whom he might destroy like Tolkien’s Dark Lord.But we should not restrict our understanding of the evil one to just a personal threat. Consider also what Paul calls the “powers and principalities”—those organized, pervasive cultural forces that rage against the kingdom of God. These include the ideologies of “the economy,” “nation,” and “race.”The world tells us that when it comes to the powers, our task is to adjust, to adapt. Jesus tells us to pray: protect us from the seductive powers of our age, the cultural powers and forces that rationalize and perpetuate evil.Response to the WordSongOfferingEveryone comes forward to place their offerings in a basketSong"You God Are My Firmament" (st. 1–2) WinterPrayerThe focus of this prayer is thanksgiving, including invitation for people to offer spoken prayers.Song"You God Are My Firmament" (st. 3) WinterService of Communion"Concelebration" WiseThis is a sung liturgy for the Lord's Supper composed by Joe Wise. During the communion, a singer introduced verses and phrases the congregation echoed. Other sung arrangements of the Lord's supper liturgy include "The Lord Be With You" RienstraDismissalClosing PrayerWe Go ForthWe thank you, sustaining God, for deserts, places in which we wait—places of self-discovery.Lead us not into temptation, Lord, but deliver us from the evil one. Amen!Song“The Song of St. Patrick” HaugenParting BlessingShalom, my friends, until we meet again, shalom.Shalom.Revised Common LectionaryYear B: Season after Pentecost—Proper 17 (22)

This is part of the worship series, "Rattling Heaven's Door”Series Introduction Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 Week 5 | Week 6Week Four: The Fourth petitionForgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.The Opening of WorshipSong"O Lord, Hear My Prayer" (st. 2) Communaute de TaizéCall to WorshipWe gather on this Sunday to draw wisdom and courage from the One whose life and death and resurrection give us hope.In this time of worship, we draw apart from life’s busyness to wrestle God in prayer, as Jesus taught.Song"O Lord, Hear My Prayer" (st. 1) Communaute de TaizéOpening LitanyOn this day, we step boldly, humbly into the presence of our God, praying with our suffering Savior the prayer he taught us to pray:Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.With voices around the world, we call:Forgive!Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.Put aside from us our wicked ways, as we put aside the deeds of all who do us wrong.—Gifts of Many Cultures, p. 48.SilenceA time of reflectionSong“The Lord’s Prayer” (st. 1–6) Westra, PostPassing of God’s PeacePrayer of ConfessionLeader: Our God and Lord, we confess our trespasses with shame: Reader 1:We have remained deaf to the cries of those who hurt. We have remained dumb in the face of evil. We have allowed the shadow of death to hover over the innocently condemned. We have failed to proclaim with conviction your liberation for the oppressed. All:We repent. Men: Forgive our selfishness and greed, our unfaithfulness and pride, and give us the grace to forgive. Women:Help us, through forgiving others, to experience your forgiveness. All:For you will treat us as we treat others, and help us to fulfill our debts.—Gifts of Many Cultures, p. 51 Leader:You change our lives, Lord, and shatter our complacency. Reader 2:You take away the quietness of a clear conscience and guide us to forgiveness. You forgive every debt, every trespass and crossed boundary. Only then is that other peace made: Your peace.—inspired by a prayer from Dom Helder Camara in Bread of Tomorrow: Prayers for the Church Year Leader:Give us the insight to know which boundaries to respect, and which to overcome. All:Give us the strength to take down the barbs that keep us from each other, and from You. Leader:Give us the understanding to know that we have all trespassed, that we have all been forgiven. All:We cross the boundary into forgiveness! All thanks to Christ, who died for us—for each one of us.SilenceSong“Forgive Our Sins as We Forgive” (st. 1–4) HerklotsAssurance of PardonAs a father has compassion for his children,   so the Lord has compassion for those who fear him.For he knows how we were made;   he remembers that we are dust.But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting   on those who fear him,   and his righteousness to children’s children,to those who keep his covenant   and remember to do his commandments.—Psalm 103:13–14, 17–18 NRSVUEPrayers of the PeopleThe focus of this prayer is petition and intercession, including an invitation for different people to offer spoken prayers.Song“Nothing Can Trouble” St. TeresaProclamation of the WordPrayer for IlluminationScriptureMatthew 6:9–15; 18:21–35Sermon “Forgive Us Our Trespasses”Sermon NotesThe marvelous parable that Jesus tells in Matthew 18 is at once a story of abundant grace and profound warning, for the merciful master becomes, at the refusal of passed on forgiveness, the stern judge.This petition is really a prayer for release from whatever prevents us from moving into the hopeful future made possible by Jesus Christ. Forgiveness among humans is not in the order of absolution, but freedom from the past. When we do not forgive others their debt to us, we are in fact not free ourselves, for we remain attached to them. And as we hold them bound, so we remain bound. The good news is that the forgiveness we extend to others does not well up from our own strength but comes from our own experience of having been forgiven in the first place by God.Forgiveness is God’s answer to the banal cycles of hostility, violence, and revenge. This petition thus becomes a prayer for an end to wars, feuds, and grudges. It calls for restorative justice and mediation as ways of resolving conflict and dispute in peaceable ways that promote renewal and restoration of persons to their communities.Response to the WordSongOfferingEveryone comes forward to place their offerings in a basketSong"You God Are My Firmament" (st. 1–2) WinterPrayerThe focus of this prayer is thanksgiving, including invitation for people to offer spoken prayers.Song"You God Are My Firmament" (st. 3) WinterService of Communion"Concelebration" WiseThis is a sung liturgy for the Lord's Supper composed by Joe Wise. During the communion, a singer introduced verses and phrases the congregation echoed. Other sung arrangements of the Lord's supper liturgy include "The Lord Be With You" RienstraDismissalClosing PrayerWe Go ForthWe thank you, gracious God, for forgiving our trespasses against you and against each other; for restoring the boundaries we trample, heedless of respect, care, or consideration; for paying our debt.We thank you for giving us the way to try again, the means to extend our hands and cross the boundaries to one another—and to you.We are indebted to you, O God, for each gift in our lives.Help us to forgive debts and mend what is broken; give us all new hearts. Amen.Parting BlessingShalom, my friends, until we meet again, shalom.Shalom.Revised Common LectionaryYear A: Season after Pentecost—Proper 19 (24)

This is part of the worship series, "Rattling Heaven's Door”Series Introduction Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 Week 5 | Week 6Week Three: The third petitionGive us today our daily bread. The Opening of WorshipSong"O Lord, Hear My Prayer" (st. 2) Communaute de TaizéCall to WorshipWe gather on this Sunday to draw wisdom and courage from the One whose life and death and resurrection give us hope.In this time of worship, we draw apart from life’s busyness to wrestle God in prayer, as Jesus taught.Song"O Lord, Hear My Prayer" (st. 1) Communaute de TaizéOpening LitanyLeader:On this day, we step boldly, humbly into the presence of our God, praying with our suffering Savior the prayer he taught us to pray: All:Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Leader:With voices around the world, we call: All:Give bread! Leader:Give us today our daily bread: Reader 1:This day, God, people are hungry— Reader 2:Children lie down at night with empty stomachs. Reader 1:People everywhere search with broken hearts. All:We are hungry for justice and mercy, for peace and compassion. Leader:We call out for daily bread, for daily needs: Reader 1:for water that flows pure from a mountain, Reader 2:for air that blows clean across the prairies, Reader 1:for foods planted, tended, harvested, and shared, Reader 2:for land and sky filled with life and renewal, Reader 1:for governments that are just, Reader 2:for homes that are places of rest and play, Reader 1:for families, friends, partners, neighbors who walk with us, comfort us, love us . . . All:Give people everywhere their living Bread.SilenceA time of reflectionSong“The Lord’s Prayer” (st. 1–5) Westra, PostPassing of God’s PeacePrayer of Confession Leader:We confess, God, that we have hoarded and misused the bread you so generously send. Reader 1:We have carelessly paved over places that are better suited for growing food and sustaining life; Reader 2:we have poisoned waters better used for drinking; Reader 1:we have polluted the air your creation breathes every day. All:Forgive us, nurturing God. Reader 2:Give us open eyes to see the way of renewal. Reader 1:Give us open hands to share abundantly. All:Give us faith to know that you hold every day in your hands.Song“I Am the Bread of Life”(st. 1-2, 4)ToolanLeader:Surely, God is the eternal giver of bread, the One Source of everlasting life. Come, feast freely in that grace. Men:Today we open ourselves to the power of bread freely given in our lives and our world. Women: Today we extend our hands in caring toward humanity.SilenceAssurance of PardonAs a father has compassion for his children,   so the Lord has compassion for those who fear him.For he knows how we were made;   he remembers that we are dust.But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting   on those who fear him,   and his righteousness to children’s children,to those who keep his covenant   and remember to do his commandments.—Psalm 103:13–14, 17–18 NRSVUESong“God Bless to Us Our Bread” Bell Prayers of the PeopleThe focus of this prayer is petition and intercession. People are invited to pray in silence.Song“Nothing Can Trouble” St. TeresaProclamation of the WordPrayer for IlluminationScriptureMatthew 6:11; Exodus 16; John 6Sermon “Give Us Today Our Daily Bread”Sermon Notes This prayer has obvious and immediate application to the problems of hunger, poverty, and injustice around the world. What is sobering about this petition is the awareness that hundreds of millions of people on our planet do not have their daily bread. Upwards of 25,000 children die of hunger-related causes each day.In Exodus 16, God shows Israel that they have truly been delivered from Egypt’s economy of scarcity and are now free to live in the assurance of God’s daily provision. Hence the prohibition against hoarding manna and the warning that what is hoarded will rot. Between the storehouses of Egypt (symbol of the economy of death) and the tent of meeting, God graciously gives Israel an experience of daily provision in the wilderness.In John 6, Jesus announces that he is the bread of life. Our prayer for daily bread thus becomes a prayer for fellowship with him. Life with Jesus is life in the kingdom, and that implies justice for all, including daily bread. Note that this petition asks for our daily bread. And it opens out to expressions of gratitude for bread received, and for careful living so that all may eat.Response to the WordSongOfferingEveryone comes forward to place their offerings in a basketSong"You God Are My Firmament" (st. 1–2) WinterPrayerThe focus of this prayer is thanksgiving, including invitation for people to offer spoken prayers.Song"You God Are My Firmament" (st. 3) WinterService of Communion"Concelebration" WiseThis is a sung liturgy for the Lord's Supper composed by Joe Wise. During the communion, a singer introduced verses and phrases the congregation echoed. Other sung arrangements of the Lord's supper liturgy include "The Lord Be With You" RienstraDismissalClosing PrayerWe Go ForthGo into the world with faith, hope and love, knowing that God hears our petitions.Let us recommit ourselves daily: hallowing God’s name, doing God’s will, bringing God’s kingdom to earth.Seek bread for the people living next to us, for those who are suffering, for those who are hungry.Let us never tire of working and praying for the daily bread that all of humanity and all of creation need.Song“Taste and See” (Psalm 34) Parting BlessingShalom, my friends, until we meet again, shalom.Shalom.Revised Common LectionaryYear A: Season after Pentecost—Proper 20 (25)Year B: Season after Pentecost—Proper 12 (17)Year B: Season after Pentecost—Proper 13 (18)Year B: Season after Pentecost—Proper 14 (19)Year B: Season after Pentecost—Proper 15 (20)Year B: Season after Pentecost—Proper 16 (21)

This is part of the worship series, "Rattling Heaven's Door”Series Introduction Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 Week 5 | Week 6Week Two: The second petitionYour kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.The Opening of WorshipSong"O Lord, Hear My Prayer" (st. 2) Communaute de TaizéCall to WorshipWe gather on this Sunday to draw wisdom and courage from the One whose life and death and resurrection give us hope.In this time of worship, we draw apart from life’s busyness to wrestle God in prayer, as Jesus taught.Song"O Lord, Hear My Prayer" (st. 1) Communaute de TaizéOpening LitanyFor this litany, you will need a small chorus of "voices"—a group smaller than the congregation. The effect can likely be acheived with anywhere from 3–10 people.Leader:On this day, we step boldly, humbly into the presence of our God, praying with our suffering Savior the prayer he taught us to pray: All:Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Leader:With voices around the world we call: All:May your kingdom come! Voices:To those who are hungry,those who are weeping,those who are despairing,those who suffer from wars,those who have waited centuries for a truly human life. Leader:Grant us hope that will strengthen our resolve to work for this world, despite so many conflicts, threats, and shortcomings. All:We acknowledge that much is broken, and yet we believe in working for renewal, for justice and peace. Voices: May the earth shine in its beauty, in its ability to heal. All:May we see possibilities before us. Leader:Grant us vision . . . All:that we may boldly add our voices to a story unfolding through history: the coming of God’s kingdom. Leader:Grant us courage to do your will—at all times, in all places, for all people. All:May your kingdom come like a spring rain, like streams running to rivers.SilenceA time of reflectionSong“The Lord’s Prayer” (st. 1–3) Passing of God’s peaceSong“Isaiah the Prophet” PattersonPrayer of ConfessionWe confess, God of heaven and earth, that our fears and our insecurities, our pride and our stubbornness lead us away from your kingdom.We fail to see the beauty and the complexity of your world . . . the people, cultures, languages, geographies that you have woven together.Give us open eyes to see the world as it is and to see ourselves as we are.Give us hope to continue believing in what you intend us all to be.We come to you, bowed by the evidence of earth torn and heaven scorned. Yet you will make both new. Encircle us and our world with your healing won through sacrifice.Extend to us your cord of life, assure us of your forgiveness, and give us the courage to call your kingdom near.On earth as it is in heaven!We are your family, your image on earth, friends, brothers, sisters of Christ. One world community with Christ as our center.Assurance of PardonAs a father has compassion for his children,   so the Lord has compassion for those who fear him.For he knows how we were made;   he remembers that we are dust.But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting   on those who fear him,   and his righteousness to children’s children,to those who keep his covenant   and remember to do his commandments.—Psalm 103:13–14, 17–18 NRSVUESong“Seek Ye First” (st. 1–2) LaffertyPrayers of the PeopleThe focus of this prayer is petition and intercession. People are invited to pray their petitions in silenceSong“Nothing Can Trouble” St. TeresaProclamation of the WordPrayer for IlluminationScriptureMatthew 20:20–28Sermon“The Kingdom for Which We Pray”Sermon NotesThe petition “your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” is a profound prayer with implications in many directions. It asks for God to exercise God’s rule and authority in every part of the creation. That implies a rejection of other rules and authorities that are out of sync with the reign of God.Who is king in our lives? Unless God is King, kingship brings no blessing but rather steals blessing from the very people it was meant to serve. Power and wealth, might and militia, apart from the staying, guiding hand of godly wisdom, turns to bitter ideology and wasted lives.The gospel points us to Jesus as the true King. He redefines kingship. And his kingdom reverses the usual way of doing things.Response to the WordSong“God Is Alive” (st. 1-4) HassOfferingEveryone comes forward to place their offerings in a basketSong“You, God, Are My Firmament” (st. 1) WinterPrayerPeople are invited to offer prayers of praise in silenceSong“You, God, Are My Firmament” (st. 2-3) WinterService of Communion"Concelebration" WiseThis is a sung liturgy for the Lord's Supper composed by Joe Wise. During the communion, a singer introduced verses and phrases the congregation echoed. Other sung arrangements of the Lord's supper liturgy include "The Lord Be With You" RienstraDismissalClosing PrayerWe Go ForthGo into the world with faith, hope, and love, knowing that God hears our petitions.Let us recommit ourselves to working diligently for God’s creation, for the people living next to us, for those who are suffering in this world.Let us never tire of working and praying for God’s kingdom to unfold in all its glory.Your will be done!Parting Song“Sent by the Lord Am I” AguiarParting BlessingShalom, my friends, until we meet again, shalom.Shalom.

This is part of the worship series, "Rattling Heaven's Door”Series Introduction Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 Week 5 | Week 6Week One: The First PetitionOur Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.The Opening of WorshipSong"O Lord, Hear My Prayer" (st. 2) Communaute de TaizéCall to WorshipWe gather on this Sunday to draw wisdom and courage from the One whose life and death and resurrection give us hope.In this time of worship, we draw apart from life’s busyness to wrestle God in prayer, as Jesus taught.Song"O Lord, Hear My Prayer" (st. 1) Communaute de Taizé Opening LitanyOn this day, we step boldly, humbly into the presence of our God, praying with our suffering Savior as he taught us to pray:Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.With voices around the world, we call:Creator God of many names, the beginning and the end of all there is, who created sacred ground out of chaos and birthed the earth: blessed be your name.Great Spirit whose home is anywhere and everywhere, beyond stars and moon, who lives in Afghanistan, Cuba, and Eritrea, with the hungry and dying children in Somalia, Bosnia, and Iraq: hallowed be your name.—Gifts of Many Cultures, p. 48ff.Our Parent God in heaven, who works in schools, farms, and faraway places, who doctors the sick and ministers to the poor and unwanted: holy is your name.Our God in heaven, holy is your name.SilenceA time of reflectionSong“The Lord’s Prayer” (st. 1) Westra, Post Passing of God’s peacePrayer of ConfessionWe confess that we are a brokenhearted people, unable to change.We do not hallow your name in your children, made in your image, who go to school hungry or not at all, in the emotionally and mentally fragile who walk the streets alone.We confess that we are a brokenhearted people.We do not hallow your name in children sent to war, in the elderly left homeless, in our inability to forgive.We do not hallow your name or each other—the ones who sit or walk beside us without hope.We are a broken people.Song“How I Have Longed” WinterWe bring our broken lives to you, the One who hallows life. Encircle us with your healing, won through sacrifice, with your many-colored cord of grace.Extend to us this cord of life, assure us of your forgiveness, and give us the courage to honor the holiness of your hallowed name.Holy is your Name!We are threads bound together in that name: friends, brothers, sisters of Christ. A hundred hands, held together and washed by the blood of the lamb.SilenceAssurance of PardonAs a father has compassion for his children,   so the Lord has compassion for those who fear him.For he knows how we were made;   he remembers that we are dust.But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting   on those who fear him,   and his righteousness to children’s children,to those who keep his covenant   and remember to do his commandments.—Psalm 103:13–14, 17–18 NRSVUESong“Nothing Can Trouble” St. TeresaPrayers of the PeopleThe focus of this prayer is petition and intercession, including an invitation for different people to offer spoken prayers.Proclamation of the WordPrayer for IlluminationScriptureMatthew 9:1; Ezekiel 36:22–28; John 12:23ff.Sermon “Hallowed Be Your Name”Sermon NotesAddressing God as our Father reminds us that God clings to us with parental determination and love, particularly when we remember that the idea of God as Father stems from Israel’s experience of liberation: “out of Egypt I have called my son.” By addressing our prayers to God in heaven, we are reminded that our help lies not in the transitory and arbitrary, but in the steadfastness of heaven.This first petition, make your name holy, is really asking God to live up to God’s own reputation among the nations. As we see in Ezekiel, the holiness of God’s name is completely wrapped up in God’s actions of justice, mercy and salvation. The way God’s name is made holy is by restoring what has been ruined—renovating the run-down, resettling the refugees, embracing the exile.A second window of insight comes from John 12:23ff. Jesus announces that by his suffering and death he will glorify the Father’s name. From this we learn that the holiness of God is a cross, a crown of thorns, a wounded man. Jesus’ death is a consequence of his radical obedience to the demands of love and justice, his commitment to renewal. In the words of Martin Luther, we need to see God’s holiness in the crucified son of man.So the summons to “be holy as God is holy” is not an invitation out of the world but into the world in a life of service and self-denial. In a word, holiness looks for justice.Response to the WordSongOfferingEveryone comes forward to place their offerings in a basketSong"You God Are My Firmament" (st. 1–2) WinterPrayerThe focus of this prayer is thanksgiving, including invitation for people to offer spoken prayers.Song"You God Are My Firmament" (st. 3) WinterService of Communion"Concelebration" WiseThis is a sung liturgy for the Lord's Supper composed by Joe Wise. During the communion, a singer introduced verses and phrases the congregation echoed. Other sung arrangements of the Lord's supper liturgy include "The Lord Be With You" RienstraDismissalClosing PrayerWe Go ForthMost High in heaven, hallowed be your name.Parting Song“Sing a Song of Jubilation” WinterParting BlessingShalom, my friends, until we meet again, shalom.Shalom.Revised Common LectionaryYear B: Lent—Fifth Sunday in Lent

If I say that good worship requires good chemistry, I imagine you’ll think I mean the kind of chemistry that exists between preachers and musicians, or between hymn text and melody. But at The King’s University College we recently discovered that good worship can also include good chemistry of the traditional bubbling test tube, don’t-spill-the-acid variety—and we learned that the converse is also true: good chemistry requires good worship.

Justice + worship = passion. That succinct one-liner was offered by Elise, a college student, in response to two days of exploring the relationship between justice and worship at a recent conference (cosponsors included Reformed Worship and the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship) at The King’s University College. Clearly she sensed that seeking and doing justice and offering worship are essential companions in the Christian life.

The Lord’s Prayer bristles with a hopeful, contrary agitation. A finely embroidered version of it may hang in the family kitchen under a picture of the praying hands, exuding an air of simple piety, but this prayer is hardly an invitation to tranquillity. On the contrary, the Lord’s Prayer urges us to examine our loves and loyalties and engages us in personal and social transformation. Who will you serve? Who will you trust? What do you hope for? What loyalties set your agenda?