July 11, 2010

I got a break from leading worship for the second week in June. Today the focus of our gathering was on the church as the body of Christ. We are the way in which we, and those around us, see Jesus. It is in him that we live and move and have our being. I wasn't too happy with how this confession came out, but it's here for posterity...and I really liked the combination of verses for the assurance of pardon.

Come Thou Fount Of Every Blessing

Confession

God,

You created us
to bear your image.

We are the body of Christ,
yet we live fractured lives.
We measure ourselves on our
successes and failures,
rather than our participation
in the body,
the community,
the being of Christ.

God,

You created us
to bear your image.

Forgive us for how difficult it is
for those around us to see us as
the body of Christ.
May the glass they see through darkly
become clearer and more radiant,
as we live and move and have our being
through him,
with him,
and in him.

Amen.

Assurance of Pardon

"For In him we live and move and have our being."
As some of your own poets have said,
"We are his offspring." (Acts 17)

Can a woman forget her nursing child,
or show no compassion for the child of her womb?
As a mother comforts her child,
so will I comfort you, says the Lord. (Isaiah 49&66)

God of Beauty (Solomon's Porch)

Communion Song: From The Inside Out (Hillsong)

Closing Song: The Benediction (Timothy Meaney)