A Simple Maundy Thursday Service

Posted on March 30, 2023 by revlisad

HAND WASHING
As people arrive, they’re encouraged to wash each other’s hands. We choose to do this in our courtyard, outside the entrance to the sanctuary.

Needed: Pitchers with water, soaps, bowls, towels, tables, facilitators

Facilitator Script for Washing One Another’s Hands
The facilitator welcomes people to the handwashing station, explains the meaning of the practice, and what to do. People are encouraged to come to the washing stations in groups of two or more.

Jesus washed feet. We wash hands.The body part is not the essential point. We follow Christ in serving one another, in being vulnerable to one another. It is a sign of Christ’s love at work in us.

One person places their hands over the bowl. Another person pours water over the first person’s hands and uses soap to wash them. Take your time and express your care. The second person rinses and dries the first person’s hands. Now switch roles.

After the hand washing, as persons enter the sanctuary, they receive a handout with John 13:1-17, 34-35 NRSV plus reflection questions. They’re encouraged to read and reflect on the scripture as they wait for everyone to have their hands washed.

Reflection Questions:

What word or phrase in this passage captures your attention?
What connections do you see to your own experience or current situation? To other scriptures? Or to the character and promises of God?
What is God inviting you to trust, say, or do?
How will your life be different because you encountered this scripture today?
Talk to God about what you just experienced or anything else on your heart.

Optional: As people wait, play some soft background music. You could also show THIS YOUTUBE VIDEO that combines instrumental piano music and scriptures about forgiveness by Dan Musselman.

Once everyone has gathered, begin the service.

OPENING SONG
This can be any song of your choosing.
We used Servant Song, CCLI Song # 72673
Richard Gillard © Words: 1977 Universal Music – Brentwood Benson Publishing (Admin. by Brentwood-Benson Music Publishing, Inc.) Music: 1977 Universal Music – Brentwood Benson Publishing (Admin. by Brentwood-Benson Music Publishing, Inc.)

OPENING PRAYER: Make Me Your Love, by Lisa Degrenia
ALL:
Rabbi Jesus, Promised Messiah
Son of the One, True, Living God

Fill me with your Spirit
Make me your love

It is your command
It is your way
It is your gift
It is You and your work

Yes, make me your witness
And yes, make me your will
But first and always, make me your love

SCRIPTURE: READER’S THEATRE: SELECTED VERSES OF JOHN 13
Three Readers: Narrator, Jesus, Peter

NARRATOR:
Jesus was troubled in spirit

JESUS:
Very truly, I tell you, one of you will betray me.

NARRATOR
The disciples looked at one another, uncertain of whom he was speaking.

One of his disciples—the one whom Jesus loved—was reclining next to him; Simon Peter, therefore, motioned to him to ask Jesus of whom he was speaking. So while reclining next to Jesus, he asked him, “Lord, who is it?”

JESUS
It is the one to whom I give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish.

NARRATOR
So when he had dipped the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas son of Simon Iscariot.
After Judas received the piece of bread, Satan entered into him.

JESUS
Do quickly what you are going to do.

NARRATOR
Now no one at the table knew why Jesus said this to him. Some thought that, because Judas had the common purse, Jesus was telling him, “Buy what we need for the festival”; or, that he should give something to the poor.

So, after receiving the piece of bread, Judas immediately went out. And it was night.
Later Simon Peter said to Jesus,

PETER
Lord, where are you going?

JESUS
Where I am going, you cannot follow me now; but you will follow afterward.

PETER
Lord, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.

JESUS
Will you lay down your life for me?
Very truly, I tell you, before the cock crows, you will have denied me three times.

PRAYER OF CONFESSION: Denial, by Steve Garnaas Holmes
ALL:
I deny you, Christ when I deny my own divinity.
I deny you when I deny the divinity of those I condemn.
I deny you when I do not hear you in the oppressed and rejected.
I deny you when I turn from my glorious giftedness.
I deny you when I am afraid to stand with those at risk.
I deny you when in my guilt I doubt your love.
And still, you love.

Let remembering’s bitterness awaken me.
Let my weeping be my wisdom.

To the frightening, to the infinite,
to the compassionate, to the holy,
help me say yes.

Let me die with yes on my lips.

Moment of silence

SACRAMENT OF HOLY COMMUNION

SCRIPTURE: JESUS PRAYS FOR HIS FOLLOWERS AND US
Excerpts of John 17, NRSV

ONE: Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son so that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all people, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one.

Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.

I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

Father, I desire that those also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory, which you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.

CLOSING SONG:
This can be any song of your choosing.
We used Cornerstone followed by the Chorus of How Great Thou Art

Cornerstone, CCLI Song # 6158927
Edward Mote | Eric Liljero | Jonas Myrin | Reuben Morgan | William Batchelder Bradbury
© 2011 Hillsong MP Songs (Admin. by Capitol CMG Publishing)

How Great Thou Art, CCLI Song # 14181
Stuart Wesley Keene Hine
© Copyright 1949 and 1953 Stuart Hine Trust CIO Stuart K. Hine Trust (Administration: USA All rights by Capitol CMG Publishing

BENEDICTION

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Service conceived and compiled by Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia and Macon Armistead © 2023

You are welcome to use this work in a worship setting without asking permission. It’s always a treat to hear from you if you’re using it. Leave a comment for information and permission to publish this work in a book, blog, etc.

Prayers Inspired by Jesus and the Woman at the Well, John 4.5-42

Posted on February 20, 2023 by revlisad

Opening Prayer
We remember the woman at the well –
her questions, her truth, her witness.
Pour out your Holy Spirit upon us, so like her
we may ask candidly,
reveal ourselves deeply, and
share your Good News freely.
Pour out your Holy Spirit upon us,
so we may worship you in spirit and truth.
Amen.

Prayer of Confession
Jesus, we thirst
We thirst for love and belonging
We thirst for security and provision
We thirst for truth and hope
We thirst for healing for our wounds
We thirst for mercy for our sin, our guilt, our shame

Time of silent confession

Assurance of Pardon
Jesus, you pour yourself out for us and the world
so we may be born again of water and the Spirit,
so we may never thirst again

We thank you and praise you for your eternal blessing and forgiveness.
Help us lead others to the well of your saving love.
Amen

****
John 4:5-42 is read on the 3rd Sunday of Lent, Year A

Prayers Inspired by Jesus and the Woman at the Well © 2023 Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia
You are welcome to use this work in a worship setting with proper attribution.
Leave a comment for information and permission to publish this work in any form.

Two Lenten Bible Reading Plans for the Gospel of John

Posted on February 6, 2023 by revlisad

Yay! You’re ready to download a great resource.

READING PLAN #1: The Simple Gospel of John Bible Reading Plan

5 readings per week for 8 weeks, beginning the week of February 19th, the week of Ash Wednesday, and continuing through the week after Easter, April 9th.
A simple plan to help you hear from God through scripture reading- Stillness, Attention, Connection, Invitation to Action, and Prayer.
The reading plan is designed with grace. If I use a 7-day-a-week plan I get behind and I get discouraged and I drop out. A 5-day reading plan leaves room to catch up and to rest.
Consider printing the plan on card stock and using it as a bookmark.

CLICK HERE to download the reading plan

READING PLAN #2: Gospel of John Bible Reading Plan With Prompts

6 readings per week for 7 weeks, beginning the week of February 26th, the first full week of Lent, and continuing through the week after Easter, April 9th.
A simple plan to help you hear from God through scripture reading- Scripture, Observation, Application, and Prayer.
The reading plan includes a prayer prompt or simple action to help bring the reading for the day to life.

2023-gospel-of-john-lenten-reading-plan-with-prayer-prompts Download

Modern Ash Wednesday Service

Posted on January 19, 2022 by revlisad

PRELUDE
People are encouraged to enter in silence. Lights are dim.
As people gather, words appropriate to the day appear and disappear on the screen.
You can create your own presentation or find one for free online here.

INVITATION TO THE OBSERVANCE OF LENTEN DISCIPLINE
The Pastor reminds the congregation of the origins of Lent and Ash Wednesday, following it with an invitation to observe a holy Lent through various Lenten disciplines. An excellent invitation to use or model your invitation after may be found online in the United Methodist Book of Worship, p. 322.

SCRIPTURE AND SONG
At the end of the invitation, an acoustic guitar and djembe begin to play the introduction to the first song. We are indebted to Taylor Burton-Edwards, compiler of an excellent Contemporary Service for Ash Wednesday, for the idea of alternating the reading of scripture with the haunting song O-So-So from The Faith We Sing, #2232.

ALL SINGING: O-So-So (The Faith We Sing, #2232, Verse 1 twice)
Following the singing, a shofar blows.
A recording will work if you are unable to locate and play one live.
A person stands in the midst of the congregation and reads.
Do not project the words to the scripture as it is read.
The instruments continue during the reading.

ONE VOICE Joel 2:1-2, 12-17a (NRSV)
Blow the trumpet in Zion; sound the alarm on my holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the Lord is coming, it is near— a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness! Like blackness spread upon the mountains a great and powerful army comes; their like has never been from of old, nor will be again after them in ages to come.

Yet even now, says the Lord, return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; rend your hearts and not your clothing. Return to the Lord, your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and relents from punishing. Who knows whether he will not turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind him, a grain offering and a drink offering for the Lord, your God? Blow the trumpet in Zion; sanctify a fast; call a solemn assembly; gather the people. Sanctify the congregation; assemble the aged; gather the children, even infants at the breast. Let the bridegroom leave his room, and the bride her canopy. Between the vestibule and the altar let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep.

ALL SINGING: O-So-So (The Faith We Sing, #2232, Verse 2 twice)
Following the singing, a person stands in the midst of the congregation and reads.
Do not project the words to the scripture as it is read.
The instruments continue during the reading.

ONE VOICE 2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:2 (NRSV)
We entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. As we work together with him, we urge you also not to accept the grace of God in vain. For he says, “At an acceptable time I have listened to you, and on a day of salvation I have helped you.” See, now is the acceptable time; see, now is the day of salvation!

ALL SINGING: O-So-So (The Faith We Sing, #2232, Verse 3 twice)
Following the singing, a person stands in the midst of the congregation and reads.
Do not project the words to the scripture as it is read.
The instruments continue during the reading.
Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21 may be substituted for the verses from Psalm 103.

ONE VOICE Psalm 103:8-14 (Adapted from the New Jerusalem Bible)
The Lord is tenderness and pity, slow to anger and rich in faithful love;
His indignation does not last forever, nor his resentment remain for all time;
He does not treat us as our sins deserve, nor repay us as befits our offenses.
As the height of heaven above earth,
so strong is his faithful love for those who revere him.
As the distance of east from west, so far from us does he put our faults.
As tenderly as a father treats his children, so the Lord treats those who revere him;
He knows of what we are made, he remembers that we are dust.

ALL SINGING: O-So-So (The Faith We Sing, #2232, Verse 4 twice)
Instruments and singing end before the next prayer

THANKSGIVING OVER THE ASHES
The Pastor offers a prayer of thanksgiving, calling to mind the many meanings associated with ashes: our creation out of dust, mourning our sin (sackcloth and ashes), and our mortality (eventual return to dust). An excellent prayer to use or model your prayer after may be found online in the United Methodist Book of Worship, p. 323.

IMPOSITION OF ASHES
Persons are invited forward to receive ashes on their forehead, place their offering on the altar table, and pray at the altar rail. The words projected as persons gathered are again projected. The guitar plays softly.

The following words are traditionally spoken by those applying the ashes as the ashes are received:
Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return. (Gen. 3:19)
Repent, and believe the gospel.

CONFESSION AFTER THE IMPOSITION OF ASHES
Show the video Confession Starter from Shift Worship.

TIME OF SILENT CONFESSION
After a few minutes of silent confession, project the words to the following scripture.

ALL SPEAKING: Psalm 51:1-3, 7, 10-17 (NIV)
Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions.
Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.
For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me.
Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will turn back to you.
Save me from blood-guilt, O God, the God who saves me,
and my tongue will sing of your righteousness.
O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise.
You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it;
you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

WORD OF GRACE AND PARDON

SONG: Come Thou Fount (United Methodist Hymnal, #400)
Or another song of your choosing

BENEDICTION

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First Offered at Community United Methodist Church, DeBary FL
Modern Ash Wednesday Service Compilation
© 2012 Nicole Sallee and Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia
You are welcome to use this work in a worship setting with proper attribution.
Please contact Nicole and Lisa for information and permission to publish this work in any form.

The United Methodist Book of Worship
(The United Methodist Publishing House, Nashville. 1992)

Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION ®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked NRSV are taken from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Two Pockets: Healthy, Faithful Perspective

Posted on October 15, 2021 by revlisad

A well respected and beloved Polish Rabbi named Simcha Bunim used to say,
“Every person should have two pockets.
In one, there should be a note that says ‘for my sake was the world created.’
In the second, there should be a note that says, ‘I am dust and ashes.’”

Rabbi Bunim went on to say one must know how to use the notes, each one in its proper place and at the right time.

He knows us well

When misused, we hunker down in one pocket and make a home
We use a note to justify, judge, and deflect self examination

For my sake the world was created- I’m all that and a bag of chips
I am dust and ashes- Eeyore is my best buddy

But, when we open to the wisdom of the notes, we accept we are not one or the other. We realize we are both notes. Both pockets. We see the wisdom of the notes in the wisdom of God’s Word which goes back and forth, naming us and reminding us who we are- beloved and dust. We are both and we need both.

When we are too proud, too entitled, too full of ourselves, too self-sufficient, we reach in a pocket and remember anokhi afar va’efer, I am dust and ashes
I am small
I am worthless
I am mortal
I am unclean
I miss the mark, I stray from the path- that’s what the word sin literally means in Greek
I am like everyone else who has ever lived and who will live
I need a savior

Psalm 90:3 NRS
You turn us back to dust, and say, “Turn back, you mortals.”

Ecclesiastes 3:20b NIV
All come from dust, and to dust all return.

Luke 9:41 NRSV
“O unbelieving and perverse generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you and put up with you?”

In Luke 3, John the Baptist is right to remind us we are a “brood of vipers” and of our need of repentance, to turn back to God’s path, not just with our words but our actions.

Then, when we are discouraged, overwhelmed and losing faith (when we feel like dirt) we reach in the other pocket and remember bishvili nivra ha’olam, for my sake was the world created.
I am a unique and beloved child of the King of kings
Christ loved me enough to die for me and raise me to new life
I am fearfully and wonderfully made
I am called
I am gifted
I am empowered by the Holy Spirit to do great things for God
God is using me in the salvation and transformation of the world

Psalm 8:4-8 NRSV
What are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them? Yet you have made them a little lower than God, and crowned them with glory and honor. You have given them dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under their feet, all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas.

Psalm 139:14 NRSV
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; that I know very well.

We stand with Jesus in our baptism, water washed, anointed with the fiery dove of the Holy Spirit, named and claimed by God as beloved children.

Jesus stepped into the water not out of his need but of ours
To remind us of our great need- I am dust and ashes
To remind us who we are in Him- For my sake the world was created

Prayer for Perspective
Eternal and Beautiful God,
The One who births us and names us
Grant us perspective
A holy centering
of truth, humility, and our belovedness

Not too high that we fall away from you
our need of you
our need of others

Not too low that we fail to trust
to reach out for you
to reach out with you

In you, with you, for you we are
humble and powerful
unique and alike
common and regal
priceless and dust

Grant us perspective, Merciful One
A holy centering
Let no voice be too loud
Or too soft
So we may persevere in faith
in hope
in following
in becoming
Amen

*********************
I am indebted to Rabbi Jack Moline for a blog post which provided much of the information and inspiration for this reflection.

Two Pocket Devotion and Prayer for Perspective © 2014 Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia
You are very welcome to use this in a worship or group setting with proper attribution.

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