March 15, 2020
Collected from:
Volume 2: Take our moments and our days for advent through pentecost – An Anabaptist prayer book
With God Daily – Sky Jethani
Regular font = one person reads
Bold Italics = everyone reads
Opening Sentence
For this you have been called
Because Christ also suffered for you.
Call to Praise
The Lord is my light and my salvation whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?
Glory
Glory to the Father,
And to the Son
And to the Holy Spirit
As it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen
Psalms 95
1 Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord;
let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation.
2 Let us come before him with thanksgiving
and extol him with music and song.
3 For the Lord is the great God,
the great King above all gods.
4 In his hand are the depths of the earth,
and the mountain peaks belong to him.
5 The sea is his, for he made it,
and his hands formed the dry land.
6 Come, let us bow down in worship,
let us kneel before the Lord our Maker;
7 for he is our God
and we are the people of his pasture,
the flock under his care.
Today, if only you would hear his voice,
8 “Do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah,[a]
as you did that day at Massah[b] in the wilderness,
9 where your ancestors tested me;
they tried me, though they had seen what I did.
10 For forty years I was angry with that generation;
I said, ‘They are a people whose hearts go astray,
and they have not known my ways.’
11 So I declared on oath in my anger,
‘They shall never enter my rest.’”
Thanksgiving
Our souls are waiting for God,
Our help and our shield.
Our hearts are glad in you, Lord,
Because we trust in your holy name.
(offer prayers of thanksgiving, what are we thankful for?)
Let your steadfast love, O Lord, be upon us,
Even as we wait for you.
Amen
Call to discipleship
One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.
Let us worship the Lord our God, and serve God alone.
Read Exodus 17: 1-7
17 The whole Israelite community set out from the Desert of Sin, traveling from place to place as the Lord commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. 2 So they quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.”
Moses replied, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you put the Lord to the test?”
3 But the people were thirsty for water there, and they grumbled against Moses. They said, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to make us and our children and livestock die of thirst?”
4 Then Moses cried out to the Lord, “What am I to do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me.”
5 The Lord answered Moses, “Go out in front of the people. Take with you some of the elders of Israel and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile,and go. 6 I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink.” So Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel. 7 And he called the place Massah[a] and Meribah[b] because the Israelites quarreled and because they tested the Lord saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”
Devotion from With God Daily
The first half of Psalm 95 is a call to worship. The Lord is praised as the Creator—far above all other gods. The writer invites others to sing, bow down, kneel, and “make a joyful noise” before their God. It is a scene of both devotion and celebration, but in the middle of the psalm things take an unexpected turn. The tone shifts suddenly from one of worship into a stern warning. The people are told not to harden their hearts as their ancestors had done, for which God judged them severely.
While the connection between the call to worship and the warning against hard-heartedness may not be obvious, there is an important link. Frequently in the Old Testament, God’s people would honor him with songs, festivals, and sacrifices while neglecting to actually obey his instructions in their personal and social practices. Over time their praise became tainted by this hypocrisy. This is what Psalm 95 wants to avoid by linking outward acts of worship with an inward disposition of the heart toward obedience. It is a call to an integrated life with God.
It is not enough to praise the Lord with our mouths. What he desires most is our hearts.
Reflection of Psalms 95 and Exodus 17
Open it up to reflect on these passages.
- What stands out?
- What does it say about God?
- What does it say about us?
Prayer
Ignatius Loyola (1491–1556)
Grant, O Lord, that you love may so fill our lives that we may count nothing too small to do for you, nothing too much to give, and nothing too hard to bear, for Jesus Christ’s sake.
Amen.
Call to intercession
Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage.
Hear, O Lord, when we cry aloud, be gracious to us and answer us!
Attentive God, we bring our prayers to you because we trust you to protect and provide.
In your mercy
Lord hear our prayer.
You lead us with your light and truth. We pray for ourselves and those dear to us.
(open prayers)
In your mercy
Lord, hear our prayer.
You provide for the poor and the strangers. We pray for our community and for our neighbors.
(open prayers)
In your mercy
Lord, hear our prayer.
You are the help and hope of your people. We pray for the church in all places, that we may be one.
(open prayers)
In your mercy
Lord, hear our prayer.
All nations belong to you. We pray for the world, that your reign may come and your will be done on earth.
(open prayers)
In your mercy
Lord, hear our prayer.
We offer you other concerns we carry in our heart.
(open prayers)
In your mercy
Lord, hear our prayer.
God our only hope, you seat us at the table with our enemies, breathing in our fears.
Feed us from your mouth, that our bread may be to do your will, in the strength of your Anointed, who taught us to pray;
Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
10 your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us today our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one
Lent Focus
Isaiah 58:6-7
“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?
7
Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe them,
Matthew 25:37-40
37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
This week our lent focus is on feeding the hungry. We live in a community where many go without food. Each month some from our church family go to Ruth and Naomies in Chilliwack to prepare a meal for those who are hungry.
Due to the current health precautions they are now not accepting volunteers to come to their facility. As well they will not be hosting their normal meals in their facility. The will be preparing the meals with a small team and then package and distribute to those who are in need in our community.
With this situation it comes with added cost.
They are in need of financial help to meet the needs of those who are hungry in our community.
This week how can we help?
What good things in our lives can we give up in order to make space for the things on God’s heart?
Suggestions:
- Fast one meal a day
- Give up meat for a period of time
- Eat simple meals throughout the week, like rice and beans
In that time pray and ask how God is sending you to feed the hungry.
We would like to collect money to help support what this ministry is doing in our community. If you would like to give you can drop off donations to the church office.
Benediction
May God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, keep us from falling, and make us stand without blemish in the presence of his glory with rejoicing.
Amen