COCU55C

Readings:
Jeremiah 18:1-11;
Psalm 139:1-6,13-18;
Philemon 1-21;
Luke 14:25-33

Prayers of who we are
God of the potter’s hand,
creator of all that has been, all that is, and all that will be.
We wonder at the beauty of the world aroundus,
the brooding purple hills and clouds grey with rain
the outrageous dancing of daffodils
frolicking lambs, soaring eagles
and gardens bursting with the buds of Spring.
All around us is beauty that sings of your goodness.
And yet, so often, we fail to see that beauty within ourselves
and we forget that we are created by your good hand
and we pretend that we are totally in charge of ourselves
and we resist being shaped, like clay on the wheel,
and we miss becoming vessels that will hold and carry
your promise to the world.
We confess that fear gets in the way:
letting go, into your will is risky
being changed is a bit frightening
being remade can be disorientating
for a while
and even knowing all that, we ask you
to throw us into new pots
on your wheel of creative energy,
deep mercy and costly love
take our clay, ancient and new
and do what you will
discard what is unnecessary and remake us,
until our souls echo the shape
of faith, hope and love
and we are formed
conformed and reformed
born again in love outrageous
into the community of heaven here on earth. Amen.
(Source: Rev Jennie Gordon)

Prayers of who we are (reflection on Gospel reading)
God of life
you call us out of our domestic ideas of faith;
safe, sure and hereditary
and challenge us to imagine
ourselves as followers of the one
who stretched out his arms to us
in costly love
God of life,
you call us out of our delusion of self-control
and name those things that possess us
causing us to be mean and selfish
fearful and closed off to ourselves and to others
and you remind us
of your great abundance
and your invitation to the feast
God of life,
you call us into a new way of being
being shaped by walking the way of the cross
being communities of real reconciliation
where we find ourselves
in relationship with the other
and you remind us of the presence of the Spirit
in all our waking and our sleeping. Amen
(Source: Rev Jennie Gordon)

Irenaeus reading
It is not you who shape God;
It is God who shapes you.
If then you are the work of God,
await the hand of the Artist
who does all things in due season.
Offer the Potter your heart, soft and tractable.
And keep the form in which the Artist has fashioned you.
Let you clay be moist,
lest you grow hard and lose
the imprint of the Potter’s fingers.

Blessing
God of life, in your hand we find our lives.
Be present with us as we leave this space.
Let your Spirit remain with each of us
as you mould us, shape us and remake us
today and every day
until we conform to the shape
that you call us to take;
the shape of love
known and shown in Jesus the Christ. Amen.
(Source: Rev Jennie Gordon)

MUSIC
You Have Searched Me, Lord, And Known Me
NETTLETON 8.7.8.7 D (“Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing”)
You have searched me, Lord, and known me! All my life is in your care.
When I lie awake in evening, you are always with me there.
When I rise to greet the morning in an attitude of praise,
what I learn from you is humbling: You already know my ways.

Lord, you know the song I’m singing and my words before I pray.
You’re behind me and before me as I travel through each day.
You once knit me all together; You created me by grace.
In your eyes, you see and love me as you treasure all my days.

Lord, I try to learn your wisdom, but I cannot understand.
Yet your love is all around me; I am part of all you’ve planned.
Let me sing your praise each morning, let me serve you all day through,
and in evening, make me peaceful, knowing this: I’m loved by you!
Biblical Reference: Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18
Tune: John Wyeth’s Repository of Sacred Music, 1813
Text: Copyright © 2014 by Carolyn Winfrey Gillette. All rights reserved.
Email: carolynshymns@gmail.com New Hymns: www.carolynshymns.com

About admin

Rev Sandy Boyce is a Uniting Church in Australia Minister (Deacon). This blog may be a help to people planning worship services.
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