Prelude Miriam Enman
Call to Worship
Leader: Each of us is created a precious and holy vessel of embodied love. We have been through a harrowing time since last Lent that has shattered our sense of wholeness- body-mind, and spirit- like a glass vessel fractured into pieces. Let us enter a Lenten “season of recovery” as we focus on Jesus, the Healer of our every ill.
Lenten Refrain (Sung Solo)
Vessels, holy and whole
Broken, needing the One
Open, body and soul
Healer, come.
Leader: Beach glass begins as something whole and yet discarded. As it tumbled by the sea, it is broken and polished until it becomes a treasured “mineral gem.”
People: We do not embrace that suffering is necessary or God-given, but that suffering a part of life.
Leader: When pain comes and brokenness enters our lives,
People: Jesus reaches out to touch and remind us
Leader: of the Treasure that we all are-
People: worthy of new life in the midst of hopelessness.
Leader: In a year when pandemic has wreaked havoc on our world,
People: we begin by affirming our journey to physical health.
Lenten Refrain (Sung Solo)
Vessels, holy and whole
Broken, needing the One
Open, body and soul
Healer, come.
Hymn: Healer of Our Every Ill
Refrain:
Healer of our ev’ry ill, light of each tomorrow,
give us peace beyond our fear, and hope beyond our sorrow.
You who know our fears and sadness,
grace us with your peace and gladness;
Spirit of all comfort, fill our hearts.
In the pain and joy beholding
how your grace is still unfolding,
give us all you vision, God of love.
Give us strength to love each other,
ev’ry sister, ev’ry brother;
Spirit of all kindness, be our guide.
You who know each thought and feeling,
teach us all your way of healing;
Spirit of compassion, fill each heart.
Prayer and Lord’s Prayer
Leader: Lent developed into a season of intense inward reflection and confession centuries after the life of Jesus. Yet, as we will see, Jesus encouraged people to open up about their lives- to speak truth- no matter how broken. This is the beginning of compassion for ourselves and others. It is the beginning of healing. The Latin origins of the word “confess” is to “study and acknowledge.” This will be a season of studying how we can be a healing presence in our community. To do this, we acknowledge our need to restore our own Holy Vessels. Let us pray:
Creator God, we are bodies fashioned by your hand in your own image, shapes and colors of diverse and immense beauty. And yet too often we have ignored the sacred nature of our physical lives. The Holy Vessels you have fashioned are tired and suffering, ravaged by months of disrupted rhythms and ailments. Our fragility has come into full view and we are frightened. We cannot fathom the proportions of loss and so we look away, sometimes even from our own needs. Help us, Healer. Show us our strength. Forgive our inertia. Move us to move one step at a time toward greater care. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.
Lenten Refrain (Sung Solo)
Vessels, holy and whole
Broken, needing the One
Open, body and soul
Healer, come.
Offering
Special Music
Prayer for Offering
God of steadfast love and faithfulness, we are humbled as we try to do what is right and to walk in your ways. Receive, we ask, these offerings, and use them for your own good purposes in the church and in all creation. We pray in Jesus Christ. Amen.
Prayer of the Day
In your love, make us whole.
Hymn: Heal, Us Immanuel, Hear Our Prayer
Heal us, Immanuel, hear our prayer; we wait to feel your touch;
deep wounded souls to you repair, and, Savior, we are such.
Our faith is feeble, we confess; we faintly trust your word;
but will you pity us the less? Be that far from you, Lord!
Remember him who once applied with trembling for relief;
“Lord, I believe,” with tears he cried: “O help my unbelief.”
She, too, who touched you in the press, and healing virtue stole,
was answered, “Daughter, go in peace: your faith has made you whole.”
Like her, with hopes and fears we come to touch you if we may;
O send us not despairing home, send none unhealed away.
Scripture: Matthew 8: 1-4; 16-17
When Jesus had come down from the mountain, great crowds followed him; and there was a leper who came to him and knelt before him, saying “Lord, if you choose, you can make me clean.” He stretched out his hand and touched him, saying “I do choose. Be made clean!” Immediately his leprosy was cleansed. Then Jesus said to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone; but go, show yourself ot the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”
That evening they brought him many who were possessed with demons; and he cast out the spirits with a word, and cured all who were sick. This was to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet Isaiah, “He took our infirmities and bore our diseases.”
Questions to Ponder:
- Not many of us have gone through something so dramatic as to be completely socially exiled, physically healed, and reintegrated into the community that, for so long, feared and shunned us. Can you imagine why this man would want to back to the temple?
- The worship community, despite its shortcomings, must have offered something to this child of God that he could not find somewhere else. What kind of hope and healing do we come to religion seeking?
- How are we reaching out to people in pain?
- Jesus’ touch of the leper was an outrageous act. By doing it, he signaled that these people were not outside the kingdom of God, but that they are family, worthy of touch. Who is missing in our communities? How do our local rules (in church and in our towns) include or exclude people who long to belong?
- We are all treasured by God. We are beautiful and belong. How can we help people feel this deeply?
Hymn: Heal Me, Hands of Jesus
Heal me, hands of Jesus, and search out all my pain;
restore my home, remove my fear and bring me peace again.
Cleanse me, blood of Jesus, bake bitterness away;
let me forgive as one forgiven, and bring me peace today.
Know me, mind of Jesus, and show me all my sin;
Dispel the memories of guilt and bring me peace within.
Fill me, joy of Jesus, anxiety shall cease,
And heaven’s serenity be mine, for Jesus brings me peace.
Blessing
Now go with confidence as “Treasures of God,” recovering your depth of love for all and our joy of living in this world. May the words of Jesus ring in your ears: “I do choose you.” And may the Spirit hover and move, and deliver salve to your soul and a spring in your step.
Lenten Refrain (Sung Solo)
Vessels, holy and whole
Broken, needing the One
Open, body and soul
Healer, come.
Postlude