Lent Day 8
Theme – The Fallout
Gather
Christ goes on before us, during these days of Lent, telling us to deny ourselves…
…and we take up our cross and follow.
Song – Forty Days
Prayers of the People
God who knows our every weakness, we pray this day for those along our journey who need comfort from affliction and release from bondage. You are the great and ultimate healer. May we be not mere observers and recipients of your overwhelming love, but also Spirit-led instruments that live out your redemptive story to all people.
Lord, in your mercy…
…Hear our prayer.
Confession
Source of life and all that is good…
…we confess to you how far we have journeyed astray, more often acting as if this world is home, rather than as aliens in a foreign land. We have chosen pleasure rather than justice, pride rather than mercy, and platitudes rather than sacrifice. Forgive us, O Lord.
Presentation of the Nails and Song – Sojourn
Alms Giving
If among you, one of your brothers should become poor… you shall not harden your heart or shut your hand against your poor brother, but you shall open your hand to him and lend him sufficient for his need, whatever it may be. Deuteronomy 15:7-8
Lord of all…
…Take these gifts, bless and multiply them, that you may be glorified. Amen.
Reading – Genesis 8:1-12
But God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the livestock that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind blow over the earth, and the waters subsided. The fountains of the deep and the windows of the heavens were closed, the rain from the heavens was restrained, and the waters receded from the earth continually. At the end of 150 days the waters had abated, and in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. And the waters continued to abate until the tenth month; in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains were seen.
At the end of forty days Noah opened the window of the ark that he had made and sent forth a raven. It went to and fro until the waters were dried up from the earth. Then he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters had subsided from the face of the ground. But the dove found no place to set her foot, and she returned to him to the ark, for the waters were still on the face of the whole earth. So he put out his hand and took her and brought her into the ark with him. He waited another seven days, and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark. And the dove came back to him in the evening, and behold, in her mouth was a freshly plucked olive leaf. So Noah knew that the waters had subsided from the earth. Then he waited another seven days and sent forth the dove, and she did not return to him anymore.
Song – Dust
Benediction
Holy Father, sometimes you use the small and insignificant things in our lives to bring us an unlooked for sign of peace and friendship. May we patiently wait as the overwhelming waters that rise at times in our own lives recede to reveal new ground and new life.
Go in peace to love and serve the Lord.
Amen.
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