PRAYER OF THE DAY
written by Sarah Are
Creator God,
You know me.
You know my hopes
and
my intentions,
as well as
my errors and flaws;
and still, you love me.
You love me more
than
I could
ever deserve,
and more than
I could ever understand.
Thus, instill some of
that
love in my heart.
Plant it like a seed,
sing it like a song,
or
read it like a poem.
Weave your love into
the
fiber of my being,
or pour
it
over me
like a mighty river.
I don't care how
you
give
me love,
I just pray that you do,
for I want a love
that
sees others
the way you see me,
and I know
that type of love
can only come from you.
Gratefully I pray,
Amen.
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MENU for March 29
Baked Ziti
Roasted Squash
Garlic Breadsticks
Salad Bar
Banana Cake
$8.00
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WEDNESDAY, MARCH 29
Our scripture passage for this week creates a space for us to step into the story, look around, and maybe even find ourselves. I don't think that it is by accident that the exchange between the tax collector and Pharisee takes place at the Temple. In that space, you are intimately aware of who you were, what status you had, and what you could expect from God but it was also divided with "insiders" and "outsiders". In our passage for today, we get a sneak peek as to what is coming. It's reported later in Luke 23 that the curtain in the Temple is torn in two, symbolically erasing all divisions of humanity before God. God justifies not the one favored by Temple law, but rather the one standing outside the Temple gate and keenly aware of his need.
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MESSAGE: "Humility and Mercy"
PREACHING: Jen Evans
SCRIPTURE: Luke 18:9-14
To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable:
"Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other people-robbers, evildoers, adulterers-or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.'
"But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, 'God, have mercy on me, a sinner.'
"I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted."
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