Setting a Trap for God

Jesus Christ, teach us to pray, and to trust the hospitality of God for our daily bread, as our ancestors who ate manna in the wilderness. Let us likewise be hospitable, and as God gives the gift of the Holy Spirit to us, let us give good gifts to those who are in need. Amen.

O God most high, you care for the lowly, but look down on the

haughty. In your steadfast love, fulfill your purpose for us.

Gracious God, may we show your hospitality to strangers and

be good neighbors of those in need.

We pray for the church and for all who work to give hospitality to

others.

Gracious God, may we show your hospitality to strangers and

be good neighbors of those in need.

We pray for peace among nations, religions, ideologies, and people.

Gracious God, may we show your hospitality to strangers and

be good neighbors of those in need.

We pray for those injured by war, natural disaster, or financial

collapse, all who cry out for help.

Gracious God, may we show your hospitality to strangers and

be good neighbors of those in need. We pray for those oppressed because of class, age, gender, ability,

or sexual orientation.

Gracious God, may we show your hospitality to strangers and

be good neighbors of those in need.

We pray for those afflicted by illness or overcome by the fear of

death.

Gracious God, may we show your hospitality to strangers and

be good neighbors of those in need.

Amen.

God of Love and Justice, we are grateful for inheriting the tradition of the Scriptures. By your Holy Spirit, speak to us through your Word, that we may know the love and grace of Jesus Christ, your living Word made flesh among us.

Colossians 2:6-19 ⁶ As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, continue to live your lives in him, ⁷ rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. ⁸ See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the universe, and not according to Christ. ⁹ For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, ¹⁰ and you have come to fullness in him, who is the head of every ruler and authority. ¹¹ In him also you were circumcised with a spiritual circumcision, by putting off the body of the flesh in the circumcision of Christ; ¹² when you were buried with him in baptism, you were also raised with him through faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead. ¹³ and when you were dead in trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive together with him, when he forgave us all our trespasses, ¹⁴ erasing the record that stood against us with its legal demands. He set this aside, nailing it to the cross. ¹⁵ He disarmed the rulers and authorities and made a public example of them, triumphing over them in it. ¹⁶ Therefore do not let anyone condemn you in matters of food and drink or of observing festivals, new moons, or sabbaths. ¹⁷ These are only a shadow of what is to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. ¹⁸ Do not let anyone disqualify you, insisting on self-abasement and worship of angels, dwelling on visions, puffed up without cause by a human way of thinking, ¹⁹ and not holding fast to the head, from whom the whole body, nourished and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows with a growth that is from God. Luke 11:1-13 ¹ He was praying in a certain place, and after he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.” ² He said to them, “When you pray, say: Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. ³ Give us each day our daily bread. ⁴ And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us. And do not bring us to the time of trial.” ⁵ And he said to them, “Suppose one of you has a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; ⁶ for a friend of mine has arrived, and I have nothing to set before him. ’ ⁷ And he answers from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door has already been locked, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything. ⁸ I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, at least because of his persistence he will get up and give him whatever he needs. ⁹ So I say to you, Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. ¹⁰ For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. ¹¹ Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for a fish, will give a snake instead of a fish? ¹² Or if the child asks for an egg, will give a scorpion? ¹³ If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

Question for Reflection: Rev. Johan Dodge

How does the translation of the Lord’s Prayer into Aramaic open the

Scriptures for you? The author of Colossians will offer a list of rules

in other parts of the letter, but here the author instructs the recipients of the letter to not be burdened by the rules that have been the guide

for some of God’s people in the past. These now rejected rules had

been used to exclude people for who they were. The author of

Colossians, at least here, speaks an encouraging word for those who

have been discriminated against and made to feel inferior. Where

have we had rules that have discriminated or made others to feel

inferior? Did those rules serve God’s love for all of God’s creation or

did they serve humanities desire for power and control over others?

What is one rule you might let go of today in service to God’s love for

all of God’s creation?

INVITATION TO THE OFFERING — Marylee Thomsen

Jesus teaches us that if we ask, it will be given to us. Let us

participate in God’s purpose, then, by giving generously for all who

are in need.

Holy One, we give you thanks for your steadfast love and faithfulness. Bless these offerings and transform them into gifts of hospitality for those who need them most. Amen.

May the love of God surround us and, fill us with divine creativity so that we may be empowered to bear the fruit of God’s mission. May the grace of Christ endow us with the wisdom to produce and share what each being needs to grow and flourish. And may the Holy Spirit untie the tangled threads of destiny that bind us, as we release others from the entanglement of past mistakes, this day and forevermore. Blessed Be the Tie that Binds Blest be the tie that binds our hearts in Christian love. The fellowship of kindred minds is like to that above. Amen.