In the Trinity

Good Morning and Welcome to Worship! Worship is often the first place that new people come into contact with this growing community of faith. And so, if you are joining us for the first time, I say to you what is said every Sunday: You are welcome here. Here is a place where all are welcome. For such is the love of God for God’s Very Good Creation.

Praise God from whom all blessings flow; praise God, all creatures here below; praise God above, ye Heav'nly host: praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.

Loving, ever-present God, we honor this day the majesty and the mystery of your name. You are both infinite and intimate, known and beyond our individual knowing. In love you have made us and invite us to join your divine dance. May we find our step and may the dance go on. Amen.

Holy God, you call us into your triune nature. Your steadfast love surrounds us all our days. Wherever we may be — on a high mountain or a path in a shadowed valley, at a crossroads on our journey, outside the gates of welcome, or in some inner circle — you call us, delighting in your creation.

We come before you in thanksgiving for all the gifts you have given that delight us so: for the beauty of this season; for the lives of those who bless us beyond their knowing; for this community of faith by which we are nurtured and challenged; for the opportunities to serve you by serving others; for goals accomplished; and for the gift of life granted yet again today.

We come before you humble, hopeful, and in need: for those we know who are suffering today because of the acts of empire around us; for those grieving a loss, an ending, a dream deferred. We pray for strength and healing in the broken places of our community. We long for the power and presence that only comes when we align our lives with your way of love.

We pray for those whose livelihood is precarious, for those who live at the edge of poverty’s precipice, and for those who live in temporary shelter and tenuous provision. In the public square and in the privacy of our conscience, help us find the will and the way to bring about your preferred kin-dom.

We come before you earnestly and urgently for this world in turmoil: for the chaos loose on the streets; those who are hiding in fear and those who are emboldened in their hate. Root out of our hearts the seeds of bigotry and narrow-mindedness. Stir us from apathy, increase our empathy that we may be your love in the world.

Holy God, we have done so much to disrupt, and even destroy what you have created and called good. Still, you are determined to delight in us and challenge us to join in your care for creation. So, make us delight-full. Help us delight in your creation by playing and serving in ways that please you. Help us delight in neighbors far and nearby, living and playing in ways that restore true communion. Make us delight in our days as we serve with you to usher in your coming kin-dom of joy. In Jesus, who taught us the way.

Amen.

Living Word, you still have many things to say to us. Speak, and we will try to bear them. By your word, may the Holy Spirit guide us into your truth, that our lives may reflect your love for your creation. Amen.

Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31 ¹Does not wisdom call and understanding raise her voice? ²On the heights, beside the way, at the crossroads she takes her stand; ³beside the gates in front of the town, at the entrance of the portals she cries out: ⁴“To you, O people, I call, and my cry is to all who live. ²²“The Lord created me at the beginning of his work, the first of his acts of long ago. ²³Ages ago I was set up, at the first, before the beginning of the earth. ²⁴When there were no depths I was brought forth, when there were no springs abounding with water. ²⁵Before the mountains had been shaped, before the hills, I was brought forth, ²⁶when he had not yet made earth and fields or the world’s first bits of soil. ²⁷When he established the heavens, I was there; when he drew a circle on the face of the deep, ²⁸when he made firm the skies above, when he established the fountains of the deep, ²⁹when he assigned to the sea its limit, so that the waters might not transgress his command, when he marked out the foundations of the earth, ³⁰then I was beside him, like a master worker, and I was daily his delight, playing before him always, ³¹playing in his inhabited world and delighting in the human race.

¹²“I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. ¹³When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. ¹⁴He will glorify me because he will take what is mine and declare it to you. ¹⁵All that the Father has is mine. For this reason I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

Have you ever considered yourself as a part of the trinity? How does the trinity empower you to act in the world? What might you do differently as a part of God in the trinity?

– playing his own original composition

Out of God’s abundance we are God’s creation and God’s love in the world. Why then should we live as though we are threatened with scarcity? Let us return to God in thanksgiving a portion of what God has bestowed upon us. Amen.

Holy God, you have poured out so much for us — the beauty of the world, the care of family and friends, meaningful activity, and the gift of community. We give you thanks for these and many other gifts. Most especially we thank you for pouring your love into our hearts through the power and presence of the Holy Spirit. Through these gifts we have brought today, may your love spill over in glad abundance that brings relief, renewal, and hope to those in need. In the way of Jesus we pray. Amen.

My siblings, go out this day participating in the work of the triune God — by honoring mutuality, living in equality and justice, and celebrating the amazing diversity by which our community is enriched. And may the love of God fill your heart so that you may find hope in every circumstance of this life. May the Holy Spirit guide you in patient endurance, that you may stand firm in the love that comes from God, that others may see the love of God made known through you. Amen.