Kind of Nice?

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.

(Translated from Aramaic, the language of first-century Galilee and Judea.)

O cosmic Birther of all radiance and vibration, soften the ground of our being and carve out a space within us where your Presence can abide. Fill us with your creativity so that we may be empowered to bear the fruit of your mission. Let each of our actions bear fruit in accordance with your desire. Endow us with the wisdom to produce and share what each being needs to grow and flourish. Untie the tangled threads of destiny that bind us, as we release others from the entanglement of past mistakes. Do not let us be seduced by that which would divert us from our true purpose but illuminate the opportunities of the present moment. For you are the ground and the fruitful vision, the birth, power, and fulfillment, as all is gathered and made whole once again. And so it is!

The Holy Spirit is present and active with us and within us calling us together to be the united body of Christ knit together across all that would seek to divine us one from another. Let us the unite our hearts in prayer saying together

Loving God, in whom we live and move and have our being, help us to choose life in you.

We pray for all who search for you loving God; may they find you in our actions. Bless us with lips that sing your praise and lives that tell the stories of all that you have done through us. Open our eyes to find you among us as we share your love with others.

Loving God, in whom we live and move and have our being, help us to choose life in you.

We pray for all who are oppressed by governments or institutions: For those whose voices are not heard or believed, those with no one standing with them. Bless us with a joy for justice and the heart to persevere as we work to being your kindom into being.

Loving God, in whom we live and move and have our being, help us to choose life in you.

We pray for all who hunger, and those who worry each day how they will care for their families. Bless us with meaningful work and fill us with good things, as we love and care for each other and find our sustenance in you.

Loving God, in whom we live and move and have our being, help us to choose life in you.

We pray for all who suffer the violence and scars of war, for all soldiers, and their families and all who live and suffer in war torn places. Give them courage in the face of fear; in times of trouble, do not let their feet slip. Bless us with your vision of peace, for you have made us one family by giving life and breath to all.

Loving God, in whom we live and move and have our being, help us to choose life in you.

We remember before you all who have died, and pray for all who will die today, that they may know your peace. Bless us with the gift of promise, that we may know you and love you, and enjoy life eternal shared with you.

Loving God, in whom we live and move and have our being, help us to choose life in you. Amen.

Come Holy Spirit, our guide and comfort: open our hearts and minds this day, entice us with your presence. Spark us with a word of life — a message we may share with others as we seek to live Christ’s love in the world. We ask this in the name of God who creates and sustains the universe. Amen.

¹³ Now who will harm you if you are eager to do what is good? ¹⁴ But even if you do suffer for doing what is right, you are blessed. Do not fear what they fear, and do not be intimidated, ¹⁵ but in your hearts sanctify Christ as Lord. Always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you, ¹⁶ yet do it with gentleness and respect. Maintain a good conscience so that, when you are maligned, those who abuse you for your good conduct in Christ may be put to shame. ¹⁷ For it is better to suffer for doing good, if suffering should be God’s will, than to suffer for doing evil. ¹⁸ For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, ¹⁹ in which also he went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison, ²⁰ who in former times did not obey, when God waited patiently in the days of Noah, during the building of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight lives, were saved through water. ²¹ And baptism, which this prefigured, now saves you—not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, ²² who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers made subject to him.

The Promise of the Holy Spirit ¹⁵ “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. ¹⁶ And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. ¹⁷ This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him because he abides with you, and he will be in you. ¹⁸ “I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. ¹⁹ In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. ²⁰ On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. ²¹ They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me, and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them.”

Trevor Noah defined the difference between being nice and being kind saying — Many people mistake polite behavior for genuine care. Niceness is performative and kindness is active. 1 Peter, begins with the question: Now who will harm you if you are eager to do what is good? And then goes on to say even if you do suffer for doing what is right, you are blessed. Where have you been nice when you should have been kind? Where could you have benefitted from some being and to you instead of being nice?

God, the divine giver of all that is good, gifts us with life and breath and all that is. In gratitude, let us offer our gifts in return for the goodness and grace of God as shown to us in Jesus.

Loving God, we give you thanks that you have places in the hearts of your people the gift of generosity and the desire to bring about your kindom here on earth. Bless these gifts and use them to reveal to reveal to all of creation your love for creation as shown to us in the life and teachings of Jesus. Amen.

May God, who creates, redeems, and sustains, keep you steadfast in faith, buoyant in hope, and abounding in love. May we go forth to be kind ever eager to do what is good. Amen.