July 3, 2018 - No Comments!

Voices

This last Sunday we launched our third annual "Voices" series where we invite outside speakers to come challenge our community. It's one of my favorite "traditions" we have as a church.

The series revolves around the themes of needing wisdom from others, the benefit of an outside perspectives, and being mindful of what voices we listen to in our lives.

As always, we make an effort for our liturgy to be shaped by the themes of the series we are working through. To that end, I wrote and read this in our confessional moment in the gatherings Sunday.

CONFESSION OF VOICES
We respond to God because of his grace. We need his grace because we fall short. Because we fall short we confess when we gather. To help us remember what is true, to invite humility, and recognize that we are not God. Confession is an opportunity to enjoy God and His grace.

We always have a renewed reason to respond, because God’s grace has recently responded to the recent ways in which we have not loved him and others.

So let us confess:

We have fallen more in love with the sound of our own voice than yours.

We have held others to higher standards than ourselves, and thus shut out their voices from our lives.

We have elevated our preferences and diminished others needs.

We have sought to be right more than to understand.

We have taken your presence for granted, forgetting that you sit over all creation and have no obligation to be near us, yet choose to never leave us.

God, may we experience your compassion in the way we sinfully choose to heed other voices. May we listen to your voice above all others. your voice is one of grace, truth, and empathy.

Published by: Donald in Devotions, Liturgy, Resources for Worship Leaders

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