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A
Litany of Knowing
One: Lord, you know everyone s heart.
All: It's hard to believe that the Holy One
who created the universe
would want to bother with our petty
thoughts!
One: Lord, you have searched us and known us.
You discern our
thoughts from afar.
All: And that's scary, God...
For we are ashamed of
some of the thoughts
we keep hidden within us.
We d rather you didn't
know them!
One: As mortals, we look upon the outward appearance,
But you, the Lord, look
upon the heart.
All: God, forgive us.
Create in us clean
hearts, and renew a right spirit within us.
May what you find in
our hearts be pleasing to you.
One: Lord, you know everyone's heart.
All: We rejoice that you, our great Creator,
know us, love us, redeem us.
We remember the hope
that some day
we, too, shall know,
even as we now are known.
Thank you, God, for
knowing us. Amen.
by Jean
Moyer
Elizabethtown Church of the Brethren
Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania
Church of the Brethren Living Word Bulletin
Anchor/Wallace, Sleepy Eye MN 56085, "The Living Word
Series" |
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Returning
our Tithes and Offerings
Please pray
with me... Thank you, Lord, for your goodness and mercy. May these
offerings we now give be a reflection of your goodness as it
overflows in our lives. May the offering of your Word as it is
soon to be proclaimed likewise reflect some of who you are and
what you are about in this world, even today. This we pray in the
name of the One who calls us all to share in the good news mission
- hearing and seeing, telling and showing. Amen.
Will the ushers now come forward to receive our
offerings
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Acts 1:15-26
for 2 readers
Preface
(spoken by voice 1) - We turn now to the
days after our Lord ascended to the Father, leaving his followers
to fulfill the mission to which he had called them. One matter,
however, needed to be handled before they could continue. The Acts
of the Apostles was written by Luke, as a continuation of his
gospel story. It must be noted that Luke was not himself an
eyewitness to these first events, but was passing along the story
he had received, wording it in such a way as to make sense to
people who did not grow up in Israel, knowing Hebrew - such as his
friend Theophilus (Acts 1:1). After this
reading, imagine that one of those original followers of Jesus, a
man named Matthias, has come to speak with us. By the way, we’ll
hear from him again later on this month. For now, listen to God’s
Word.
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[Voice 1 is narrator. Note the parenthesis, and read as
if an ‘aside.’ The first and second
times voice 2 speaks, he/she does so as if he/she is
Peter. Voice 2's third reading should be done prayerfully.] |
1 - In those days Peter stood up among the believers (together
the crowd numbered about one hundred twenty persons) and said,
2 - "Friends, the scripture had to be fulfilled, which the
Holy Spirit through David foretold concerning Judas, who became a
guide for those who arrested Jesus-- for he was numbered among us
and was allotted his share in this ministry."
1 - (Now this man acquired a field with the reward of his
wickedness; and falling headlong, he burst open in the middle and
all his bowels gushed out. This became known to all the residents
of Jerusalem, so that the field was called in their language
Hakeldama, that is, Field of Blood.)
2 - "For it is written in the book of Psalms, ‘Let his
homestead become desolate, and let there be no one to live in it’;
and ‘Let another take his position of overseer.’ So one of the
men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord
Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John
until the day when he was taken up from us--one of these must
become a witness with us to his resurrection."
1 - So they proposed two, Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also
known as Justus, and Matthias. Then they prayed and said,
2 - "Lord, you know everyone’s heart. Show us which one
of these two you have chosen to take the place in this ministry
and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own
place."
1 - And they cast lots for them, and the lot fell on Matthias;
and he was added to the eleven apostles.
from the New Revised
Standard Version
©1989 Division of Christian Education of the
National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA
.
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