Long Green Valley Church of the Brethren
Long Green & Kanes Rds., near Glen Arm, Md.
February 15, 2015
Worship 10:00 am          Sunday School 11:10am

Transfiguration Sunday

services were canceled this day, due to inclement weather

  Beginning with Praise (9:50 am)            “God is here among us”            16
  Announcements
  Prelude

*Call to Worship                         Psalm 50:1-6

*Hymn                       “From all that dwell below the skies”                      49

*Opening Prayer

  Scripture                               2 Corinthians 4: 3-6      (Laughing Bird version)

  Imagination set free, part one

  Returning our Tithes and Offerings

  Offertory              (Please sign the attendance pad and pass it on)

  Sharing a joy, a concern, a word of testimony or praise
                                 (please be brief, and aware of God's listening presence)

   Hymn                               “Spirit of the living God”                               349

  Pastoral Prayer

  Imagination set free, part two      Mark 9:2-29

  Response              (vs. 2) “I know not why God's wondrous”                 338

  Message                                   “I believe…”

*Hymn                        “‘Tis not with eyes of flesh we see”                       571

*Benediction

*Postlude

*Rise in body or in spirit

#'s are from Hymnal: A Worship Book

Worship leaders - see basic guidelines

Opening Prayer

Imagination set free, part one

 adapted for use on Feb. 22, since not used this day

           I invite all of you children of God to set your imagination free this morning, no matter what your age may be. In your bulletin is a blank piece of paper. When you entered this sanctuary today, the ushers offered you a basket full of crayons and encouraged you to take some. With this paper and these crayons, I invite you to try drawing a picture of God.

            Now, I know that drawing a picture of “the mighty one, God the Lord,” is an impossible task for, as scripture says, no one has ever seen God … and lived. Even Moses on the mountain only saw God from behind, not face to face. I’m not asking for an accurate representation. I’m also not asking for something we might pretend is God and worship as an “idol” or “graven image.” I am not asking you to break the second commandment, which pertains to trying to control the great “I am who I am,” to think that we have captured God, who must now serve us.

            No, I invite you this morning to simply use your crayons creatively to draw God. The Bible uses imaginative words to give us a glimpse of the Lord God, none of which even begins to say everything. There is a picture of a burning bush which is not consumed. Remember? Or someone who wrestled in the dark with Jacob. A dream of ladder, the visionary sight of a chariot of fire, the sound of sheer silence, all move in God’s direction, but only convey a little. In the scripture we just heard, the apostle Paul wrote of “the glory of God in the face of Jesus the Christ.” Do recall that Paul himself was not an eyewitness. He was not one of the original disciples who walked with Jesus. His encounter was rather a blinding light on the road to Damascus, and a voice.

            Simply set your imagination free and, using the crayons in your hand as tools, draw on the piece paper a picture of God. It doesn’t matter if you think you can’t draw. In fact, don’t aim to make it a perfect drawing. If you’d like other crayons, we’ll have that basket of crayons available after the ushers have collected the offering. Don’t put your name on it. As you leave worship later on, would you place your drawing in the table in the back, and put your crayons back in the basket? I need them for next Sunday. Do you understand what I’m asking?

Returning our Tithes and Offerings

Pastoral Prayer

written closer to the time (if not at the moment)

Benediction