GREETING (Adapted from Exodus 3:14-16)
I Am Who I Am, you have spoken
from the bush, the prophets and your Son!
The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob
has come to rescue those in bondage to sin!
Let us bow down before you, I Am,
and lift up prayers and songs of thanksgiving!
HYMN 641 “Fill My Cup, Lord”
PSALM 52
PRAYER
(Consider some of the following concerns and issues for prayers of thanksgiving, intercession, and petition. Follow with your personal prayer list.)
For help discerning the true from false vines For vigor
For being grafted into the Vine For growth
For our sharing in the Vine’s nature For our rootedness in the Vine
For the fruit we bear together For our identity in the Vine
For life lived with the Vine For the honor of our connection
That we may increase our fruit bearing For branches pruned from the Vine
For the Vinekeeper’s loving care For the other branches on the Vine
For the Vinekeeper’s pruning For those never attached to the Vine
The true Vine’s constant nourishment of us _____________________________
The way the Vine anchors us in place and time _____________________________
Our unity with the true Vine _____________________________
THE LORD'S PRAYER
SCRIPTURE LESSON
(Choose a passage of scripture to read. It can be a chapter, a paragraph, or a particular story. Daily lectionaries are available online or in print that assign a lesson each day from the gospels, epistles, Old Testament and psalms on a three-year cycle. Or you can create a plan to read a book of the Bible, or the whole Bible. Then follow the steps below.)
Read a passage of scripture. Read it out loud, very slowly and carefully as if for the first time. Continue reading until a word, phrase or sentence captures your attention. Stop there to repeat the word, phrase or sentence over and over, listening to it deeply in your heart.
Reflect on why the passage got your attention. Consider the area of your life to which this may apply. Is God saying something to you in this passage? Take time to listen carefully to whatever God may be saying to you.
Respond to God in prayer (or with journaling, music, art or whatever you choose) about what you have heard. Ask questions. Open yourself to God’s will for you.
Rest in God’s company. Be still and quiet. Move beyond thinking, practicing interior silence. Let yourself be open to God’s presence. Savor this moment with God.
PRAYER
What does it take, Vinekeeper-God,
for us to be grafted onto the true Vine?
Your mercy, forgiveness and grace,
but most of all it took your deep love.
Because you love us we are grafted
to the heart and soul of your risen Son.
We share in his life, and he in ours.
This bond is unlike anything on earth;
built of love, stronger than death,
and eternal, like our resurrected Savior.
We thank you and praise you, God,
for this deep and lasting connection.
But some branches you prune away,
because they do not bear the good fruit.
What is the fault that causes pruning?
It is nothing less than failing to love.
Not loving you and our neighbors
shrivels and rots all the fruit we bear.
Is there any hope for those pruned?
Can they ever return to be grafted again?
In your love lies the grafting balm
of your mercy, forgiveness and grace.
That is the hope for all so pruned,
and your compassion offers it to us.
It is all about your love, holy God.
Our life on the Vine testifies to that.
This love we draw from your Vine.
In it we will love you and our neighbor.
With Christ’s love we will produce
the living fruit that you so deeply desire.
And seeing the fruit Christ nourished,
we will rejoice trusting in its testimony;
that we are one with you, our God.
Amen.
SILENCE AND COMMITMENT
(Pause to reflect and listen. Work to push out of your mind any distracting or irrelevant thoughts. Concentrate your thoughts on the words of the hymns and choruses you have sung, the prayers you have spoken and the scriptures you have read. Be aware of what you are feeling. Listen for anything that God might be saying to you in this time you have spent together. As God responds to your prayer-time, seek guidance for how you can best respond to God’s will. Then commit to serving God’s will for you.)
HYMN 622 “There Is a Fountain Filled with Blood”
CLOSING PRAYER
Your greatness, I Am, is our joy and our hope,
for you have sent your Son to be our shepherd,
the true vine and bread of life, the world’s light,
the gate, opening to grace, shutting out danger.
He has become to us the resurrection and life,
our way, our truth and our life forever and ever.
May our thoughts, words and deeds all this day,
faithfully reflect his presence and compassion. Amen.
Copyright 2020. Robert D. Ingram, 32746 Jourden Rd., Albany, Ohio 45710 (dr.bobingram@gmail.com). Used by permission.
