Monday Morning - The Covenants of god - Christian Worship Tools

"COVENANT WITH ABRAM AND HIS DESCENDANTS"

Genesis 12:1-3 (Genesis 15:1-21)

GREETING (quote from Augustine’s “Confessions”)

“O Beauty, so ancient and so new,

you were with us, but we not with you.”

Together we have traveled so far.

Alone we stumble without our north star.

We again fix eyes and heart on you.

our destination to bring back into view.

HYMN 116 “The God of Abraham Praise”

PSALM 99

PRAYER

(Consider some of the following concerns of people for prayers of thanksgiving, intercession, and petition. Follow with your personal prayer list.)

That God wants a covenant with us God’s testing of us

That we are unworthy of God’s covenant God provides “sheep” for sacrifice

For the Jews in God’s covenant The “Lamb of God” and his sacrifice

For the Christians grafted into God’s covenant Thankful living is our only sacrifice

That God’s covenants last forever Our need to wait for God

Our failures to be faithful in covenant That God always comes through

God’s faithfulness in covenant God makes us a blessing to others

The founders of our faith Finding more ways to bless others

New beginnings with God Our countless spiritual descendants

Committing to become faithful to God _____________________________

The place God provides for us _____________________________

Honoring God in and through our place _____________________________

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

God of the big bang, and all the creation you spun out from that infinitesimal point:

you established the universal laws needed to produce and support living things;

you blasted energy all across the cosmos and inserted it into subatomic particles;

you gathered and packed the atoms into planets, solar systems and great galaxies;

you reached into the primordial pools and breathed your life into the tiny cells;

you imagined the vast variety of plants and animals that populate your planet;

you stamped your image upon one animal, and made yourself known to Adam.

God of the billions of galaxies, and all the awesome expanse that is your creation:

you chose to make a covenant with one man, named Abram, and his wife Sarai;

you promised them more children than the stars in the sky or sand on the beach;

you made this promise even though those two were long past bearing children;

you added more promises to Abram and Sarai, a land they could call their own;

and a promise to create from them a great nation to bless all earth’s families;

you kept that promise in Mary’s child, Jesus, your saving gift to all the world.

God of the limitless, immense universe, and God of the infinitesimally miniscule:

you have come to each one of us in Jesus Christ to declare your steadfast love;

you knew us in the womb and now you know our every deed, word and thought;

you have seen our endless sin, and the wounds we caused others cry out to you;

you love us still, and forgive us, and you redeem us and bring out the best in us;

you give us hope and seal it with promise, freeing our hearts to dance with joy;

you pile on the love, and we bear abundant fruit like an orchard in a fertile field.

God who calls me your child, and God who makes my heart rejoice in hearing this:

I can hardly wait to enter that mysterious home that you have promised to me;

I know that your Son is creating an Eden that outshines the universe we know;

I so look forward to his kingdom where death no longer casts its ugly shadow;

I want to learn the new song, God, so that I can sing my everlasting love to you;

I want to join my voice to the billions singing in your heavenly amphitheater;

I want to sing to you the joy of my thanksgiving, and praise you forever. 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 142 “If Thou But Suffer God to Guide Thee”

CLOSING PRAYER

You have covenanted with us, Creator and Almighty God;

and we know you are faithful to all your words.

We enjoy inexhaustible blessings because of your covenant,

and for your favor and gifts we are truly thankful.

We recognize our failures in keeping covenant with you,

and we are determined today to turn that around.

Let your Holy Spirit take possession of our minds and hearts,

so that we please you in all we think, say or do. Amen.