Tuesday Evening - I Am - Christian Worship Tools

"I AM THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD"

John 8:12; 9:5

GREETING (Psalm 141:2)

Let our prayer be counted as incense before you, God,

and the lifting up of our hands as an evening sacrifice.

HYMN 188 “Christ Is the World’s Light”

PSALM 43

PRAYER

(Think back to the beginning of this day. Start there, and mentally walk through the day again, while you thank God for the day's blessings and God's continuous work of love. Confess and repent of those times when you forgot, ignored or rebelled against God. Continue to pray with your personal prayer list.)

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

More than all the suns all across heaven,

the greatest of any and all lights everywhere,

you are God, the source and power of every light.

You sent Jesus, the Light of the world,

to save sinners everywhere from eternal death;

because you love us more than we love ourselves.

Your face is seen in the light of Christ.

His example teaches us to love our neighbors,

and reveals to us that this is how we can love you.

Jesus illuminates your bias for the poor.

Unlike the world that coldly shoves them aside,

you truly love those in need, and who have so little.

He teaches us to welcome little children,

to love Gentiles and Jews, men and women,

and to embrace the outcast as much as our families.

For us Jesus gave up equality with you,

in order to lift up the humble, meek, and shy;

and to tear down the proud, arrogant and despotic.

Jesus healed the sick, blind, deaf and lame,

cast out demons like addiction and psychosis,

and freed the prisoners of prejudice and oppression.

Jesus lights up your grace given in love.

He shows us salvation is accepting your gift,

and that we work ourselves to death in rejecting it.

By dying Jesus revealed the greatest love.

By resurrection, he revealed the greatest power;

by delaying his return, the greatness of your patience.

And Jesus, by living the kind of life he did,

revealed the bright light discovered in such living,

and shined that beautiful light to reveal your heart.

He commissioned us to witness to his light,

to live in the light of his love and righteousness,

and to let his light illuminate the paths others walk.

God, the source and power of every light,

let the brightness of Christ reveal your glory,

and inaugurate the kingdom needing no sun or moon. 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 206 “I Want to Walk as a Child of the Light”

CLOSING PRAYER

Night comes, we are tired and need rest,

but if we close our eyes will they open again?

You are the resurrection and the life.

In you, Lord, our eyes will always open again.

Tomorrow we will again be hungry,

but you are the bread of life that will fill us.

Tomorrow we might again get lost,

but you, light of the world, will always lead us.

Will we be safe and free tomorrow?

You are still the gate, protecting and opening.

What will keep us going tomorrow?

You are the vine sustaining us your branches.

Will you always be there for us, Lord?

You are the good shepherd whose care lasts.

Where should we go? What is true?

How will we live when our eyes open again?

You are the way, the truth and the life.

Trusting you for tomorrow, we can finally rest.

Guard our sleep, and give us dreams

of the tomorrow that we will spend with you. Amen.