Sunday Service Order
Light a Candle
Open the Word
Greetings and Check-In
Take a Deep Breath
Invocation
Lord, we come before you today and we thank You for all the blessings that You have given us. Many times our lives are so full of busywork that we neglect our relationship with You, for that we are sorry. We know that You never neglect us, for if You did our very lives would cease to be. Continue to pull us to Yourself, guide us in our journey, and hold us close in Your bosom until the day we come home to be with You forever. Be with us now as we gather in Your name, may we feel your presence among us. In Jesus' precious name we pray. Amen.
Amen.
Confession
O Holy One, we call to you and name you as eternal, ever-present, and boundless in love. Yet there are times, O God when we fail to recognize you in the daily-ness of our lives. Sometimes shame clenches tightly around our hearts, and we hide our true feelings. Sometimes fear makes us small, and we miss the chance to speak from our strength. Sometimes doubt invades our hopefulness, and we degrade our own wisdom.
Holy God, in the daily round from sunrise to sunset, remind us again of your holy presence hovering near us and in us. Free us from shame and self-doubt. Help us to see you in the moment-by-moment possibilities to live honestly, to act courageously, and to speak from our wisdom.
Scripture Readings
Zacchaeus the Tax Collector
19 Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. 2 A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. 3 He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short he could not see over the crowd. 4 So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him since Jesus was coming that way.
5 When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” 6 So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly.
7 All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.”
8 But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.”
9 Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
Swedenborg Insights:
Divine providence works in this invisible, unfathomable way in order to allow us the freedom to ascribe events to either providence or chance. It would be dangerous for providence to act in a visible, fathomable way because our eyes and minds might lead us to believe that events are providential, but afterward, we might change our minds. (Secrets of Heaven §5508:2)
SERMON
Offering
Please give generously to our ministry
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Community Prayer with Lord's Prayer
(congregation responds, "Lord hear our prayer.")
Benediction
Now may the peace that passes all understanding be with you all this day and forevermore.
AMEN
Discussion with Q&A