Welcome to a Gathering of EChurch@Wartburg
Here is our Order of Worship
Today we are offering prayers from the Moravian Church link.
For those of you unfamiliar with the Moravians, here is a link to read about their rich history. This is a brief description.
The name “Moravian” started out as a nickname in eastern Germany in the 1720s because refugees belonging to the church came from Moravia to the estate of the wealthy Saxon nobleman Count Nicholas von Zinzendorf.
The official name of the Moravian Church is the Unitas Fratrum, or Unity of Brethren. This was the original name of the church when it was founded back in 1457 in the Bohemian forests. Today, the Northern and Southern Provinces of the Moravian Church in America are part of the worldwide Unitas Fratrum.
Let the whole earth be joyful in you, O God,
We greet you with gladness, and celebrate your presence with a song.
For we know that you are creating us,
you are alive in us and we belong to you.
We enter your gates, a motley procession,
But we enter with heartfelt thanksgiving and joy.
For you are gracious and your embrace is compassionate,
faithful through all generations.
Amen
(Unto that compassionate God, let us confess our Sins)
:
We, in our human frailty, have a hard time understanding your steadfast love O God.
We confess that too often our love comes with strings attached,
and is based on what can be gained from sharing it.
We, in our human frailty, have a hard time understanding how you can be so slow to anger when ours comes so easily.
Gracious God, forgive our lack of steadfastness, forgive our shortsightedness,
and forgive our unfaithfulness.
Guide us to walk in your ways, to sing your praise, and to share your love freely.
Amen
Luke 4:38-44 (NASB Bible Gateway)
Then He got up and left the synagogue, and entered Simon’s home. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever, and they asked Him to help her. And standing over her, He rebuked the fever, and it left her; and she immediately got up and waited on them.
While the sun was setting, all those who had any who were sick with various diseases brought them to Him; and laying His hands on each one of them, He was healing them. Demons also were coming out of many, shouting, “You are the Son of God!” But rebuking them, He would not allow them to speak, because they knew Him to be the Christ.
When day came, Jesus left and went to a secluded place; and the crowds were searching for Him, and came to Him and tried to keep Him from going away from them. But He said to them, “I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, for I was sent for this purpose.”
So He kept on preaching in the synagogues of Judea.
Creator of us all
we praise your name because you have lovingly made each one of us.
May your intended purpose be made real here on earth, even as it is already done in heaven.
Feed us today with those things that we truly need, and may we share our abundance with others.
Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who have done wrong to us.
In times of temptation, may we know of your life giving strength, and keep us from all evil.
Gracious God, this is your kingdom, and we acknowledge your power and glory,
both now and forever more.
Amen
And now, most merciful God,
we ask you to continue extending your grace and favor towards us;
Let the sun of your gospel never go down out of our hearts;
Let your truth abide and be established among us forever.
Help our unbelief, increase our faith
give us hearts to consider your many gifts to us.
In faith clothe us with Christ, that he may live in us,
and that your name may be glorified in the sight of all the world.
Keep us mindful of your steadfast love and ways
in which we can make that love come alive in the hearts of those that we serve and come in contact with this very day.
May Christ, and him crucified,
Remain our confession of faith.
Amen.
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“Arrested Religious Development, Perhaps?”
hmmm…
“A person with a ‘changed’ heart will seek praise ‘from God’, and not from people, certainly not from religious 501(C)3 organizational leadership however appealing, popular, or persuasive these individuals may be.” -Sopwith
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