Call to Worship by Shari Miller Wagner

 

Who is this who enters the doors of our temple,
who overturns the tables,
strews silver and gold on the floor,
frees the sacrificial doves from gilded cages?
Listen, as they rise, the beating of their wings
is a song of loud hosanna.
It is Jesus of Galilee, the Son of God,
who comes to cleanse the great temple,
to restore its subverted chambers
to a house of hallowed prayer.
Then let us open the doors of our hearts even wider,
so he can cast out the thieves
who would take what is sacred and tender
and turn it hard as gold in a fist.
May the temple within us
be a refuge where doves of peace roost in the rafters.
May it be a garden
that bears the fruits of a generous spirit.
Oh Lord, take what is corrupt and withered
and let it break forth in beauty.
For thine is the kingdom and the power
and the glory forever.
Amen.

 

Song – Come, Ye Sinners, Poor and Needy

 

Scripture Reading – John 2:13-22

 

13 The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.14 In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there. 15 And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. 16 And he told those who sold the pigeons, “Take these things away; do not make my Father’s house a house of trade.” 17 His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.”

 

 

18 So the Jews said to him, “What sign do you show us for doing these things?” 19 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” 20 The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” 21 But he was speaking about the temple of his body. 22 When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.

 

Prayer – Overturning Tables by John van de Laar

 

Truth be told, Jesus,
There are lots of tables that need overturning
in our lives;
Beneath the veneer of respectability
the tidy rows and neat regulations
hide dark addictions and angry judgements
hungry greeds and heartless rejections

 

We know the pain—and so do those around us—
of keeping up the facade;
What a relief it would be to have it all
upset, smashed, scattered, destroyed

 

So, perhaps, Jesus, today you could pay us a visit
and help us to radically rearrange
the furniture of our lives

Amen.

Video Sermon

 

Prayer of Confession

 

(inspired by Exodus 20, Psalm 19, John 2: 13-22)

 

With hearts of sorrow,
we come before you, O God,
to confess what you already know—
we have failed to keep your laws.
Again and again,
we have followed our own selfish will,
rather than your holy and life-giving will
for our lives.
We have twisted your decrees and institutions
to suit our preconceptions and interests
rather than your own.
Forgive us, O God,
and cleanse us from hidden faults,
that the words of our mouths,
and the meditations of all our hearts,
may be acceptable to you,
our Rock and our Redeemer.

 

Words of Assurance

 

(inspired by Exodus 20: 1-17)

 

God shows steadfast love
and blesses to the thousandth generation
those who walk in God’s ways.
In love, God sent Jesus
to bless and redeem God’s people.
God forgives us our sins
and restores us to new life.
Let us rejoice in God’s mercy.

 

Song – Turning Over Tables

 

Prayer of the People by Rick Morley

 

Have mercy on us, O God, according to your loving kindness;
in your great compassion, hear our prayers.

 

We pray for the whole church, all leaders and ministers,
and all the holy people of God.

 

Wash us through and through,
And cleanse us from our sin.

 

We pray for our nation, for all the nations of the earth,
and for all who govern and judge.
Purge us from our sin,
And we shall be pure.

 

We pray for those who hunger, those who thirst,
those who cry out for justice, those who live under the threat of terror,
and those without a place to lay their head.
Make them hear of joy and gladness,
that those who are broken may rejoice.

 

We pray for those who are ill, those in pain, those under stress,
and those who are lonely.
Give them the joy of your saving help,
and sustain them with your bountiful Spirit.

 

We pray for those who have died, (especially _____ )
and who have entered into the land of eternal Light and your abiding peace.
Cast them not away from your presence,
and take not your Holy Spirit from them.

 

Lord Jesus,
it was your will that your Father’s House
would be a place of prayer for all people;
grant us the strength and wisdom to be a people
consumed with prayer and zeal for you,
this day and always. Amen.

 

Benediction