The Name will not be tamed

Every bird in flight, every creature of sea, every hair of every head is numbered and known.

In darkness and in light, whether happy or sad, asleep or awake, there is an Advocate who lingers, Who does not forget, Who notices every tear and cherishes all laughter.

Who is this Advocate, this gracious Father, this guardian Mother, this Presence whose Way is peace, whose Will is justice, whose Weal is shaped in mercy.

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The palm and the passion

     Call to worship
Welcome to this Circle of faith. Today we mark both the palm and the passion of the human journey toward the arms of God.

Jesus, riding a humble donkey, entered Jerusalem, cheered by the crowd.

Palms and cloaks were laid in his path as a sign of messianic hope for deliverance.

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The ministry of encouragement

Encouragement is the lime and silica that cement fickle sand into concrete resolve. The ministry of encouragement is not the “soft,” interpersonal side of our more hard-charging, public mission of confronting disruptive power.

We rejoice in the Blessed One,
who draws us up and circles us round
and builds a bulwark against gales of destruction.

Offering pastoral encouragement within the Body is not “feminine” work where mission in the larger world is “masculine.”

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The melody of restful hearts

From the turbulent bowels of darkest deep, our roiling souls cry to you, oh God!

Close not your ears to the sound of our afflictions!

Draw us to the Still Point of love’s tranquil refrain, to the melody of restful hearts:

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The meek shall inherit the earth

There are many images in Scripture which express Heaven’s purpose, but none more concise than this phrase from Jesus, the one we herald as the pioneer and perfecter of our faith:

      The meek shall inherit the earth.

The powers that rule—and sometimes overtake our own hearts—consider the Way of Jesus a foolish option:

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The labor of lament

Who among you believe that grieving and lamentation are symptoms of despair?

Not so!

Only the hopeless are silent in the face of calamity—

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The new deuteronomist

History says, Don't hope on this side of the grave.
It is too much to ask for mere mortals such as us.
     Yet we say, Noli timere. Do not be afraid.

Hope is not beyond your reach. It is not in the highest
     region of heaven, or out beyond the farthest sea.
Hope need not be the exclusive province of heroic figures.
     Noli timere. Do not be afraid.

Hope is in your mouth, ready to be savored; it is in your
heart, awaiting love’s harness. Noli timere. Noli timidus.

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The breadth of Heaven’s reach

A life in Christ is
           an invitation
to live according to a different rhythm.

It stimulates the courage to
           move forward
even when the path seems to crumble
beneath our feet, when every way forward
                       is shrouded in threat.

The Love of Christ is that embrace which
           untangles the anxious heart
           and calms the fretful hand
where fears are overruled by confidence and
           trembling is tempered
with pardon and permission.

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The boundary of bedlam

From the turbulent bowels of darkest deep,
     our roiling souls cry to you, O God!

Close not your ears to the sound of our
     afflictions! Remind us again that Heaven’s
Provision will yet outlast earth’s squalid distress.

Draw us to the Still Point of love’s tranquil refrain,
     to the melody of restful hearts:

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