Blindness/Seeing
Worship
THE WORK OF THE PEOPLE
Liturgical Aids
Call to Worship
God sees all - and understands.
We pretend that we see - but misunderstand.
God nonetheless accepts us - and this with a limitless love.
We in worship would dare to accept that love - and so grow in our seeing and understanding.
Thus can our blindness be healed.
Thus can we become fit servants of the Most High.
Invocation
God, you see each one of us as a precious son or daughter. You look within and see the yearning of hearts that would know a way of life that truly satisfies and fulfills. You are aware of the particularity of each of our settings and would minister to us in those settings. You are present to change our blindness to sight, our pretensions to a commitment that truly sees and serves. How amazing that Jesus on his way to Jerusalem was accompanied by sighted disciples who did not see and by a sightless man who did see. Where do we see ourselves in this number? Guide us this day, O God, that whatever our setting, we be led to see - that we might follow Jesus as Savior and Lord and serve him faithfully. Amen.
Call to Confession
There is a blindness, we confess, that masquerades as seeing. We pretend to see - and in the process come to know people in general but never in particular. Thus do friendships elude us; relationships fail to mature. All is but a veneer; we never truly see inside the other, just as we never allow others to see inside us. Are we willing that God change this, and in sighting us that our eyes be opened and our lives be radically remolded into a people seeing in love? Let us so confess our need and our willingness.
Prayer of Confession
God, you have through the years spoken of people who have eyes - and yet see not. Pictured is always a scene of incompleteness, not only of incomprehension and misunderstanding, but of ignorance and poverty. Why is this so? We cannot cast the blame on you, O God, nor can we rightly blame others. That we do not see is in truth due to our own choices - our own self interest that in many cases imposes a veil between us and our neighbor. We choose not to see - and not only we but others pay the consequences. We rivet our attention on that which we hold to be of value to us, and at the same time fail to discern that of greater value to all, that which defines life itself. Forgive us this blindness, this spiritual blindness. By your mercy sight us, we pray, with vision; vision sensitive to those ways in which we might serve you and all of your creation around us. And most of all, help us to see the face of Christ, for there will we find one worthy of emulation, worthy of the best of heart and mind. It is in his name that we ask it. Amen.
Words of Assurance
The assurance of God is that those of faith shall see and live. Such is the mercy and the omnipotence of God. Here is no fear, but rather a great joy, the throwing off of a mighty burden and the assumption of a glad commitment that with the help of God's love we shall confidently wear.
Praise God for sight - that true vision which means life and hope.
Psalter Reading (from Psalm 34)
I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth.
My soul makes its boast in the Lord; let the humble hear and be glad.
O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together.
I sought the Lord and he answered me, and delivered me from all my fears.
Look to him and be radiant; so your faces shall never be ashamed.
This poor soul cried, and was heard by the Lord, and was saved from every trouble.
The angel of the Lord encamps around those who revere him, and delivers them.
O taste and see that the Lord is good; happy are those who take refuge in him.
The Lord redeems the life of his servants;
None of those who take refuge in him will be condemned.
Offering Sentences
When we see, when we truly see the need of our neighbor, our next step is that of responding. God's love is to flow through us. That might well mean our giving of time; it might mean a lending of skills and talents. On other occasions, it will elicit from us an offering of money. So do we come before God now to respond as we can and as need demands - all that God's love be spread to touch and heal and so meet our neighbor's need.
Prayer of Dedication
Help us, O God, to be wise stewards of that entrusted to us. May these gifts now placed upon the table of the Lord be prudently and joyfully used to do the Lord's work. May our eyes ever be open to those opportunities to share of ourselves in your name - that healing and reconciliation take place and that the body of Christ be strengthened. All so that your way may be made fully known on this earth. Amen.
Benediction
May each one of us see - and understand - what God would have us be and what God would have us do in his name - that we be whole and complete, that our neighbor be blessed in like manner, and that all of creation might indeed rejoice. Amen and amen!
God sees all - and understands.
We pretend that we see - but misunderstand.
God nonetheless accepts us - and this with a limitless love.
We in worship would dare to accept that love - and so grow in our seeing and understanding.
Thus can our blindness be healed.
Thus can we become fit servants of the Most High.
Invocation
God, you see each one of us as a precious son or daughter. You look within and see the yearning of hearts that would know a way of life that truly satisfies and fulfills. You are aware of the particularity of each of our settings and would minister to us in those settings. You are present to change our blindness to sight, our pretensions to a commitment that truly sees and serves. How amazing that Jesus on his way to Jerusalem was accompanied by sighted disciples who did not see and by a sightless man who did see. Where do we see ourselves in this number? Guide us this day, O God, that whatever our setting, we be led to see - that we might follow Jesus as Savior and Lord and serve him faithfully. Amen.
Call to Confession
There is a blindness, we confess, that masquerades as seeing. We pretend to see - and in the process come to know people in general but never in particular. Thus do friendships elude us; relationships fail to mature. All is but a veneer; we never truly see inside the other, just as we never allow others to see inside us. Are we willing that God change this, and in sighting us that our eyes be opened and our lives be radically remolded into a people seeing in love? Let us so confess our need and our willingness.
Prayer of Confession
God, you have through the years spoken of people who have eyes - and yet see not. Pictured is always a scene of incompleteness, not only of incomprehension and misunderstanding, but of ignorance and poverty. Why is this so? We cannot cast the blame on you, O God, nor can we rightly blame others. That we do not see is in truth due to our own choices - our own self interest that in many cases imposes a veil between us and our neighbor. We choose not to see - and not only we but others pay the consequences. We rivet our attention on that which we hold to be of value to us, and at the same time fail to discern that of greater value to all, that which defines life itself. Forgive us this blindness, this spiritual blindness. By your mercy sight us, we pray, with vision; vision sensitive to those ways in which we might serve you and all of your creation around us. And most of all, help us to see the face of Christ, for there will we find one worthy of emulation, worthy of the best of heart and mind. It is in his name that we ask it. Amen.
Words of Assurance
The assurance of God is that those of faith shall see and live. Such is the mercy and the omnipotence of God. Here is no fear, but rather a great joy, the throwing off of a mighty burden and the assumption of a glad commitment that with the help of God's love we shall confidently wear.
Praise God for sight - that true vision which means life and hope.
Psalter Reading (from Psalm 34)
I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth.
My soul makes its boast in the Lord; let the humble hear and be glad.
O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together.
I sought the Lord and he answered me, and delivered me from all my fears.
Look to him and be radiant; so your faces shall never be ashamed.
This poor soul cried, and was heard by the Lord, and was saved from every trouble.
The angel of the Lord encamps around those who revere him, and delivers them.
O taste and see that the Lord is good; happy are those who take refuge in him.
The Lord redeems the life of his servants;
None of those who take refuge in him will be condemned.
Offering Sentences
When we see, when we truly see the need of our neighbor, our next step is that of responding. God's love is to flow through us. That might well mean our giving of time; it might mean a lending of skills and talents. On other occasions, it will elicit from us an offering of money. So do we come before God now to respond as we can and as need demands - all that God's love be spread to touch and heal and so meet our neighbor's need.
Prayer of Dedication
Help us, O God, to be wise stewards of that entrusted to us. May these gifts now placed upon the table of the Lord be prudently and joyfully used to do the Lord's work. May our eyes ever be open to those opportunities to share of ourselves in your name - that healing and reconciliation take place and that the body of Christ be strengthened. All so that your way may be made fully known on this earth. Amen.
Benediction
May each one of us see - and understand - what God would have us be and what God would have us do in his name - that we be whole and complete, that our neighbor be blessed in like manner, and that all of creation might indeed rejoice. Amen and amen!
