We are gathered today on the occupied territory of the Sana and Tonkawa People and the occupied territory of the Kaskaskia, Shawandasse Tula, Myaamia, Adena, and Hopewell, who have stewarded this land for generations.
Taizé Worship
Welcome to worship at Treehouse. Tonight we will worship in the style of the Taize Community in France, an ecumenical monastic community committed to peace. This style of worship is quiet and contemplative, with a “grand silence” in the middle for your own prayer, meditation, or reflection. Allow your spirits to settle into the mystery and stillness of this worship. God welcomes you here tonight.
Deep Peace
Nothing can Trouble
Christ, Our Peace
Give us, Lord, a New Heart
Reading 1 John 3:1-7
See what kind of love the Father has given to us in that we should be called God’s children, and that is what we are! Because the world didn’t recognize him, it doesn’t recognize us. 2 Dear friends, now we are God’s children, and it hasn’t yet appeared what we will be. We know that when he appears we will be like him because we’ll see him as he is. 3 And all who have this hope in him purify themselves even as he is pure. 4 Every person who practices sin commits an act of rebellion, and sin is rebellion. 5 You know that he appeared to take away sins, and there is no sin in him. 6 Every person who remains in relationship to him does not sin. Any person who sins has not seen him or known him. 7 Little children, make sure no one deceives you. The person who practices righteousness is righteous, in the same way that Jesus is righteous.
Reading Luke 24:36b-48
36 While they were saying these things, Jesus himself stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 37 They were terrified and afraid. They thought they were seeing a ghost. 38 He said to them, “Why are you startled? Why are doubts arising in your hearts? 39 Look at my hands and my feet. It’s really me! Touch me and see, for a ghost doesn’t have flesh and bones like you see I have.” 40 As he said this, he showed them his hands and feet. 41 Because they were wondering and questioning in the midst of their happiness, he said to them, “Do you have anything to eat?” 42 They gave him a piece of baked fish. 43 Taking it, he ate it in front of them. 44 Jesus said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about me in the Law from Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” 45 Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures. 46 He said to them, “This is what is written: the Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, 47 and a change of heart and life for the forgiveness of sins must be preached in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things.
The Grand Silence
You are invited to enter into a time of silence, prayer, and contemplation. If you are unsure how to do this, you might a) try speaking to God as if speaking to a friend; b) quiet your mind by slowly repeat a phrase from one of the songs or readings from tonight; or c) allow your mind to wander back over your day, asking yourself where you felt most full of life and where you felt most drained, then considering how God was present in both of those experiences.
Prayers
In these early days after the resurrection, we wonder what it all means.
We can relate to the women who fled the tomb with terror and amazement.
We understand Thomas and his need for proof that would come
only by touching the wounds and seeing the nail marks.
We understand the fear and confusion that kept the disciples in the shadow cast by closed doors.
We also keep company with the travelers on the Emmaus road
who felt the strange burning of the truth and hope and love
weaving into the sadness that consumed them on their walk.
We find ourselves in the eternal movement
between fear and faith, doubt and conviction, wonder and worry,
and we trust that you are present with us, O God.
We trust that like the disciples we will be able to stand
and tell the whole message about this life that:
Love is stronger than hate
Life has the final word over death
Beyond what we can see with our eyes,
there is a bond of humanness that draws and keeps us together.
In the midst there are also voices of reason and peace;
perhaps they speak in whispers, but they speak nonetheless.
May those whispers rise to shouts
that proclaim the way forward with words and not weapons.
As the machines of greed and war trample the world and its peoples,
we remember that there are seeds of justice and love and goodness and grace
that are planted and watered every moment of every day.
We give thanks for those who:
– rise early in the morning to prepare foodat countless soup kitchens around the world;
– search the night streets for lost childrenand shepherd them to places of safety;
– keep watch amidst the sick and dyingin countless hospitals and in countless places;
– speak words of compassion in the face of hate.
It is a complicated and frightening world.
Strengthen us as we stand and bear witness to this whole life,
the life of the Risen One,
even Jesus Christ Our Lord. Amen.
Final Prayer –
If the God who raised Jesus from the dead is for us, who dare be against us?
We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us.
Step out into the world in humble confidence:
there is nothing about to happen that God has not foreseen,
and no situation where Christ will not be there ahead of you,
preparing a place and an opportunity for you.
Thanks be to God.
The peace of God, which goes beyond all understanding,
keep your hearts and minds
in the knowledge of God, and of Jesus Christ, God’s Son.
And the blessing of God all-loving,
the Creator, Redeemer and Counsellor,
will be with you now and always. Amen!
Final song – In Silence We Wait
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