We acknowledge that the land on which we gather is the traditional territory of the Sana and Tonkawa peoples. It is also important to acknowledge that we are here today due to the exclusion and erasure of many indigenous people from their native land, including the land on which we stand today. We honor with gratitude the land itself and its original people.
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.
PSALM: Psalm 4
Answer me when I call, O God of my right!
You gave me room when I was in distress.
Be gracious to me, and hear my prayer.
How long, you people, shall my honor suffer shame?
How long will you love vain words and seek after lies?
But know that the Lord has set apart the faithful for himself;
the Lord hears when I call to him.
When you are disturbed, do not sin;
ponder it on your beds, and be silent.
Offer right sacrifices,
and put your trust in the Lord.
There are many who say, “O that we might see some good!
Let the light of your face shine on us, O Lord!”
You have put gladness in my heart
more than when their grain and wine abound.
I will both lie down and sleep in peace,
for you alone, O Lord, make me lie down in safety.
GOSPEL: Luke 24:36-48
While they were talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” They were startled and terrified and thought that they were seeing a ghost. He said to them, “Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself. Touch me and see, for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. Yet for all their joy they were still disbelieving and wondering, and he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate in their presence.
Then he 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 of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and he said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 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.
We watch with anxiety as the tensions reverberate all around the globe
and the fragile lines between countries and regions
and the world wide community is strained once again.
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 food
at countless soup kitchens around the world;
– search the night streets for lost children
and shepherd them to places of safety;
– keep watch amidst the sick and dying
in 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.
Sending 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!
