To long-time Lutherans, Christians from every tradition, and people new to the faith.
We welcome you
To all who have no church home, want to follow Christ, have doubts or do not believe.
We welcome you
To people of every age and size, color and culture, gender identity, sexual orientation, and marital status, ability, disability, and challenge.
We welcome you
To believers, non-believers, questioners, and questioning believers.
This is a place where you are welcome to: celebrate and struggle, rejoice and recover.
AMEN
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 118:1-2, 14-24
O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
his steadfast love endures forever!
Let Israel say,
“His steadfast love endures forever.”
The Lord is my strength and my might;
he has become my salvation.
There are glad songs of victory in the tents of the righteous:
“The right hand of the Lord does valiantly;
the right hand of the Lord is exalted;
the right hand of the Lord does valiantly.”
I shall not die, but I shall live
and recount the deeds of the Lord.
The Lord has punished me severely,
but he did not give me over to death.
Open to me the gates of righteousness,
that I may enter through them
and give thanks to the Lord.
This is the gate of the Lord;
the righteous shall enter through it.
I thank you that you have answered me
and have become my salvation.
The stone that the builders rejected
has become the chief cornerstone.
This is the Lord’s doing;
it is marvelous in our eyes.
This is the day that the Lord has made;
let us rejoice and be glad in it.
Gospel: Luke 24:1-12
But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices that they had prepared. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in they did not find the body. While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them. The women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be handed over to the hands of sinners and be crucified and on the third day rise again.” Then they remembered his words, and returning from the tomb they told all this to the eleven and to all the rest. Now it was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them who told this to the apostles. But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. But Peter got up and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; then he went home, amazed at what had happened.
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.
Christ is Risen!
He is Risen Indeed!
Risen Lord, hear our cry for help –
for those surrounded by the shroud of death
for those covered by the mantle of dying
for those hemmed-in by illness, visible or veiled
hear our cry for help…
for those weighed down with worries
for those carrying the burden of distress
for those overwhelmed by isolation
hear our cry for help…
for those who are weary
for those who are tattered and worn
for those who collapse from exhaustion
hear our cry for help…
Risen Lord, hear our cry of thanksgiving –
for the graciousness with which you hear
for the patience with which you listen
for the grace with which you care
hear our cry of thanksgiving…
for the ways you accompany us through deep valleys
for the ways you lead us to still meadows
for the ways you provide all we need
hear our cry of thanksgiving…
for transforming death in resurrection life
for blessing and breaking ordinary bread
for opening our eyes to recognize you
hear our cry of thanksgiving…
Risen Lord, hear our cry for communities of faith –
that we retain memory of being together
that we embrace unity in the reality of distance
that we foresee a future side-by-side, hand-in-hand
hear our cry for communities of faith…
that we sense purpose beyond ourselves
that we perceive the needs of creation
that we stretch ourselves to respond
hear our cry for communities of faith…
that our ways be formed by Your Way
that our lives be shaped by Your Life
that our love be Your Love
hear our cry for communities our faith…
And hear us as we pray together….
Communion
May God,
who comes to us
in the things of this world,
bless your eyes
and be in your seeing.
May Christ,
who looks upon you
with deepest love,
bless your eyes
and widen your gaze.
May the Spirit,
who perceives what is
and what may yet be,
bless your eyes
and sharpen your vision.
May the Sacred Three
bless your eyes
and cause you to see.
