Prayers around the Cross
PJ: To long-time Lutherans, Christians from every tradition, and people new to the faith.
All: We welcome you
Leader 1: To all who have no church home, want to follow Christ, have doubts or do not believe.
All: We welcome you
Leader 2: To people of every age and size, color and culture, gender identity, sexual orientation, and marital status, ability, disability, and challenge.
All: We welcome you
PJ: To believers, non-believers, questioners, and questioning believers.
This is a place where you are welcome to: celebrate and struggle, rejoice and recover.
All: AMEN
Leader 1: 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.
Leader 2: Welcome to Prayer around the Cross, a worship service with prayer, simple singing, and communion.
PJ: The songs we sing tonight are simple phrases and may be brand new to you. For each song, Ethan, the worship leader, will sing it through once at the beginning. We will repeat each song several times. As we do so, let the words deepen into your spirit and let them guide your prayer.
Gathering Song
PJ: A reading from the Gospel of John
Leader 1: Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those reclining with him.
Leader 2: Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus’s feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said,
PJ: “Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?”
Leader 1: (He said this not because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; he kept the common purse and used to steal what was put into it.) Jesus said,
Leader 2: “Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.”
PJ: Here, all are equal.
Leader 1: There is no test to pass,
PJ: No “right kind of Christian” to be.
Leader 1: All that matters is that you are here.
(Pause)
Leader 2: All are one in Christ.
PJ: God is not bound by our differences.
Leader 2: All are one in Christ.
Leader 1: Where we push people apart, God draws us together.
Leader 2: May we be grateful
PJ: For community and for people who love us, just as we are.
Leader 2: May we be grateful
Leader 1: That none of us are above any other.
Leader 2: May we be grateful
PJ: That God believes that we are all worthy of love
Leader 1: For God has loved us this far, and God’s love will carry us on.
Leader 2: May we be grateful to You, O Christ, for proving God’s love to us.
(Pause)
PJ: Tonight, we are called to the cross, the symbol of Jesus’ transformation.
Leader 1: We are called into an abundant life with God,
Leader 2: We are called to let our hearts be changed, to be nourished, to be transformed.
PJ: Tonight, you are invited to the cross.
Leader 1: When you are ready, come to the cross, light a candle, and pray.
Leader 2: At the cross, you may be close to another member of the community. If you choose to pray at the cross, the members of the community that are sitting near you are invited to pray silently for you – and with you.
PJ: Those near you may lay a hand on you as they pray with you. This is a physical connection that shows the spiritual connection that we are all united as children of God.
(Pause)
Leader 1: Come when you are ready, for the God who is always faithful is eager to be with you in prayer.
Prayer at the Cross (with 2 songs)
Communion: PJ
Words of institution followed by welcome to the table and directions.
Communion Song
Post Communion Blessing: PJ
Sending Song
PJ: And now a final blessing.
Leader 1: Go now in the righteousness of faith and live by God’s just demands. Let nothing claim your devotion above the Lord, and count nothing of value above knowing Christ. Press on towards the ultimate prize, of being one with him.
Leader 2 And may God’s perfect word revive your soul; May Christ Jesus be your savior and your rock; And may the Holy Spirit strengthen you to press ever onward.
(Pause)
PJ: Stay for a while in prayer here at the cross,
Leader 1: Or, go, joining in community with those present.
PJ: No matter if you choose to stay or to go, we ask you to do so in silence.
Leader 2: And in God’s peace.