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 63:1-8
A Psalm of David, when he was in the Wilderness of Judah.
O God, you are my God; I seek you;
my soul thirsts for you;
my flesh faints for you,
as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary,
beholding your power and glory.
Because your steadfast love is better than life,
my lips will praise you.
So I will bless you as long as I live;
I will lift up my hands and call on your name.
My soul is satisfied as with a rich feast,
and my mouth praises you with joyful lips
when I think of you on my bed
and meditate on you in the watches of the night,
for you have been my help,
and in the shadow of your wings I sing for joy.
My soul clings to you;
your right hand upholds me.
Gospel: Luke 13:1-9
At that very time there were some present who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. He asked them, “Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all other Galileans? No, I tell you, but unless you repent you will all perish as they did. Or those eighteen who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them—do you think that they were worse offenders than all the other people living in Jerusalem? No, I tell you, but unless you repent you will all perish just as they did.”
Then he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came looking for fruit on it and found none. So he said to the man working the vineyard, ‘See here! For three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and still I find none. Cut it down! Why should it be wasting the soil?’ He replied, ‘Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig around it and put manure on it. If it bears fruit next year, well and good, but if not, you can cut it down.’ ”
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.
Holy God,
whose Spirit moved over the waters at the dawn of creation,
hear our prayers for all who thirst today.
We pray for those who are spiritually thirsty,
who long to know Your presence, but don’t know where to find You.
We pray for those who are alone and without hope,
those who long to feel needed and loved,
those who are searching for meaning and purpose.
O healing river,
pour down Your waters, and heal Your people.
We pray for all who are physically thirsty,
who don’t have enough water to drink, or feed their animals,
whose fields are parched, whose crops have withered;
those who have to walk long distances to find enough water to survive,
or who have to be content with water that is unclean.
We pray for those whose homes and villages are torn apart
because of drought or famine.
O healing river,
pour down Your waters, and heal Your people.
We pray for those who are thirsty for justice,
who long for an equal sharing of resources among peoples and nations;
those who put their lives at risk to protect streams and rivers and oceans;
those who are working to find clean water,
and make it available to those who need it
O healing river,
pour down Your waters, and heal Your people.
God, we ask that you would open our hearts to the needs of all who thirst.
Give us courage to work together for justice,
to stand alongside those who are thirsty,
so that all people, everywhere, may live without want or fear,
and may discover the abundant life You promise to each one.
In the name of Jesus Christ—the source of living water—we pray. Amen.
So now we leave this space of worship
And while so much of the road ahead is uncertain,
the path constantly changing,
we know some things that are as solid and sure
as the ground beneath our feet,
and the sky above our heads.
We know God is love.
We know Christ’s light endures.
We know the Holy Spirit this there,
found in the space between all things,
closer to us than our next breath,
binding us to each other,
until we meet we again,
Go in peace.
