Genesis 31:3
Psalm 139:1
Exodus 3:7–8
John 10:11-15

God spoke these words to Jacob: 

Go back to the land of your fathers and to your relatives, 
and I will be with you.


David penned these words in a song he wrote: 

You have searched me, Lord,
and You know me.


In the book of Exodus, we read these words that the Lord spoke: 

I have indeed seen the misery of My people…
I have heard them crying out…
and I am concerned about their suffering.
So I have come down to rescue them…


John recorded these words of Jesus in his gospel: 

I am the Good Shepherd. 
The Good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep…
I know My sheep and My sheep know Me—
just as the Father knows Me and I know the Father.


And the Apostle Paul wrote these words to the Romans: 

And we know that in all things 
God works for the good of those who love Him, 
who have been called according to His purpose.
If God is for us, who can be against us? 
He who did not spare His own Son, 
but gave Him up for us all—
how will He not also, 
along with Him, 
graciously give us all things?
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? 
Shall trouble 
or hardship 
or persecution 
or famine 
or nakedness 
or danger 
or sword?
No, in all these things 
we are more than conquerors 
through Him who loved us.
For I am convinced that neither death nor life, 
neither angels nor demons,
neither the present nor the future, 
nor any powers,
neither height nor depth, 
nor anything else in all creation, 
will be able to separate us 
from the love of God 
that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Triune God,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
You are the Living God Who speaks,
and Who acts,
and Who judges,
and Who saves.

You are the Living Lord 
Who gives Himself to be known.

And so we’ve come here this morning,
not for religious atmosphere
or emotional support
or inspiration.
We’re here seeking You.
We’re expecting You—
the Living God.

You are not hovering above
our tangled lives,
our broken stories,
our disordered loves.
You’ve entered them.
You’ve redeemed us from within them.

All the stuff that is hidden from others 
isn’t hidden from You:
our fears, 
our fatigue, 
our resentment, 
our manipulation, 
our wounds.
There is no place too tangled 
or too complex 
or too wrong 
for Your mercy 
to already be in it 
and at work.

Lord God,
we’re here,
and it is not because 
we’re all cleaned up
or that we’ve mastered our own hearts 
and we’re spiritually competent.
We’re here because 
we need Your grace to find us, 
and heal us.

We haven’t made ourselves fit to be here.
Jesus has taken our unfitness into Himself 
and made it His own burden,
and that’s why we’re here.
That’s why we have communion with You.

Now as we sing and pray and study scripture together,
teach us again 
that Your faithfulness goes way deeper than our disorder.
Teach us again 
that Your promises aren’t fragile.
Your promises don’t depend on 
the stability of our emotions,
or the clarity of our motives,
or the success of our strategies.
You have bound yourself to us 
way more deeply than we are bound to all our own crap.

Your grace is way more real 
than whatever chaos we’re in.

So set us free this morning 
from every false lordship in our lives—
from everything that we call “Mine!” 
My career. 
My future. 
My plans. 
My house project. 
My story. 
All the things we fiercely protect.
For all things belong to You, Father, 
through the Son 
in the Spirit.

Draw us into all the freedom 
that is just right there for us in Your promise.

Help us to hear You this morning.
And when we do, 
help us to repent 
from whatever it is 
we want to then tell ourselves about it.

We’re not free because we’re becoming more self-grounded 
or more financially secure, 
or more educated, 
or more professionally experienced.
We are free 
because we are participating 
in the Son’s own communion with You, Father.
You haven’t liberated us into emptiness. 
You have liberated us into communion.

So, turn our eyes away from introspection 
and turn them to Jesus Christ,
the faithful Son,
the true Shepherd,
the One who does not manipulate us,
but gives Himself for us.

In Him, gather our scattered lives.
In Him, judge and heal what is crooked in us.
In Him, lead us from all our bondage 
and into communion with You.

In Christ, You haven’t come 
to help us find whatever self we’re searching for or making. 
You’ve come to put it to death 
and raise us into true humanity.

Come, Lord, and speak to us.
Don’t give us information.
We want to hear the Word that creates, 
and exposes,
and reconciles, 
and commands, 
and sends, 
and comforts, 
and reorders our realities.

We worship You 
in the name of the Father,
and of the Son,
and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.

He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead.
— Colossians 1:18

God… made us alive together with Christ… and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.
— Ephesians 2:4–6

Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep… For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.
— 1 Corinthians 15:20–22

Just as Christ was raised from the dead… we too might walk in newness of life… consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
— Romans 6:4–11

One has died for all; therefore all have died… if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation.
— 2 Corinthians 5:14–17

Isaiah 55:1–3
Psalm 113:5–8
Matthew 11:28–30
1 Corinthians 1:27–30

The prophet Isaiah wrote: 

Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters;
and he who has no money, come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without price.
Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,
and your labor for that which does not satisfy?
Listen diligently to Me, and eat what is good,
and delight yourselves in rich food.
Incline your ear, and come to Me;
hear, that your soul may live.


The Psalmist wrote:

Who is like the Lord our God,
who is seated on high,
who looks far down
on the heavens and the earth?
He raises the poor from the dust
and lifts the needy from the ash heap,
to make them sit with princes,
with the princes of His people.


Jesus said, 

Come to Me, 
all who labor and are heavy laden, 
and I will give you rest.
Take My yoke upon you, 
and learn from Me, 
for I am gentle and lowly in heart,
and you will find rest for your souls.
For My yoke is easy, 
and My burden is light.


Paul wrote:

You are in Christ Jesus, 
who has become for us wisdom from God
who has become for us our righteousness, 
who has become for us our sanctification,
who has become for us redemption.

Lord God,
there are many things that draw us toward people. 
And You are not drawn to us by any of these things. 
You are not drawn to us
by our beauty,
our strength,
or our success;
not our sincerity, 
our usefulness, 
our spiritual intensity; 
not even our faithfulness, 
or our obedience, 
or devotion,
or even our brokenness.

You are gracious in Your very being, 
freely desiring communion with us.
Nothing in us compels You to love us;
You simply love us, unimaginatively so, 
from the freedom of Your own being.
You are drawn to us by Your own love.
And You have determined not to be God without us. 

And, in light of that unimaginable love, why are we restless? 
We confess any restlessness this morning.
We attach our hopes to things that are small, and silly, and shortlived.
We ask created things to save us, to fill us, to occupy us. 
We seek life in human approval.
We seek security in things that can be taken away.
We seek fullness in things that cannot satisfy us.

And You, Father, 
You are the God who sees.
You see us. Truly see us. 
You see what is hidden and what is displayed.
You see our grief and our vanity,
our longing and our rebellion,
our exhaustion and our self-importance.
You see our wounds, our evasions, and our false loves.
You see the soul striving to be loved
and the soul pretending it needs no love at all.
And You still come near.

Turn us from hungry striving
to the abundance of Your grace.

Free us from all our disordered desire.

Teach us to seek in Christ
what cannot be found anywhere but in Him.

Lift our eyes from ourselves,
from our wounds,
from our comparisons,
from our failed loves and anxious labors,
and gather us into the awesome joy of Your presence.

As we all meet together with You this morning, 
enable us to experience again 
Your mercy and Your love.

Enable us to experience, Father, 
that Christ has not refused 
our brokenness,
our distortions,
but has taken them all up into Himself, 
healed them,
bent them back;
and we now share completely in His wholeness. 

Order our loves.
Quiet our fears.
Awaken our praise, now.
And let Your living kindness draw us
into the rest, 
the fullness, 
and the communion
for which we were made 
and in Christ we have.
Through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory…
— John 1:14.
God does not save from a safe distance, but comes near in the incarnate Son. Revelation and reconciliation in one movement. God’s glory is not elsewhere than in the enfleshed life of Jesus. Palm Sunday is not decorative pageantry but the visible form of divine nearness.

…in Christ God was reconciling the world to Himself…
— 2 Corinthians 5:19.
God himself is at work in Christ, and the work is reconciliation. There is no distant deity standing behind Jesus while Jesus does something merely external on God’s behalf. The reconciling act is God’s own act, and it happens in Christ.

For in Him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things…
— Colossians 1:19–20.
Incarnation ( all the fullness… dwell ) is joined together with atonement and reconciliation ( through him to reconcile ). Palm Sunday is cosmic. Christ’s entry into Jerusalem is not a local religious event, but part of the divine act by which all things are gathered back to God.

He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of His nature…
— Hebrews 1:3.
Christ is the exact imprint of God’s being; who God is and what God does are disclosed in Him. 

...He humbled Himself… becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
— Philippians 2:6–8.
Divine majesty is revealed in humility, obedience, and self-giving love. The triumphal entry is the movement of the obedient Son toward the cross. The kingship on display is not spectacle, but humble lordship.

Behold, your King is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is He, humble and mounted on a donkey…
— Zechariah 9:9. 
The king comes in humility, yet he comes as the bearer of salvation.

Genesis 28:10–22,
John 1:43–51
Ephesians 2:13–22

In Genesis, we read this story about God’s initiative—about God opening access from his side:  

Taking one of the stones of the place, 
Jacob put it under his head 
and lay down in that place to sleep. 
And he dreamed, 
and behold, 
there was a ladder set up on the earth, 
and the top of it reached to heaven. 
And behold, 
the angels of God 
were ascending and descending on it! 
And behold, 
the Lord stood above it and said, 
“I am with you … 
I will keep you … 
I will not leave you…” 
Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, 
“Surely the Lord is in this place, 
and I did not know it.” 
Then Jacob made a vow, saying, 
“If God will be with me 
and if He will keep me, 
and if He will give me bread to eat… 
then the Lord shall be my God…”


In John’s gospel, Jesus echoes Jacob's story. What was given to Jacob in a dream is fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Christ alone connects heaven and earth. There we read this: 

Philip found Nathanael and said to him, 
“We have found Him 
of whom Moses in the Law 
and also the prophets wrote, 
Jesus of Nazareth, 
the son of Joseph.” 
Nathanael said to him, 
“Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” 
Philip said to him, 
“Come and see.” 
Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him 
and said of him, 
“Behold, an Israelite indeed, 
in whom there is no deceit!”… 
Nathanael answered him, 
“Rabbi, You are the Son of God! 
You are the King of Israel!” 
Jesus answered him… 
“Truly, truly, I say to you, 
you will see heaven opened, 
and the angels of God ascending and descending 
on the Son of Man.”


And finally, Paul wrote about us being brought near in Christ. In a letter to the Ephesians, Paul wrote:

In Christ Jesus, 
you who once were far off, 
have been brought near 
by the blood of Christ. 
For he himself is our peace… 
He came and preached peace 
to you who were far off…
Through him, 
we have access 
in one Spirit 
to the Father. 
So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, 
but you are fellow citizens 
with the saints and members 
of the household of God, 
built on the foundation 
of the apostles and prophets, 
Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone…
In him you are being built together 
into a dwelling place 
for God 
by the Spirit. 

Living God,
God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,
we’re here now, 
together, 
with friends, 
before You,
because You have first come to us.

We can’t claim we’re here 
because we have somehow 
climbed our way to You.

We’re not here because we are strong, 
or pure, 
or ready in ourselves to be here.

We’re very much like Jacob—
we're needy, 
restless, 
burdened, 
and unaware 
of just how near 
You are to us.

Some of us are pretty tired.
Some of us are rightfully distracted.
Some of us are here with grief, 
or fear, 
or shame, 
or confusion.
Some of us have come rejoicing.
And some of us are barely able to pray.

But You, Father, 
are the God who meets us on the road, 
in the wilderness, 
in the night, 
and in our need.

So, awaken us right now.
Open our eyes to Your presence.
Keep us from treating 
this next hour and a half 
as ordinary.

Save us from casual worship.

Teach us to say, like Jacob said, 
“Surely the Lord is in this place,” 
and make it 
so that we do not leave unchanged.

Thank You for Your promise:
“I am with you.”
You have never abandoned us. 
You have never left us alone in our fears. 
You have never put distance between us 
when we’ve collapsed in weakness. 

You are with us, 
and You keep us, 
and You never let go.

In Jesus Christ, 
heaven has been opened.

In Him, 
You have come near 
once and for all.

In Him, 
You have joined Yourself to our humanity—
joined Yourself to the darkest places of our greatest shame—
not to condemn us, 
but to heal us 
and to save us 
from inside of our lost and broken condition.

In Him, 
You have made a way 
where there was no way.

In Him, 
we are welcomed 
into Your presence.

In Him, 
we are no longer fugitives, 
but children received by grace.

In this moment, Father,
gather our scattered thoughts,
our divided hearts,
our weak faith, 
our wandering minds, 
our reluctant wills, 
and draw them toward Yourself.

When we sing here in just a minute, 
let us sing unto You.
When we pray a few minutes later, 
let us truly pray in the Spirit.
And then, 
as we hear Your Word, 
let us hear more than human speech. 
Enable us to hear You—
the voice of the living God.

Make this ordinary room a place of holiness.
Let this moment—this place—be, 
by Your grace, 
a place like Bethel for us.
Not a place we control,
but a place where You meet us, 
and humble us, 
and assure us, 
and turn our hearts again toward You.

And all the places in us where we are like Jacob—
alone,
overwhelmed,
exposed,
uncertain,
spiritually inperceptive, 
fearful,
guarded,
bargaining—
be patient with us.

Your faithfulness 
is greater than our wavering.
Your promise 
is deeper than our uncertainty.
Your grace 
is stronger than anything we may have done.

Do not leave us as we are.
By Your Spirit, 
over the next 90 minutes,
conform us more and more to Jesus Christ. 
Make our worship true. 
Make our repentance sincere, 
Make our faith strong 
Make our hope new again.

Lift our eyes above ourselves.
Set our minds upon Christ.
Fill us with wonder, 
and gratitude, 
and joy
in the name of Jesus.
For You are here.
And You are faithful.
And You are worthy.

In the name of the Father, 
and of the Son, 
and of the Holy Spirit,
Amen.

Acts 1:3–8, 21–22
Acts 2:31–32
Acts 4:1–2
Acts 5:30–32
Acts 17:18

In the opening verses of the Book of Acts we read: 

After Jesus’ suffering, 
He presented Himself to them 
and He gave many convincing proofs 
that He was alive. 
He appeared to them 
over a period of forty days 
and spoke about 
the kingdom of God. 
On one occasion, 
while He was eating with them 
(because He was alive and embodied), 
He told them this:
“You will receive power 
when the Holy Spirit comes on you; 
and you will be My witnesses.”


Shortly after Jesus’ ascension, Peter reminded the early believers about Judas, who had betrayed Jesus, and Peter said:

It is necessary 
to choose one of the men 
who have been with us the whole time 
the Lord Jesus was living among us. 
For one of these 
must become 
a witness 
with us 
of His resurrection.


In the very next chapter, a crowd gathered, and Peter stood and proclaimed:

Seeing what was to come, 
Jesus spoke 
of the resurrection 
of the Messiah. 
He was not abandoned 
to the realm 
of the dead, 
nor did His body see decay. 
God has raised 
this Jesus 
to life, 
and we are all witnesses of it.


And then, in Acts Chapter 3 and 4, Peter preached to the onlookers after healing the lame man. He proclaimed:

You killed the Author of Life, 
but God 
raised Him 
from the dead. 
We are witnesses of this.

The priests 
and the captain of the temple guard 
and the Sadducees 
came up to Peter and John 
while they were speaking to the people. 
They were greatly disturbed 
because the apostles 
were teaching the people, 
proclaiming in Jesus 
the resurrection 
of the dead. 


And then, again, in the very next chapter, before the full assembly of the elders of Israel, Peter and the apostles told the Sanhedrin:

The God of our ancestors 
raised Jesus from the dead — 
whom you killed 
by hanging Him 
on a cross. 
God exalted Him 
to his own right hand 
as Prince and Savior. 
We are witnesses 
of these things, 
and so is the Holy Spirit, 
whom God has given 
to those 
who obey Him.


And finally, later on in Acts, Paul is in Athens, Greece, and this happened:

A group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers 
began to debate with Paul. 
Some of them asked, 
“What is this babbler trying to say?” 
Others remarked, 
“He seems to be advocating foreign gods.” 
They said this 
because Paul was preaching 
the good news 
about Jesus and the resurrection. 

Father, 
you have made us witnesses 
to the resurrection — 
to the reality 
that Jesus is alive 
and has an embodied existence 
beyond the grave — 
that He was not simply 
a resuscitated corpse, 
that He was not simply 
an immortal soul 
finally freed 
from bodily existence. 
You have made us witnesses 
to the reality 
that between the humiliated, crucified Jesus of Nazareth 
and the resurrected exalted Messiah and Lord, 
there is 
a radical 
consistency.  

And it is because 
you have given to us 
your Holy Spirit, 
and He 
is a witness 
to this resurrection. 

You raised to life the One 
who was utterly rejected 
by Jewish leaders — 
the very leaders 
whose status 
and power 
and prestige 
and legitimacy 
came from the fact 
that they were the ones 
who knew the scripture 
and could interpret Your will.

You raised to life the One 
who was utterly rejected 
by Roman leaders — 
leaders whose social and political positions 
were maintained 
by their careful attention 
to status, 
and to title, 
and to honor. 
And Jesus — 
the one You exalted 
and to whom You gave the highest place — 
He was the very One 
Who suffered in a way 
that, to the Romans, 
would have been 
the ultimate humiliation — 
publicly executed 
naked 
on a cross. 

What a profound irony. 
It calls into question 
every power, 
every authority, 
every world order 
practiced by the elite. 
It did then. 
And it still does now. 

Your Spirit transformed the first believers — 
the incapable, 
the inept, 
the untrained, 
the disgraced, 
the low-status first believers — 
transformed into bold, 
unbridled, 
fearless witnesses 
who stood before kings, 
rulers, 
leaders, 
scholars, 
philosophers, 
and gave testimony 
to the resurrection. 
This same Spirit 
is in us — 
the same spirit 
that is witness 
to the same resurrection. 

Father, 
help us to understand 
that our own discipleship — 
and our mission as assembled people — 
is based on 
and determined by 
the resurrection of Jesus Christ. 
Not on our abilities. 
Not on our talent 
or eloquence 
or intelligence. 

Your power — 
the power 
that was visible 
in Jesus’ ministry 
and on full display 
in His resurrection — 
that power — 
has been folded into 
each one of our daily lives 
and into the daily life 
of this church community. 

And now 
our existence 
is to be an existence that matches the story of Jesus — 
a story of suffering 
and resurrection, 
a story of rejection 
and glory. 

So, 
establish each one of us, 
Father, 
wherever we are, 
in whatever place we spend most of our time — 
our homes, 
our places of employment, 
our schools — 
establish us as witnesses 
of the resurrection. 
Let it be known 
that we derive our identity 
from the ongoing life and reality 
of the One who lived 
and died 
and was raised. 
Make that same power 
glaringly evident 
in our lives. 
Make that same power 
unambiguously palpable 
through the mission 
of this little church. 

Enable us 
to give testimony 
to the resurrection 
of Jesus Christ. 

In the name of Jesus Christ, 
Whom You raised from the dead, 
Whom You exalted to Your own right hand as Prince and Savior, 
through Whom we have received the promise of our own resurrection,
Amen

1 Corinthians 15:35–49
2 Corinthians 3:17–18
Romans 8:9–11

Paul used a lot of ink helping new believers understand the resurrection. It was a central theme in all his preaching. And so it makes sense that he’d write about it often in his letters. 


In his letters to the Corinthians, he wrote this:

Someone will ask, 
“How are the dead raised? 
With what kind of body do they come?” 

What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. 

So is it with the resurrection of the dead. 
What is sown is perishable; 
what is raised is imperishable. 
It is sown in dishonor; 
it is raised in glory. 
It is sown in weakness; 
it is raised in power. 
It is sown a natural body; 
it is raised a spiritual body. 

The first man Adam became a living being; 
the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. 
But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, 
and then the spiritual. 
The first man was from the earth, 
a man of dust; 
the second man is from heaven. 
As was the man of dust, 
so also are those who are of the dust, 
and as is the man of heaven, 
so also are those who are of heaven. 
Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, 
we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.


Now, the Lord is the Spirit, 
and where the Spirit of the Lord is, 
there is freedom. 
And we all, 
with unveiled face, 
beholding the glory of the Lord, 
are being transformed into the same image 
from one degree of glory to another. 
For this comes from the Lord 
who is the Spirit.


And in his book to the Romans, Paul wrote:

You, however, 
are not in the flesh 
but in the Spirit, 
if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. 
Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ 
does not belong to Him. 
But if Christ is in you, 
although the body is dead because of sin, 
the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 
If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, 
He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead 
will also give life to your mortal bodies 
through His Spirit 
who dwells in you.

Father in heaven, 
we so look forward to a future 
when we will have resurrected bodies!
When these bodies, 
weighed down by the curse of sin, 
will be sown like seeds in the ground 
and buried. 
But they will not stay buried. 
They will be raised. 
Not as copies of our old bodies. 
And not as ghosts. 
But as bodies so completely transformed by Your Spirit, 
so thoroughly filled with Your Spirit, 
so made new by Your Spirit 
that they will shine with incorruptible life. 
Your Spirit will make them imperishable. 
They will radiate glory instead of dishonor. 
They will pulse with power instead of weakness.

You will renew our bodies so completely; 
they will become perfectly suited 
to a whole new and flawless kind of physical existence. 
Not vague. 
Not ghostly. 
But living. 
Breathing. 
Fully human. 
And You will surround us 
with a world beautifully and perfectly crafted 
for these new bodies— 
a world where we will finally 
truly 
live.

This story is far from finished. 
But it will reach its climax 
in a place of perfection. 
There, we will fully bear the image 
of the Heavenly One— 
Jesus Christ— 
in our very bodies. 
He is the first instance of this Spiritual body. 
He is the first to have this upgrade. 
The first to be transformed. 

What happened to Him in resurrection— 
what He became, 
what He experienced, 
the unprecedented possession of the Spirit, 
the unprecedented transformation by the Spirit… 
so complete, 
so profound in His own humanity— 
what happened to Him 
will happen to us. 
His story 
is our promise.

He is the life-giving Spirit. 
That same Spirit that is among us now. 
Even now, 
transforming us into His own image. 
Moving us from one degree of glory to the next.

The age to come has already begun. 
The new creation we so look forward to  
has started with the resurrection of Your Son, 
Jesus Christ. 
The future You have promised 
has broken into the present.

Your Spirit’s work in us 
is joined to what began 
when You sent Your Son. 
And You will finish it when He returns. 
All that Your Spirit is doing in us now 
is the down payment on our future inheritance, 
and we are blessed 
to taste that future 
even now.

In the name of Jesus Christ, 
the Second Man, 
the Man of Heaven, 
the life-giving Spirit, 
Amen

Genesis 27
James 4:13–17
Proverbs 3:5–8
Romans 8:28

The old and blind Isaac asked, 
“Who are you, my son?”

And Jacob answered, 
“I am Esau, your firstborn.”

…and he deceived his father further and said, 
“Because the Lord your God granted me success.”

And after a six-fold deception, Isaac blessed him:
“See, the smell of my son 
is as the smell of a field 
that the Lord has blessed...
Let peoples serve you, 
and nations bow down to you.”

When Isaac and Esau discovered the deception, the story reads:
Then Isaac trembled very violently.
And when Esau heard the words of his father, 
he cried out with an exceedingly great and bitter cry.


James wrote: 

Come now, you who say, 
“Today or tomorrow, 
we will go into such and such a town 
and spend a year there 
and trade and make a profit”—
yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. 
What is your life? 
For you are a mist 
that appears for a little time 
and then vanishes.


In the Book of Proverbs, we read: 

Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
and do not lean on your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge Him,
and He will make straight your paths.
Be not wise in your own eyes;
fear the Lord, and turn away from evil.
It will be healing to your flesh
and refreshment to your bones.


And to the Romans, Paul wrote: 

And we know that for those who love God 
all things work together for good, 
for those who are called 
according to His purpose.

O Lord our God,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
we’ve come here this morning,
gathered before You in worship, 
because You are faithful, 
and because Your mercy 
does not rise or fall 
with our worthiness.

Your way of things — 
Your purposes — 
are not governed 
by our human customs 
or categories, 
or our ways of seeing the world,
or our natural strengths, 
or our family order of things, 
or our schemes,
but by Your own perfect love 
and by the freedom of Your perfect grace.

We are grateful that Your purpose stands 
even where our lives 
are confused, 
and fractured, 
and selfish, 
and controlling, 
and burdened by sin.

We thank You 
that Your faithfulness 
is greater than our failures,
and that Your mercy 
is not exhausted in any way
by the contradictions 
and the confusion
of our broken human hearts.

Merciful God,
we confess 
that we are more like Your people 
that we read about in the Old Testament 
than we wish to admit.

We, too, 
try to secure things 
through our anxiety— 
the things that can only be given by You, 
and received by faith.

We, too, 
try to manage, 
and grasp, 
and control 
what belongs only to Your freedom.

We, like them, are not heroes.
We, too, 
are sinners 
in need of grace.

Forgive us 
for the ways we manipulate, 
and compare, 
and resent, 
and fear, 
and strive for blessing on our own terms,
instead of resting—fully resting—in Your goodness 
and obeying Your Word.

Holy Spirit,
school our minds and our hearts 
as we come to Your Scriptures today.
Deliver us 
from shallow judgments, 
from moralism, 
from pride, 
and from the illusion 
that we somehow stand over Your Word 
and that our conclusions about it 
is what gives it its meaning.

Give us 
humility, 
and repentance, 
and attentiveness.

Teach us to hear You 
as You address us—
to be corrected, 
and renewed by You.

Enable Your Word to do more than just inform us. 
Grant that it would gather us again 
under Your truth 
and completely shape our understanding.

Lord of mercy,
we bring before You 
all of our brokenness.
You are not absent 
from our wounded histories, 
from our divided households, 
from our strained relationships, 
from our hearts that are troubled by regret and bitterness.

So, please bring healing 
where there is estrangement,
bring truth 
where there has been deceit,
bring peace 
where there is resentment,
bring humility 
where there is self-assertion.

Meet us 
in all the places 
where life is tangled and painful,
and show Yourself 
to be the God 
who works even in the midst 
of all our human brokenness.

God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,
as we hear Your word today, 
keep us mindful 
that this is not just a story 
or a mere record of human striving,
but part of a long holy history 
by which You have made ready 
the way for Jesus Christ—
by which You have prepared us 
to recognize You 
in the coming of Your Son.

So, lead us 
through the witness of these stories 
into the fullness of Your self-revelation,
so that we may see more clearly 
all the glory,
all the grace,
all the love, 
in Your incarnate Son.

And Lord, 
deliver us from treating any of Your blessings 
as our possession 
or our privilege.

Teach us 
that Your calling 
is holy, 
and weighty, 
and yet full of mercy.

Where You call us, 
make us ready to serve.
Where You wound us, 
heal us.
Where You humble us, 
restore us.
And where You summon us into Your purpose, 
make us willing to follow.

We ask all this in the name of Jesus Christ,
Your beloved Son,
the true Elect One,
in whom Your judgment and mercy meet,
and in whom all Your covenant faithfulness is fulfilled 
for the life of the world.
Amen.

And Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket, and Jacob's hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. Then he said, “Let me go, for the day has broken.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” And he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” Then he said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel,[a] for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed.” Then Jacob asked him, “Please tell me your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And there he blessed him. So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, saying, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered.”
— Genesis 32:24–30

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.
— John 1:14

And as for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was said to you by God: ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not God of the dead, but of the living.”
— Matthew 22:31-32

For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
— Romans 8:38-39

He always lives to make intercession for them.
— Hebrews 7:25

Genesis 26:24–25

In Genesis 26, we read of God’s promise to Isaac.

The Lord appeared to Isaac and said, 
“I am the God of Abraham your father. 
Fear not, 
for I am with you 
and I will bless you 
and I will multiply your offspring 
for my servant Abraham’s sake.” 
So Isaac built an altar there 
and called upon the name of the Lord 
and pitched his tent there. 
And there Isaac’s servants dug a well.

Living God —
the God who speaks, 
who promises, 
and who is faithful—
You’ve invited us, 
and we’ve come.

We’ve come on this first day of the week 
to begin where reality itself begins.
It begins with Your presence. 
It begins with Your Word. 

Whatever is real for us out there, beyond these walls:
our physical and health realities,
our family situations, 
our financial realities, 
our professional realities, 
we acknowledge in this moment, 
whatever the messy realness is, 
You have said, “I will be with you,” 
and in Jesus Christ 
You have made that promise flesh-and-blood real—
Emmanuel, 
God with us, 
God for us, 
God never against us.

In a world where our hearts clutch at the Egypts of our own making,
direct us in Your mercy, 
guide us in Your grace.
Let Your direction, 
Your light, 
Your care, 
Your way of life
be a gift to us.

Forgive us, Lord, 
for all the ways we live 
as though Your covenant depends on us—
on our conniving, 
on our control, 
on our manipulation.

Expose what is hidden in us;
heal what is broken in us.
And as Your blessings reveal to us our unbelief, 
draw us into Your rest, 
the rest we have in Christ, 
whose obedience is ours 
when we turn away,
and whose faithfulness upholds all our faltering 
and all our doubt.

Make us Your people: 
blessed people, 
sent people.
Let Your presence among us 
be public enough to bear witness of You
without us becoming proud, 
or performative, 
or anxious.

Give us the courage to walk in peace, 
even when conflict is all around us.
Give us the patience that is learned 
only in communion with Jesus.

Deliver us from a scarcity mindset, 
from clenched fists, 
from narrowed hearts.
When we believe there is no room, 
speak Your spacious word.
Teach us to let go of the things we grasp.
Keep us from coercion 
as a way of securing Your blessing.
Enable us to live 
as those whose future is held by You.

Sanctify our ordinary life—
our work, 
our homes, 
our homework, 
our water cooler and lunch room conversations, 
our negotiations, 
our responsibilities—
so that we see all of it as the theatre of Your grace.

Keep us faithful. 
Keep us distinct.
Guard us from being assimilated 
into the patterns, 
and the processes, 
and the systems  
that do not speak Your Name.
And form us, instead, into a community of Your love.

And now, as we call upon You, 
draw us into worship.
Gather us into Christ’s communion with You, Father, 
by the Spirit,
so that our praise is not just words, 
but the glad echo of His worship.

We ask this with confidence, 
not because we are strong,
but because You are faithful—
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, 
one God, blessed forever. 
Amen.

Matthew 22:31–32

Jesus, when he was responding to questions being asked of Him by Israel's religious legal class, said:

Have you not read what was said to you by God: 
“I am the God of Abraham, 
and the God of Isaac, 
and the God of Jacob”? 
He is not God of the dead, 
but of the living.

God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, 
God of that Jacob—
the deceiving, 
selfish, 
relationship-destroying, 
dysfunctional, 
ambitious, 
independent Jacob.
The God of that Jacob. 

God of the living, 
not the dead, 
Your faithfulness
—Your grace—
is so unrelenting,
even death itself cannot terminate it. 

Even in death 
—or in anything that will lead us to it— 
we will never slip out of Your grasp. 
We will never cease to be 
the object of Your love. 

Your grace is unconditional.
Your grace is relentless. 
Your grace is rooted in Your eternal, triune being, 
and only in your eternal, triune being.

Thank goodness it is not rooted in us!

Your grace is not some divine attribute. 
It is not some kind of leniency 
toward our mistakes.
It is Your fierce, 
unconditional, 
unyielding movement
into the deepest, darkest pits of our rebellion, 
into the most shameful parts of our being,
so that you can bind Yourself to us there
—in those parts—
forever!
FOREVER!

You will never abandon us. 
You are the God of the living. 

You call us by name, 
even when our lives are tangled, 
and deceptive, 
and flawed, 
and messy, 
and self-willed, 
and stiff-necked. 

We have lost our minds in sin. 
You enter the psych ward of our human delusion. 
You do not wait for us to become sane.
You do not stay at some safe distance.
You do not write a prescription for grace.
You do not shout instructions to us for fixing our delusions. 
You enter them. 
You step inside our delusions. 
You step inside our darkness.
You meet us exactly where we are.
And there You bind yourself to us. 

This is called Incarnation.
This is Your grace. 
Your grace is not an abstract idea. 
It is not some spiritual commodity. 
It is not some spiritual medicine You give us. 
Your grace is a person. 
Your grace has a name. 
Its name is the Lord Jesus Christ. 
It is You, God, 
giving Yourself to us unreservedly, 
in Jesus Christ. 

Our grip on You fluctuates 
from clenching tight 
to active, open, shoving-You-away rebellion. 
But Your grip on us 
is the one invariable grip.
Our salvation,
our identity, 
do not depend on the strength 
of our hold on You, 
but entirely on the unyielding strength 
of Your hold on us

Because we are frail, 
because we are self-willed, 
being drawn into Your holy presence 
is not a magic touch you give us in our sleep 
that annihilates our flaws
so that in the morning 
we wake up whole and different. 
No. 
You accomodate Yourself to our frailness. 
You enter our mess.  
And it is a painful, disruptive wrestling match
—an agonizing struggle— 
that You engage in. 
You wrestle with us.
You bless us.
You transform us.
You rename us.

Today, like Jacob, 
we answer: “Here I am.”
Meet us in the truth of who we are.
Wrestle down what is false in us,
heal what is wounded,
and free us from our need to control everything.

We’re here this morning, 
not because we are strong,
but because You are faithful.
Not because we have held on,
but because You have not let go.

To You, 
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
—one God of relentless grace—
be glory in this worship, 
now and forever.
Amen.

Matthew 27:50–54
Ephesians 2:1–8

Matthew tells us about what took place at the foot of the Cross.

Jesus cried out again 
with a loud voice 
and yielded up His spirit.

And behold, 
the curtain of the temple was torn in two, 
from top to bottom. 
And the earth shook, 
and the rocks were split. 
When the centurion 
and those who were with him, 
keeping watch over Jesus, 
saw the earthquake 
and saw what took place, 
they were filled with awe 
and said, 
“Truly, 
this was 
the Son of God!”


And to help us understand how it is we human beings can acknowledgment such a truth, the Apostle Paul wrote this:

As for you, 
you were dead in your transgressions 
and in your sins… 
gratifying the cravings of your flesh 
and following its desires and thoughts. 
We were, 
by nature, 
deserving of wrath. 
But because of His great love for us, 
God, 
who is rich in mercy, 
made us alive with Christ 
even when we were dead in transgressions…
For it is by grace 
you have been saved, 
through faith — 
and this is not from yourselves, 
it is 
the gift 
of God.

Father in heaven, 
what is important this morning 
is that in Jesus Christ, 
You are the one 
who has taken action. 
In Him, 
You have addressed us. 
In Him, 
You have judged us. 

This 
is the central point 
of Your gospel. 

We are here this morning 
because in Him, 
You took action. 
We are not here 
because we took action. 
We are not here 
because we judged Him worthy enough to be here. 
We are not at the center. 

Your gospel 
is not the story of Christ 
bringing to us 
and giving to us 
so many beneficial things that… 
that… 
well… 
He must then be 
the Son of God. 

No. 

It is the story of Jesus Christ 
revealing You to us in Himself.
Revealing You to us in what He said.
Revealing You to us in what He did, 
in every action 
and every word — 
revealing to us: 
You. 

And only by revealing You to us 
do we come to know 
the truth about ourselves: 
that we are sheltered in Him, 
that we are healed in Him, 
that we are saved by Him. 

He is the one 
who takes action on us.
He is the one 
who speaks to us. 
His action saves us. 
His word saves us. 
He is the one 
who encounters us. 

He comes to us, 
not hoping 
that we might encounter Him. 

No. 

He comes, 
and He places us 
into His presence. 
And there, 
in His presence, 
before the Cross — 
not before a beautiful landscape 
of blessings and benefits — 
but before the Cross, 
it is there we exclaim, 
“Truly, 
this was Your Son!” 

And this is not because 
there exists in us some capacity 
to make such a judgment.
Such a response 
is only generated in us 
under the impact of Your Spirit, 
the Spirit of Christ. 

He encounters us, 
and He saves us. 
And we know 
that in His presence, 
we encounter You. 
And when we do, 
we can’t help 
but break out into confession — 
not into an intellectual decision about You, 
driven by our own knowledge 
that we’ve somehow grasped hold of. 

No. 

We break out into spiritual awakening 
driven by the acknowledgment 
that it is us who have been grasped, 
we have been apprehended 
in the power 
of the Spirit 
of Christ. 

And in Christ, 
we are confronted 
with an Authority 
to whom we can only surrender 
and to whom we can only respond 
by giving our total allegiance and loyalty. 

And so, Father, 
whatever it is we think we know of Him, 
we know as a matter of obedience, 
not as a matter of having assessed it and judged it. 
What we know comes by faith, 
not by value judgement — 
not by us judging the value of it.
What we know of Him is not from ourselves — 
it is not from our examination of Him — 
it is from the examination 
that He makes of us.

To know Christ 
is not to have sorted through statements about Him 
and to have judged which ones are true. 
To know Christ 
is to have been encountered by Him 
and by His saving action. 

This morning, 
in His presence, Father, 
in the presence of the Word, 
let us be told by the Word,
let us be determined by Christ, 
let us be confronted by Him. 

In the name of Jesus, 
who is the Word —
the Word that tells us,
the Word the determines us,
the Word that confronts us,
Amen

Hebrews 4:14
Hebrews 13:15
Acts 17:28

The writer to the Hebrews wrote this: 

Since then we have a great high priest 
who has passed through the heavens, 
Jesus, the Son of God, 
let us hold fast our confession.

Through him then 
let us continually offer 
a sacrifice of praise to God.


When Paul stood up in the Areopagus and preached to the Athenians, one of the things he said was:

In Him we live 
and in Him we move 
and in Him we have our being.

Father,
We come empty-handed.
We cannot pray as we ought,
we cannot worship as You deserve,
and apart from Your own grace, 
there’s really nothing we can offer You.

So thank You, Father, 
that Jesus Christ has done for us
what we could never do for ourselves.
He lives for us. 
He prays for us.
He worships You for us
as our true and faithful human brother.

So then, by Your Holy Spirit—
the Spirit of Christ living in us— 
lift us into His life this morning—
the one He is living for us.
Let our songs, 
and our prayers, 
and our silence
all be taken up into His perfect offering to You.

We come not trusting in ourselves—
not trusting in anything that we are offering— 
but resting in Jesus Christ,
to whom we gladly say: 
Amen.

Matthew 18:20
Matthew 26:10
John 14:6,10

To His disciples Jesus said:

Where two or three are gathered 
in My name, 
there am I 
among them.


A woman came up to Jesus with an alabaster flask of very expensive ointment and poured it on His head. When His disciples became indignent over the waste of it because it could have been sold and the money given to the poor, He responded: 

She has done 
a beautiful thing 
to Me.


Just after Jesus predicted Judas' betrayal and foretold of Peter's denial, He said to Thomas, who had become anxious about where Jesus was going:

I am the way, 
and the truth, 
and the life.


And to Phillip who had also become anxious, He said:

Whoever has seen Me 
has seen the Father.

 

This morning, Father, 
we gather not around some teachings 
or around a set of doctrines. 
We gather instead 
around the person of Jesus Christ. 
He is why we are here. 
He is among us.
He is at the center.
He is our only center.

Your gospel, Father, 
is Jesus Christ — 
God with us. 
He is The Good News. 
He, Himself, is The Message — 
full stop. 

All other messages 
are contained within that One Message. 
Even the message of forgiveness, 
of reconciliation, 
of peace on earth, 
and goodwill toward men…
these aren't the central message; 
He is The Message. 
He alone occupies the central place of our faith. 
Everything else 
takes its cue 
from Him alone. 

The message we find in Matthew, 
and Mark, 
and Luke, 
and John 
is not the religion of Jesus. 
He had no religion. 
His disciples knew no such thing 
as a religion of Jesus.

The tenets of the gospel 
are not the Fatherhood of God 
and the brotherhood of man 
and the infinite value of the soul of each person 
and a love that calls for neighborliness to all people
as the way of serving You, Father, 
who made all of us dear creatures. 

No. 
This is not Your gospel.

Although some elements there 
may seem to characterize Your kingdom, 
the gospel stories preserved for us
are the stories of people 
confronted by Your very presence,
stories of people 
called into exclusive devotion 
to Jesus Christ 
and to Him alone. 
Not to the poor. 
Not to the needy. 
Not to a cause. 
But to the person of Christ Himself, 
to belief in Him, 
to the worship of Him. 
All other relationships, 
all other duties, 
are given up 
in the face of this supreme duty: 
devotion to Jesus Christ,
your beloved Son. 
And Him alone.

We have not committed ourselves 
to an idea. 
Nor have we committed ourselves 
to Jesus as a great example, 
or as the Master 
or the Teacher. 
We have committed ourselves to Christ, 
the Christ, 
God Himself 
with us. 

It is not that Jesus spoke 
and His words were recorded for us 
and what He said comprises the gospel. 

His teachings are not isolated life lessons 
that stand by themselves 
and can exist apart from Him.
It is that God spoke, 
and his Word became flesh within history. 

And so,
We believe in Jesus Himself, 
the Son of God. 
He is the supreme object of our faith. 
He was not the medium 
by which we heard the gospel. 
He was not the herald of the gospel.
He was the gospel. 
What He proclaimed 
was already present 
in Himself. 

Nothing He said can be abstracted from Himself. 
Every word he spoke gave testimony to Himself. 
Everything he said pointed to Himself.  
All His teachings were self-revelation.
In Him was the data of Christianity. 
He didn't point to it. 
He was it. 
He is the gospel.

Others know they are only messengers of truth, 
but He is the message. 
Others know they are only torchbearers, 
but He called Himself the Light of the world.
Others point to truth; 
He said, "I am the Truth" 
and "Come unto Me."
To the one who was seeking eternal life, 
He said, "Follow Me." 
To the disciple who wanted to see You, Father, 
Jesus responded, "Have you not known Me? 
If you know Me, 
you know My Father also."

Who else has ever said of truth 
not that he teaches it 
but that he is it. 

Who else has ever said of the vision of God 
not that he found it 
but that he, himself, is the Light of men. 

Who else has ever said of that which supplies all needs 
of spiritual food 
or rest 
or strength 
or pardon, 
not that he can point to it, 
but that it is all in him. 
 
In the name of Jesus, 
our all in all,
Amen.

John 17:20-23
1 Corinthians 12:12-27
1 Corinthians 10:16-17
Ephesians 5:31-32
2 Peter 1:1-4
James 1:18

Jesus prayed this for us. 

I pray that all of them (that is, us here in this little church) may be one, Father, 
just as You are in Me and I am in You. 
May they—those right here in this gathering, may they—
also be in Us so that the world may believe that You have sent Me. 
I have given them the glory that You gave Me, 
that they may be one as We are one—
I in them and You in Me—
so that they may be brought to complete unity.


Paul said something similar when he wrote:

Just as a body, though one, has many parts, 
but all its many parts form one body, 
so it is with Christ… 
We were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body…
God has placed the parts in the body, 
every one of them, 
just as He wanted them to be…
You are the body of Christ, 
and each one of you is a part of it.

Is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ? 
Because there is one loaf, 
we, who are many, 
are one body, 
for we all share the one loaf.

A man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, 
and the two shall become one flesh. 
This mystery is profound, 
and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.


And Peter said something similar when he wrote:

Through His own glory and goodness, 
Jesus our Lord has granted to us His precious and very great promises, 
so that through them we may become partakers of the divine nature, 
escaping the corruption that is in the world.


And James wrote:

Of His own will, the Father brought us forth by the Word of truth, 
that we should be a kind of firstfruits of a new creation.

Heavenly Father, 
it is great to be back again with Your people… 
Your people!—
not a loose voluntary association 
of some individuals who have decided to be together. 
No. 
We are more than that. 
We are a divine creation 
rooted in Your very own nature.

We exist as Your people, 
together here, 
not as a result of our preferences, 
but because You have spoken, 
and You have called us into being by Your living Word. 

We’re not a church 
because of this building 
and the practiced music 
and the prepared sermon. 
We are a church because here 
You give Yourself to us. 
You address us here. 
You forgive us here. 
You reconcile us here. 
You sanctify us here. 
Through Your Word and Spirit. 

Sure, those things happen in other places, Father, 
but here they are a shared reality. 
Here they are publicly announced 
and practiced together. 
And so here 
is where it forms us 
and transforms us 
into a reconciled community. 
And so it is here 
that You are shaping all of us together 
into communion with Christ 
and with one another. 

When You, God, became human in the person of Jesus, 
it wasn’t just an appearance. 
You united yourself eternally with our human nature 
so that it could be entirely fixed, 
completely healed, 
absolutely perfected, 
perfectly cleansed, 
and unquestinably reconciled with You. 

And so now, 
we’re just a simple group of people, 
drawn into that healed humanity, 
becoming bone of His bone and flesh of His flesh, 
becoming the body of Christ, 
physically and spiritually connected to Him. 
We are becoming the earthly form of His very existence, 
and the visible way He continues to reach out, touch, and love the world. 

We have become so united with Christ
—so united with Christ!—
that we are brought into His own communion with You, Father, by the Spirit. 
In His very nature, 
the Son lives in communion with You. 
And now by grace, 
we too are included!
We are included 
in His communion 
and fellowship 
and friendship with You, Father, 
and that is why we can pray, “Abba.” 
Because we belong, now, in communion with You. 

And so here now, 
this little church becomes the public space 
where this participation with Christ Himself, 
this communion with You, 
takes shape. 
It takes shape in our worship, 
in our prayer time, 
in our forgiveness of each other, 
in our mutual service together, 
in our table fellowship, 
in our common mission. 

We are a Spirit-gathered participation of believers 
in the Son’s communion with You, Father. 
We are Christ’s body, 
living wholly from Him, 
and reflecting in a creaturely human way, 
Your Triune communal life—
reflecting it by being in communion 
with all these people sitting around us here. 

Knowing You is not knowing words about You; 
it is communion with You 
as it is reflected in our communion with each other. 
We cannot know You, 
truly know You as You are—
a communion or persons, 
a communion of love—
without knowing You in the togetherness 
of our personal relations 
and friendship 
and communion 
with one another here in this little church. 

In Christ, 
we participate in communion with You, Father. 
So let it be expressed here with each other. 
May Your Holy Spirit break open any isolation and loneliness that is here, 
and may He form our true selves in communion with Your people. 
Make us and re-make us, as You do, 
in relationship, 
first with You in Christ, 
and with one another 
by Your Spirit.  

And help the communion we share here to spill outward. 
Make it visible to others. 
Help us to be a living preview of what the cross of Christ achieved—
a preview of former strangers becoming family. 
Help us to share in Christ’s priestly ministry. 
Help us to pray for others, 
to carry their burdens. 
Help us to practice hospitality—
the most basic way our communion is expressed—
in the making of space, 
in the hearing of stories, 
in the sharing of food, 
in the expression of Christ’s welcome. 

Amen. 

Matthew 18:20
Ephesians 2:19–22
Colossians 1:15–20
John 17:21–23

Jesus said this to His disciples about the church:

For where two or three are gathered together in My name, 
there am I in the midst of them.


Paul wrote this about the church,

You are no longer strangers and aliens, 
but you are fellow citizens with the saints 
and you are members of the household of God, 
built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, 
Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone, 
in whom the whole structure, 
being joined together, 
grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 
In Him you also are being built together 
into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.


For by Him all things were created—
all things were created through Him and for Him. 
He is before all things, 
and in Him all things hold together. 
He is the head of the body, the church. 
He is the beginning, 
the firstborn from the dead, 
that in everything He might be preeminent.
For in Him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 
and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, 
whether on earth or in heaven, 
making peace by the blood of His cross.


And finally, Jesus prayed for our communion. He prayed,

I ask that they may all be one, 
just as You, Father, are in Me, 
and I in You, 
that they also may be in Us…
I in them and You in Me, 
that they may become perfectly one.

Father of our Lord Jesus Christ—
You are Holy;
You are living; 
You are near.

We’ve come together this morning
not to perform, 
not to manufacture in ourselves some kind of spiritual feeling,
but to receive what You have already given to us in Christ.

We confess, Father, 
that our hearts can easily misunderstand this place—
this little gathering 
of a few people, 
gathered here in Your name, 
together as one body. 

We reduce it—
this living communion, 
lit into existence by Your Spirit—
we reduce it to something manageable—
a meeting, 
or a service we evaluate, 
or a gathering of like-minded people,
a place we “attend”,
an organization we keep running.

Forgive us for thinking 
this assembly of Your people
is our creation,
or our possession,
or our achievement—
as though You are somewhere other than here,
and we must somehow achieve Your presence by our effort.

Forgive us for acting  
as though heaven were way, way far from here,
and with it, the ascended Jesus,
as though time and space have somehow gotten in between us,
as though You, Father, God of Eternity, 
were different from the face we see in Christ.

Father, thank You for not leaving us guessing about who You are.

Thank You for the Son, 
who is of one being with You—
so that when we look upon Jesus, 
we are not looking at anything other than You—
Your truth, 
Your holiness, 
Your tenderness, 
Your saving will.

He is the eternal Son made flesh—
fully God and fully man—
not divided, 
not confused, 
not temporarily wearing a human suit,
not distant from us—
but united fully and completely to our humanity 
so that it can be fully and completely healed from within.

And thank You for the Ascension:
not the Son escaping this earth 
or leaving our humanity behind,
but carrying it, fully and completely, into Your very life—
so that our salvation is not a dream,
not just a word picture,
or a theological idea,
not a ladder we must climb, 
not merely a completed transaction 
checked off a divine to-do list—
but an Ascension 
so that our salvation would be a living communion with You,
established in Jesus Christ Himself.

And so we confess 
that apart from Jesus Christ, 
Your Church has no life.
We would be nothing but a crowd—
a flash mob of sinners, 
weak, fearful, self-protective, and divided.
Apart from Christ, we cannot produce holiness.
Apart from Christ, we cannot conjure Your presence.
Apart from Christ, we cannot keep ourselves alive.

We live only by Christ.
So teach us to live dependent and repentant.
Teach us to live as Your people.
Teach us that we must decrease,
that we are not the center,
that we cannot replace Christ 
with our competence, 
or our charisma, 
or our programs or systems or control.

Put to death our self-assertion, 
and our anxieties, 
and our need to “make it work.”

And instead, give us joy and confidence and gladness, 
to know that although this church is nothing in itself,
it is real in Christ.

You have given us a true place—
not in our strength, but in Your Son.
You have joined us to Him by His Spirit.
You have made us His Body—
not as a metaphor,
not as religious poetry,
but as a living participation in His life.

So we’ve come here today 
not to reach up to You by our striving,
but to be lifted up by the Spirit into the Son’s own worship—
to join the prayers Christ is already praying,
to receive the peace Christ is already giving,
to live from the communion Christ has already secured.

Holy Spirit, come and make this true among us.
with the mighty reality of Your presence.
Open our ears to the living Word.
Turn our eyes outward from ourselves to Jesus.
Break the spell of our isolation and our individualism.
Deliver us from the fantasy that we are autonomous selves.
Make us persons-in-communion—
as those who have been addressed, 
and forgiven, 
and gathered by grace.

Father, make us—
this assembled group of people—
what it truly is in Christ:
not an organization, 
not a marketplace of spiritual services, 
not a performance—
but Your very dwelling place through the Spirit;
a people built together upon Christ the cornerstone;
a community gathered into the “new and living way;”
a fellowship held together because He is the Head.

And Father, as we worship, make us one—
as You are in the Son and the Son is in You—
so that our unity with each other would not be mere friendliness,
but a sign that Jesus Christ is alive,
and present, and reigning, and gathering His people.

We come, then, in full assurance—
not because we are strong,
but because Christ is faithful.
Not because our church is impressive,
but because Your Son is Lord.
Not because we have climbed to heaven,
but because heaven has opened to us in Jesus.

Receive us, Father, in Him.
Center us in Him.
Hold us in Him.
And let Him increase among us.

We ask all this to Your glory,
through Jesus Christ our great High Priest,
in the communion of the Holy Spirit,
one God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—
now and forever.
Amen.

Romans 15:4
Colossians 1:3–5
Acts 20:18–23

Paul wrote: 

What was written in former days 
was written for our instruction, 
so that through the encouragement 
of the Scriptures, 
we might have hope.

We thank God when we pray for you 
because we heard 
of the love that you have 
for all God’s people — 
love that comes from 
the hope laid up for you 
in heaven. 


And in the book of Acts, the author, Luke, records a conversation that Paul had with his friends when his friends were trying to persuade him for the sake of his safety not to travel to Jerusalem. And Paul says to them: 

You know how I lived among you —
how I lived the whole time — 
serving the Lord 
with all humility 
and with tears 
and with trials that happened to me 
through the plots of the Jews; 
and how I did not shrink 
from declaring to you 
anything that was profitable,
and how I did not shrink 
from teaching you in public 
and from house to house. 
And now, 
I am going to Jerusalem, 
constrained by the Spirit, 
not knowing 
what will happen to me there, 
except that the Holy Spirit 
testifies to me 
in every city 
that imprisonment 
and afflictions 
await me. 
I do not account my life of any value 
nor as precious to myself, 
if only I may finish my course 
and finish the ministry 
that I received 
from the Lord Jesus, 
to testify 
to the gospel 
of the grace of God.

Father in heaven, 
thank You 
for all the historical stories, 
all the laws, 
all the proverbs, 
and the songs, 
and all that has been written 
by Your many prophets. 
It is all there, 
bound together in a book 
sitting beside us in the pew, 
all there 
so that we might have hope. 

And it’s this hope 
that causes us 
to love our brothers 
and our sisters,
and to love others. 
It causes us to love people 
in the face of serious danger. 
Your hope, Father, 
creates the power 
to take great risks 
for the sake of others. 

You have not given to us 
a hope that is found 
in detailed revelations 
about how every risk we take 
will turn out; 
instead, 
You have laid up hope 
for us 
in heaven. 

Our lives are often 
one stressful risk 
after another, 
and we don’t know 
where each will take us. 
But in it all, 
we risk our lives 
for Your cause, Father. 

The roads aren’t safe. 
Our jobs aren’t safe. 
Our schools aren’t safe. 
Some of our friends aren’t safe. 
And before us 
are countless unspecified troubles. 
We don’t even know 
what today holds. 

But the road to Calvary 
nonetheless 
beckons us to take it. 
And the hope 
You’ve laid up for us 
empowers us to risk our lives. 

It is Your will 
that we be uncertain 
about how our lives here 
will turn out for us. 
And in that, 
it is Your will 
that the world around us 
be stunned 
by the Christ-exalting love 
we show 
in the face of great risk. 

It is costly 
to follow your beloved Son. 
There is risk everywhere in it. 
But this risk 
is also the means 
by which the value of Christ 
shines bright. 

In the name of Jesus Christ, 
who explodes our myths of safety, 
who calls us away 
from the beguiling enchantment of comfort, 
who gives us lives 
worth risking everything to live,
Amen.

Matthew 4:4
John 4:10–14
John 6:32–35

To Satan, Jesus said:

Man shall not live on bread alone, 
but on every word 
that comes from the mouth of God


To a Samaritan Woman, Jesus said:

If you knew the gift of God 
and who it is that asks you for a drink, 
you would have asked him 
and he would have given you living water.

Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 
but whoever drinks the water I give them 
will never thirst. 
Indeed, the water I give them 
will become in them a spring of water 
welling up to eternal life.


To the crowd, Jesus said: 

Very truly I tell you, 
it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, 
but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven.
For the bread of God 
is the bread that comes down from heaven 
and gives life to the world.

I am the bread of life. 
Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, 
and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.

Lord, there are things that we know we need to survive. 
We need bread. 
We need water. 
We need sustenance. 

But You have told us that there is Living Water. 
And…  that we do not live by bread alone. 
But by every word that comes from Your mouth. 

Forgive us for thinking 
that this is just a metaphor.
Forgive us for thinking 
that there is some kind of life…
… capable of being lived…  
without You. 

We are not here this morning, Lord, 
because You are an option 
or an alternative. 
We are here because we are hungry for You. 
Our souls must have nourishment, 
and that nourishment is only available from You.
Nourish us in the ways of eternal life. 

This we pray, 
through Jesus Christ, 
our Living Water, 
the Bread from Heaven,
Amen

Hebrews 2:10-13
Ephesians 2:18–22
Hebrews 4:14–16

Jesus is not ashamed to call us brothers and sisters… 
Jesus says (to His Father), 
“I will tell of your name to my brothers and sisters; 
in the midst of the congregation 
I will sing your praise.”


Through Christ, 
we have access to the Father by one Spirit.
Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, 
but fellow citizens with God’s people 
and also members of His household, 
built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, 
with Christ Jesus Himself as The Chief Cornerstone. 
In Him the whole building is joined together 
and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. 
And in Him you too are being built together 
to become a dwelling in which God lives by His Spirit.


Therefore, since we have a Great High Priest 
who has ascended into heaven, 
Jesus the Son of God, 
let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, 
so that we may receive mercy 
and find grace to help us in our time of need.

Father in heaven
We come to You with honest hearts.

It’s easy to slip into worship 
as if You are over there somewhere, 
And we are over here. 
As if we’re trying to reach You 
by the authenticity of our worship 
or the strength of our singing, 
or by the right mood,
or the right atmosphere, 
or the right feelings, 
or the right words.

Forgive us, Lord, 
for carrying a burden of worship 
You never asked us to carry.

You have not left us to bridge that gap.

Jesus has already bridged it. 
In Jesus Christ, You, God, have come to us. 
You have taken our humanity. 
You have borne our sin. 
You have opened the way home. 
And even now, 
the risen and living Jesus stands among us 
as our Shepherd 
and our High Priest 
and our True Worship Leader.

Yes! He is the eternal Son, 
worthy of all worship and praise, 
sharing one divine life 
with You, Father, and with the Spirit.  

And He is also the incarnate, risen, and ascended Son, 
offering in our human flesh 
the perfect response to You, 
giving You the worship we cannot give, 
and drawing us in 
to participate in it 
by His Spirit that is in us. 

So, today, Father, 
we are not here to “put on” worship for You.
Instead, we join the worship that Jesus—
our ascended Christ—
is already offering to You.

We do not bring our prayers 
that must somehow be good enough; 
we bring our real prayers—
our small, stumbling, sincere prayers—
and we know that Jesus will gather them 
into His own perfect prayer 
and present them to You in His name.

And we ask that Your Holy Spirit 
make this congregation Your living work, 
not a religious club, 
not an audience, 
not an organization, 
not a business measured by things like efficiency or impressive outcomes, 
not an independent existence relying on its own resources.

For this little church 
has no life 
or power 
of its own 
apart from Christ.

So, breathe Your life into us, Father. 
Save us from being a tired and hollow organization.
Make us the living Body of Christ—
moved by Your love, 
marked by Your mercy, 
rich in Your service.

Teach us to lead like Jesus— 
to be servants of Your people, 
not managers of our system.

God, You are a living communion of Father, Son, and Spirit— 
a communion of persons,
a communion of love, 
a communion of fellowship and freedom. 
So, keep us from the myth of solitary Christianity, 
the myth of spiritual self-sufficiency
that says we can know You 
apart from the community Your Spirit has formed
in which the Word is heard, 
and answered, 
and tested, 
and learned together.

Knit us together, then, 
in this little church community of persons.
Knit us together 
in the ways that enable us to know You. 
Knit us together 
in the ways that will have our minds shaped by the Mind of Christ.

Make this church the place where we learn His mind together—
where we help one another hear Your Word, 
where we carry one another’s joys and sorrows, 
where we tell the truth in love, 
and where we are formed by grace.

So now, as we open this time 
for Scripture 
and testimony 
and prayers 
and requests 
and praise,
give courage to those who speak,
give wisdom to those who listen, 
and keep us close to Jesus.

And let everything shared today 
become a simple and grateful “Amen” 
to what Christ is already doing among us.

We pray in the name of the Father, 
and of the Son, 
and of the Holy Spirit,
Amen.

Luke 4:18
Acts 1:8
Acts 2:17

There was this moment when Jesus returned to his hometown. And it was his custom to go to synagogue on the Sabbath day. And so he did. And he stood up and read a passage of scripture about himself from the scroll of Isaiah.  He read 

The Spirit of the Lord 
is upon Me.


Just moments before Jesus ascended up to Heaven, he said this to his disciples: 

You will receive power 
when the Holy Spirit 
has come upon you, 
and you will be 
My witnesses.


There’s this story that Luke records in the beginning of his second book, the Book of Acts, where the Holy Spirit comes down from heaven — In the form of fire — just as Jesus had promised he would. And his Spirit rests on the very first gathered group of Christians. And the power of the Spirit was such that they all started preaching in foreign languages — languages that they had never studied and didn’t know. But people from all over the world who happened to be nearby in the streets heard them and were bewildered because they were hearing this gathered group of Christians speaking to them in their own native languages. And so Peter explains to the crowd what is happening and when he does, he quotes the Old Testament prophet Joel, and he shouts out: 

God declares: 
“I will pour out My Spirit 
upon all flesh.”

Father in heaven, 
You have a plan, 
and Your plan is unfolding. 
And it’s unfolding 
exactly how You’ve planned it so.

Your plan 
is cosmic in scope — 
nothing that happens 
happens outside it. 
It is universal —
we are in it.

This plan of Yours 
goes all the way back to Jesus. 
It encompasses 
the miracles He performed. 
It includes His death, 
His resurrection, 
His exaltation to heaven, 
and it even includes His future role 
as the One 
who will return 
to execute 
Your judgment. 

Your spirit was on Him. 
And everything He did, 
He did according to Your Spirit, 
under Your guidance.
And so everything unfolded 
according to plan.

This plan of Yours 
goes back even further. 
It goes way back to Israel, 
that nation 
where You guided Abraham, 
and Joseph, 
and Moses, 
and David, 
and all the prophets. 

Indeed, 
this plan of Yours stretches 
all the way back 
to the act of creation itself, 
and it goes on into the future 
to the judgment 
at the end of all history. 

All events 
have been planned. 
And Your plan unfolds. 
And it’s unfolding right now — 
at this moment — 
under Your providential guidance, 
under the care 
of Your Holy Spirit. 

And according to Jesus’s own words:
we will receive power 
when the Holy Spirit has come, 
and we will 
be His witnesses.

This is who we are
in Your plan. 
This is why we are 
in Your plan. 

This charge to be His witnesses, 
first given 
to His disciples, 
is no less true for us. 
You have given us the foundation 
for all our actions.
You have given us 
an unquestionable footing 
for living faithfully 
in this world. 

As we have studied the story 
that Your great historian, Luke, 
recorded for us —
the story of Your unfolding plan —
it has encouraged us, 
it has sustained us —
and may it continue to encourage us, 
and may it continue to sustain us — 
as we continue 
to be His witnesses 
in this time, 
in this year, 
in this location, 
in our homes, 
our schools, 
our places of employment, 
our places of shopping, 
and exercise, 
and leisure.
For in this time, 
across these places, 
Your plan will unfold. 
And as it does — 
just as it did 
in the Book of Acts — 
Your guidance 
is available to us 
as we bear witness 
in this rapidly changing,
freakishly irrational, 
subjectively chaotic, 
radically fallen world
that we’ve awaked in this morning. 

Nevertheless, 
Your plan unfolds. 
And we are in it. 

We seek Your guidance, 
for that is what interprets, 
not only all of history, 
but also this very moment 
we find ourselves in. 
Your guidance strengthens us. 
It strengthens our understanding 
of who we are, 
and who we are supposed to be 
in this world 
at this moment 
as we attempt 
to bear witness. 
It reinforces the idea 
that we are Your servants 
proclaiming Your gospel.

Like the early church at its formation,
inspire this church 
by Your Spirit. 
Keep us faithful 
to Your scriptures. 
Give us all we need 
to remain obedient to You. 
Encourage us 
as we live our faith. 

Keep us hopeful. 
Keep us directed toward Your purposes. 
Keep us unified.

Give us the theological grounding we need
for missional activity.
Provide us — 
like You did for Peter and the apostles, 
like You did for Stephan and Philip and the seven, 
like You did for Barnabas and Paul 
and other fellow missionaries — 
provide us, 
as You did for them,
with the respectable ways 
by which potential criticisms 
can be defended.

Give us eyes to see beyond the surface chaos of this world 
to the deeper realities of Your redemptive work 
and to the deeper realities of our participation in Your divine life.

Enable us to see 
Your plan unfold 
with us in it, 
and nurture and equip this church 
for the task 
that You have given us.

In the name of Jesus, 
Who told us 
that on us 
He would pour out His Spirit, 
that we would receive power, 
that we would be His witnesses,
Amen.