Open the Blinds.
A call to worship.
Themes
God’s beauty • Distractions • God’s goodness • God’s glory • Shine • Darkness • Light • Walls • Blinds • Ideas • Fears
We want to taste again Your goodness.
Scripture reading
Genesis 1:1–4 Psalm 27:1, 4, 13–14 Isaiah 59:1–2, 9–10 Isaiah 9:2, 6 Isaiah 60:1–3 John 1:1–5, 9, 14
This call to worship1 cuts through distractions and asks for the Light to get past our defenses. It invites us to stop hiding and let glory shine over us, in us, and through us.
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and empty. Darkness covered the surface of the watery depths. The Spirit of God hovered over the surface of the waters. Then God said, let there be light. And there was light. And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life. Whom shall I dread? I have asked one thing from the Lord. It is what I desire: to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, gazing on the beauty of the Lord. I am certain that I will see the Lord’s goodness in the land of the living Wait for the Lord. Be strong. And let your heart be courageous. Indeed, the Lord’s arm is not too weak to save, and his ear is not too deaf to hear. But our iniquities are separating us from God, and our sins have hidden His face from us, so that He does not listen. We wait for light, but there is darkness; for brightness, but we live in the night. We grope along a wall like the blind, we grope like this without eyes. We stumble at noon as though it were twilight. The people walking in darkness have seen a great light. A light has dawned on those living in the land of darkness. A Child will be born for us; a Son will be given to us, and the government will be on His shoulders. Arise, shine, for your light has come. And the glory of the Lord shines over you. For look, darkness will cover the earth and total darkness over the peoples; but the Lord will shine over you and his glory will appear over you. Nations will come to your light and kings to your shining brightness. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. All things came into being through Him. And the Word became flesh and lived among us. And we observed His glory, the glory of the One And Only Son, full of grace and truth. In Him was Life, and that Life was the Light of men. That Light shines in the darkness. And the darkness did not overcome it. The True Light that gives light to everyone, has come into the world.
Prayer
Lord, this morning we want to gaze upon Your beauty. We want to set aside, just for a moment, the many things that can distract us. We want to taste again Your goodness. We want Your glory to shine over us, and in us, and through us. You have brought us out of darkness. You have brought us into The Light. Lord, can this morning be a morning in which Your Light again breaks through in just the way it needs to, into each of our hearts? Lord, we ask that Your Light break through the walls we’ve built around us, break through the blinds we’ve hung in our windows, break through the ideas we’ve constructed in our minds to keep You out, break through the beliefs and fears we hold on to that keep You hidden. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen
1
This call to worship was given to the small assembly of Christians who gathered at Pathway Church in Beaverdam, Michigan, on Sunday, January 26, 2020.