No Matter What, We’ll Still Serve You, God

A Litany for the Fifth Sunday in Lent
(Valerie Boyer)

Leader: When anxiety takes over our communities,
and there doesn’t seem to be much we can do
People: We’ll still serve you, God.

Leader: When we see clouds of fear gathering to pour out sorrow,
and all we can do is brace ourselves for what’s to come
People: We’ll still serve you, God.

Leader: Even if bills – rent, insurance, and loan payments – should pile up,
and we’re not sure what else we can take
People: We’ll still serve you, God.

Leader: When human providers of families need provisions made for them,
and it doesn’t look too bright
People: We’ll still serve you, God.

Leader: When the assignment you’ve called us to,
doesn’t seem worth our years of preparation
People: We’ll still serve you, God.

Leader: Knowing what it takes to get to our victories,
doesn’t stop the trauma of our battles
People: We’ll still serve you, God.

All: Lord, no matter how dark it may get, we will trust you.
No matter how many emotional journeys life takes us on,
We choose to ride life’s rollercoasters with you.
And no matter how deep the anxiety of the assignment,
We’ll still serve you, God!

We Have Looked at Ourselves in the Mirror

A Multisensory Prayer of Confession for use with Psalm 51:1-12
Note: May also be used on Ash Wednesday
(Lindsey Baynham)

Preparation:

Materials:

Dry erase markers for prayer leader and congregation
Dry erasers, paper napkins, tissue, or paper towel to erase mirror
Large mirror for the front of the church,
(Optional) small mirrors for worshipers

Directions: Place a large mirror in the front for the preacher and/or small, individual mirrors for the congregation. (If you only use a mirror up front, consider having the preacher or prayer leader write various sins, transgressions, etc. on the mirror as the congregation reads the confession. Before the assurance is read, wipe the large mirror clean.

If you use individual mirrors only, allow time for personal reflection during confession and a communal assurance as they wipe their individual mirrors clean. (Mirrors may be handed out as worshipers enter, placed in the pew rack, or distributed at the end of the sermon. Be mindful of glass from the mirrors and children.)

Begin by inviting members of the congregation to draw a visual representation of their prayer of confession on the mirror.

(Silence as the congregation draws on mirrors. If you are using a large front mirror, silence as the leader writes sins from the unison confession and others on the mirror.)

Unison Confession: Angry, hopeless, poor, liars, ashamed, not-good-enough. The list goes on and on, but mostly we are sinners in need of your grace. Forgive us. Give us eyes to see, not dimly but fully as we are ever before you.

(Silence)

Assurance: God, you didn’t have to see us, but you did. And in seeing, we are invited to take a closer look at ourselves. Create anew, revive again, and stay near to us. Amen.

(Expressions of thanksgiving and rejoicing as congregation and leader erase their mirrors!)

God, We’re in a Broken World

A Lament for the Fifth Sunday of Lent
(Valerie Boyer)

God of weary years that aren’t quite over,
God of silent tears, now cried aloud,
Thou who has brought us thus far along the way.*

God,

There are children dying at the hands of the law,
Hearts being broken by loved ones,
Economies suffering,
Prisons opening while schools close,
Attacks on healthcare,
Attacks on emotional disparities, and it hurts, Lord.
There doesn’t seem to be enough food to feed the homeless.
Lord, sex-crimes are at an all-time high.
Divorce actually makes more sense than life commitment…

God, we’re in a broken world, and it hurts! But God, we know you know all about brokenness. Only a loving Savior could show us how to prepare for brokenness.

God, we know that you’ve been here. We know that you’ve lived in a world that needed redemption and understand our anxiety, our emotional journey, our trauma, and our victories.

Show us how to hold on to you. Show us how to navigate through the weight of the anticipation of our individual, as well as collective, God-given assignments in a world of brokenness. We need you.

We’re grateful that struggle is a foreign concept to you.

Teach us how to love.

Teach us how to trust.

We know what to expect on the other side of “through,” but, Father, keep us in the “going.”

In the Name of the Suffering Savior, we ask these things,

Amen.

*Adapted from “Lift Every Voice and Sing” by James Weldon Johnson, (1921)

The Truth Is

A response to the Word based on Psalm 51:1-12.
(Ashley Johnson)

One: Our God desires truth in the inward parts.
Many: Since we’re being honest, God, we’re not feeling so hot. We’re annoyed, disappointed, and upset. We’re hurting, confused, and stressed.

One: How are you feeling? How are you really feeling?
Many: God, the truth is sometimes it feels like ain’t nobody praying for me.

One: What do you need?
Many: God, the truth is we’re concerned about our people.

One: Who is on your heart and mind?
Many: God, the truth is our people are in pain.

One: What do our communities need?
All: Our God desires truth in the inward parts. And the truth will set us free.

No, Not One!

A Call and Response Closing for the Fifth Sunday of Lent
(Valerie Boyer)

And now, beloved, we have the good news of a Savior who’s not foreign to suffering. He walks with us, he carries us, and he sends his peace! Now let us do the same with one another!

Call: In all that you go through, may you never feel alone

Response: There’s not a friend like the lowly Jesus.

Call: We serve a Savior who’s been there, done that,
and brought a bag of salvation with us in mind

Response: No not one!

Call: Our Savior is greater than Google Maps,
and shows up Waze by making ways out of no ways

Response: He will guide!

Call: From the rising of the sun, to the setting of the same,
holding us down better than a ride-or-die, more like a drive-and-live

Response: Until the day is done!

All together: There’s not a friend like the lowly Jesus, no not one!

Suggestion: End, with the hymn: “There’s Not a Friend like the Lowly Jesus”

Rev. Lindsey Baynham is an ordained elder in the United Methodist Church currently serving as the Director of Clergy Excellence in the Virginia Annual Conference. This proud alumna of Randolph-Macon College and Duke Divinity School has a passion for worship design, preaching, and teaching, laughter over a meal with friends, and connecting folks.

Valerie Boyer was born and raised in Galveston, Texas, the home of Juneteenth, curated at Howard University, with a journey to Detroit, Michigan, and now Columbus, Ohio. Valerie has embraced life through the lens of preaching, praying, poetry, and activism, working to make a difference in different pockets of the world, one person at a time.

Ashley Johnson is a proud alumna of Spelman College. She received a Master of Arts in Teaching from Brown University and has enjoyed serving as an elementary school teacher for more than ten years. In 2017, Ashley graduated from BU’s School of Theology with an MTS. She is a provisional Deacon in The United Methodist Church and currently serves at Union Church Boston.