Listen | RISE UP!

Reading Notes

NRSV texts, artwork and Revised Common Lectionary Prayers for this service are available at the Vanderbilt Divinity Library.
Leccionario en Español, Leccionario Común Revisado: Consulta Sobre Textos Comunes.
Lectionnaire en français, Le Lectionnaire Œcuménique Révisé

Calendar Notes

From January 14 – February 4, the color is green.
February 11 (Transfiguration) is white and gold.
Beginning Ash Wednesday (February 14), the color is purple.

For your Planning Team

Planning this Service

It’s week two in this six-week series. The core task for week two in any series is to pick up the energy and the thematic thread (in that order) of the series launch and take them both to the next level.

This service picks up on the energy of last week’s service by again beginning in near darkness and quiet, leading into a spoken word piece before a dramatic reading of the Scripture.

The way this service takes the energy of the series launch to the next level may not seem obvious. Overall, this one seems quieter, more contemplative, at least through the prayers of the people. It may seem as if the energy is taken down a notch rather than up. What we’re going for here is taking the energy of the first service deeper, to a more profound level of listening. And then, once we’ve prayed, starting to amp up the energy from Thanksgiving through Sending forth.

This follows the advancement of the thematic thread from “God Is Speaking” (last week) to our response to that in this week’s service, “Listen,” reflected dramatically in the spoken word prayer for illumination, the Scripture, the sermon, and the prayers. This service seeks to help us embody the energy we need to listen for God’s direction in our lives and in the lives of those we’ll be accompanying in their discipleship journey during Lent.

Then the spike in kinetic energy of the music and prayers toward the end of the service provides a bit of a segue into next week’s service, “Move.”