These worship materials will be used during worship on Sunday, June 17, 2018, but can be used any time for personal meditation and prayer.
 

Prayers in Action and Reflection Stations  

Today in worship you are invited to reflect on what is growing, what needs to be nurtured, and what nurture you are giving. All plants need soil, moisture, and light to thrive. You are invited to pray at any and all of the stations in the sanctuary. The pastor will give direction about their location. You are also invited to use the time alone in your pew to commune with God as you are led, or to use the contemplation questions on their own.

Our Offering

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Today our offering is a mustard seed that we plant in our world. If you like, please bring your check, envelope, or online giving note to the planter in the center, investing in the seedling of a beloved community. As you do:
¨ What hopes do you offer with this gift?
¨ What was planted in you to inspire you to make this gift? Who or what placed the seed for this and other generosity in your life?
¨ How are you growing from those seeds planted in you?

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At this station you will find seeds and soil. What is the soil bed of your heart right now? What is its condition? What in life are you hoping will grow like the mustard seed? What are you holding onto that needs to be planted to grow? Is there something planted in you not yet germinated? What is it? What does it need?
¨ Feel the soil and meditate on all that grounds you.
¨ Bless the small things you do and plant a seed in the soil, or take a seed with you as a carried prayer.
¨ Allow your thoughts to meditate on Mary Oliver’s verse: “All summations have a beginning, all effect has a story, all kindness begins with the sown seed.” Write what this means to you and in your life.
 

Water for the Soul

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For seeds to grow they seek water and light. Water softens the outer casings and carries nutrients to the roots. What is the source of living water for you right now? Are you getting enough moisture to soften your outer casings and be nourished? What needs a good soaking? What needs to be washed away so you can be clear and clean?
¨ Take a seed and immerse it in the living stream, praying to soften and receive all you need. Leave it there to remind you that you are immersing in living water or take it with you to be a reminder at home.
¨ Write down on your reflection sheet or in a journal later all the seeds of hope, of love, of right-action, that need water. How could you water “the just, the ideal, the sublime, and the holy” this week?
¨ Allow your thoughts to “properly attend to delight.”
 

Growing Toward the Light

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Light catalyzes life and gives us power. Where is light for you right now? In the arc of your life, what light are you bending toward? For the seeds of growth in you, and for the seeds you hope will grow in the world, is there anything shading their growth, blocking the light?
¨ Breathe deeply and with eyes open actively turn toward a source of light in the room—a window, a lamp, a soul.
¨ Breathing steadily, imagine inhaling light from this source. Imagine filling with light, toe to top.
¨ As you exhale each time, consider how could you bring that light to seeds in need?
¨ Write down any action you are called to take or talk it over with a trusted soul.
¨ Allow all of your thoughts “to bud toward radiance.”
 

Millions of Seeds For a Harvest of Righteousness

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On this table are placed copies of bibles with every one of the over 2000 passages that deal with justice and poverty. They are sitting on handwoven Guatemalan cloth. There is a special campesino coffee picking basket as well. On the table also you will find paper decrying the immoral separation of immigrant children from their parents.  The stationery is can be used for writing one of the passages that moves you, along with your own words. 
Suggestions:
¨ Center yourself on the beauty, utility, and intricacy of the these objects from Central America. Reflect on your kinship with the people who made and use them.
¨ Browse the highlighted Biblical Poverty and Justice passages.
¨ Copy and Send One to Your Favorite Elected or Appointed Official, perhaps with a note encouraging humane treatment of all people. And their children.