Voices Found:A long lost lamb, WLWC Easter 5, VF 93, 95
Voices Found #93
God, creator, source of healing,
here we pray for wholeness and health.
Guide our work, our thoughts and feeling,
guide the sharing of our wealth,
Give discernment in our decisions
give compassion in our care;
reconcile our strife and divisions
as we search for means to share.
Words: Brigid Pailthorp
Music: Abbots Leigh, Cyril Vincent Taylor (1907-1991)
On the day of the Sabbath we went out the gate by the river, where we thought there was a place of prayer, and we sat down and spoke to the women gathered there. Now a certain woman named Lydia, a merchant of purple cloth from the city of Thyatira,a worshipper of God, was listening to us. The Messiah opened her heart to listen eagerly to us, saying what was said by Paul. As she was baptized along with her household, she urged us, saying,"If you have judged me to be faithful to Christ, come and stay at my home." And she persuaded us. Acts 16:13-15, tr. Gafney
Lydia, a merchant of purple cloth, created wealth and insisted on sharing it. She offered the disciples a home where they could live comfortably. She opened her house to Silas and Paul after they had been imprisoned and beaten. She sheltered the sisters and brothers, offering encouragement and compassion. Pailthorp's hymn text encourages today's worshippers to pray for discernment, reconciliation, and compassion; to search for means to share.
Voices Found # 95
A long lost lamb is in the fold,
a woman's coin retrieved,
a wayward son is home again,
most lovingly received.
Good news! It's time to celebrate with friends who gather round.
So God rejoices, Jesus said,
whenever the lost is found!
Words: Mary Nelson Keithahn
Music: Carl Haywood
Jesus said, "Which mother's child among you having a hundred sheep and losing ne of them does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until you find it? And finding it, lay it on your shoulders and rejoice? And when you come back to your home, you call all your friends and neighbors, saying to them, 'rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.' I say to you all, in the same way, there will be rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine somebodies who have no need for repentance."
Prayer:
Holy Spirit, bring us wholeness,
come with your transforming love;
give us freedom, hope and boldness,
raise our eyes to see from above;
shape our systems, institutions, clarify our blinded sight,
as we seek God-given solutions,
help us greet the just and right.
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