A little help along the way is always welcome.
At least for me.
I offer these words and thoughts as starting points or turning points.
May they bless in this moment and possibly help for this Sunday.
Call to Worship (Adapted from Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18)
One: Praise the Lord Who knows us inside and out, through and
through!
Many: The One Who knows when we sit down and when we
stand up.
One: Before a word is on our tongue, the Lord knows it
completely.
Many: For it was God Who formed our inward parts and knit us
together in our mother’s womb.
One: We are fearfully and wonderfully made.
Many: It is amazing to contemplate.
One: Whoever we are and wherever we go,
Many: We are loved and we are not left alone.
I really like this from Rev. Nathan Drucker, found on umcdiscipleship.org.
It’s got a little more edge to it…
Where can I go, where can I run, where can I be that I am not within your love?
If I sail on the wings of the wind or make my bed in hell, still there you find me.
If I change my appearance like trees through the seasons, still you see my roots.
No matter how dark I let my heart become,
no matter what doubts and questions I wrestle with in the night
Still there you are – still loving me.
I beat at the air with my fists; I curse the rain as it falls on my tear-clinched eyes
Still there you are – still loving me.
And even when I don’t know how, who, or why…
Still… there… you are…
Still… loving… even me.
A prayer based on the Gospel lesson, Luke 14:25-33
Holy God,
it is hard to carry a rugged cross
when everything around us is designed to make our lives more comfortable.
Carrying a cross requires that we:
speak up,
when it would be easier to remain silent,
stand up,
when it would be safer to sit down,
and reach out to others
when we would prefer the luxury of keeping our hands to ourselves.
Holy Lord,
teach us the blessedness of what often seems like a burden,
and fit us for the discipleship to which we are called.
We pray in Christ our Savior’s name, Amen.
This is a true story told to me-the name has been changed.
Karen’s parents had both died within 6 months of each other. It’s an enormous loss to suddenly not have your parents on this earth. It can make you feel like an orphan for a time—alone in a completely different way, in that, the people who have known you all of your life, even before you were born, are no longer present. And, you will never be known like that again…by anyone, this side of heaven.
Karen’s mother had passed most recently, about 2 weeks before she had this experience. With the loss of her mother fresh on her heart, she went back to her chaplaincy job at the hospital.
During that week, she journeyed with 4 families who had to say goodbye to their loved ones. Needless to say, by the end of the week, with all of that fresh grief, Karen was spent.
Stick a fork in her, done.
Karen had had her fill of death and dying and heartbreak and loss.
She was grieving all of the losses, and…she was angry.
Angry at the pain and angry at God.
It was Sunday, and Karen said, she wouldn’t dare go to church.
She wasn’t going to give God the satisfaction.
She was mad at God, she certainly didn’t want to go visit Him.
She said that there was no way she would have gone to church that day.
Instead, she went to, as she described it, “pound the beach.”
She walked the beach. Walked fast, and walked hard.
Pounding out her anger and sadness,
pounding out the questions without answers,
pounding out the paradox of wanting to avoid God,
yet needing God all the more.
As she was walking, Karen saw a woman coming toward her
carrying something in her hand.
When she got closer, Karen saw that it was a sand dollar,
a whole sand dollar-which isn’t easy to find.
They said a brief “Hello” as they passed one another,
and both kept walking.
Then Karen heard the woman calling after her.
The woman caught up with her and said,
“I don’t know what this is about, but I feel really strongly
that I am supposed to give this sand dollar to you.”
They talked for a few minutes during which Karen didn’t go into any of her story.
They were just chit chatting and the woman said she felt a
connection with Karen, and that they should get together for
coffee some time.
Then she said, “my number is in the book,
I’m easy to find,
my last name is CHURCH”.
Karen told me that after the woman left, she just laughed
and said, “Okay God. I get it. I said I wouldn’t go to church,
so you brought ‘church’ to me!”
And even gave me a SERMON!
because the sand dollar has
all kinds of symbols that represent the birth, life, death
and the resurrection of Jesus.”
“Where can I go from Your spirit, where can I flee from Your presence…?”
The answer, thank God, is nowhere.
May God bless you with the unmistakable knowing of God’s ever-present with-ness
no matter where, no matter what.
Sharing the journey with you and thankful for you, 
Dena