CALL TO WORSHIP
Together, we gather to be present to the God who is already present to us.
However you are joining us, we encourage you to participate in the work of God today as He speaks and leads us. Wherever you are, God is already present and at work all around us. Let’s join Him!
OUR SCRIPTURE READING
Then Jesus returned to Galilee, filled with the Holy Spirit’s power. Reports about him spread quickly through the whole region. He taught regularly in their synagogues and was praised by everyone. When he came to the village of Nazareth, his boyhood home, he went as usual to the synagogue on the Sabbath and stood up to read the Scriptures. The scroll of Isaiah the prophet was handed to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where this was written: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released,
that the blind will see,
that the oppressed will be set free,
and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come.]”
He rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the attendant, and sat down. All eyes in the synagogue looked at him intently.
Then he began to speak to them. “The Scripture you’ve just heard has been fulfilled this very day!”
Luke 4:14-21 NIV
PRAYING TOGETHER
God of every perfect gift,
Clothe us in the love that casts out fear.
May we encourage one another without pretense,
Serve one another without selfishness,
And move through this world as a unified body
That continuously proclaims your restoration.
In your name, amen.
QUESTIONS AND PRACTICES
COMMUNITY QUESTIONS
1. Read Isaiah 61:1-2. Jesus speaks this as his calling to the crowd in Luke chapter 4. What does this reveal about his mission – and as his disciples, what does it reveal about ours?
2. The phrase “oaks of righteousness” in Psalm 61 speaks of a a loving, just community that is a place of refuge for the weary. Over the last 2 years of struggle in our world, how have the people of God been a refuge of safety and comfort for you?
PRACTICES
Restoring something – a car, a house, an engine – requires clearing away the debris and clutter that’s accumulated over the years in order to reveal what it was made to be. Take some to reflect this week on what God might be removing from your life in order to restore you. Maybe it’s a habit, an attitude, or some sort of connection that’s inhibiting his work in your life. Ask God to bring clarity and courage in offering up all of your life with open hands.
NEXT STEPS AND RESOURCES
