Sunday, January 17, 2021 - Where is God when everything is falling apart?

Theme: Curious Questions of God - Where is God when everything is falling apart?

Prayer

John 16:19, 25-28                                                               Common English Bible Translation

Jesus knew they wanted to ask him, so he said, “Are you trying to find out from each other what I meant when I said, ‘Soon you won’t see me, and soon after that you will see me’? “I’ve been using figures of speech with you. The time is coming when I will no longer speak to you in such analogies. Instead, I will tell you plainly about the Father. In that day you will ask in my name. I’m not saying that I will ask the Father on your behalf. The Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and believed that I came from God. I left the Father and came into the world. I tell you again: I am leaving the world and returning to the Father.” (Question: How do you regularly connect to God?)

John 18:28-31

The Jewish leaders led Jesus from Caiaphas to the Roman governor’s palace. It was early in the morning. So that they could eat the Passover, the Jewish leaders wouldn’t enter the palace; entering the palace would have made them ritually impure. So Pilate went out to them and asked, “What charge do you bring against this man?” They answered, “If he had done nothing wrong, we wouldn’t have handed him over to you.” Pilate responded, “Take him yourselves and judge him according to your Law.” The Jewish leaders replied, “The Law doesn’t allow us to kill anyone.” (Question: Have you ever felt like no matter how much good you do that things still fall apart?)

John 16:32

Look! A time is coming – and is here! – when each of you will be scattered to your own homes and you will leave me alone. I’m not really alone, for the Father is with me. (Question: When do you feel the most alone and when do you not? What makes the difference?)

John 18:33-38

Pilate went back into the palace. He summoned Jesus and asked, “Are you the king of the Jews?” Jesus answered, “Do you say this on your own or have others spoken to you about me?” Pilate responded, “I’m not a Jew, am I? Your nation and its chief priests handed you over to me. What have you done?” Jesus replied, “My kingdom doesn’t originate from this world. If it did, my guards would fight so that I wouldn’t have been arrested by the Jewish leaders. My kingdom isn’t from here.” “So you are a king?” Pilate said. Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. I was born and came into the world for this reason: to testify to the truth. Whoever accepts the truth listens to my voice.” “What is truth?” Pilate asked. After Pilate said this, he returned to the Jewish leaders and said, “I find no grounds for any charge against him.” (Question: How do you usually respond when things are falling apart?)

John 16:33

I’ve said these things to you so that you will have peace in me. In the world you have distress. But be encouraged! I have conquered the world.” (Question: How does God encourage you?)

Reflection Together

Prayers of the People and the Lord’s Prayer

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, 

on earth as it is in heaven. 

Give us this day our daily bread,

And forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us;

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil

For thine is the kingdom and the power 

and the glory, forever.  Amen

Blessing

Song List (to listen to from wherever you get your music)

Abide with Me – 836 GTG

Great Are You, Lord – 614 GTG

I Will Call upon the Lord – 621 GTG

To God Be the Glory – 634 GTG

Forever On Your Side - NEEDTOBREATHE

Quotes by Walter Brueggemann

“The world comes at us in destructive, pathological ways. From out of the chaos, however, comes this other voice rooted in memory. Comes the text shaping our future not in hostility but in compassion, not in abandonment but in solidarity, not in isolation but in covenant, not in estrangement but in well-being.”

“We must speak about death, not because we are excessively fascinated by it or because it is fun to talk about, but because in that Friday drama, Jesus knew who he was and gave himself in love for the sake of the world, gave himself to the poor, the needy, the despairing, but also for the wise, the strong, the controlling. And in his act of vulnerability, his power to love broke all the power of violence and brutality.”

“The world of despair believes that there are no new gifts, no fresh generosity, no possibility of newness or forgiveness, and so life becomes a zero-sum game to see who can stay the longest on top of the heap, all the while knowing that there will be no good outcome to the futile rat race. Well, here is the news. Out beyond that despair that sanctions road rage and violence against the poor and war and ruthless exploitation that leaves one exhausted if not half dead, there is an alternative world bodied in Jesus. It is a world of new gifts and fresh starts grounded in divine forgiveness and sustained by generosity. That world is on offer in this one who is about to be born among us.”