Hymns and Scripture Readings for March 7
The words of the hymns have been reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE #607034.
Voices United #248 "When Long Before Time"
1. When long before time and the worlds were begun,
when there was no earth and no sky and no sun,
and all was deep silence and night reigned supreme,
and even our Maker had only a dream ...
2. ... the silence was broken when God sang the Song,
and light pierced the darkness and rhythm began,
and with its first birth-cries creation was born,
and creaturely voices sang praise to the morn.
3. The sounds of the creatures were one with their Lord's,
their harmonies sweet and befitting the Word;
the Singer was pleased as the earth sang the Song,
the choir of the creatures re-echoed it long.
4. Though, down through the ages, the Song disappeared,
its harmonies broken and almost unheard,
the Singer comes to us to sing it again,
our God-Is-with-Us in the world now as then.
5. The Light has returned as it came one before,
the Song of the Lord is our own song once more;
so let us all sing with one heart and one voice
the Song of the Singer in whom we rejoice.
6. To you, God the Singer, our voices we raise,
to you, Song Incarnate, we give all our praise,
to you, Holy Spirit, our life and our breath,
be glory forever, through life and through death.
Voices United #686 "God of Grace and God of Glory"
1. God of grace and God of glory, on your people pour your power;
now fulfil your church's story; bring its bud to glorious flower.
Grant us wisdom, grant us courage, for the facing of this hour.
2. Lo, the hosts of evil round us scorn your Christ, assail your ways;
fears and doubts too long have bound us, free our hearts to work and praise.
Grant us wisdom, grant us courage, for the living of these days.
3. Cure your children's warring madness, bend our pride to your control;
shame our wanton selfish gladness, rich in good and poor in soul.
Grant us wisdom, grant us courage, lest we miss your kingdom's goal.
4. Set our feet on lofty places, gird our lives that they may be
armoured with all Christ-like graces, pledged to set all captives free.
Grant us wisdom, grant us courage, that we fail not them nor thee.
More Voices #12 "Come Touch Our Hearts"
1. Come touch our hearts that we may know compassion,
from failing embers build a blazing fire;
love strong enough to overturn injustice,
to seek a world more gracious, come touch and bless our hearts.
2. Come touch our souls that we may know and love you,
your quiet presence all our fears dispel;
create a space for spirit to grow in us,
let life and beauty fill us, come touch and bless our souls.
3. Come touch our minds and teach us how to reason,
set free our thoughts to wonder and to dream;
help us to open doors of understanding,
to welcome truth and wisdom, come touch and bless our minds.
4. Come touch us in the moments we are fragile,
and in our weakness your great strength reveal;
that we may rise to follow and to serve,
steady now our nerve, come touch and bless our wills.
5. Come touch us now, this people who are gathered,
to break the bread and share the cup of peace;
that we may love you with our heart, our soul,
our mind, our strength, our all, come touch us with your grace.
More Voices #173 "Put Peace into Each Other's Hands"
1. Put peace into each other's hands and like a treasure hold it,
protect it like a candle flame, with tenderness enfold it.
2. Put peace into each other's hands with loving expectation;
be gentle in your words and ways, in touch with God's creation.
3. Put peace into each other's hands like bread we break for sharing;
look people warmly in the eye: our life is meant for caring.
4. Give thanks for strong -- yet tender -- hands, held out in trust and blessing.
Where words fall short, let hands speak out, the heights of love expressing.
5. Reach out in friendship, stay in faith in touch with those around you.
Put peace into each other's hands; the Peace that sought and found you.
Scripture Readings:
Exodus 20: 1-17
Then God spoke all these words:
I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; you shall have no other gods before me.
You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and fourth generation of those who reject me, but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments.
You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not acquit anyone who misuses my name.
Remember the Sabbath day, and keep it holy. Six days you shall labour and do all your work. But the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God; you shall not do any work -- you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns. For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and consecrated it.
Honour your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you,
You shall not murder.
You shall not commit adultery.
You shall not steal.
You shall not bear false witness against your neighbour.
You shall not covet your neighbour's house; you shall not covet your neighbour's wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbour.
John 2: 13-22
The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. He told those who were selling the doves, "Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father's house a marketplace!" His disciples remembered that it was written, "Zeal for your house will consume me." The Jews then said to him, "What sign can you show us for doing this?" Jesus answered them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." The Jews then said, "This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?" But he was speaking of the temple of his body. After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this; and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.