April Taize service

I just realized I didn't post the readings for the first-Friday Taize service, as I like to do. I attended the service this time as a regular participant, rather than as a musician. That was nice—it had been a stressful week, and I appreciated the chance to get spiritually recharged. I did prepare the readings and intercessions, though. I worked with the theme, "Christ, our reconciliation."

************

2 CORINTHIANS 5:17-19

Those who enter into Christ
become a new creation.
The old passes away—
and look, everything becomes new!

This is the work of God,
who has been reconciled with us through Christ
and has given us the ministry of reconciliation.

Let me express it in different words:
In Christ, God was reconciled with the world,
absolving them of their offenses.
And God has entrusted to us the task
of announcing to the world this reconciliation.

************

LUKE 15:11-24

Jesus said: A man had two sons.
The younger of them said to their father,
"Give me now the share of the estate
that is appointed for my inheritance."

So the father divided the estate between his sons.
Not long after this, the younger son gathered up his belongings
and went off to a distant country.
There he squandered his inheritance in self-indulgence.

After everything was spent,
that country was struck by famine,
and the son found himself in desperate need.
No one would give him anything.
At last he begged for work from a local landowner,
who sent him out to tend pigs.
He received little to eat and was so hungry
that he would have been glad to eat the pigs' fodder.

Finally, he knew what he must do.
He said, "My father’s hired hands have plenty to eat,
while here I am starving!
I will go back home and say to my father:
I have sinned against God and against you.
I do not deserve to be recognized as your son;
but please, take me in as a hired hand."

So he set off for home.
As he approached,
his father recognized him from the distance
and was overjoyed.
His father ran to meet him,
threw his arms around him,
and kissed him.

The son said,
"I have sinned against God and against you.
I do not deserve to be recognized as your son."

But his father called to the house: "Quickly!
Bring out the finest robe, and put it on him!
Get a ring for his finger and shoes for his feet!
Prepare a feast to celebrate the return of my son!
He was dead, but now he is alive!
He was lost, but now he is found!"

And so the celebration began.

************

PRAYERS OF INTERCESSION

Holy God—
we pray for the work of reconciliation that you are bringing to pass through Jesus Christ.

For all who are estranged from you because of anger, despair, disillusionment, or self-hatred:
that they may encounter your love.

For all who are lonely in this world—neglected, rejected, abandoned, or bereft:
that they may find companionship and community.

For all who are unhappy in relationships with family, lovers, friends:
that they may find a way to be reconciled.

For all who wage conflict, and for all who find themselves in the middle of conflict:
that there may be peace.

For all who have been hurt or wronged by others:
that they may find safety, justice, and healing, and that the grace to forgive may grow within them.

For all who carry burdens of guilt:
that in Christ they may find absolution and rest.