Friday 18th March
“Hey there! All who are thirsty, come to the water! Are you penniless? Come anyway—buy and eat!
Come, buy your drinks, buy wine and milk. Buy without money—everything’s free! Isaiah 55:1
You Lord, are the source of all good things:
We praise you.
You call us to tend and care for your creation:
May we strive to do your will.
You have made us as brothers and sisters with all that lives:
May we live together in peace.
A Reading: Isaiah 55: 6-13 (The Message translation)
Seek God while he’s here to be found,
pray to him while he’s close at hand.
Let the wicked abandon their way of life
and the evil their way of thinking.
Let them come back to God, who is merciful,
come back to our God, who is lavish with forgiveness.
“I don’t think the way you think.
The way you work isn’t the way I work.”
God’s Decree.
“For as the sky soars high above earth,
so the way I work surpasses the way you work,
and the way I think is beyond the way you think.
Just as rain and snow descend from the skies
and don’t go back until they’ve watered the earth,
Doing their work of making things grow and blossom,
producing seed for farmers and food for the hungry,
So will the words that come out of my mouth
not come back empty-handed.
They’ll do the work I sent them to do,
they’ll complete the assignment I gave them.
“So you’ll go out in joy,
you’ll be led into a whole and complete life.
The mountains and hills will lead the parade,
bursting with song.
All the trees of the forest will join the procession,
exuberant with applause.
No more thistles, but giant sequoias,
no more thornbushes, but stately pines—
Monuments to me, to God,
living and lasting evidence of God.”
A response:
God’s vision of the world is one of beauty and harmony –
Yet we do not listen,
We will not hear,
Our eyes are blinkered.
Lord, in your mercy awaken us to your wisdom.
God’s vision of the world is one of generosity and abundance –
Yet we hoard what decays,
We squabble over wealth,
Our hearts are greedy.
Lord, in your mercy awaken us to your wisdom.
God’s vision of the world is one of promise and covenant –
Yet we don’t trust God,
We don’t trust our brethren,
Our ways are deceitful.
Lord, in your mercy awaken us to your wisdom.
God’s vision of the world is one of peace and restoration –
Yet we fight rather than listen,
We provoke revenge not love,
Our judgements are corrupt.
Lord, in your mercy awaken us to your wisdom.
Feed us with love
Cleanse us of hate
Gift us with compassion
Restore our trust in humanity
Renew our understanding of nature
Fill us with joy
Make us again the people of God.
Amen.
The Green Tau 