Opening Prayers/Prayers of Adoration on The Cross

Calls to Worship on the Cross

Reign and Rain Down

Reign and Rain down, Glorious One
Salvation flows from your side
Living water to our desert
to our frail clay
to our dust

Creation flows from you
New life springing up
Hope and wholeness
Budding and blooming in our wasteland

Flood us and fill us, King of kings
Let all the earth drink of you
Quenched with the fullness of your victorious love. Amen.

Reign and Rain Down © 2019, updated 2023 Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia, www.revlisad.com


Tell Me Dear Tree

 Tell me dear tree on which my Lord, my blessed Lord did hang,
How could you hold the spotless Lamb, be party with the gang?
That cheerless day, that shadowy hour, my blessed Savior died,
to free my soul for heavenly things, O tree, you must have cried.

 Yes all your fibers must have screamed for you one time did live
a green and growing tree, alive, but your whole self did give
to be the instrument of death, to be the very tree
to be the place for Christ to die upon dark Calvary 

Wait! Do I hear a shout of joy from somewhere deep within?
Your duty done; the battle won so all the world might win.
How beautiful your love for Him. He sewed it long ago
You bore the weight. You took the stain, and now the world must know 

The tree of death felt every wound, felt all the pain and loss.
She loved her maker through it all, was glad to be His cross.
Teach me dear tree on which my Lord, My precious Lord did die
To treasure grueling duties done so Christ is lifted high 

You can sing this poem to tunes with this meter: 86.86 double (CMD)

Suggested tune: KINGSFOLD

Tell Me Dear Tree © 1992 Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia, www.revlisad.com


Inspired by Isaiah 43:1-7

The God who breathed this world alive

And sustains it day by day,

Whose hands flung stars into space

And controls our destiny,

Says, “Do not be afraid, for I am with you.”

The God who filled the ocean depths,

And set tides on their way,

Who caused mountains to be raised up,

And rainbows to display,

Says, “I have called you by name, you are mine.”

The God who made the fertile earth

And seed within to sow,

Whose artistry creates butterflies

And the early morning dew,

Says, “You are precious in my sight.”

John Birch, Faith and Worship


Palm Sunday- The King is Coming

The King is coming

The people announce it.

It fills the streets like the perfume filled the house the night before.

“Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord— the King of Israel!”

 

The King is coming.

The disciples remember it.

Zechariah 9:9

Rejoice greatly, O daughter Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter Jerusalem!

Lo, your king comes to you; triumphant and victorious is he,

humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

 

Hosanna! The King is coming, triumphant and victorious

Riding into Jerusalem just like Solomon did centuries before

Ending the dispute over who’s the one true King

 

Jesus, Jesus is the King of kings

Greater than the Roman war machine

Greater than the Pax Romana

With Jesus its Eternal Peace-

wrong made right through humility, and vulnerability, and sacrifice

Eternal Peace- Pax Eterna

 

Zechariah 9:10

He will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the war-horse from Jerusalem;

and the battle bow shall be cut off, and he shall command peace to the nations;

his dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth.

 

Hosanna! The King is coming.

The Anointed One- the Christ

Anointed by Mary in gratitude and love for raising her brother Lazarus from the dead

Anointed by Mary, blessed to reign as King forever

Anointed by Mary, blessed to bear God’s grace as high priest forever

Anointed by Mary, a holy sacrifice anointed for death

The last sacrifice ever needed

A sacrifice so great it overcomes all sin, all death, for all time

 

Hosanna! The King is coming. The King over death.

Jesus raised Lazarus

Only a few days later he’ll lay down his own life and take it up again

Hosanna! The King over death.

And he will raise us up as well.

 

Hosanna! The King over death.

All the little deaths. All the little injustices.

All the big deaths. All the big injustices.

Hosanna to the King over death.

Hosanna! Save now.

 

This is why so many are going after him.

He raised Lazarus from the dead.

This spectacular miracle.

This quick, spectacular fix.

 

This is what the people were testifying to.

Hosanna to the King of Israel.

Hosanna to the King over death.

Hosanna! Save now.

 

How many will go after him when his work becomes small?

When his work becomes slow?

When his work becomes sacrifice?

 

How many will go after him when his work includes our work?

When his work includes our “yes” – our time, our prayer, our money, our hands, our sacrifice

When the hungry come and Jesus says, “You feed them”

When the night of anguish comes and Jesus says, “stay awake, watch and pray with me”

When it’s time to deny ourselves, and take up our cross, and follow

Follow the King- the King of kings, the King of death, the King of sacrifice

 

Hosanna! The King is coming

Some want it to stop

Some say, “what can you do, the world has gone after him”

Have you gone after Him?

Are you following him?

testifying to him?

serving him?

trusting him?

 

The King is still coming

The gracious King

The King of kings

The King of death

The King of sacrifice

 

Our humble King

Our King, triumphant and victorious

Let us go after Him

The King is Coming © 2021 Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia, www.revlisad.com


I pray to God the Father, God the Son,

And to God the Holy Spirit,

Whose infinite greatness 

Enfolds the whole world,

In Persons three and one,

In essence simple and triune,

Suspending the earth above the waters,

Hanging the upper air with stars,

That he may be favorable to me, a sinner,

Who righteously justifies all who err,

Who ever-living lives.

May God be blessed for ages. Amen.

Let it be so. Let it be so.

Eloe, Sabaoth, Ya, Adonai,

Eli Eli Lama Sabacthani.

Taken from “The Prayers of Moucan”, in Celtic Spirituality, Ed, Oliver Davies.


Eternal God,

you are the power behind all things:

behind the energy of the storm,

behind the heat of a million suns.

Eternal God,

you are the power behind all minds:

behind the ability to think and reason,

behind all understanding of the truth.

Eternal God,

you are the power behind the cross of Christ:

behind the weakness, the torture, and the death,

behind unconquerable love.

Eternal God,

we worship and adore you. Amen.

Source Unknown


God of light and truth,

you are beyond our grasp or conceiving.

Before the brightness of your presence

the angels veil their faces.

With lowly reverence and adoring love

we acclaim your glory

and sing your praise,

for you have shown us your truth and love

in Jesus Christ, our Savior. Amen

The Service for the Lord’s Day. The Worship of God: Supplemental Liturgical Resource 1. Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), 1984


Bless Christ Through Whom All Things Are Made

Inspired by Colossians 1:11-28

Bless Christ through whom all things are made.

Join seen and unseen in their praise

of One who both creates, sustains

who goes before, in justice reigns.

 

Who makes the lion and the lamb,

the farthest star, the smallest hand,

dominions, rulers, and their pow’rs,

the steadfast mount, the fleeting hours?

 

Who made the ore for blood-soaked nails?

Who made the thorns and whipping tails?

Who made the sun that would not shine

and made the tree on which Christ died?

 

Who makes the waters of our birth?

Who makes the dust where we return?

Who makes the way for us to die

and rise to everlasting life?

 

Bless Christ though whom all things are made.

Join seen and unseen in their praise

of One who both creates, sustains

who goes before, in justice reigns.

You can sing this poem to tunes with this meter: 88.88 (LM)

Suggested tune: POXON

Bless Christ, Through Whom All Things Are Made © 2000 Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia, www.revlisad.com