Opening Prayer

With grateful hearts we turn to you, Lord of all creation. For the beauty of this season, for the abundance of harvest, for relationships of love and care, we give you our thanks. Most of all, we remember how you heard our cries in the midst of our despair. So let the words of our mouths and the meditations of our hearts be a celebration of our gratitude and our love for you in this hour of worship. Amen.

Prayers of the People

God-ever-with-us: you draw us near to your heart,

so that, cradled in compassion, we might see the brokenness of all who are around us.

Teacher-beside-us: you draw us near to yourself,

so that, by following you, we may discover the deep joy of serving the broken of the world.

Spirit of mercy and truth, through the waters of our baptism you have made us your own.

From the study of war and destruction, through the wandering wilderness of our lives,

you lead us to the river’s shore, part the waters,

and bring us to where we can abide with you in peace.

God in Community, Holy in One,

as we draw near to you in this time,

we lift the prayer you have taught us, saying,

(The Lord's Prayer - Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name...)

Scripture

Joshua 3:7-17

7 The Lord said to Joshua, “This day I will begin to exalt you in the sight of all Israel, so that they may know that I will be with you as I was with Moses. 8 You are the one who shall command the priests who bear the ark of the covenant, ‘When you come to the edge of the waters of the Jordan, you shall stand still in the Jordan.’ ” 9 Joshua then said to the Israelites, “Draw near and hear the words of the Lord your God.” 10 Joshua said, “By this you shall know that among you is the living God who without fail will drive out from before you the Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Amorites, and Jebusites: 11 the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth is going to pass before you into the Jordan. 12 So now select twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one from each tribe. 13 When the soles of the feet of the priests who bear the ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth, come to rest in the waters of the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan flowing from above shall be cut off; they shall stand in a single heap.”

14 When the people set out from their tents to cross over the Jordan, the priests bearing the ark of the covenant were in front of the people. 

15 Now the Jordan overflows all its banks throughout the time of harvest. So when those who bore the ark had come to the Jordan and the feet of the priests bearing the ark were dipped in the edge of the water, 16 the waters flowing from above stood still, rising up in a single heap far off at Adam, the city that is beside Zarethan, while those flowing toward the sea of the Arabah, the Dead Sea, were wholly cut off. Then the people crossed over opposite Jericho. 17 While all Israel were crossing over on dry ground, the priests who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firmly on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan, until the entire nation finished crossing over the Jordan.