Mark 12: 28-34
*Call to Worship
What is love for you? Jesus said the greatest commandment is love. Christians should love God above all and our neighbors as we love ourselves. But do you love yourself? What would it mean to love oneself in a Christian way? And how is that different from narcissism? How do we love our neighbors? Is being nice enough? And what about God? How are we supposed to love someone we can’t even touch or see? Love is the heart of who we are as Christians. Let’s open our hearts to God in worship.
Prayer of Confession
Holy God, we confess we’re not always sure what love is. Sometimes we delude ourselves into thinking we’re behaving in loving ways when, in fact, we’re just serving our egos. Sometimes we cut ourselves off from love because we’re frightened it might change us. If we truly loved someone, if we truly loved you, would we lose our sense of who we are? If we truly made ourselves vulnerable, would we get taken advantage of? So we hold back. We make half-hearted gestures. We make grand sacrifices to show off our moral superiority. And all the while we miss the love we long for. Forgive us and heal us. Amen.
*Prayer of Dedication
Holy God, the Apostle Paul reminds us that if we give away all our possessions but do not have love, we gain nothing. So we offer our money, but more than that, we offer our hearts. Bless our offerings. Amen.
Todd Grant Yonkman 