MICAH 6.8

THURSDAY OF HOLY WEEK—THE THIRD ANOINTING
		A PREPARED MEDITATION DESIGNED TO BE USED AS A PRAYER AND A BEAD. YOU MAY, HOWEVER, CHOOSE TO USE THE FOLLOWING IN WHATEVER MANNER IS MEANINGFUL FOR YOU.
		CROSS	You call us to be your voices in this world and we stay silent.  You call us to be your hands in this world and we keep them hidden.  You call us to be your feet in this world and we go our own way.  When we meet those who are doubting and say nothing, forgive us.  When we meet those who need your touch and do nothing, forgive us.  When we are called to take up your cross and carry nothing, forgive us.  Breathe life into these bones bring freedom to these lives that we might declare with heart and soul and voice that you are our Lord and our God. Amen. (—from https://www.faithandworship.com)
		INVITATORY	You call us to live your life, follow where you have trod, be your presence in these streets, show compassion to the poor, support the weak, embrace the outcast, bring lives into your kingdom.  Yet our hearts are troubled, we are fearful of the task, deafened to your promise to be with us wherever we might go.  Forgive our timidity, grant us peace for the journey, and strength for the day, that we might demonstrate our love in the life we live and share . Amen. (—from https://www.faithandworship.com)
		CRUCIFORM	This is love.  Not that you spoke words of comfort, walked with the unclean and unloved, shared wisdom, bread and wine, brought healing into lives  and challenged the status quo.  This is love.  That you spoke the word of God, walked a painful road to the Cross, shared living water, bread of life, brought Salvation to the world and died for the sake of all.  This is love. It is a seed sown in the ground, which germinates, blossoms, and spreads its sweet perfume. (—from https://www.faithandworship.com)
		WEEK 1	Exodus 12. 1-4, 11-14  God Most High said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt: This month shall mark for you the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year for you.  Tell the whole congregation of Israel that on the tenth of this month they are to take a lamb for each family, a lamb for each household.  If a household is too small for a whole lamb, it shall join its closest neighbor in obtaining one; the lamb shall be divided in proportion to the number of people who eat of it. This is how you shall eat it: your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it hurriedly. It is the passover of the Holy One, God Most High. For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike down every firstborn in the land of Egypt, both human beings and animals; on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Holy One, Holy and Mighty, Holy Immortal God. The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live: when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague shall destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. This day shall be a day of remembrance for you. You shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord; throughout your generations you shall observe it as a perpetual ordinance.
		CRUCIFORM	Love grows as it is given, blossoms as it is shown. Love flows like a steam, refreshes that which is sown. Love grows as it is spoken, embraces hearts and souls. Love flows, like a river filling empty vessels full. (—from https://www.faithandworship.com)
		WEEK 2	Psalm 116 (selected verses)  I love you, God Holy High, for you have heard my cry for mercy. You have listened to me; I will call on you all my days. How can I repay you, O God, for all your goodness to me? I raise the cup of deliverance, and call on your most holy Name. I will fulfill my vows to you in the presence of all your people. The death of your faithful is precious in your sight. O God, I am your faithful one—I am faithful to you alone, the child of your fidelity. You have freed me from my chains. I will offer you the sacrifice of praise, and call on your most holy Name. I will fulfill my vows to you in the presence of all your people, in the courts of the house of God Most High, in the midst of Jerusalem.
		CRUCIFORM	Love grows as it is taken, increases as it is shared. Love flows like an ocean spreading around the world. Your love flows like a stream into the ocean of your Grace. Your love encircles this world, displays your faithfulness. Your love is patient and kind, brings wholeness and true peace. Your love is all we desire to heal our brokenness. As all things pass and fade away love remains eternally. (—from https://www.faithandworship.com)
		WEEK 3	I Corinthians 11 (selected verses)  I received from the Anointed One what I also handed on to you, that the Jesus, God's Anointed, on the night when he was betrayed took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way he took the cup also, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the the Anointed One's death until Christ comes. Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Anointed One in an unworthy manner will be answerable for the body and blood of Christ. Examine yourselves, and only then eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For all who eat and drink without discerning the body—that is the community table—eat and drink judgment against themselves. If we judged ourselves, we would not be judged. But when we are judged by the God, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world. If only we judged ourselves rightly, we wouldn’t be judged in this way. But when God disciplines us like this, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned along with the world. Therefore, my sisters and brothers, when you assemble for a meal, wait for one another. Include all who would come.
		CRUCIFORM	The blessed in your eyes are not those who have everything But those who have nothing. Not the rich in earning but the rich in spending who give their all for you. Your ordinary saints being your hands, feet and words in their ordinary lives, doing extraordinary things for you. The blessed in your eyes are not those who desire honor, but those who merely seek to serve. Thank you for the servants in your kingdom. (—from https://www.faithandworship.com)
		WEEK 4	John 12 and 13 (selected verses)  Then Jesus cried aloud: “Whoever believes in me believes not in me but in the One who sent me. And whoever sees me sees the One who sent me. I have come as light into the world, so that everyone who believes in me should not remain in the darkness. I do not judge anyone who hears my words and does not keep them, for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. The one who rejects me and does not receive my word has a judge; on the last day the word that I have spoken will serve as judge, for I have not spoken on my own, but the One who sent me has given me a commandment about what to say and what to speak. And I know that his commandment is eternal life. What I speak, therefore, I speak just as God Most High has told me.” Now before the festival of the Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world and go to the Holy One, Holy and Mighty, Holy Immortal God. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. And during supper Jesus, knowing that God Most High had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to God, got up from the table, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around him. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Dear Teacher, Rabbi Jesus, are you going to wash my feet?” Jesus answered, “You do not know now what I am doing, but later you will understand.” Peter said to him, “You will never wash my feet.” Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no share with me.” Simon Peter said to him, “Then not my feet only, but also my hands and my head!” Jesus said to him, “One who has bathed does not need to wash, except for the feet, but is entirely clean. And you are clean.” After he had washed their feet, had put on his robe, and had returned to the table, he said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Rabbi—and you are right, for that is what I am. So if I, your Rabbi and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you. Very truly, I tell you, servants are not greater than their master, nor are messengers greater than the one who sent them.
		CRUCIFORM	Your commands are not burdensome, your way of life our example, your footsteps there to be found. ‘Love one another; care for children, brothers, sisters and outcasts. If you are my disciples, then show the world, demonstrate your discipleship and love both lovely and unloved. Show God's Grace to this world!' And as we open our hearts and lives, and follow as you have shown, others discover you through our words, and by the life we share. For the love you have given us, and the blessings you have shown us, we thank you, God of Love and Grace. (—from https://www.faithandworship.com)
		INVITATORY	You call us to love those whom you would love, and give us the words to say. You call us to bring wholeness to lives that are broken, and give us the words to say. You call us to bring comfort to those who are grieving, and give us the words to say. You call us to bring good news to those who are seeking, and give us the words to say. Your word, living water in desert sands. Your word, blossoming in parched earth. Your word, bearing fruit wherever it is sown. (—from https://www.faithandworship.com)
		CROSS	When we walk with you, in the light of your love, it is your glory seen, not ours. When we talk of you to those whom we meet. It is your words that speak, not ours. When we minister to people in need, it is your hands that heal, not ours. When we worship you and offer our lives, your name is glorified always! Amen. (—from https://www.faithandworship.com)