Well, not quite. You can’t include community, live music, or Scott’s incredible extemporaneous “Life of Intown” renditions, but in the audio link below you will find a prayer, a reading, and a homily that will hopefully provide you with a virtual connection to your Intown family. And to God as well.
Matt will also be sending out an email with our weekly bulletin with some links to the songs that we were planning on singing together before Covid-19 got in the way.
So, take advantage of both of these things and please do use the comment section below to say “hi” as you would in person on a normal Sunday.
Here’s the prayer that Jessica Downing wrote for Prayers of the People in case you want to follow along as I read in the audio file below:
Jesus, You have always existed and You are supreme over all creation. You hold creation together. You give everyone life and breath and everything else. Your hands made and formed each of us. All the days ordained for us were written in Your book before one of them came to be.
You said, “Do not fear, little flock, for it is Your Father’s good pleasure to give You the kingdom.”
We who dwell in the secret place of the Most High
Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
We will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress;
My God, in Him I will trust.”
We shall not be afraid of the terror by night,
Nor of the arrow that flies by day,
Nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness,
Nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday.
***
When You, Jesus, came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed You. A man with leprosy came and knelt before You and said, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.”
You were indignant. You reached out Your hand and touched the man.
“I am willing,” You said. “Be clean!” Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cleansed.
***
When You, Jesus, came into Peter’s house, You saw Peter’s mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever.
You touched her hand and the fever left her, and she got up and began to wait on You.
When evening came, many who were demon-possessed were brought to You, and You drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick. This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah:
“You took up our infirmities
and bore our diseases.”
***
Bless the Lord, O my soul;
And all that is within me, bless His holy name!
Bless the Lord, O my soul,
And forget not all His benefits:
Who forgives all our sins,
And heals all our diseases,
Who redeems our life from the pit
And crowns us with love and compassion.
***
Dear God of our Lord Jesus Christ, Father of glory, give to us the spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that we may know You better. May the eyes of our hearts be enlightened in order that we may know the hope to which You have called us, the riches of Your glorious inheritance in Your holy people, and Your incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength You exerted when You raised Christ from the dead and seated him at Your right hand in the heavenly realms far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come.
With this in mind, we pray that You may make us worthy of Your calling, and that by Your power You may bring to fruition our every desire for goodness and our every deed prompted by faith. We pray this so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in us, and us in him, according to Your grace and the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Amen