Canaan in the Desert:
Phoenix, Arizona
Opening Prayer
O Christ our God ceaselessly we worship before your cross that gives us life; and praise your resurrection, when on that third day You made anew our failing nature showing us so clearly the Way back to heaven. For you alone are good, the lover of humankind. –John Damascus (676–749) (silent reflection) Prayer of the Bible How lovely are your dwellings, O Lord of hosts! My soul longs and even faints for your courts; my heart and my flesh cry out for you, the living God. -Psalm 84:1-2 (Free expression of praise and thanksgiving to God) Confession of Sin See all your sins on Jesus laid: The Lamb of God was slain, His soul was once an offering made, for every soul of man. Awake from guilty nature's sleep, and Christ shall give you light, Cast all your sins into the deep -John Wesley (1703-1791) (Time of silence for confession of sin) The Words of Jesus Then Jesus called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? -Mark 8:34-37 (Think deeply on the life and words of Jesus) Prayers for Ourselves and Others Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. -Jeremiah 29:12 (Time to bring before God our own needs and the needs of others) Closing Prayer O God, our Father, help your people to have this mind among ourselves, which is ours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross -Philippians 2: 5-8 
Retz, Austria
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