"To become as a watered garden…"

Now - a year later - we may want to listen again to Jeremiah's words of warning as well as his reminders of God's loving promise to liberate and renew our world, to transform it into "a watered garden."

The following worship service is adapted from the closing service of the 15th annual Music and Worship Leaders Weekend held at Laurelville Mennonite Church Center (Pa.) on January 13, 2002, a service which was planned by Marlene Kropf and Ken Nafziger. The service begins with a sequence of scripture readings, silence and singing. It moves toward prayers of confession and assurances of God's forgiveness. It culminates in a communion service in which we celebrate our love for Christ and one another and also renew our hope and trust in God who promises to make our world as a watered garden. (Not all of the elements of a typical communion service have been included in this resource; please see Minister's Manual, pp. 67-69, for more complete details).

Visual artists may be invited to prepare two table settings for the sanctuary - the first to be in place as people enter and the second to be placed on the table during the singing of "Great is thy faithfulness." The first setting, illuminating the themes of desolation and sorrow, might include dark-colored, rough-textured cloths and a jumble of bricks or cement blocks and twisted metal. An unlit candle might be placed amidst the ruins. The second setting, illuminating the theme of a watered garden, could include healthy green plants and bright flowers as well as a small waterfall. The candle could be lit. Space should also be reserved for the communion bread and cup to be placed on the table.

Musicians will want to prepare to lead the selections suggested in the worship outline or make other choices suitable for the congregation. It will be helpful if some of the music can be sung by an ensemble or played by instrumentalists so worshipers can listen, reflect and pray during those times. Abbreviations for hymn sources are: HWB - Hymnal: A Worship Book; HSS -- Hymnal Subscription Service (available from Mennonite Publishing House).

Scripture readers should rehearse the various readings in advance. Some may be read by one voice while others may be arranged for several voices. Adequate time for silence should be given after each reading.

A sermon may or may not be included. You might choose instead to invite several people to offer very brief reflections on the ways they have seen God at work in the months since September 11 turning desolation and violence into fruitfulness and peace.

Opening prayer

Eternal God, Maker of heaven and earth,
we gather today to remember your goodness and love.
We give thanks for your mighty deeds of justice and righteousness,
your unending compassion toward all the inhabitants of earth.

Grant us your mercy as we bow before you today.
Speak to us by your loving Spirit.
Heal our brokenness and restore the ills of our land.
Renew our hope and trust in your promises.
We pray in the name of Jesus, our Savior, Healer and Lord. AMEN

How lonely sits the city that once was full of people!
How like a widow she has become, she that was great among the nations!
She that was a princess among the provinces has become a vassal.

She weeps bitterly in the night, with tears on her cheeks;
among all her lovers she has no one to comfort her;
all her friends have dealt treacherously with her, they have become her enemies.

Judah has gone into exile with suffering and hard servitude;
she lives now among the nations, and finds no resting place;
her pursuers have all overtaken her in the midst of her distress.

The roads to Zion mourn, all her gates are desolate, her priests groan;
her young girls grieve, and her lot is bitter.

Thus says the Lord:
"What wrong did your ancestors find in me that they went far from me,
and went after worthless things, and became worthless themselves?
They did not say, 'Where is the Lord who brought us up from the land of Egypt,
who led us in the wilderness, in a land of deserts and pits,
in a land of drought and deep darkness, in a land that no one passes through, where no one lives?'
I brought you into a plentiful land to eat its fruits and its good things.
But when you entered you defiled my land, and made my heritage an abomination.
The priests did not say, 'Where is the Lord?'
Those who handle the law did not know me; the rulers transgressed against me;
the prophets prophesied by Baal, and went after things that do not profit.
Therefore once more I accuse you, says the Lord, and I accuse your children's children.
Cross to the coasts of Cyprus and look, send to Kedar and examine with care;
see if there has ever been such a thing.
Has a nation changed its gods, even though they are no gods?
But my people have changed their glory for something that does not profit.
Be appalled, O heavens, at this, be shocked, be utterly desolate, says the Lord,
for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living water,
and dug out cisterns for themselves, cracked cisterns, that can hold no water."

At that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem:
A hot wind comes from me out of the bare heights in the desert toward my poor people,
not to winnow or cleanse - a wind too strong for that.
Now it is I who speak in judgment upon them.

"For my people are foolish, they do not know me;
they are stupid children, they have no understanding.
They are skilled in doing evil, but do not know how to do good."

I looked on the earth, and lo, it was waste and void;
and to the heavens, and they had no light.
I looked on the mountains, and lo, they were quaking, and all the hills moved to and fro.
I looked, and lo, there was no one at all, and all the birds of the air had fled.
I looked, and lo, the fruitful land was a desert, and all its cities were laid in ruins
before the Lord, before his fierce anger.

For thus says the Lord:
"The whole land shall be a desolation; yet I will not make a full end.
Because of this the earth shall mourn, and the heavens above grow black;
for I have spoken, I have purposed; I have not relented nor will I turn back."

My joy is gone, grief is upon me, my heart is sick.
Hark, the cry of my poor people from far and wide in the land:
"Is the Lord not in Zion? Is her King not in her?"
("Why have they provoked me to anger with their images, with their foreign idols?")
"The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved."
For the hurt of my poor people I am hurt, I mourn, and dismay has taken hold on me.

Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there?
Why then has the health of my poor people not been restored?
O that my head were a spring of water, and my eyes a fountain of tears,
so that I might weep day and night for the slain of my poor people!

Although our iniquities testify against us, act, O Lord, for your name's sake;
our apostasies indeed are many, and we have sinned against you.

O hope of Israel, its savior in time of trouble,
why should you be like a stranger in the land, like a traveler turning aside for the night?
Why should you be like someone confused, like a mighty warrior who cannot give help?
Yet you, O Lord, are in the midst of us, and we are called by your name; do not forsake us!

Thus says the Lord concerning this people:
Truly they have loved to wander, they have not restrained their feet;
therefore the Lord does not accept them; now God will remember their iniquity and punish their sins.

Have you completely rejected Judah? Does your heart loathe Zion?
Why have you struck us down so that there is no healing for us?
We look for peace, but find no good; for a time of healing, but there is terror instead.
We acknowledge our wickedness, O Lord, the iniquity of our ancestors,
for we have sinned against you.
Do not spurn us, for your name's sake; do not dishonor your glorious throne;
remember and do not break your covenant with us.

The thought of my affliction and my homelessness is wormwood and gall!
My soul continually thinks of it and is bowed down within me.
But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope:

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
"The Lord is my portion," says my soul, "therefore I will hope in him."

The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul that seeks him.
It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.

They shall come and sing aloud on the height of Zion,
they shall be radiant over the goodness of the Lord,
over the grain, the wine, and the oil, and over the young of the flock and the herd;
their life shall become like a watered garden,
and they shall never languish again.