PREPARATION:
Please select a stone as you enter the Church and take it to your place.

OPENING SONG: Christ, Be Our Light, verses 1,2,5


READING: John 8:1-11 A Woman Condemned

QUIET REFLECTION:
Spend some time reflecting on the stone you chose. Set it in the context of the Gospel reading. Who “throws stones” at you? Who do you “throw stones” at? What stones do you throw at yourself? What burden might the stone represent? What hardness within you needs to be softened?

OPENING RESPONSES:

Reader: Jesus asks, “Who condemns you?”
We have fallen into temptations laid before us—
some old and painfully familiar.

All: BUT WE COME IN TRUST THAT GOD KEEPS HIS
PROMISES TO FORGIVE THOSE WHO TURN BACK TO
HIM.

Reader: Jesus asks, “Who condemns you?”
We have not given time to prayer and the Word of God—
busy-ness snatches away the moments when God could nourish and
strengthen us.

All: BUT WE COME IN TRUST THAT GOD HAS PLANTED IN
US A LIGHT OF LOVE,
THAT WE ARE HIS CHILDREN AND HE DELIGHTS IN US

Reader: Jesus asks, “Who condemns you?”
We have become disheartened by our lack of love and service to others,
by our selfish behavior and un-Christ-like treatment of others.

All: BUT WE COME IN TRUST THAT GOD BELIEVES IN US
AND DESIRES TO CHANGE US, TO FORGIVE US.
GOD IS PATIENT AND BELIEVES IN OUR POTENTIAL.

Reader: Jesus asks, “Who condemns you?”
We seek our own way, believing we can do all things on our own—
we squander the gifts God has given us.

All: BUT WE COME IN TRUST THAT GOD IS WAITING FOR
OUR RETURN, THAT WE ARE HERE BECAUSE GOD
HAS CALLED US AND YEARNS TO EMBRACE US IN
FORGIVENESS.

Reader: Jesus asks, “Who condemns you?”
Words spoken centuries ago to a woman brought low in shame
and humiliation, words spoken to us today.

All: WE COME DARING TO BELIEVE IN A GOD WHO DOES
NOT SEEK TO CONDEMN BUT SENT HIS SON INTO THE
WORLD TO SAVE IT BY ALWAYS LOVING, EVEN TO
DEATH.
WE BELIEVE IN A GOD WHO REVEALED HIS LOVE IN
A MAN CALLED JESUS—
WHO REACHES OUT—TO RAISE US TO OUR FEET—
REACHING OUT WITH PEACE—RECONCILIATION—
HEALING.

HOMILY

PSALM 32 REMISSION OF SIN

Left Side: Happy are those whose fault is taken away, whose sin is covered.
Happy those whose sin God does not count, in whose spirit there is no
guile.

Right Side: As long as I would not speak, my bones wasted away with groaning all day long; for day and night your hand lay heavily upon me.
My strength was dried up as by the summer’s heat.

Left Side: Then I acknowledged my sin to you, and did not cover my guilt.
I said, “I confess my faults to you,” and you took away the guilt of my
sin.

Right Side: For this shall all the faithful pray to you in time of stress. Though deep
waters rise, they shall not reach them. You are my shelter; you will
protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance.

Left Side: I will instruct you and show you the way you should walk; I will counsel
you and watch over you.

Right Side: Many are the sorrows of the wicked, but faithful love surrounds those who
trust in you. Rejoice and be glad in our God, you just; exult, all you
upright of heart.

All: Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit
As it was in the beginning, is now and shall be forever. Amen.

OPPORTUNITY FOR INDIVIDUAL CONFESSION AND ABSOLUTION:

YOU ARE NOW INVITED TO APPROACH THE PRIEST, TO SPEAK OF THOSE THINGS THAT HAVE BURDENED YOU—THOSE THINGS FOR WHICH YOU ASK FORGIVENESS.
TAKE YOUR STONE WITH YOU AND AFTER YOUR CONFESSION AND ABSOLUTION, PLACE IT IN THE BASKET AS A SYMBOL OF THE LETTING GO OF YOUR BURDEN AS WELL AS A SYMBOL OF YOUR NEW FREEDOM.

**************************************************************
Please use the following reflection privately before or after your confession.

When I am bound by guilt and shame, God delivers me from bondage.

When I stand accused by others and by myself, Jesus notices me and listens to the accusations and then asks who could condemn me. So I go, no longer accusing myself of sins that have been forgiven, nor condemning others for the sins that God has forgiven them.

When I was cast down and weighed down by sin, afraid to begin again in case I made the same mistakes, Jesus reached out and raised me to my feet. So I go, sure of his confidence in me to live as he would have me live, one who is free to choose that which is good.

I have seen the love and power of God who triumphs over the powers of sin and death.
And so I leave behind the things of the past and look to the future with confidence. I have not yet won. I am still running the race but I know the prize that awaits me and live in joyful hope of gaining the prize to which God calls me upwards—to receive in Christ Jesus.