In Her Eyes
Prayers for the Seventh Sunday of Pentecost
July 27, 2014 

 In Genesis 29:15-28, we continue the story of unfolding story of God’s people through the Book of Genesis.  While the men in the story decide her fate, the Biblical account doesn’t tell us how Leah reacted to these events.  Instead, we are told only about her eyes, and even then there is not much agreement among translations: they were lovely (NRSV), weak (NIV) or nice (The Message).  As we seek to understand the still unfolding story of God’s people, let us look into Leah’s eyes as a guide to what God sees in us!  

Call to Worship* 
Invite the gathered community into a spirit of praise and wonder by finding their own breath.  With this breath, lead a call and response reading a portion of Psalm 105:1-11, 45b.  Encourage the gathered community to repeat the words without reading them in the bulletin or in their Bibles.  Lead this Call to Worship by proclaiming these words with repetition, tonal changes and gesture.  You may choose to lead this from the center aisle or from the rear of the sanctuary.  Read short snippets for the congregation to repeat. For example, you might choose to read verses 4-5, 7 like this: 

Seek the HOLY ONE(wait for repetition)
(louder) Seek the HOLY ONE (wait for repetition)
(louder still) Seek the HOLY ONE (wait for repetition)
and God’s strength; (wait for repetition)
seek God’s presence continually, (wait for repetition)
(softer) continually. (wait for repetition)
(whisper) Remember (wait for repetition)
(louder whisper) Remember (wait for repetition)
Remember the works God has done. (wait for repetition)
(shout) This is the Holy One, our God. (wait for repetition)

Invocation	
Sing God’s presence into your worship space by using one of these hymns: 
the Spirit of the Living God (TNCH 283), 
the refrain from Spirit, Spirit of Gentleness (TNCH 286), 
the first verse from Be Now My Vision (TNCH 451),   
I was Glad When They Said unto Me (TNCH 741), 
or  Gathered Here in the Mystery of This Hour (TNCH 742).

Prayer of Confession (inspired by Psalm 105:1-11, 45b)
Covenanting God, we seek you in our time.
You made promises long ago.  
You offered your chosen ones blessings.
You did wonderful things.
We remember those old stories of promise.
But, we often doubt your works now
Amid the poverty, the violence and the racism of our time.
We confess that we don’t see with your eyes.
We don’t see the people that are hidden 
From television cameras and government budgets. 
Covenanting God, we seek you in their eyes.
Help us to see as you see, praying as Jesus taught us,

The Prayer of Our Savior  
	
Words of Assurance 
Covenanting God, you make your works known
In the ways that we continue your still-speaking deeds.
No matter how much we doubt, you are here whenever we seek you. 
You are here because you promised to be known to us. Amen.

Call for the Offering 
	As we look for our still-speaking God in Leah’s eyes,
	Let us search for others whose story has not been told. 
	We give our gifts looking into those eyes for God’s works to be revealed.

Dedication of the Offering
Covenanting God, who sees more than we see,
Help us to look into the eyes of those we serve
So that we may see how lovely they are.
Help us to know your grace and beauty
Revealed in the eyes that seen through these gifts.
In Christ Jesus, we pray. Amen.

In Her Eyes*
As you consider looking through another’s eyes, you may choose to add a “new testimony” to the “ancient testimony in Genesis 29:15-28.  Here are some suggestions for a “new testimony” so that you can see more deeply in her eyes:
•	Read a Midrash of Leah. There are countless feminist tellings of Leah available on the internet.  You may instead choose to utilize the gifts of Anita Diamant in The Red Tent (1997) as she describes Leah’s eyes on pages 11-12.
•	Tell a Hidden History.  Look to the unseen traditions of the United Church of Christ to explore our history of seeing the other.  You might tell the story of the Lutheran pastor Theodore Fliedner who looked into the eyes of women in the Deaconness Movement or you could tell the story of another pastor in Hartford, CT who called for a Missionary Convention of black persons to see the needs of Africa. 
•	Listen to Peter Gabriel’s In Your Eyes. Reclaim Leah’s love with the lyrics of this 1986 love song which urges us to ask if Leah was complete in Laban’s eyes. You may even re-imagine Leah as Lloyd Dobler with a boombox perhaps with the choir leading this moment in worship. (Please be aware that this may be really hard to defend with the way that the scripture is told.)
•	Invite an artist to see.  Every congregation has a talented soul that may be brave enough to share her/his talent in painting, pottery, dance or weaving with the congregation.  Invite this brave soul to set up a studio in the front of the sanctuary where s/he can respond to God’s work as worship unfolds. (This works best if the art is large enough for the whole community to see as it is created.)

Benediction
As you sang God’s presence into your worship space, sing a blessing to each other with the Spirit of the Living God (TNCH 283), Song of Simeon (TNCH 808) or  God Be With You (TNCH 809).

Written by the Rev. Elsa A. Peters, an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ, presently serving as Pastor and Teacher of the First Congregational UCC in South Portland, ME, an Open and Affirming congregation where God is still speaking. She wonders about ministry and liturgy at: http://impossiblethingswithgod.blogspot.com/.

Copyright 2014 Local Church Ministries, Faith Formation Ministry Team, United Church of Christ, 700 Prospect Avenue, Cleveland, OH  44115-1100.  Permission granted to reproduce or adapt this material for use in services of worship or church education.  All publishing rights reserved.