Via Karis

Psalm 80

 

¹Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, you who lead Joseph like a flock! You who are enthroned upon the cherubim, shine forth

 

²before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh. Stir up your might, and come to save us!

 

³Restore us, O God; let your face shine, that we may be saved.

 

⁴O Lord God of hosts, how long will you be angry with your people’s prayers?

 

⁵You have fed them with the bread of tears, and given them tears to drink in full measure.

 

⁶You make us the scorn of our neighbors; our enemies laugh among themselves.

 

⁷Restore us, O God of hosts; let your face shine, that we may be saved.

 

⁸You brought a vine out of Egypt; you drove out the nations and planted it.

 

⁹You cleared the ground for it; it took deep root and filled the land.

 

¹⁰The mountains were covered with its shade, the mighty cedars with its branches;

 

¹¹it sent out its branches to the sea, and its shoots to the River.

 

¹²Why then have you broken down its walls, so that all who pass along the way pluck its fruit?

 

¹³The boar from the forest ravages it, and all that move in the field feed on it.

 

¹⁴Turn again, O God of hosts; look down from heaven, and see; have regard for this vine,

 

¹⁵the stock that your right hand planted.

 

¹⁶They have burned it with fire, they have cut it down; may they perish at the rebuke of your countenance.

 

¹⁷But let your hand be upon the one at your right hand, the one whom you made strong for yourself.

 

¹⁸Then we will never turn back from you; give us life, and we will call on your name.

 

¹⁹Restore us, O Lord God of hosts; let your face shine, that we may be saved.

Via Karis Litany of Commitment

As a covenant community, brought by faith and by God’s grace
to receive the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior,
and quickened by the power of the Holy Spirit,

We promise anew to make the parable
path of Jesus our way of life.

Assured that our sins have been washed away in baptism,
and knowing that we are new creations, reconciled to God in Christ,

We will remember we are beloved children of God.

Knowing the Word of God is living and active, and that all Scripture
is inspired by God and useful for training in righteousness,
so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient,
equipped for every good work,

We will pray a Psalm daily.

With glad and generous hearts, remembering Christ’s presence
with us in the breaking of the bread and sharing of the cup,
and Christ’s prayer that we may be one with him,
and one with each other,

We will break bread with one another weekly.

Considering how we may spur one another on toward love
and good deeds, not giving up meeting together,
but encouraging one another as we see the Day approaching,

We will worship weekly with the Body of Christ.

Remembering the seventh day, when God saw everything God
had made and called it very good, and upholding, as creatures
made in God’s image, our divine commission to care for all creation,

We will attend daily to the beauty of the world.

We, the members of First Baptist Church of Asheville,
with true hearts and in full assurance of faith,
holding fast the confession of our hope without wavering,
do commit ourselves from this day forward to learning
and practicing Via Karis as a way of grace
for our fellowship.  Amen.