Faith in the Ordinary

It takes little faith to see the sacred in the extraordinary.

To have faith the sacred is in the ordinary, though,
takes courage to believe the mundane can be enough;
  that grace can emerge
    even through the dull,
    the slightly disappointing,
    the not quite right,
    not quite as we intended,
    not really what we hoped;
    the clumsy,
    the awkward,
    and the imperfect.

Let your act of faith be

to let what you do be enough.

Let what you do be enough…

~ written by Cheryl Lawrie, and posted on [hold this space].  http://holdthisspace.org.au/

Prayer: Made in Your Image

Here’s a prayer of petition from the Episcopal Diocese of West Virginia.

Prayer for an End to Racism

Creator of all people,

in our amazing diversity of size, shape, color, and giftedness:

guide us, by your grace,

to recognize the beauty and fitness

of all whom you have made in your own image.

Give us gifts of humility and generosity of spirit

to recognize in all people, the face of our Savior, Jesus,

and to practice his commandment to “love one another,”

toward the end of bringing harmony and peace

among persons of all colors, origins, and abilities,

for the sake of your Kingdom.

~ from the Episcopal Diocese of West Virginia. Posted on the Social Justice Resource Center website.  https://socialjusticeresourcecenter.org/prayers/racism/

Call to Worship: Marvelous Things

Here’s a call to worship for Easter (and at other times of the year) from John Birch’s Faith and Worship website.

Call to Worship: Marvelous Things

Sing to the LORD a new song,

for he has done marvelous things;

his right hand and his holy arm

have worked salvation for him. Psalm 98:1

We give thanks to you, Lord,
for you have done marvellous things!

When we were walking in darkness
you were there, you were there,
when we were kneeling in weakness
you were there, you were there,
when we drew near feeling worthless
you were there, you were there,
when we were needing forgiveness
you were there, you were there,
when we were searching for your grace
you were there, you were there.

We give thanks to you, Lord,
for you have done marvellous things!

~ written by John Birch, and posted on Faith and Worship. http://www.faithandworship.com/

Call to Worship & Opening Prayer

Here’s a call to worship and opening prayer inspired by the suggested scripture passages for the sixth Sunday after Easter.  They were written by Thom Shuman.

Call to Worship

(based on Psalm 98, 1 John 5:1-6, John 15:9-17)

We gather to worship the One who crafted creation out of chaos,
our cries of joy join the anthems of the universe.
We gather to lift our praise to the God who gives us voice,
we bring the songs which have echoed in our hearts all week long.
We gather as the children of God, our joy unbroken in God's love.
young and old, tone deaf and perfect-pitched,
lift the new, new songs of faith.

Prayer of the Day
(inspired by Psalm 98)

You raise your hand
and gently begin
the concerto of creation:
birds carry the melody
while stars keep the beat;
mountains dance in merriment
and little children clap
their hands with joy.
Love's Composer,
our new songs are lifted to you.

The old, old song
is made new in our hearts:
Christ is Risen!
Sing Alleluia!
You invite us to sing to a world
deafened by despair
and haunted by the tunes of fear.
Lord of the Dance,
our new songs are lifted to you.

Believing we cannot
carry a tune,
we hesitate to join in
the chorus of praise
sung by all creation.
So, you softly and gently
hum the melody in our hearts
until they burst with you,
raising a rousing chorus
of Amazing Grace.
Music-making Spirit,
our new songs are lifted to you.

Every song, old and new, is offered to you,
God in Community, Holy in One,
even as we lift the prayer Jesus teaches,
Our Father . . .

— written by Thom Shuman, and posted on his excellent Lectionary Liturgies blog.  Visit that site for many other excellent worship resources.  

Contemporary Call to Worship: Psalm 98

Here’s a contemporary call to worship inspired by Psalm 98.  It was written by Rebecca Gaudino, and posted on Ministry Matters.

Gathering Words

(inspired by Psalm 98)

Come, sing a new song to God!
Remember all the times full of wonder
God has already saved us!
Plug in the keyboard; tune up those guitars;
try out the drums!
Make a joyful noise to God, all the earth!
Open the windows!

Listen to the choirs outdoors,
feathered and furred!
Let the hills sing together for joy!
For God is not done doing wonders!
God is coming to set everything right.
Sing a new song to God!

~ written by Rebecca Gaudino, and posted on Ministry Matters. http://www.ministrymatters.com/

Prayer of Thanksgiving: For Love

Here’s a responsive prayer of thanksgiving for the gift of love. It was written by Bruce Prewer and posted on

Prayer of Thanksgiving: For Love

(inspired by 1 John 4:18 and similar passages)

Let us give thanks for the remarkable gifts

of God’s creating and redeeming love,

 the loving that casts out all fear.

For the love that frees us to ask questions and explore,

to frame doubts and investigate new possibilities,

to build theories and then cross-examine them.
We thank you, God of adventurous love.

For the love that enables us to marvel at our own existence,

to ponder and remember,

recognize our own needs

and affirm our own knowledge and purpose.
We thank you, God of determined love.

For the love that helps us to communicate with one another,

to express trust and respect,

share heartaches and visions,

to convey love and mercy.
We thank you, God of reconciling love.

For the love that inspires us to warmly encourage those around us,

to affirm and build up, comfort and enlighten.
We thank you, God of nurturing love.

For the love that liberates us to celebrate the world around us

 in poetry and song,

to delight in shapes and colours, intricacies and patterns,

awesome forces and deep mysteries.
We thank you God of visionary love.

For the love that encourages us to express something of our faith;

for creeds and prayers, hymns and readings,

discussion groups and sermons.
We thank you, God of creative love.

Above all else we thank you

for the love that allows us to admit

that we have no words in which to adequately describe

the process of faith in Christ,

the awesome worship of our God,

and the holy wonder of the Spirit.

We thank you for that point where

our love becomes wordless adoration.

Through Christ Jesus,

who is the pure glory of your loving. Amen! 

~ written by Bruce Prewer and posted on Bruce Prewer’s Home Page. http://www.bruceprewer.com/

Prayer: May we love as you love

Prayer: May we love as you love

Here’s a prayer of commitment from Terri.  It was posted on RevGalBlogPals.

Prayer of Commitment

Holy God, before time you named us
Through time you redeem us
You call us, precious in your sight
May we love as you love.

Holy One, through the turbulent waters
Make us steady, your hands
Holding strong the fragile and weak
May we love as you love.

Gracious God, may the fruits of our lives
be food for the hungry, bread
clothing, shelter, fire, water, Word
May we love as you love.

God of justice, remove the chaff
Of our lives that keep us from
Hearing, following, Your call
May we love as you love.

Loving God, take this day our fears our
Worries, distractions, and all
Turn them into wheat, heart food
May we love as you love. Amen

~ written by Terri and posted on RevGalBlogPals. http://revgalblogpals.blogspot.ca/

Prayer: Your Steadfast Love Renews Us

Here’s a prayer of commitment from Thomas Turner’s Everyday Liturgy site.

Prayer

God of goodness and mercy,

of gentleness and kindness,

of righteousness and faithfulness:

be the light of our salvation

and sustain our souls.

We offer the daily tasks

that consume us to you,

for we accomplish nothing

without your grace.

We submit to your will,

that we should love you

with our everything

and love our neighbors,

and even our enemies,

as ourselves.

Renew us and transform us

by your steadfast love

into the people of God.

Amen

~ written by Thomas Turner, and posted on EverdayLiturgy. http://everydayliturgy.com/

Prayer of Confession: As You Have Loved

Here’s a prayer inspired by Jesus’ teaching about loving our neighbors. It was posted on the PCUSA website.

Prayer of Confession

(inspired by Matthew 22:37-39, Mark 12:31)

Almighty God, 

you love us, but we have not loved you;

you call, but we have not listened.

We walk away from neighbors in need, 

wrapped up in our own concerns.

We have gone along with evil, 

with pride, quarrelling, and divisiveness.

Holy God, help us to face up to ourselves,

so that, as you move toward us in mercy,

we may repent, turn to you, and receive mercy;

through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

~ posted on the PCUSA website. http://www.pcusa.org/

Call to Worship: In Step with God

Here’s a responsive call to worship from Bruce Prewer’s Home Page.

Call to Worship

We would be perfectly happy if our path were faultless,

if we were always in step with God.

This is my commandment:

That you love one another.

God, has give us commandments

that we may live as effectively as possible.

With our eyes fixed on doing the right thing,

we shall never be put to shame.

You are to love one another

in the same way as I have loved you.

O Lord, touch our lips with your saving grace,

that our live may declare your praise!

~ written by Bruce Prewer, and posted on Bruce Prewer’s Home page.  http://www.bruceprewer.com/

A Call to Worship: Psalm 98

Here’s a responsive call to worship inspired by Psalm 98.  It was written by Joan Stott, and posted on The Timeless Psalms.

Call to Worship

(inspired by Psalm 98)

Holy God, in reverent awe, we come to worship you!
We gather to honour and glorify God’s almighty name.

Righteous God, we rejoice as we come to worship you!
We gather to celebrate God’s power over the forces of evil.

Faithful God, with thankfulness, we come to worship you!
We gather to sing praises to the God in whom we trust. Amen.

~ written by Joan Stott, based on Psalm 98.  Posted on The Timeless Psalms. http://www.thetimelesspsalms.net/w_resources/pentecost25[33]c_2010.htm

Intergenerational Call to Worship: Psalm 98

Here’s an all-age call to worship inspired by Psalm 98.  It was written by Mary Jane Konings.

Intergenerational Call to Worship

(inspired by Psalm 98)

Leader:             Come, let us sing to the Lord!

Children:           Come and sing a new song

All:                   For the Lord has made known his salvation.

Leader:             Shout for joy all the earth!

Children:           Make music with guitars and singing

All:                   For all the ends of the earth

have seen the salvation of God.

~ written by Mary Jane Konings, and posted on Call to Worship. http://calltoworship.blogspot.ca/2010/11/november-14.html

Call to Worship, Prayer: Psalm 98

Here’s a combination call to worship and prayer of praise inspired by Psalm 98.  It was excerpted from a longer prayer for Proper 28C on the Oratio Contemplativa website.

Call to Worship, Prayer of Praise

(inspired by Psalm 98)

Holy Triune God,

From everlasting to everlasting, you are Lord.

Let the whole earth shout with joy before the Lord;

We lift up our voices with joy and singing:

Great is our Lord, the King!

Your judgments are true, and all of creation awaits your rightful rule;

We lift up our voices with joy and singing:

Great is our Lord, the King!

In righteousness will you judge the world and all the peoples, with equity;

We lift up our voices with joy and singing:

Great is our Lord, the King!

Who is like our God, King over all the earth?

We lift up our voices with joy and singing:

Great is our Lord, the King!

This is our God, the Holy One.

Come before him with thanksgiving

and offer him the sacrifice of praise.

~ excerpted from a longer prayer, posted on Oratio Contemplativa. https://oratiocontemplativa.wordpress.com/tag/2-thessalonians-36-13/

Contemporary Songs: Psalm 98

If you’re looking for contemporary Praise & Worship song suggestions to use with Psalm 98 (the suggested psalm for  Easter 6B, Proper 27C, Proper 28C), you can find a list at my Contemporary Psalms blog. http://contemporarypsalms.blogspot.ca/  The blog is not finished (and likely never will be, since I keep coming across new songs!), but it’s a start.

Follow this link to Psalm 98: http://contemporarypsalms.blogspot.ca/2013/05/psalm-98.html

Commissioning: Back Out Into the World

Here’s a closing commissioning from Rev Gord’s Worship Offerings blog.

Closing Commission

We have sung, we have prayed,

we have worshiped together.

Now we go back out into the world.

We came together to build relationships,

relationships with each other,

and our relationship with Jesus.

We go out as people who are strengthened by our connections

Ready to love and to serve.

Ready to carry God's love to the world.

As you journey through the ups and the downs of the coming week,

let us remember that God, who has invited us into relationship,

is always with us.

Go with God, as the people of God.

So be it! Amen

~ posted by Rev Gord on his blog, Worship Offerings. http://worshipofferings.blogspot.ca/

Prayer: Loving Others

Here’s a prayer of thanksgiving, confession and petition from the Baylor University website.

Prayer

Loving and merciful One,

we thank you for the community in which you have placed us,

for the brothers and sisters with whom we walk this pilgrim journey.

Yet, we confess that we fail to love as you love.

We push aside those whom we believe are the least in your Kingdom.

We fail to see your Kingdom in parables

because we fail to see your Kingdom in each other.

Form in us a new vision of community

in which there is neither East nor West, neither South nor North.

We pray for the sake of your Kingdom

that both is and is not yet. Amen.

~ posted in Hearing the Parables with the Early Church on the Baylor University website. http://www.baylor.edu/christianethics/parablesstudyguide2.pdf

Prayer of Commitment: To Love as You Love

Here’s a prayer of commitment from Terri on the RevGalBlogPals blog.  She wrote it for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, but it would work well in many other situations as well.

Prayer of Commitment

Holy God, may we hear your voice
In the stillness of night, in clatter of day
You call us, and we respond,
Here I am!
May we follow you and
May we love as you love.

Holy One, through trials and turbulence
Make us steady, your hands
Holding strong the fragile and weak
May we love as you love.

Gracious God, may the fruits of our lives
be food for the hungry, bread
clothing, shelter, fire, water, Word
May we love as you love.

God of justice, remove the barriers
Of our lives that keep us from
One another, barriers we construct
Based on skin color, religion, or gender
May we hear, and follow, graciously.
May we love as you love.

Loving God, take this day our fears our
Worries, distractions, and all
Turn them into grace and mercy,
And, following the example of Martin Luther King, Jr.
and all your Saints,
May we love as you love.

Amen.

— written by Terri, and posted on the RevGalBlogPals blog.  http://revgalblogpals.blogspot.com/

Prayers of the People

Here’s a prayer of intercession for two voices inspired by Jesus exhortation to “love one another as I have loved you” (John 15:12).  It was written by Bruce Prewer.

Prayer for Others

(inspired by John 15:9-17)

God our Saviour, may these prayers which we offer you be also a renewing of our contract to love one another even as Jesus has loved us.

We pray for the end of bitterness and violence in its many forms. Bless all peacemakers: those who negotiate between nations, or arbitrate within commerce and industry, adjudicate in family courts, defuse tensions in school grounds, and counsel conflicting parties within church denominations.

We pray for the effective, compassionate care of all who are diseased, maimed, or severely handicapped, including ailing members of this congregation. Bless all who work in clinics and hospitals: surgeons, physiotherapists, nurses, physicians, oncologists, psychiatrists, dieticians, social workers, dentists, pharmacists and the staff of hospices for the dying.

We pray for the feeding of the hungry, the clothing of the destitute, the housing of the homeless, the reformation of prisoners, and the rehabilitation of those who have been addicted to drugs. Bless every agency, church or government, which is dedicated to the care of our disadvantaged sisters and brothers

We pray for the provision of systems of justice that that are truly fair. Whether they are within our homeland, in other nations, or international courts of justice, may those who are brought to court find equality before the law. Bless with insight and integrity each barrister and judge, work in the mind and soul of every juror, that the innocent may be exonerated and the hearts of those sentenced turned towards repentance and regeneration.

We pray for the church, for all denominations large or small, that we may love one another in practice as well as in prayer.  Bless all joint initiatives in worship, fellowship and service to the community. May the world know that there is a grace at work in us which is not our doing but a gift from a Lover who outstrips all other. Through Christ Jesus our humble Lord. Amen!

— written by Bruce Prewer, and posted on Bruce Prewer’s Homepage. http://www.bruceprewer.com/

For more prayers on this blog, see the Scriptural Prayer Index at the upper right side of the page.

Prayer: How You Have Loved

Here’s a beautiful prayer about the love of Jesus. It was written by John van de Laar.

How You Have Loved

(inspired by 1 John 4:19, John 15:12)

How deeply you have loved us, Jesus;

how willingly you stepped into our experience,

how completely you empathised with all that we endure.

Teach us to love as you have loved us.

How sacrificially you have loved us, Jesus;

how completely you gave yourself for us,

how courageously you suffered for our sakes.

Teach us to love as you have loved us.

How restoratively you have loved us, Jesus;

how generously you share your life,

how extravagantly you make yourself available to us.

Teach us to love as you have loved us.

We praise you for your love

which is given so freely and so unconditionally.

And we thank you for believing

that we could learn to offer such love

to each other.

Amen.

— written by John van de Laar, and posted on his excellent Sacredise website.  Visit that site for other excellent lectionary-based resources.  

For more prayers on this blog, see the Scriptural Prayer Index at the upper right side of the page.