Call to Worship: Isaiah 43: 2

Here’s a call to worship inspired by Isaiah 43:2. It was written by Rev. Mindi and posted on her Rev-o-lution blog.

Call to Worship

(Inspired by Isaiah 43:2)

When we pass through the waters,

God is there with us.

When we suffer and feel hopeless,

God is there with us.

When we are joyful and celebratory,

God is there with us.

Whether we feel triumphant or defeated,

God is there with us, always.

Come, let us worship together with Emmanuel,

God with us. 

~ written by Rev. Mindi, and posted on Rev-o-lution. http://rev-o-lution.org/2011/10/23/worship-resources-for-october-30-2011-and-all-saints-day/

Pastoral Prayer: Christ the King

Here is an opening or pastoral prayer inspired by the scripture texts for Proper 29B (Christ the King or Reign of Christ Sunday). It was written by Thom Shuman and posted on Lectionary Liturgies.

 

Prayer

Almighty God:
from the beginning of time
to the end of eternity,
you have chosen 
to use your power and majesty
     to love us,
     to redeem us,
     to shape us as your people.
 
King of Kings 
and Lord of Lords:
you became weak
     so you could confront
     the strength of sin and death,
confounding their ridicule
with your resurrection.
 
Spirit of God,
resting upon us:
may your power enflame us
     with your peace;
may your peace touch us 
     with your grace;
may your grace fill us 
     with your hope;
may your hope lead us
into your Kingdom.
 
God in Community, Holy in One,
may your word be on our lips,
as we pray together as Jesus
has taught us, saying,
(The Lord’s Prayer) 

 

~ written by Thom M. Shuman and posted on Lectionary Liturgies. http://lectionaryliturgies.blogspot.com/

Blessing: May God Bless Your Eyes

Here’s a blessing/benediction from Jan Richardson’s the painted prayerbook website.

Blessing

May God,
who comes to us
in the things of this world,
bless your eyes
and be in your seeing.

May Christ,
who looks upon you
with deepest love,
bless your eyes
and widen your gaze.

May the Spirit,
who perceives what is
and what may yet be,
bless your eyes
and sharpen your vision.

May the Sacred Three
bless your eyes
and cause you to see.

~ from In the Sanctuary of Women, copyright © Jan L. Richardson.  Posted on the painted prayerbook. http://paintedprayerbook.com/

Call to Worship: Colossians 1: 15-17

Come and worship Christ,

the visible image of the invisible God,

the firstborn of creation,

the eternal God:

the one through whom all things were created,

and in whom all things are held together.

This is our God!

Let’s worship together.

Epiphany Blessing

Here is a blessing for the Epiphany season from Jan Richardson’s The Painted Prayerbook website.

Epiphany Blessing

“He is my chosen one, and I am pleased with him.

I have put my Spirit upon him.

He will reveal justice to the nations.” Isaiah 42:1

May the path

that Christ walks

to bring justice

upon the earth,

to bring light

to those who sit

in darkness,

to bring out those

who live in bondage,

to bring new things

to all creation:

may this path

run through our life.

May we be

the road Christ takes.

~ written by Jan L. Richardson, and posted on The Painted Prayerbook. http://paintedprayerbook.com/

Centering Prayer: Take from me...

Here’s a centering prayer from David Adam.  It was posted on the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand website.

Centering Prayer

“Be still in the presence of the Lord,
and wait patiently for him to act.” Psalm 37: 7

Lord, help me to relax.

Take from me the tension
that makes peace impossible.
Take from me the fears
that do not allow me to venture.
Take from me the worries
that blind my sight.
Take from me the distress
that hides your joy.

Help me to know
that I am with you,
that I am in your care,
that I am in your love,
that you and I are one.

~ written by David Adam in “The Open Gate” SPCK 1994.  Posted on the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand website. http://www.presbyterian.org.nz/

Confession: Call Us Into Your Reign

Here’s a prayer of confession and words of assurance inspired by the suggested scripture readings for Proper 29, Year B. They were written by Rev. Mindi and posted on the Rev-o-lution blog.

Prayer of Brokenness/Confession

Sovereign God,

we confess we have given idols power over us,

the idols of power and wealth, fame and security.

We confess we have fallen into the ways of this world

and have forgotten our kindred in Christ.

We have lost sight of the reign of God here on earth,

and instead have allowed the idols of the world to rule over us.

Forgive us.

Call us into Your reign,

to declare You the One who has power over us

because Your power is love.

Call us to love our neighbors as ourselves,

and to work for justice, show mercy, and love one another

in the name of Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.

Assurance of Pardon

Jesus came to us not to reign as a king over us,

but to serve us,

and to show us the way of God is the way of love.

Jesus said the first would be last and the last would be first.

Jesus called us to become humble and serve one another,

and that the most important commandment

was to love God and to love our neighbor as ourselves.

This is the way of our Sovereign.

Go, knowing you are forgiven,

and love and serve one another,

especially our neighbors in need,

as Christ serves us. Amen.

~ written by Rev. Mindi and posted on the Rev-o-lution blog. http://rev-o-lution.org

Prayer for Others: Christ the King Sunday

Here’s a prayer of intercession for Proper 29. It was written by Rev. Tina Kemp and posted on the Church of Scotland’s Weekly Worship website.

 

Prayer of Intercession

for Reign of Christ Sunday

 

Lord, as You hung on a cross,

Your first thought was for others.

You forgave the ones

who ridiculed and tortured You,

You accepted the criminal

who hung beside You.

And it was You who made a mockery

of the sign they placed

above Your head.

For little did they know

that they did indeed

gaze at a king.

 

We don’t need signs and labels

to recognise Your power

and Your authority, Lord.

It is because we have seen

the unlikely become reality;

because we have witnessed You

in the unexpected,

and because we believe

in truths honed by a carpenter’s son,

that we dare to hope, Lord,

that Your kingdom has come among us

and continues to come,

day after day,

among the poor and the lonely,

the sick and the weary,

the angry and the abused,

the warmongers and the peace seekers.

 

And so it is for those

and others whose lives are touched

by grief and greed,

injustice and injury,

emptiness and endlessness

that we pray now,

trusting in the goodness and the grace

that retrieved lost sheep and wayward sons;

that consoled grieving mothers

and weeping women at a tomb;

that fed aching stomachs

and eager minds;

that soothed the open wounds

of untouchables

and the throbbing scars of hatred;

that laid open itself

to pain, rejection and abandonment

so that we might know healing,

acceptance and belonging.

 

And if we catch only a glimpse

of Your mercy among the hardness of life,

if we can sense Your presence

only for a fleeting moment

in the busyness of life,

if we can witness that wholeness

happens among the brokenness of life,

then we will know

that Your kingdom has come

and we pray that Your will be done.

This day and always, for Jesus’ sake

and in his name we pray.

Amen.

 

~ written by Rev. Tina Kemp and posted on the Church of Scotland’s Weekly Worship website. http://www.churchofscotland.org.uk/

Affirmation: You Call Us to Service

Here is an affirmation or statement of commitment from John Birch. It was posted on his Faith and Worship website.

Affirmation: You Call Us to Service

You call us to service;
to be your eyes and ears,
hands and voice in this, your world.

To open our eyes not only
to the beauty and love which you create,
but the injustice,
hate and suffering that humankind generates.

To open our ears not only
to the chattering of this coming week,
but the searching,
fears and questioning of all whom we shall meet.

To open our hands not only
to those we choose our lives to share,
but in welcome,
love and fellowship to all who you draw near.

To open our mouths not only
to speak platitudes and simple words,
but the truths you lay upon our hearts.
Your Word for this, your world.

You call us to service,
to be your eyes and ears,
hands and voice in this, your world.

~ written by John Birch and posted on his Faith and Worship website. http://www.faithandworship.com/liturgy_Lent_3.htm#ixzz1lkU9wBx2

Blessing: You are the Body of Christ

You are the body of Christ.

May you have the heart of Christ, 

tender for mercy.

May you have the eyes of Christ 

to see a world in need.

May you have the feet of Christ 

to bring good news.

Go in peace! 

And God go with you. 

~ posted on Literature & Liturgy. https://jesusscribbles.wordpress.com/

Call to Worship: Waiting on the Lord

Here is a responsive call to worship from Rev. Richard J. Fairchild’s Kir-shalom website.

Call to Worship

God is with his people. 

He dwells in their midst.

Listen and hear him speak.

Our hearts long for his word.

We wait upon the Lord

so that we may renew our strength.

God is our help and our support. 

His spirit moves among us

to lead us in holiness and righteousness all our days.

With joyful hearts we sing God's praise. 

With rejoicing we call upon Him. 

The Lord is our hope and our salvation.

~ posted on the Kir-shalom website. http://www.spirit-net.ca/sermons/b-or02sm.php

Call to Worship: Psalm 46

Here’s a call to worship from Thom Shuman’s Lectionary Liturgies website. It was written for Reformation Day (October 31), but could be used on many other occasions.

Call to Worship

(inspired by Psalm 46)

Be still!
We come to quiet ourselves in this haven of holiness.
Be still and know . . .
we come to discern the Word which can set us free.
Be still and know that God is
our Hope, our Help, our Refuge, and our Redeemer. 

~ written by Thom Shuman, and posted on Lectionary Liturgies. http://lectionaryliturgies.blogspot.ca/

A Mighty Fortress: Reformation Day Litany

Here’s a litany for Reformation Day (October 31). It comes from the PC(USA) website (see below for link).

The authors write: “This litany interweaves Martin Luther’s great Reformation hymn with the words from Scripture that inspired it, the words of Psalm 46.”

A Mighty Fortress Is Our God

A Litany for Reformation Sunday

God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble.

Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change,
though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea,
though its waters roar and foam,
though the mountains tremble with its tumult.

[Sung]

A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing;
our helper he amid the flood of mortal ills prevailing.
For still our ancient foe doth seek to work us woe;
his craft and power are great, and, armed with cruel hate,
on earth is not his equal.

There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy habitation of the Most High.

God is in the midst of the city; it shall not be moved;
God will help it when the morning dawns.

[Sung]

Did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing;
were not the right man on our side, the man of God’s own choosing.
Dost ask who that may be? Christ Jesus it is he,
Lord Sabaoth his name, from age to age the same,
and he must win the battle.

The nations are in an uproar, the kingdoms totter;
God speaks and the earth melts.

The Lord of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our refuge.

Come, behold the works of the Lord!

God makes wars cease to the end of the earth;
God breaks the bow, shatters the spear,
and burns the shields with fire.

[Sung]

And though this world, with devils filled, should threaten to undo us,
we will not fear, for God has willed his truth to triumph through us.
The prince of darkness grim, we tremble not for him;
his rage we can endure, for lo! his doom is sure,
one little word shall fell him.

Be still, and know that the Lord is God!

God is exalted among the nations;
God is exalted in the earth.

The Lord of hosts is with us;

The God of Jacob is our refuge.

[Sung]

That word above all earthly powers, no thanks to them, abideth;
the Spirit and the gifts are ours through him who with us sideth;
let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also;
the body they may kill, God’s truth abideth still,
his kingdom is forever.

~ posted on the Presbyterian Mission website of the PC(USA). https://www.presbyterianmission.org/ministries/worship/worship-reformationsunday/worship-mightyfortresslitnany/

Call to Worship: Dance of the New Creation

Here’s a possible call to worship inspired by the beginning of Paul’s letter to the Colossians (Colossians 1: 19-22).  It would be suitable for Easter Sunday…or Holy Humor Sunday (traditionally the Sunday after Easter)…or Proper 11 C, when Colossians 1: 15-28 is the suggested epistle reading. 

It comes from Colossians Remixed: Subverting the Empire by Sylvia Keesmaat and Brian Walsh, and was originally posted on Jonny Baker’s Worship Tricks website.

Call to Worship

(inspired by Colossians 1: 19-22)

In the face of a culture of death
a world of killing fields
a world of the walking dead
Christ is at the head of the resurrection parade
transforming our tears of betrayal into tears of joy
giving us dancing shoes for the resurrection party

And this glittering joker
who has danced in the dragon’s jaws of death
now dances with a dance that is full
of nothing less than the fullness of God

this is the dance of the new creation

this is the dance of life out of death

and in this dance all that was broken
all that was estranged
all that was alienated
all that was dislocated and disconnected
is reconciled

comes home

is healed

and is made whole

~ excerpted from targum 2: subversive poetry in a postmodern world col 1:15-20, published in Colossians Remixed: Subverting The Empire by Sylvia C. Keesmaat and Brian J. Walsh.  Posted on Jonny Baker’s Worship Tricks website. http://jonnybaker.blogs.com/jonnybaker/worship_tricks/wt82.html

Prayer: Colossians 1: 10-14

Gracious God,

Give us spiritual insight and understanding,

so that we would be able to see things from your point of view.

May our words and actions bring credit to Your name

and joy to Your heart;

may all that we do bear fruit for Your kingdom,

and may we come to know and love You more each day.  

Strengthen us with Your power

so that we would be able to joyfully endure whatever comes our way,

and give thanks to You even in the midst of pain and suffering.

Thank You for rescuing us from the power of darkness,

and bringing us into the glorious light of Your kingdom.

All praise to Jesus Christ, our Lord,

in whom we have found redemption and forgiveness.  Amen.

The Blessing of Powerlessness

May all your expectations be frustrated;

may all your plans be thwarted;

may all your desires be withered into nothingness,

that you may experience

the powerlessness and poverty of a child,

and sing, dance, and trust in the love of God

who is Father, Son, and Spirit. Amen.

~ written by Brennan Manning, author of Ragamuffin Gospel. https://www.amazon.com/Brennan-Manning/e/B000APBRR0/ref=as_li_ss_tl?qid=1473339142&sr=8-2-ent&linkCode=sl2&tag=webchyk-20&linkId=70a527801913c795a28bbc309f28800a

Prayer of Intercession: Colossians 1: 15-20

Here’s a prayer of intercession inspired by Colossians 1: 15-20.  It comes from the Iona Community.

Prayer for Others

(inspired by Colossians 1: 15-20)

O Christ, your cross speaks both to us and to our world.

In your dying for us

You accepted the pain and hurt of the whole of creation.

The arms of your cross stretch out  

Across the broken world in reconciliation.

You have made peace with us.

Helps us to make peace with you

By sharing in your reconciling work.

May we recognize your spirit

Disturbing and challenging us to care for creation

And for the poor who most feel the effects of its abuse.

O Christ, the whole of creation groans.

Set us free and make us whole. Amen.

~ from the Iona Community’s Iona Abbey Worship Book (Wild Goose Publications, Iona Community, 2001). Posted on the Yale Divinity website. http://www.yale.edu/divinity/fb/5thSundayprayers.pdf

Readers' Theatre: Colossians 1: 15 - 28

Here’s a readers’ theatre setting of Colossians 1: 15-28, the suggested epistle reading for Proper 11, Year C.  It is set for two readers.

Readers’ Theatre: Colossians 1: 15-28

Christ is the exact image of the invisible God.
He existed before anything was created

and is supreme over all creation,

for through him, God created everything
in the heavenly realms and on earth.

He made the things we can see
and the things we can’t see—

thrones and kingdoms,

spiritual powers and authorities.

Every detail was crafted through His design,

by his own hands and for his purposes.

He has always been!

It is his hand that holds all creation together.

Christ is also the head of this body, the church.

He is the beginning,

the first of those to be reborn from the dead.

So he is first in everything!

For God in all his fullness

was pleased to live in Christ,
through him, reconciling everything—the whole creation—to himself.
He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth
by means of Christ’s blood on the cross.

This even includes you who were once far away from God.

You were his enemies,

separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions. 

Yet now he has reconciled you to himself

through the death of Christ in his physical body.

As a result, he has brought you into his own presence,

and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him

without a single fault.

But you must continue to believe this truth and stand firmly in it.

Don’t allow yourselves to be shifted away from the hope of the gospel,

which you have heard,

and which, indeed, the whole world is now having an opportunity to hear.

I myself have been made a minister of this same gospel,

and though it is true at this moment

that I am suffering on behalf of you who have heard the gospel,

yet I am far from sorry about it.

Indeed, I am glad,

because it gives me a chance to experience in my own suffering

something of the untold pains which Christ suffers

on behalf of his body, the Church.

For I am a minister of the Church by divine commission,

a commission granted to me for your benefit,

and for a special purpose:

that I might fully declare God’s Word—

that sacred mystery which up till now has been hidden

in every age and every generation,

but which is now as clear as daylight to those who love God.

They are those to whom God has planned to give a special vision

of the full wonder and splendor of his secret plan for the nations.

And the secret is simply this:

Christ in you!

Yes, Christ in you bringing with him the hope

of all the glorious things to come.

So, naturally, we proclaim Christ!

We warn everyone we meet,

and we teach everyone we can,

all that we know about him,

so that, if possible, we may bring everyone

to full maturity in Christ Jesus.

Blessing: Colossians 1: 9-12

May God grant You spiritual wisdom and understanding

so that you may be able to see things from a spiritual point of view,

and so that Your lives may be worthy of God,

and pleasing to Him.

And may you bear fruit in all that you do,

and continue to grow in your understanding of who God is.

And may God give you the strength you need

to endure whatever comes with patience and even joy,

always giving thanks to God who, through Jesus Christ,

has given you new life.

Prayer for Knowledge and Insight: Colossians 1

Gracious God,

we pray that You would give us the knowledge and insight

that comes from You alone.

May we know Your will in all things,

and may our lives bring honour to Your name.

Strengthen us with Your infinite power,

according to Your glorious might,

so that we would have everything we need

to endure hardship with patience and joy.

We praise You for rescuing us from the powers of darkness,

and bringing us into Your kingdom of light.

We praise You that we can share in the inheritance

that belongs to Your people.

And we praise You that, through the blood of Your Son, Jesus Christ,

we have been redeemed and set free from our sins.

All praise to You, gracious and merciful God.  Amen.