Worship Orders for Pentecost

Holy Spirit Coming by Ho Qi

Here are a number of pre-planned Pentecost worship orders to help get your creative juices flowing:

Come, Holy Spirit:  Evening Song and Prayer Service for Pentecost. Adapted from a service planned and led by Marlene Kropf and Mary Oyer, AMBS, Elkhart, Indiana and posted on the Mennonite Church Resource Centre website. 

The Hermeneutic blog offers this sample Order of Worship for Pentecost. 

Sermon and Liturgy for Pentecost Sunday – Year A, from Kir-Shalom.

Bosco Peters offers a liturgy for a Pentecost Vigil on his website, Liturgy.

The First Presbyterian Church of West Seneca has posted this Order of Worship: Day of Pentecost. 

Lisa Frenz at Mount Carmel Lutheran Church offers this Order of Holy Communion for Pentecost. 

Moira Laidlaw offers a Lectionary Generated Liturgy (Pentecost Year A) on her Liturgies Online website.

Creative Worship Ideas for Pentecost

Looking for some creative worship ideas for Pentecost worship (June 12, 2011)?  Take a look at some of these:

Steve Taylor writes about a Pentecost service which included the burning of meths-soaked pumice rock and a last-minute change of plan.  You can read all about it on his blog, sustain:if:able kiwi. 

The Billabong is offering a whole series of creative worship ideas for Pentecost on their Ideas for Pentecost page.

Ann Scull offers many creative suggestions for Pentecost worship on her Mustard Seeds website.

The Worship Well lists a whole variety of links for Pentecost worship resources.

Jonny Baker has posted a whole variety of ideas for Pentecost on his JonnyBaker blog.  

Jonathan Norman has put together this Video Loop for Pentecost Sunday. 

You might also check out this list of Creative Ideas for the Celebration of Pentecost. 

See also the Church of Scotland’s Starters for Sunday. 

You might also be interested in checking out other Pentecost posts on this blog: Worship Orders for Pentecost,  Video Suggestions for Pentecost, Video Loops for Pentecost and Intergenerational Worship on Pentecost.

You can also find many more ideas for Pentecost monologues, prayers, calls to worship, benedictions, litanies, prayers, dramas and visual suggestions by clicking on Pentecost in the list of “Labels” at the lower right side of the page.

Ascension Day resources from Wild Goose Publications

Wild Goose Publications is offering a collection of worship resources for Ascension Day: “Ascension Day: Prayers and Resources.” The collection costs £2.34 (which as of today—May 19, 2011—is equivalent to CDN $3.69 and US $3.79).  It’s  available for immediate download, and includes the following resources:

Opening and closing responses for Ascension Day (A, B and C), by Ruth Burgess
In a cloud (biblical reflection), by Ruth Burgess
A prayer for Ascension Day, by John Harvey
Ascension intercessions, by David Hamflett
Let us celebrate (prayer), by David Hamflett
Help us to see (reading), by Thom M Shuman

For more creative worship suggestions for Ascension on this blog, click on Ascension in the list of “Labels” at the lower right side of the page.

Ascension Day worship planning

The Calvin Institute of Christian Worship has made available a number of worship services for Ascension Day/Sunday.  Here are links to them:

It’s a Good Thing He Left Us – John 16

The Chapter of a Great Lord - The Ascension of Christ Sunday (Revelation 1)

The Chapter of an Enthroned Lord – Psalm 2

Services for Ascension and Pentecost by Gary Brouwers 

Weekday Chapel – Jesus Enthroned on High

Opening Worship for “With a Shout” Conference, Ascension Day

For more creative worship resources for Ascension on this blog, click on Ascension in the list of “Labels” at the lower right side of the page. 

Creative Worship Resources: Emmaus Road

Liturgies, Monologues, and Drama: Emmaus Road

If you’re looking for creative worship resources about the Emmaus Road encounter, here are a few suggestions you might want to explore:

Wellsprings-on-the-Web has posted The Road to Emmaus - a Liturgy for Easter Morning.  You may not be able to do the liturgy in its entirely, but perhaps a portion here or there might suit.  The dramatic dialogue between Jesus and the two disciples is worth taking a look at.  

For a monologue based on the Emmaus story, check out The Emmaus Incident, written by Crystal Goolsby from Austin, Texas.  It’s the fourth scene in a larger collection of Easter monologues called With Our Own Eyes: Seven Monologues for Children about the Resurrection Appearances of Jesus, published by Seeds of Hope Publishers).

If you’re looking for a short drama, check out The Road to Emmaus, from Nige’s Christian Drama. It’s about 5-7 minutes long.

For another Easter drama option, see On the Road to Emmaus, written by Will Groben and posted on his website, Groben.com.

For more worship resources for the third Sunday of Easter, click on Easter 3 A

in the list of “Labels” to the lower right.

Easter 2: Two Doubters

Two Doubters  

Thomas and I

were not there that first Sunday

when new life burst the banks

of the old religion

and flooded reborn minds

with praise and thanks.

He was nearby

nursing his grief in solitude

with tearing fierce regrets;

while I was far away

among a people of many gods

who hedge their bets.

So at the first

we missed out on that Peace

which filled their hiding place

and swept away their fears

and made them the heralds

of Easter grace.

Thomas and I

were not inclined to trust

on hearsay evidence

a story that we wished could be true

but seemed to contravene

all common sense.

He, a week later,

was there when the Peace returned

on another Lord’s Day

lovingly scattering doubts

like the chaff which the wind

drives far away.

Millennia later,

like one born out of season,

I stood with the sceptical majority

when that ineffable Peace

humbly came and entered

my poverty.

I have not seen

with these mortal eyes

but I am touched by an Amen

whose Peace no power on earth

high heaven or deepest hell

can ever stem.

— B.D. Prewer, 2002

on his website Bruce Prewer’s Home Page 

See also Bruce Prewer’s “A Creed.”

(For more creative worship resources for the Sunday after Easter,

click on "Easter 2" on the "Labels" list at the right.)

Creative Worship Ideas for Easter 2

Creative Resources for Worship:

John 20:19-31

“Doubting Thomas”

If your congregation is following the Revised Common Lectionary, the suggested scripture passages for the second Sunday of Easter (Easter 2A) include a reading from the gospel of John:19-31.  It’s the story of Jesus’ appearance to the disciples in the locked upper room, and how they then unsuccessfully try to convince Thomas (who wasn’t around at the time) that Jesus really is alive.

If you’re planning on using this passage of scripture in worship, here’s a creative monologue you might want to consider.  (See below for more suggestions and links).

Thomas  

(John 20:19-29)

It was late that Sunday evening

when I returned to my brothers,

thinking to find them still grieving

as I was.

They greeted me

in excitement

and great joy.

"We have seen the Lord!"

they said.

Had grief brought them to this—

that they would not accept

that he was gone from us for ever?

Again and again they insisted:

"We have seen the Lord!

He was here among us!"

"I don't believe it,”

I said.

"Unless I see the scars

of the nails in his hands

and put my finger on those scars

and my hand in his side,

I will not believe."

The days passed.

We were together

behind locked doors

when he came again.

There could be no doubt -

Jesus stood among us, saying,

"Peace be with you!”

Then he looked at me

a little sadly.

"Put your finger here,”

he said,

"and look at my hands;

then stretch out your hand

and put it in my side.

Stop your doubting,

and believe!"

I stared, transfixed,

unable to move or to speak.

At last I found my voice

and whispered,

"My Lord and my God!"

— from Easter Reflections by Pat Baker

at The Billabong: a worship resource following the Revised Common Lectionary  

Here are some other creative ways in which you might approach the “Doubting Thomas” (John 20:19-31) text:

Monologues/Readers’ Theatre

Doubting Thomas by Debra L. Freeburg 

Description: A reader's theater dramatizing Thomas's confession. $10 fee for use.

Dramatic monologue:  Best are They by Darryl McCollum

Description: Doubting Thomas tells his own story in this short monologue. 

The Voice of Thomas,  by Theresa Coleman.

Description:  A first-person re-telling of the story of Thomas’s encounter with the risen Christ.

What We Have Seen and Heard 

Description: A dramatic re-telling of the reaction of the disciples to the news of Christ’s resurrection, from the book A Certain Jesus, Vol. 3, chapter 128, published by Claretian Publications, Philippines

Short Dramatic Sketches

 

A Practical Faith from His Company: Free Christian Drama Resources 

Description:  Prisca has a problem. Already she is having to defend her Grampa Thomas against the accusations of others. Already he has been labeled "Doubting Thomas". But her Gramma Sarah, wife of the late apostle, knows that Jesus called human beings for disciples—not mindless puppets. Jesus wanted followers who were real. And He still does.

Vision Beyond the Eyes from His Company: Free Christian Drama Resources.

Description: Jesus said, "Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed."  On the road out of Jerusalem, Nathanael meets a pilgrim seeking Jesus. She doesn't know Jesus has already returned to the Father. What she also doesn't know is that the gift she seeks is already within her: Faith without seeing.

Other suggestions?  Leave a comment.

(For more creative worship resources for the Sunday after Easter, click on "Easter 2" on the "Labels" list at the right.)

Contemporary Call to Worship

Jesus is Lord

(based on Philippians 2:5-11)

(gradually getting quieter)

Equal with God:

Jesus is Lord

Emptied himself:

Jesus is Lord

Came as a slave:

Jesus is Lord

Found as a man:

Jesus is Lord

Humbly obeyed:

Jesus is Lord

Went to his death:

Jesus is Lord

Death on a cross:

Jesus is Lord

(getting louder)

God raised him up:

Jesus is Lord

Gave him the name:

Jesus is Lord

Higher than all:

Jesus is Lord

Every knee bow:

Jesus is Lord

All tongues confess:

Jesus is Lord

Posted on the EngageWorship.org website.

Text by Michael Perry

© The Jubilate Group (admin. Hope Publishing Company, Carol Stream, IL  60188)

All rights reserved.  Used by permission

For permission to reproduce this text, visit:  http://www.hopepublishing.com/

Suggestions for use from EngageWorship: “This piece of spoken worship is particularly useful because it requires no printed or projected words to involve a whole congregation. Explain to the congregation that you are going to say a line, to which you want them to respond 'Jesus is Lord'. The interesting bit comes in that they say the response louder if your hand is higher, softer if your hand is lower.  Start the paraphrase of the famous passage with your hand held high, and then gradually move it lower, so the crowd end up speaking the phrase in a hushed whisper.  Then begin to raise your hand in the second half, building the response to a joyful shout.  We've often had the band begin building music under the second half to aid the crescendo and help us move into a song of praise.”

Easter Litany

Litany for Easter Morning

All:                   It is now. 

                        In many ways Easter seems so long ago. 

                        But there is something here today;

                        if we are quiet we can hear it.

Child:               I woke this morning while it was still dark and,

                        in that time when I could not see,

                        I heard my mother preparing to visit

                        the tomb where Jesus lay.

Woman:           I tried to be quiet, I did not want to wake the children,

                        but I was sad, and weary,

                        and my heart was calling me from my home.

Child:               I heard another woman at the door. 

                        She took my mother’s hand and they went out into the night. 

                        I lay awake, afraid,

                        but she was my mother and I knew she had to go. 

                        Love, she told us once, is not to be taken lightly.

All:                   In the night, in our sorrow or despair,

                        when all we love seems impossible to reach—

                        sometimes, God,

                        you shake the whole earth to help us see.

Child:               From the sky God sent an angel.  And it told my mother—

Angel:              “Do not be afraid.”

Woman:           And he sent us to find the other disciples,

                        to tell them Jesus is alive again.

Child:               My mother said the angel was beautiful, and frightening.

Man:                Like truth.

Child:               And so they went, like the angel told them to. 

                        And on their way to tell everyone

                        that Jesus will always be with us,

                        she met him. 

                        Jesus. 

                        It was true!

Woman:           The day took on a whole new light. 

                        Color and scent. 

                        Music and joy.

All:                   It is now. 

                        In many ways Easter seems so long ago. 

                        But even today we can still rise in the darkness

                        to feel the earth move, the dawn break, and, if we listen,

                        the promise of God’s love. 

                        Whether on the lips of angels,

                        or in the everyday journey of our humanity,

                        God’s word will always be with us. 

                        Jesus is alive. 

                        Jesus is with us.

— Amy Payne, March 2008, Ladera Community Church, (United Church of Christ).

For more Easter litanies, see also Easter Litany of Confession and Easter Call to Worship / Prayer Litany.

Congregational Drama for Good Friday

If you haven’t ever used it, Walter Wangerin’s The Cry of the Whole Congregation is a wonderful congregational drama to use on Good Friday.  It comes from his newly re-released book, Ragman, and Other Cries of Faith. 

The work is written for four readers (narrator, Judas, Peter and Pilate), but the congregation also has a number of important roles to play (ranging from the praises of the adoring multitude to the shouts of the crowd crying, “Crucify!”).

There are also roles for a liturgical dancer, a drummer, a soloist, and (children’s) choir.

A PDF introduction to the work is available online at Feautor.org, together with contact information to gain permission. There is a modest fee to use the work.

The Central United Methodist Church, in Canton, North Carolina has posted the entire script online.  You may want to read through it there, but I’d strongly encourage you to purchase the book or contact the author for permission.

While I’m on the subject of Walter Wangerin (and here’s another good reason to buy the book!), his well-known story Ragman would also make a wonderful addition to your Easter worship this season.  

Ebenezer Evangelical Church in Bristol, England has made the entire story available online but, again, I’d strongly encourage you to either buy the book or contact the author for permission before you use it.

If you're interested, Adam McIntyre has created a video of the story, and made it available for free download. 

Litany for Good Friday

Deliver Us and Give us Peace

Lord Jesus,
by your cross and resurrection
deliver us
by your witness to the truth
deliver us
by your passion and death
deliver us
by your victory over the grave
deliver us
from the lust of power
deliver us
from the conspiracy of silence
deliver us
from the worship of weapons
deliver us
from the slaughter of innocents
deliver us
from the nightmare of hunger
deliver us
from the peace that is no peace
deliver us
from security that is no security
deliver us
from the politics of terror
deliver us
from the plundering of the earth's resources
deliver us
from the dispossession of the poor
deliver us
from the despair of this age
deliver us
by the light of the gospel
give us peace
by the good news for the poor
give us peace
by your healing of our wounds
give us peace
by faith in your word
give us peace
by hunger and thirst for justice
give us peace
by the coming of your kingdom
give us peace
Amen.

 

—John Davies, England

From Let Justice Roll Down: A Worship Resource for Lent, Holy Week and Easter, edited by Geoffrey Duncan; published by Pilgrim Press (August 2004).  Posted on the Education for Justice website. 

The image at the top of this post comes from Hermano Leon Clipart.  Visit his site to find many more wonderful images, free for use in worship.

For other prayers and litanies for Good Friday, see Prayer for Good Friday and Good Friday Prayer of Praise and Confession.

Creative Worship Planning for Good Friday

If you’re planning worship for Good Friday and are still looking for ideas, here are a number of service outlines and readings you might want to explore:

From Wellspring Liturgies:

Voices around the Cross 

Good Friday: A Liturgy of Loss and Lament  

From cr3ative arts: 

Good Friday Narrative #1

Tenebrae/Stations of the Cross 

From Beach Experiences  

“Planning Good Friday” 

From Kir-Shalom: 

“The Way of the Cross: A Dramatic Service based on the Stations of the Cross”

“The Seven Last Words: a Tennebrae Service”

“The Christian Passover: A Good Friday Haggadah”  

From Liturgies Online 

“Good Friday” 

From Digital Orthodoxy

“Good Friday Liturgy”