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Ordinary Time

Sunday’s coming: working towards May 20th

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Drawing straws to see who will replace the empty spot Judas left among the Apostles (Acts 1:15-17,21-26)? Poetically contemplating the contrast between righteousness and wickedness (Psalm 1)? Reflecting upon what it means to embrace life as God intends it by embracing the lifestyle to which Jesus calls us (1 John 5:9-13)? Digging deep into Jesus’ prayer for his disciples, that they would be an inspiration to a world that is dramatically different from the world God intends (John 17:6-19)?

What are you doing this Sunday? Does your celebration of graduates play a part in your community as you worship together? What liturgy has your reflection on this week’s texts inspired? Share your thoughts and your liturgy here!

CTW: holy ground

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One: Be still,
for the presence of the Lord,
the Holy One, is here.
All: We come before God
with praise and thanksgiving,
we stand on holy ground.
One: Be still,
for the presence of the Lord
is shining all around.
All: Holy fire, splendor, radiance
are here, lighting our way
and setting us on fire with love
as we stand on holy ground.
One: Be still,
for the power of the Lord
is moving in this place.
All: God comes to cleanse and heal,
to fill us with grace overflowing,
as we stand on holy ground.

~~~~~~~

One: Be still,
for the presence of the Lord, the Holy One, is here.
All: We come together and find that this is holy ground.
One: Be still,
for the glory of the Lord is shining all around.
All: We stand on this holy ground,
renewed by awe.
One: Be still,
for the power of the Lord is moving in this place.
All: We stand on this holy ground,
waiting, listening, watching, hoping.
One: Be still and know that God is here.
Come, let us worship.

Two calls to worship for Holy Ground, loosely based on the hymn “Be Still For The Presence of the Lord.”
Submitted by Rev. Teri Peterson, Ridgefield-Crystal Lake Presbyterian Church

The unprinted parts

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Many of us probably have the bulletin done already…but there are always those things that don’t need to go in the bulletin that we wait to do until later. What words will we use to introduce the scripture reading? What words will we use to call people to confession? How will we introduce the offering? What prayer of dedication will we come up with this week? What children’s sermon ideas are floating around out there? Will the charge before the benediction be different this week?

I confess that the prayer of dedication I almost always use is this: “God, you have been so generous to us. You have filled us to overflowing with every good gift. We return these gifts to you and ask for your blessing–use these gifts, and use us, to do your work in this place and around the world. We pray in the name of Christ. Amen.”

Yeah, I could use a new one. What’re you thinking this week for those unprinted parts?

commissioning and benediction – back out into the world

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Our time of worship concludes, we go back out into the world.

Here we have met the God who chooses to make us clean.
And, having been healed, what is our response?
We share the love of God with all we meet, for they too have been made clean.
As you go to live and serve, go with the sure knowledge that the God who washes and heals us all will go with you.
Always and all ways.
May God bless and keep you this day and forevermore.
Amen.

 

submitted by Gord Waldie, St. Paul’s United Church, Grande Prairie, Alberta

confession: walls of all about me

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Holy God, we sing “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God”, but we act out “A Mighty Fortress Is Our Life.” We make traps around us for others to fall into. We build walls so that we cannot be touched. We put so much in our days that we can only focus on what is next, and never on who is around us. And then we meet Jesus, who chooses to be open and vulnerable to the needs of the world. Forgive us, for our walls, our busy-ness and our fears. Help us, O Lord, to be instruments of the one who calls us out into new life, who makes space for the Other, Jesus our Lord and Savior Amen.

Submitted by The Rev. Jason Carle, Overland Park Presbyterian Church, Overland Park KS.