LiturgyLink

a community creating for the relentless return of Sunday

You are here: Home / Archives for StephenF

StephenF

confession: in the wilderness

By Leave a Comment

Call to Confession
Like John the Baptist and like the Israelites,
we often find ourselves in wildernesses.
Sometimes, the toughest wildernesses are the ones we build ourselves.
Join me in confessing the wild sin that so often takes over our lives.

 

Prayer of Confession
Forgiving God,
in this season of Advent,
we welcome the coming of your light
in a world filled with darkness.
We confess to you the ways in which we have added to that darkness
rather than obeyed our call to live as children of the light.
We ask your forgiveness:
for times when we worship violence and belittle peace,
for times when we fight amongst ourselves,
for times when we forget that we are all children of God,
for times when we do not stand up for the helpless among us.
By your tender mercy,
may the dawn from on high break upon us,
and give light to those of us that sit in darkness
and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the way of peace. Amen.

 

Assurance of Forgiveness
By the mercy and grace of our Good God,
we may live in peace with one another
for we have been forgiven
and Christ welcomes us
as a parent welcomes home a long-lost child.
Alleluia! Amen!

 

Submitted by Rev. Stephen M. Fearing, Shelter Island Presbyterian Church, NY

CTW: lift up

By Leave a Comment

Lift up your hearts, people of God,
for the Lord has looked favorably upon us
and is sending us his beloved son.
He is raising up for us a mighty savior
in the house of his servant David.
God is showing the mercy promised to our ancestors,
and has remembered his holy covenant,
the oath he swore to our ancestors Abraham and Sarah,
that we might serve him without fear.
We go before the Lord, following John the Baptist,
to prepare the way of the Lord.
Come, let us worship God
and listen to the voice crying out in the wilderness.

 

Submitted by Rev. Stephen M. Fearing, Shelter Island Presbyterian Church, NY

Prayers of the People: Advent 1

By Leave a Comment

God of our beginning and our end,
we confess to you that we live in a world that needs your mercy now more than ever.
As we celebrate joyfully in anticipation of your coming son,
we recognize that joy does not come as easily to everyone’s lips.
So many people are using their lips to cry out for healing in a broken world.
Gracious God, be mindful of your mercy.

We pray this day especially for children in places of violence,
who struggle to find happiness and fulfillment,
who hunger for love and compassion.
Gracious God, be mindful of your mercy.

We pray for women and men who are the victims of domestic violence,
who endure pain and physical abuse,
who long for peace and healing.
Gracious God, be mindful of your mercy.

We pray for people who suffer from alcoholism and substance abuse,
who seek an escape from that which they cannot solve by themselves,
who despair at seeing no way out.
Gracious God, be mindful of your mercy.

We pray for worshiping communities of all faiths that seek to heal the world,
who preach love in the face of hate and welcome the stranger as a friend,
who work to better themselves and share their blessings with others.
Gracious God, be mindful of your mercy.

We pray for those dear to us who struggle with cancer and other illnesses,
who desire comfort in the face of constant pain,
who wait for healing and peace.
Gracious God, be mindful of your mercy.

We pray for those who will call Maureen’s Haven their home this winter,
who shiver in the cold and fear the unknown,
who search for people to acknowledge them as human.
Gracious God, be mindful of your mercy.

We pray for those who have lost loved ones recently,
who grieve the loss of children and parents and other family and friends,
who find the holidays a difficult time where joy is hard to find.
Gracious God, be mindful of your mercy.

We pray for those who we lift up to you in silence or out loud…
(personal petitions may be made here)
Gracious God, be mindful of your mercy.

We trust that you are a God of righteousness, mercy, and steadfast love.
We hope for the day when you will wipe away every tear
and death and pain will be no more.
Until that day comes, be mindful of your mercy and forget not your children.
This we pray in you holy and merciful name. Amen.

 

Submitted by Rev. Stephen M. Fearing, Shelter Island Presbyterian Church, NY

Advent communion–come to bless us

By Leave a Comment

The Lord be with you.  And also with you.
Lift up your hearts.  We lift them to the Lord. 
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
It is right to give our thanks and praise.

God of our salvation,
we do not deserve your love and yet you lavish it upon us.
Not being content to be apart from us,
you came to us in human form,
donning flesh and becoming one of us.
You are not a God that is removed from our reality
but is intimately present in our lives and our struggles.
We lift up to you our thanks for your presence among us.
We give thanks for your son, Jesus Christ,
the very incarnation of your being on this earth.

With all of creation, with all peoples in every time and place
we join the ever lasting chorus:
  
Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might,
heaven and earth are full of your glory.
Hosanna in the highest.
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
Hosanna in the highest.  Hosanna in the highest.

We remember how you called your servant Mary to bear your son,
how you called your servant Joseph to accompany her,
how you called the wise men to search and the shepherds to ponder,
how you called John to proclaim and Jesus to be baptized,
how you called Peter and the disciples to follow and serve.

With them, we gather on the night on which Jesus was betrayed,
when, after having dinner with his friends, he took the bread,
blessed it and broke it, and gave it to his disciples saying,
take, eat, do this in remembrance of me.

Likewise, he took the cup and, pouring it, said,
this is cup of the salvation, shed in my blood, for the forgiveness of sins.
Do this in remembrance of me.

For as long as we eat this bread and drink this cup,
we proclaim the resurrection of our living savior until he comes again.

As we wait, during this blessed rest known as the season of Advent,
we proclaim the mystery of faith.

Christ has died; Christ is risen;
Christ will come again.

We give thanks for your gifts of grace,
and ask that your Holy Spirit would come to bless this sacrament,
that we might preside with you and you in us.
Hear us as we pray the prayer you taught us to pray, saying:
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors;
and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil,
for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever.  Amen.

Submitted by Rev. Stephen M. Fearing, Shelter Island Presbyterian Church, NY