Behold, I am Doing a New Thing!
Seekers Church
A Christian Community
In the Tradition of the Church of the Saviour
Behold, I am Doing a New Thing!
Easter 2004
Reflection
Behold, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the desert
and streams in the wasteland.
Isaiah 43:19
PRELUDE
CALL TO WORSHIP
Leader: Rejoice now, heavenly hosts and choirs of angels.
Let your trumpets shout salvation!
People: Rejoice and sing now, all the round earth,
bright with a glorious splendor,
for the new thing that God has begun in our midst.
Leader: Rejoice and be glad now, holy church.
Resound with the praises of your people.
All: We pray to God the Eternal,
for the grace to sing the worthy praise of Jesus,
who is Christ and Lord,
and lives and reigns with the Eternal One,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
Amen.
INVOCATION
HYMN
WORD FOR THE CHILDREN
SILENCE
CHANT
You have turned my mourning into dancing.
You have clothed me with joy.
Alleluiah!
SILENCE
PRAYERS
CONFESSION
Leader: God of compassion
we acknowledge the times
we have lived too long with pain, terror and shame.
Voice 1: We know the times we have clung
to sackcloth, clothed in weariness, anger, and sorrow.
Voice 2: We grieve the occasions when we have lived
with alienation rather than association,
isolation rather than consolation.
All: We confess our fear of the dark
and our uncertainty of the light.
INDIVIDUAL PRAYERS OF CONFESSION
ASSURANCE
Leader: Our days of weeping are done.
Wearing garments of gladness,
we see one another in the light of your love,
and stand together
in the power of your resurrection.
In the name of Christ,
Amen.
PRAYERS OF THE COMMUNITY
JESUS PRAYER
All: Eternal Spirit: Earth-maker, Pain-bearer, Life-giver,
Source of all that is and all that shall be,
Father and Mother of us all, creation resonates
with celebration of your nameless name.
Let justice and mercy flood the earth;
let all creation harmonize in your imagination;
and let us recognize
that every thought and thing belongs to you.
With the bread we need for today, feed us;
in the hurts we absorb from each other
and those we inflict on others, forgive us;
in times of test and temptation, stand with us;
from the grip of all that is evil, free us.
For you alone are creating our universe,
now and forever.
Amen.
HYMN
THE WORD
FIRST LESSON
SILENCE
GOSPEL
SERMON
SILENT REFLECTION
OFFERING
SHARED REFLECTIONS
ANNOUNCEMENTS
HYMN
BENEDICTION
Leader: Now, with our mouths full of laughter
and joy on our tongues,
let us go out among the nations
proclaiming that God is doing a new thing,
for us and for all who dream.
All: Alleluiah! Amen.
Worship resources:
Call to Worship adapted from the Exsultet, an ancient prayer for beginning the Easter vigil
Chant based on Psalm 30
Confession and Assurance based on “Prayer of Confession”
by Jan Richardson, In Wisdom’s Path
Benediction based on Psalm 126
