On Love Alone

 

SEEKERS CHURCH

A Christian Community

In the Tradition of the Church of the Saviour

 

Epiphany 2003

On Love Alone

 

 

REFLECTION

 

This is a time of rediscovery that the living God is among us, not a memory or a story of long ago. It is a chance to rediscover and affirm God’s living presence, here and now.

 

 

 

PRELUDE

 

SILENCE

 

CALL TO WORSHIP

Leader:      O God, we long for your presence within our lives.

 

People:      O Beloved, awaken our hearts

as new shoots breaking forth in the Springtime.

 

Leader:      Emmanuel, we gather to hear anew

the Good News for humanity.

 

All:              Come as the wind which moves among us

to transform our responses to this changing world.

 

INVOCATION

 

HYMN

 

WORD FOR THE CHILDREN

 

SILENCE

 

RESPONSIVE READING

Leader:      Jesus knew

that from the ordinary

the extraordinary comes.

 

Voice 1:     To heal a blind man he used dirt and spit;

to feed the multitudes,

he used common bread and fish;

to speak of God, he used yeast and seeds. 

 

Voice 2:      He knew the truth of how the mundane

gives way to the miraculous:

fill enough jars with water,

one of them might turn to wine.

 

Voice 1:      Where there was no wine there was you

and you said drink,

and there it was, startling and sweet.

 

Voice 2:      And where there was no bread there was you

and you said feed one another,

and there it was, filling and strong.

 

All:              And where there was no love, there was you

and you said touch,

and there we were, our hands looking like yours.

 

SILENCE

 

PRAYERS

CONFESSION

Leader:      We let our hearts grow cold and dark

to match the weather,

rather than face our transgressions.

 

People:      In the cold, dim winter

God's light is hard to see.

 

Leader:      We long to hear God's message

to unburden our hearts.

 

All:              God calls us to repentance

and offers us the light of Christ.

 

INDIVIDUAL PRAYERS OF CONFESSION

 

ASSURANCE 

Leader:      God is gracious and merciful,

slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love,

seeding each of us and all creation

with the love of Jesus Christ. 

 

All:              Amen.

 

PRAYERS OF THE COMMUNITY

 

HYMN

 

THE WORD

SCRIPTURE

SERMON

SILENT REFLECTION

 

OFFERING

 

SHARED REFLECTIONS

 

ANNOUNCEMENTS

 

HYMN

 

BENEDICTION   

Leader:     Go now to lives filled with laughter and with pain,

knowing that God is with us in the dark and in the light,

in our abundance,

in our emptiness,

in every moment of our lives.

 

All:             Amen.

 

WORSHIP RESOURCES

Responsive Reading: Richardson, Jan L., In Wisdom’s Path, pg. 41