Fall 1995: Pioneering Faith

 

Seekers Church

A Christian Community

In the Tradition of the Church of the Saviour

 

Fall 1995 (Revised for January 30, 2000)

Pioneering Faith

 

REFLECTION

The way through the wilderness of our time is going to have to be improvised by us or by God or by both together.  To speak of Christ and community, then, is to speak of Christ the improvisor and of a community without a center, without clear boundaries, and with no secure place of dwelling.  One must speak of a community … drawing its strength from the solidarity it creates in the face of  … unpredictable events.

 

Tom Driver, Christ in a Changing World, pg 151.

 

PRELUDE

 

CALL TO WORSHIP

Leader:             In faith, Abraham and Sarah set out

because God beckoned.

 

People:             In faith, we seek to follow God in our lives.

 

Leader:             In faith, the church continually seeks

to understand what tasks God has set before us

at the present moment.

 

Unison:             In faith, we gather now to worship,

knowing that as we reach out to God,

God will make us new. 

Give us the faith, O God, to go forward

and embrace the newness

to which you call us. 

INVOCATION

 

HYMN

 

WORD FOR THE CHILDREN

 

SILENCE

 

PIONEER LITANY

 

Leader:            The gospel of Jesus Christ

is a call to risk the practice of radical trust.

 

People:             This trust is the active response of faith

to the gift of Divine Love.

 

Leader:             Radical trust draws us toward life at the edge,

the territory of paradox and ambiguity.

 

People:             Such trust encourages us

to embrace the world from the heart of the Gospel.

 

Unison:             Radical trust is a way of living with care,

a way of acting out of the strength of love

rather than out of the weakness of fear.

 

SILENCE

 

PRAYERS

CHANT

Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet,

and a light unto my path.

 

CONFESSION 

Leader:             Loving Maker of Mystery,

we come together as a community

hungry for assurance

in the midst of unpredictable times. 

We want to claim simplistic answers,

live in superficial harmony,

and know that there is only one way.

 

People:             We work so hard to gain control,

to keep violence and uncertainty at bay. 

We want the comfort of being right,

even though we know so clearly

that we are not perfect.

 

Unison:             Forgive us our hunger for assurance,

our striving for control.

 

INDIVIDUAL PRAYERS OF CONFESSION

 

ASSURANCE  (Leader)

Who are we to say that God is bound

by what God has already done? 

God is not finished with Creation. 

We are part of God’s unfolding mystery,

beloved in our human imperfection.  Amen. 

 

CONTINUING PRAYERS

 

HYMN

 

THE WORD

Scripture

Community Reflections

Chant

 

 

OFFERING

OFFERTORY MUSIC

PRAYER OF DEDICATION

 

ANNOUNCEMENTS

 

HYMN

 

BENEDICTION  (Leader)  

May the God of grace

create in you that which is pleasing in God’s sight;

and may the God of peace

equip you with everything good,

that you may do God’s will. 

Amen.

 

Hebrews 13:21

 

WORSHIP SOURCES

Call to Worship:  Flames of the Spirit, pg 65.

Confession & forgiveness:  After Driver,  Christ in a Changing World, pg 77.

Assurance:  After Driver, pg 77.