Lent 1996: Entering Mystery Through Darkness
SEEKERS CHURCH
A Christian Community
In the Tradition of Church of the Saviour
Lent 1996
ENTERING MYSTERY THROUGH DARKNESS
REFLECTION
Yet no matter how deeply I go down into myself my God is dark, and like a webbing made of a hundred roots, that drink in silence
Rainer Maria Rilke, quoted in Original Blessing, p133
PRELUDE
CALL TO WORSHIP
Leader: The mystery that is Christ calls:
Come!
Unison: Let us enter the mystery together.
INVOCATION
HYMN
WORD FOR THE CHILDREN
CHILDREN LEAVE FOR CLASSES
SILENCE
LITANY
Leader: Great Unknowable One,
You call to us in darkness,
in the silence of our souls.
Voice 1: We hear the faint rustling of your wings,
and know the promise of protection,
the assurance of adventure.
Voice 2: With a touch of your unseen hand,
You quiet our fears,
and pull us further into the unknown.
Unison: Gracious Maker of all that is,
Lead us into the secret places,
Help us to find the hidden things.
Keep us secure in the depths of your heart.
SILENCE
PRAYERS
CONFESSION
Leader: Compassionate Silence,
In all the noise of daily life,
it is too easy to forget the quiet call of Your love.
Voice 1: Too often, we forget to do Your work
thinking that our own is more important.
Voice 2: Too often, we rush from this to that,
unwilling to linger in Your healing presence.
Unison: Forgive us, God of Mystery,
accept our repentance for wrongs that we do,
our confession of things undone.
INDIVIDUAL PRAYERS OF CONFESSION
ASSURANCE (Leader)
In Christ, God came to know our failings as God’s own.
In Christ, we are known.
In Christ, we are forgiven. AMEN.
CONTINUING PRAYERS
HYMN
THE WORD
SCRIPTURE
SERMON
SILENT REFLECTION
The first Sunday of each month we switch to a Communion Liturgy here.
OFFERING
OFFERTORY MUSIC
PRAYER OF DEDICATION
SHARED REFLECTIONS
ANNOUNCEMENTS
HYMN
BENEDICTION (Leader)
God of all that is,
send us forth to do your work in the world.
Keep our going out and our coming in,
from this time and forever more. AMEN.
