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.