Our inclusive language liturgies generally set the structure and theme of Sunday morning worship. Since announcements are an integral part of our life together, we offer some guidelines for those who make announcements towards the end of worship.
Epiphany 2015 Filled with Light
GATHERING
ENTRANCE
REFLECTION
I cannot cause light; the most I can do is try to put myself in the path of its beam. It is possible, in deep space, to sail on solar wind. Light, be it particle or wave, has force: you rig a giant sail and go. The secret of seeing is to sail on solar wind. Hone and spread your spirit till you yourself are a sail, whetted, translucent, broadside to the merest puff.
Annie Dillard, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek,
First Perennial Classics, HarperPerennial, 1998, page 33
Christmastide 2014
GATHERING
ENTRANCE
REFLECTION
Love came down at Christmas, Love all lovely, Love divine;
Love was born at Christmas; star and angels gave the sign.
Worship we the Godhead, love incarnate, love divine;
Worship we our Jesus, but wherewith for sacred sign?
Love shall be our token; love be yours and love be mine,
Love to God and neighbor, love for plea and gift and sign.
Christina Rossetti
Advent 2014 – Hectic Waiting
GATHERING
ENTRANCE
REFLECTION
Peace is not something you can force on anything or anyone… much less upon one’s own mind. It is like trying to quiet the ocean by pressing upon the waves. Sanity lies in somehow opening to the chaos, allowing anxiety, moving deeply into the tumult, diving into the waves, where underneath, within, peace simply is.
Gerald G. May, Simply Sane: The Spirituality of Mental Health
Jubilee 2014 – Into the Promised Land
GATHERING
ENTRANCE
REFLECTION
When Jesus talked about the kingdom of God, he was not prophesying about some easy, danger-free perfection that will someday appear. He was talking about a state of being, a way of living at ease among the joys and sorrows of our world…. This state of being is not something alien or mystical. We don’t need to earn it. It is already ours.
Stephen Mitchell
The Gospel According to Jesus, p. 11
Recommitment 2014 Into the Unknown
ENTRANCE
REFLECTION
I find it sad to consider that belief has become a scary word, because at its Greek root, “to believe” simply means “to give one’s heart to.” Thus, if we can determine what it is we give our heart to, then we will know what it is we believe.
-Kathleen Norris, Amazing Grace, p 62