Liturgies
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.
.wp-show-posts-columns#wpsp-4872 {margin-left: -2em; }.wp-show-posts-columns#wpsp-4872 .wp-show-posts-inner {margin: 0 0 2em 2em; } GATHERING ENTRANCE REFLECTION Mary said, I’m bursting with God-news; I’m dancing the song of my Savior. The Holy One took one good look at me, and look what happened—I am the most fortunate woman on earth! What the Holy One has done for me will never be forgotten, the One whose very name is holy, set apart from all others. Divine mercy flows in wave after wave on those who are in awe before the Divine Mystery. Baring a holy arm, the Holy One showed strength and scattered the bluffing braggarts. The Holy One knocked tyrants off their high horses, and pulled victims out of the mud. The starving poor sat down to a banquet; the callous rich were left out in the cold. The Holy One fulfills the promise made to our ancestors when blessing Sarah and Hagar and all their descendants to the utmost generations. Luke 1:46b-55, as adapted from The Message GATHERING ENTRANCE REFLECTION Jesus takes the Resistance beyond prophecy, beyond songs of hope and lamentation, beyond satire and mockery, and beyond apocalyptic visions to declare the inauguration of a new kingdom. With his birth, teachings, death, and resurrection, Jesus has started a revolution. It just doesn’t look the way anyone expects. Rachel Held Evans, Inspired, p. 140 GATHERING ENTRANCE REFLECTION Our starting point is that we’re already there. We cannot attain the presence of God because we’re already totally in the presence of God. What’s absent is awareness. Little do we realize that God is maintaining us in existence with every breath we take. As we take another it means that God is choosing us now and now and now. We have nothing to attain or even learn. We do, however, need to unlearn some things.” Richard Rohr, Everything Belongs: The Gift of Contemplative Prayer, p 27-28 GATHERING ENTRANCE REFLECTION The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” Jesus responded, “If you have the faith of a mustard seed (and you do) – implying … that what they need isn’t more faith. What they need to realize is that the thing they ALREADY have IS faith. It’s like Jesus is saying how much faith do you have? and I’m like I don’t know Jesus, it’s not very much it’s like barely any and Jesus is saying “perfect!” Nadia Bolz-Weber, “A sermon on faith and doubt,” Oct. 2, 2022 LIGHTING THE ALTAR CANDLE GATHERING ENTRANCE REFLECTION Did I offer peace today? Did I bring a smile to someone’s face? Did I say words of healing? Did I let go of my anger and resentment? Did I forgive? Did I love? These are the real questions. I must trust that the little bit of love that I sow now will bear many fruits, here in this world and the life to come. Attributed to Henry Nouwen LIGHTING THE ALTAR CANDLE2023 Advent Liturgy: Meeting Righteousness and Peace
2023 Jubilee Liturgy: The Unsettling Realm of God
2023 Recommitment Liturgy: Seeing God in All This
2023 Summer Liturgy: Wrestling with Faith
2023 Trinity Liturgy: Live in Peace