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.
Pentecost 2012
REFLECTION
We are the vessels of God’s voice, her words blowing through us, bidding us to tell the tales that only we can speak.
Jan L. Richardson, In Wisdom’s Path
Easter 2012 – Because Christ Is Always Risen
REFLECTION
Holy Jesus, I hear God’s mighty “Yes!” in
your Resurrection.
You invite me to live also,
and I want to say “Yes!” to you.
Take me out of the tomb that
imprisons me,
lead me into the morning of new life,
and walk with me wherever your love
may lead.
Peter Storey, Listening at Golgotha, p87-88
Lent 2012 – Promise in a Dark Time
REFLECTION
Great indeed is the baptism which is offered you. It is a ransom to captives; the remission of offenses; the death of sin; the regeneration of the soul; the garment of light; the holy seal indissoluble; the chariot to heaven; the luxury of paradise; a procuring of the kingdom; the gift of adoption.
Cyril, Bishop of Jerusalem (c. 315-386)
from “Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril”
Epiphany 2012 – The Heavens Are Open
REFLECTION
When we can identify the kingdom of heaven sown around us it’s not just an FYI kind of thing; it’s a subversion. It’s God peeking through the curtain and letting us know that there is a deeper reality present in the world – a reality in which God gets God’s way.
Nadia Bolz-Weber, pastor of House for All Sinners and Saints, Denver, Colorado. From a sermon titled “The Kingdom of Heaven is like . . .” Aug. 8, 2011
Advent 2011 – Tear Open the Heavens
REFLECTION
Our whole life is Advent — that is, a time of waiting for the ultimate, for the time when there will be a new heaven and a new earth . . . . Learn to wait, because he has promised to come. . . . We call to him: “Yes, come soon, Lord Jesus!”
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, A Testament to Freedom