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.
2020 Epiphany : The Wholeness of What Is to Come
GATHERING
ENTRANCE
REFLECTION
Genuine spirituality is not an individual pursuit, but must be anchored in one’s local community.… This means a constant struggle between freedom and obedience, listening and asserting oneself, possessing and letting go, clinging to stability and embracing change. Each individual rightfully seeks the freedom to develop God-given talents, but any selfish or narcissistic leanings are bruised in the give-and-take of community life.
Kathleen Norris, Foreword to Seeking God: The Way of St. Benedict,
by Esther de Waal, The Liturgical Press: Collegeville, MN, p. 8
Christmastide 2019-2020
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
2019 Advent liturgy: “What do you hear? What do you see?”
GATHERING
ENTRANCE
REFLECTION
Our God is an expert at dealing with chaos, with brokenness, with all the worst that we can imagine. God created order out of disorder, cosmos out of chaos, and God can do so always, can do so now―in our personal lives and in our lives as nations, globally. … Indeed, God is transforming the world now―through us―because God loves us.
― Desmond Tutu, from the introduction to God Has a Dream: A Vision of Hope for Our Time
2019 Jubilee liturgy: “The vision is out there …”
GATHERING
ENTRANCE
REFLECTION
The Gospel will be performed where two or three are gathered together, listening for the Word of God, feeling the breath of the Spirit dancing in and among and through them, feeding one another so that they can become what they already are: members of the Body of Christ, going out to perform the Good News of God’s love for the healing of the world.
Deborah Sokolove, Performing the Gospel, p. 171
2019 Recommitment liturgy: “Persistence in Adversity”
GATHERING
ENTRANCE
REFLECTION
Joy abandons me. There is no cure for my grief. My heart is sick….
The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved….
O that my head were a spring of water and my eyes a fountain of tears,
so that I might weep day and night for my poor people….
The Holy One says, Build houses to live in; plant gardens and eat what they grow….
Seek the welfare of the city….
Pray to the Holy One on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find yours.
Jeremiah 8:18,20, 9:10 and 29:5,7