Pentecost 2008 – Burn in Me Your Love

GATHERING            

ENTRANCE

REFLECTION

I, the highest and fiery power  

have kindled every living spark

and I have breathed out nothing that can die…

I am the fiery life of the divine essence…

I flame above the beauty of the fields:

I shine in the waters;

in the sun, the moon and the stars.

I burn.  And by the means of the airy wind,

I stir everything into quickness

with certain invisible life which sustains all…                                —Hildegard of Bingen

 

CALL TO WORSHIP

Leader:  Come Holy Spirit, Come Breath of God!

Voice 1:  Light of our hearts, Peace of our souls.

Voice 2:  Come Generous Spirit, renew and strengthen us.

All: Enter the inmost depths of our hearts!   

All: Christ is risen indeed!  Alleluia!

INVOCATION

HYMN

 

WORD FOR THE CHILDREN

 

SILENCE

 

CHANT

All:    Burn in me your love, sing in me your song
Holy Lover of all, Holy Lover of all.

SILENCE

PRAYERS

COMMON CONFESSION

Leader:    How can we hear the voice of God?

Voice 1:    I am convicted by each morning’s news

Voice 2:    I too am one unable to act

All:        How can we hear the voice of God?

Voice 1:    Watching the murder of earth and creation

Voice 2    By gun, by bombing, by terror, by torture, by war, by hunger, by AIDS, by disease—

All:    How can we hear the voice of God?

Voice 1:    By ignorance, loneliness, exploitation, overconsumption, greed and fear—

Voice 2:    In all the noise, the world seems deranged—

All:    How can we hear the voice of God?

INDIVIDUAL PRAYERS OF CONFESSION

 

ASSURANCE

Leader: You are our only Comforter. You refresh us. In our trouble You strengthen us. Shower your gifts on us. Give us lasting joy.

PRAYERS OF THANKSGIVING AND INTERCESSION

 

BODY PRAYER 

 

Body Chorus:  Walking alone on silent retreat
Before golden evening fades to dusk
I am seduced, at meadow’s edge.
A cherry tree in early bloom—
Whose bright rosy buds like tropical birds
Nest in soft petals of blushing white—
Its balm engulfs my aching soul.
Behind this vision of fragrant excess
The cherry’s younger sister lags—
A dogwood half a season behind
And drab in its greenness; not yet ripe,
Its blossom petals, like battered cups
Burnt at the edges, the shade of dried blood
As if just singed
By tongues of flame.
 
In silence you speak, Holy Lover of all.
Burn in me your love.
Sing in me your song.
Send me.

HYMN

THE WORD

SCRIPTURE

SERMON

SILENT REFLECTION

OFFERING

SHARED REFLECTIONS

ANNOUNCEMENTS

HYMN

BENEDICTION

Leader:    Go into the world in peace, have courage, hold on to what is good, return to no one evil, strengthen the faint of heart. Support the weak, help the suffering, honor all people, love and serve God, rejoicing in the power of the Holy Spirit, have courage, go in peace, have courage, go in peace.