Recommitment 2000: Everyday Prophets

 

Seekers Church

A Christian Community

In the Tradition of the Church of the Saviour

 

Recommitment 2000

 Everyday Prophets

 

SILENT REFLECTION

Much as we value prophetic leaders and movements,

our challenge in Seekers has been

to be prophetic as a group,

to be a prophetic community.

That means re-inventing for our times

what it means to embody

compassion and justice

in our homes, at work,

in the community and the whole earth.

Sonya Dyer.  SEEKERS: Growing Our Life Together .

 

PRELUDE

 

CALL TO WORSHIP

Leader:            If you thirst for more than tears, come:

 

Community:      And the Lord our God shall give you drink.

 

Leader:            If you hunger for more than ashes, come:

 

All:                   Let us sip together the wine of the Kingdom,

                        and the realm of God shall appear in our midst.

                        Let us taste together the manna of heaven,

                        and the reign of God shall fill the earth.

 

 

INVOCATION

 

HYMN

 

WORD FOR THE CHILDREN

 

SILENCE

 

LITANY

Leader:           What is possible?

 

Community:     Freedom is possible.

 

Voice 1:          In the ties of commitment we find freedom.

                      In the husk of the past we find the seeds of the future.

 

Voice 2:          We embrace what is precious,

                       the dailiness of life.

 

Voice 1:          We understand that freedom isn’t a once-in-a-lifetime

                       walk under the Milky Way,

                       feeling the rivers of light, the fields of dark.

 

Voice 2:          What we mourn survives

                       in the dawning sky of every new day.

                       What we lost returns

                       and shines in the night to guide us home.

 

Leader:            What brings us together

                        is the Spirit’s presence in our midst,

                        even when community is the last place we want to be.

 

All:                   We are here to say yes, God,

                        even when the answer requires more

                        than we believe we have.

 

SILENCE

 

PRAYERS

CONFESSION

Leader:            Living, breathing Christ,

                        help us to find you in our midst –

                        in him who listens and sighs,

                        in her who watches and prays.

 

Voice 1:           Is Christ young or old?  Male or female?

                       Dark or light?  Rich or poor?

                       Forgive us when we think we know.

 

Voice 2:          Is Christ foolish or wise?  Bold or timid?

                      Kind or fierce?  Busy or slow?

                      Forgive us when we think we know.

 

Voice 1:          Does Christ prefer men or women?

                      Frequent bars?  Dance in the moonlight?

                      Wear dangling earrings?

                      Forgive us when we think we know.

 

Voice 2:          Does Christ believe in the virgin birth?

                      In the trinity and the resurrection?

                      Is Christ a Christian?

                      Forgive us when we think we know.

 

All:                 Living, breathing Christ,

                      help us to find you in our midst,

                      and to accept that your truth

                      cannot be stored in old wineskins.

 

ASSURANCE

Leader:        Take heart.  We are a community of everyday prophets.

                    We can trust in the compassion of God,

                    the rock of our faith,

                    the spark of our transformation,

                    the fountain of our love,

                    and the source of our lives in Christ. 

 

PRAYERS OF THE COMMUNITY

 

HYMN

 

THE WORD

FIRST LESSON

SILENCE

GOSPEL LESSON

SERMON

SILENT REFLECTION

 

OFFERING

 

SHARED REFLECTIONS

 

ANNOUNCEMENTS

 

HYMN

 

BENEDICTION

Leader:        Go from this place

                    knowing that you are everyday prophets,

                    engaging the challenges you see

                    without knowing where it will all come out.

                    Live in what is unresolved;

                    be patient with the time it takes

                    for the new to become clear.

                    God walks with prophets in every age.  Amen.

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WORSHIP RESOURCES

Call To Worship: Eerett Tilson and Phyllis Cole, Litanies and Other Prayers, pg 137

Benediction: Dyer, SEEKERS: Growing Our Life Together