BLESSING OF 276 CARROLL ST NW
BLESSING OF 276 CARROLL ST NW
AS THE HEADQUARTERS OF
SEEKERS CHURCH
A CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY
IN THE TRADITION OF CHURCH OF THE SAVIOUR
June 20, 2004
GATHERING
Blessing the Salt, the Water, and the Branch
Leader 1: We bless the element of water:
Life-giving, life-threatening, life-blessing.
Water taken from the Lake of the Saints at Dayspring.
Water that has baptized and entombed us,
Water that flows, a gift from the heavens,
Water that quenches our thirst,
soothes our senses, cleanses our beings,
And reveals us to one another.
Leader 2: We bless the element of salt:
Life-giving, life-threatening, life-blessing,
Salt taken from the shelves of our old home,
2025 Massachusetts Avenue,
Salt that has flavored our life together,
Salt that is crystalline, treasure of the earth,
Salt of the sea, our blood, our sweat, our tears,
Salt that preserves us.
Leader 3: We bless this branch:
a branch of bloom and thorn,
cut from an abandoned bush
growing next to what was once a forgotten building.
It reminds us that love like this rose springs eternal.
We are remembered in Christ.
Jesus said, “I am the vine and you are the branches.”
We are a branch of the Church of the Saviour.
We are a branch of the true vine.
Procession continues to parking lot entry,
anointing each doorway along the way with salt and water.
Entering the Building
Those outside: Stretch toward the skies, you doors,
Open high and wide.
Let the glorious Lover of Life come in.
Voices within: Who is this splendid Lover?
Leader: The Holy One, Creator of Heaven and Earth,
The Spirit of life,
the Lover of all.
Voices within: Enter, all you blessed ones of God,
in the name of Jesus, who is the Christ.
BLESSINGS AND PRAYERS
Blessing the place of worship and gathering
Leader: Seekers, friends, neighbors, the future is possible.
“Behold, says the Lord, I am doing a new thing. Can you not see it?” Today our old building has been made new. Today we are offering the old bricks and mortar as well as the new plaster, ceilings and flooring of our building into the safe-keeping of our Holy Lover so that we may be more like Christ in our desire to live in truth and compassion.
People: Holy, Holy, Holy,
Divine Builder, Architect of All,
Take our old building made new
into your sacred embrace.
Truth and compassion shall abound in this place.
Leader: Today we offer this sanctuary into the safe-keeping of our Holy Lover. Make it for us a place of worship, communion, fellowship, and celebration. We give thanks to the hearts, the hands, and the minds that designed and created this room for us.
People: Holy, Holy, Holy,
Divine Builder, Architect of All,
Take this sanctuary into your sacred embrace.
Truth and compassion shall abound in this place.
Leader: Today we offer this cross into the safe-keeping of our Holy Lover. Make it a symbol of joyful sacrifice and eternal hope and resurrection. We give thanks to the carpenters who crafted it and the cherry tree that offered its wood.
People: Holy, Holy, Holy,
Divine Builder, Architect of All,
Take this cross into your sacred embrace.
Truth and compassion shall abound in this place.
Leader: Today we offer this altar into the safe-keeping of our Holy Lover. Make it the table of the joyful feast of the people of God. Make it the table of plenty. We give thanks for the hands that fashioned it and the tree that gave its wood.
People: Holy, Holy, Holy,
Divine Builder, Architect of All,
Take this altar into your sacred embrace
Truth and compassion shall abound in this place.
Leader: Today we offer this lectern into the safe-keeping of our Holy Lover. Make this lectern a source of inspiration to us all. Let it hold our sacred texts, our words, our hopes and our dreams. We give thanks to the hands that fashioned it and the tree that gave its wood.
People: Holy, Holy, Holy,
Divine Builder, Architect of All,
Take this lectern into your sacred embrace
Truth and compassion shall abound in this place
Leader: Today we offer thisreredosinto the safe-keeping of our Holy Lover. Make this backdrop a source of steady reassurance as it holds our cross and focuses our worship. We give thanks to the hands that built it.
People: Holy, Holy, Holy,
Divine Builder, Architect of All,
take this reredos into your sacred embrace.
Truth and compassion shall abound in this place.
Leader: Today we offer these chairs into the safe-keeping of our Holy Lover. May these chairs hold us gently as we wait upon the wisdom of the Divine Mystery. We give thanks to those who designed and constructed them for us.
People: Holy, Holy, Holy,
Divine Builder, Architect of All,
take these chairs into your sacred embrace.
Truth and compassion shall abound in this place.
Hymn This is a Day of New Beginnings
Words by Brian Wren, music by Carlton Young
Scripture 1 Peter 2:3-6
If indeed you have tasted that the Holy One is good, come to God, a living stone, though rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God’s sight. And like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
Reading
The Future is Possible
by Sonya Dyer
As we face new junctures
In our lives,
What enduring truths
Will you and I
Be seeking to embody
In our new situations?
We will continue to challenge patterns
In the culture, in the community, and in ourselves
With the yardstick of faith.
We want to be everyday prophets
Engaging the challenges we see
Without knowing where we will come out,
Living with what is unresolved and unclear,
Being patient with the time it takes
For the new to become clear.
We will stay alert to what is present in our new situations
and what we bring to them,
and trust that new insights, energies,
and possibilities will emerge.
We will continue to create pockets of hope,
Name those we see,
And when possible
Expand their power.
We believe that it is possible
To be people of compassion and justice
In every corner of the globe.
Prayers
Leader: Let us now bring our prayers for the future of this place,
aloud and in the silence of our hearts.
Jesus Prayer
All: Eternal Spirit: Earth-maker, Pain-bearer, Life-giver,
Source of all that is and all that shall be,
Father and Mother of us all, creation resonates
with celebration of your nameless name.
Let justice and mercy flood the earth;
let all creation harmonize in your imagination;
and let us recognize
that every thought and thing belongs to you.
With the bread we need for today, feed us;
in the hurts we absorb from each other
and those we inflict on others, forgive us;
in times of test and temptation, stand with us;
from the grip of all that is evil, free us.
For you alone are creating our universe,
now and forever. Amen.
Blessing the Places of Work, Study, and Play
Entire congregation moves through the building singing chants and well-known hymns. In each room, the leader anoints the cross.
All: Holy Lover of Life, we give thanks for this room and all its furnishings. We pray that you will meet all who enter,
blessing them in their going in and coming out.
Blessing the Meal
Leader: Grain once scattered on the hillsides,
sanctify, O Spirit of God, into a heavenly loaf,
as you have sanctified these bricks and stones,
once dry and crumbling, into a living body.
All: Blessed are you, Holy One, creator of seed and vine.
Here is your mystery:
Jesus your body, we your body,
eating and drinking our way
into your Way.
Dispersal into the World
