Call to Worship from 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10 Grace and peace to you.And also to you.Let us receive the message of God’s good news this morning with powerAnd in the Holy Spirit.Let us receive the word with joy,And let us proclaim the word with conviction.Let us receive all who have gathered with whole-hearted welcomeAs we worship a…
Call to Worship from Philippians 4:4-7 Dear friends,rejoicein God always. Let’s say it again:rejoice.May our gentleness be known,for God is near.Let us not worry about anything,for God is near.We will ask for what we needin prayer,and offer thanks to Godin prayer.We rejoice and give thanks thatthe peace of Godwill guard our hearts;the peace of Godwill…
Call to Worship (from Philippians 2) We have come to seekEncouragement in Christ,Consolation from love,Sharing in the Spirit.God receives us with compassion.We receive each other with sympathy.May our joy be complete as we gather together in worship. Prayer of Confession and Assurance of Pardon from Matthew 21:28-32 When we care more about looking good than…
We gather in worship to give thanks to God,To call on the Holy name,To sing praises to God,To remember God’s wonderful works.We gather in worship because our hearts seek the Holy One.We watch for signs of God’s presence.As our ancestors were led with the cloud by day and fire by night,God guides us with the…
O give thanks to the Holy One, who is good;God’s steadfast love endures forever!Let the church say,“God’s steadfast love endures forever.”Let us all proclaim,“God’s steadfast love endures forever.”In our distress we can call on our Creatorwho will answered us and set us in a broad place—A place of prayer and singing, a place of listening…
Here is a call to worship for Good Friday that I adapted from a piece I wrote several years ago: In this holy week, on this holy night,We come to be present with Jesus in his suffering.With the glory of Palm Sunday behind us and the victory of Easter not yet come,We gather with our…
Seek the Holy One, who may be found;Call upon God, who is near. Our thoughts are not God’s thoughts,Nor are God’s ways our ways. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are God’s ways higher than our ways and God’s thoughts than our thoughts. The holy word that goes out shall not return empty,but it shall…
We’re not using the Narrative Lectionary at Peace Mennonite right now, but I love this week’s reading on the parables of the Kingdom in Matthew 12:24-43. So I wrote a little something as a reflection on this passage. Honestly, I’m not sure exactly what it is–not quite a prayer, certainly not long enough for a…
At Peace Mennonite we are dipping into Dr. Wil Gafney’s A Women’s Lectionary for the Whole Church (Year W) and our primary reading this week is Song of Songs 4:9-15. It should be fun! I suppose it’s not surprising that I’ve had a difficult time finding hymns and words for worship that relate to this…
Wow! There is a lot of good stuff in this Sunday’s Revised Common Lectionary readings! I’ve posted links to several previous worship pieces below. (You may note that they are quite Beatitudes heavy, which I guess is not surprising for a Mennonite.) The new piece I’ve written for this week focuses on what is maybe…
Spacious Faith 