At Peace Mennonite, we’re back into the Narrative Lectionary. We’ve made it to the prophets. (Whether we survive them or not remains to be seen.) Here’s our call to worship, based on the Message version of Isaiah 1:10-20: God says, “Quit your worship charades. I can’t stand your trivial religious games. When you put on…
As we prepare to celebrate New Year’s Day this coming Sunday, I am re-posting a New Year’s prayer that I wrote last year. I have formatted the prayer to be read responsively-leader speaks the plain text, congregation the bold, and everyone speaks the bold italics. As always, you are welcome to use this prayer in…
We will be having a service of communion and anointing this Sunday–the 3rd Sunday of Advent. Here is the prayer of confession I wrote for the service, primarily based on Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11. The assurance of pardon will be the hymn “O Jesus so Sweet,” sung by our choir. Holy God, Open our eyes to…
Yes, I know it is Thursday. It’s been one of those weeks. Our worship on Sunday will be a service of remembrance and lament for the terrorist attacks of 9/11 and for our nation’s violent response to those attacks. You are welcome to use any of this liturgical material in your own worship context. Call…
Here are some worship pieces I wrote for this coming Sunday. As always, you are welcome to use them as written or in an adapted form for your own worshiping community. Call to Worship (based on Psalm 22, Matthew 16:21-28) We come to worship this morning from different places. O God, do not be far…
Rather than share a liturgy that I have written this week, I want to share an on-line resource that I use frequently. The Seekers Church in Washington, D.C. has a lovely website. If you click on “Worship” and “Liturgies ” you will find a listing of many of their worship services. You can see the…
I just read a very good post on the perils of “children’s time” over at Carolyn’s wonderful blog, “Worshiping with Children.” Her post has inspired me to share a bit about how our church worked to include children in the Lent and Easter worship this year. Our Lenten theme this year was “Make Space for…
I was in liturgy writing overdrive last week, so nothing new this week. I’ve pulled out a prayer of blessing for graduates that I wrote a couple of years ago. It is about that time of year again . . . Prayer of Blessing for Graduates Creative and Creating God, We thank you for [names…
I love to plan worship services. I love to arrange for the participants, select the hymns, write the prayers, choose the readings . . . I love every part. And I want it all to be perfect. I had this problem even before I was a pastor. My wedding, for example. I didn’t spend much…
*This order of worship is from 2011. You can see the 2013 service, which does not include foot washing, here. – – – – – Welcome and Introduction Confession and Assurance Hymn: What wondrous love is this (v. 1) Prayer of Confession and Assurance of Pardon (From Psalm 51) Hymn: What wondrous love is this…
Spacious Faith 