Re:
the order of service
Welcome
Good
morning. I would like to extend our warmest welcome to everyone who has come to
worship together, this morning, with praise and prayers.
We
are one and many. Our lives with all of our different stories, different
colours and shades, all are intersected and join here, to be amazed and
enlightened. May we share our yearning for a deeper connection with one another
and with God in God's centering love.
Do we have anyone who is worshipping with us for the first time this morning?
Please
introduce yourself to us. We welcome you and celebrate your presence among us;
our church offers coffee and lunch in our hall following the worship. You are
most welcome to join in our lunch table of laughter and stories; we hope you
enjoy your time in our loving and caring community. (if the newcomers are not
travelers but live in Chemainus or nearby.)
Celebrations
Do we
have celebrations? Let us hear how the small and big gifts of life have touched
us with delight and joy this week!
Thank you all for sharing your happiness with us. May love abound in you and in us who are lifted up by your joy. Giving thanks and gratitude for life, the gift of God, let us sing together with celebration: (Happy birthday...)
Announcements
Let
us hear how the Spirit of God is working with us in our church family and
beyond.
After hearing the announcements
We
share the joy. We share the burden. We share the exciting moments we have
enjoyed and those which are to come. Thank God and all those whose gifts and
bright spirits strengthen our community to be a better place to grow in
commitment to love and justice.
Prayer Concerns
Can a
small church make a difference? Yes we can.
In
this time we share our prayer concerns.
We
share our concerns in a community which is who we are and where God
hears.
We
will feel that people's hearts wrap around us and know that strength.
Do we have the names of those who are dear to us and need our prayers?
Do we
have local or global issues which deeply concern us?
Do we
have anyone who would be helped by addressing a burden, a lament, sadness or
sorrow? We would like to be a hearing and healing circle and offer our prayers.
In this circle of prayers
we
break our hearts with truth.
We
gain deeper knowledge of the lives of others,
those
close to us, and those who are not known to us but whose lives are affected by
the way we live.
Thank
you everyone for sharing these concerns and burdens with us.
Candle-lighting
This
time for lighting a candle holds many meanings: those who choose to sit in the
pews can have a time of quiet reflection or silent prayer. You are also welcome
to 'be simply present' - being in the sheltering circle of a community of good
spirit and music.
And for those who come up, lighting a candle may mean lighting tears or laughter, remembering blessings or releasing burdens, praying and bidding shalom and healing for our loved ones. Please feel free to come up and light your stories.
Opening Prayer
Invitation:
Let us open our hearts for one another in the presence of God, here and now, as
we continue to worship together.
(For example,)
As a
church family, we are
a banquet
table - feeding the poor
a
circle of sheltering love - caring for one another
a
journey which is only at the halfway point - a milestone.
O God, keep our feet strong in our pilgrimage of love.
May
the roots of our love reach deep into the ground of your being. Amen.
Prayer of Confession:
An image of sin: harming
against another.
What
we do in confessing: “Before God and every person here, in the company of all
God’s people, we release anything we hold against another and regret the harm
we have done to another and to creation and ask God’s restoration. Rev. Murray
suggests, “we confess to God and in the company of all God’s people that our
lives and the life of the world are broken by our sin.”
Assurance: canceling our debts:
jubilee
Three
Minute Meditation (after scripture reading)
May
we aspire to be who we truly are in God's presence, our centre.
Let
us have a quiet moment for opening ourselves to the words of scripture.
Or
you may choose to 'simply be' as you trust that the centering love of God will
touch you.
Communion &Great Thanksgiving
L: May God’s transforming
love be with us.
P: And also with our
neighbours and the whole people of God throughout the earth.
L: We open our hearts.
P: We open our joyful hearts
to the Lord and to one another, and stand in the presence of God and one
another as thankful people.
L: Let us lift our voices in
singing with men and women throughout the ages
our song of faith, with the
hope that we draw the circle of love wider, deeper and higher.
Remembering the Community (by
the leader)
On this table of the great
sharing of God’s love,
Where bread is broken and
juice is poured out,
We also remember those who
suffer in our midst, in our community, and in our world.
….intercessory prayers…
Held in Christ’s love, may we
love as Christ loved.
Knowing our own weakness, may
we stand with all who stumble.
Sharing in Christ’s
suffering, may we remember all who suffer.
Seeking Christ’s guidance,
may we help restore their lives and their broken communities.
We gather these and all our
prayers,
Thankful that we may turn to
you, as (Lord’s Prayer)
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