God
you invite us to the table,
where
we can eat and drink and experience a fellowship of hope and love.
At
this table you give us a foretaste of the Kingdom:
where
all will eat and drink together,
where
all will be fed as they need,
where
all are loved and accepted.
You
call us to make the table of Life and Love an open, welcoming place,
and we try.
But
sometimes we fence some people out,
some
eat their fill and others go away hungry,
sometimes
we act in ways that are unworthy of your table of hope.
God
of Grace, who meets us at the table,
we
rejoice in the invitation, we lament those times we have not lived up
to the vision.
Help
us keep the table open, help us ensure that all are fed there.
The
God who invites us to the table does so with arms that are open wide.
God keeps the table set so we can come back again and again to be fed
and refreshed. We are always welcomed at the table as forgiven,
loved, hungry children of God. Let us continue to eat and drink and
be refreshed.
Thanks
be to God! Amen.
Worship Offerings
A collection of worship resources I have written. Feel free to use them and/or adapt if they are helpful. For credit it would be suitable to give my name (Gord Waldie).
Thursday, September 14, 2023
PRAYER FOR & ASSURANCE OF GRACE for Worldwide Comunion Sunday
Tuesday, August 22, 2023
For September 3, 2023 --Proper 17A
OPENING
PRAYER
Source
of life, you catch our attention, you pique our curiosity.
And
we turn from our regular day, we step off the well-worn path, we
investigate what is happening.
Only
to find ourselves on holy ground, standing in your presence.
Creator
God, who invites us to stand on holy ground, in this time together,
Renew
us, we pray, in body and soul.
Open
our ears and hearts and souls to hear your voice.
Feed
and strengthen us so that we can go from here refreshed and
energized.
Then
lead us back out to live and serve.
We
pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.
PRAYER
FOR & ASSURANCE OF GRACE
God
of bushes that burn and not get consumed, God of our ancestors,
we
stand in your presence with questions and uncertainties.
You
invite us, challenge us, call us to bring Good News of liberation to
our neighbours.
And
our uncertainties surge forward:
Who
are we to take on this task? Who exactly are you to ask it of us?
Our
uncertainties, our doubts, our questions
may
be ways we try to avoid the invitation, the challenge, the call.
So
help us, we pray, to work past them
through
your grace may we be empowered to share that Good News, even if we
still have doubts, and questions, and uncertainties.
The
God who spoke to Moses out of a burning bush, who
met Jonah in the belly of the big fish, and
who called Peter and Andrew from their fishing nets, calls
to us. God meets our questions and doubts and encourages us to
continue to live and serve. We are able to play our part in the drama
of faith and life because God is with us.
Thanks
be to God. Amen.
COMMISSIONING
We were called to take a break from the everyday and sit in God’s presence.
We have listened for God’s voice. We have eaten at God’s table.
Now our worship ends, and our service continues
We respond to God’s invitation to share Good News of love and liberation with the world around us.
Go now to live and love and serve.
Go knowing that God who was once revealed in a burning bush, who was made flesh in Jesus of Nazareth, who has blown through Creation since the beginning is with you.
Always and everywhere. Hallelujah!
Saturday, June 10, 2023
Prayers for our Affirming Celebration (afternoon of June 11)
INVOCATION & LIGHTING OF CANDLES
Source of Life and Love, you call us together to support each other.
You bring light into our world, light that darkness can not defeat (Christ Candle is lit)
The world you created, the world you love, has such diversity
A variety of ages, birthplaces, genders, sexual expressions, racial origins, a multi-hued picture
All beloved parts of your beloved family, all part of the rainbow that makes up the light (Rainbow Candle is lit)
As we gather here this afternoon, fill our hearts with love for all our neighbours,
remind us that all are welcome, that all belong in the world you love.
And help us ensure that this love, this welcome, this belonging, is part of how we all live together.
Amen
PRAYER OF CELEBRATION AND COMMITMENT
God who has created and is creating,
Source of life and love in abundance,
Holy Mystery who is Wholly Love.
Over and over in our faith story you remind us
to draw the circle wider,
you urge us to welcome the outcast and the stranger.
Over and over again in history you have shown us that
the arc of the moral universe may be long
but it bends inexorably toward justice.
And you invite us along for the journey
toward overwhelming acceptance,
full inclusion, justice for all.
Today we gather here in this place to celebrate.
Today we recognize that this community of faith has jumped aboard the town car of justice
and made a public commitment to make;
your abundant love,
your promise of abundant life,
your hope for a world where all are fully included and allowed to be
exactly who you created them to be,
explicit in our life together.
We make a public pledge to be intentional about sharing that vision of the world not only within these walls,
but also in the world outside them –
in Grande Prairie and in the wider world
in the best ways we can.
Today we celebrate the wondrous diversity that makes up your world,
the amazing rainbow of identities that makes up the spectrum of our community.
May all of your beloved children:
whenever they were born,
wherever they were born, wherever they live now,
whatever the colour of their skin,
whatever their gender identity or sexuality,
however they express their identity,
may they all know your abundant life and love.
God who has called us to this place and time,
Love Incarnate who has moved us to make this commitment today,
help us live out the pledge we make public this day.
Help each of us, as individuals and as communities,
be open to have old assumptions and understandings challenged.
Give each of us the courage to stand alongside our neighbours,
to speak out against voices that would demean or condemn them
simply for being who you created them to be.
In a world so often filled with hatred and fear and division,
may our voices be ones of inclusion and love and faith.
We pray in the name of Jesus, who commands us to love each other as we love ourselves,
to love each other as you first loved us.
For in doing this, sharing this wonderfully abundant inclusive love,
folk will know that we are indeed your people
and following your Way.
Amen.
Tuesday, May 30, 2023
For June 11, 2023 -- Affirming Celebration
CALL
TO WORSHIP
All
who are thirsty, all who are tired, all who wish to be refreshed,
All
of us, whoever we are, where ever we find ourselves in life,
Old
and young; cis-gendered, trans and non-binary; dark and pale skinned;
neuro-typical and neuro-divergent,
Long
time members of the community and first-timers,
All
are welcome to come here to pray, to sing, to be in God’s presence
We
have come to worship the God who created and loves us all.
Let
us worship together...
OPENING
PRAYER
Welcoming
and inviting God, you have called us together this morning.
We
have come to listen for your wisdom, to be refreshed by your
presence.
In
this time of prayer and song and listening,
move
in our hearts, awaken in us a commitment to welcome your diverse
family in our community.
Then
when our time of worship is over,
lead
us back out to proclaim the wideness and inclusiveness of your love
and hope.
We
pray in Jesus’ name as we share a prayer like he taught his friends
long ago...
PRAYER
FOR & ASSURANCE OF GRACE
Holy
Mystery who is Wholly love, you call us to build a new community,
one
where all are welcome, one where all are included.
Sometimes
we get it right, sometimes we get it wrong.
There
are days when we only see the differences between us and forget that
others are part of your beloved family.
There
are times when the community of Christ has openly attacked others
because of their skin colour, or age, or sexuality, or gender
Where
we get community and inclusion right, celebrate with us
Where
we miss the chance to include all our neighbours, to welcome the
diversity of your family, through grace, help us get back on track.
...time
of silent prayer...
There’s
a wideness in God’s mercy, like the wideness of the sea. God has a
vision for what kind of a community we could be and God helps us take
small steps or large leaps to live out that vision. When we miss the
mark we are offered grace, forgiveness, and renewal. We are
encouraged to learn and try again.
Thanks
be to God! Amen.
COMMISSIONING
Go
now into the world committed to live out these words:
Through
Faith, we walk on the path Jesus set for us.
The
people of St. Paul’s Belong… Believe… Love... Listen… Lead.
(St. Paul’s Mission
Statement)
As
you go, carry with you the wide, boundless love of God that breaks
down boundaries
We
pledge to love the world God loves, to see and welcome our neighbours
as beloved siblings
And
trust that God: who has created and is creating; who is made known in
Jesus, the Word-made-Flesh; and who works in all of us through the
Holy Spirit is with you whoever you are and where ever you go.
Hallelujah!
Thursday, May 25, 2023
For June 4, 2023 -- 1st Sunday after Pentecost
CALL
TO WORSHIP (uses lines from A New Creed)
We
gather as those who have been called
called
to be the church:
to
celebrate God’s presence,
to
live with respect in creation,
to
love and serve others
to
seek justice and resist evil.
God
has called us together as followers of Christ
called
us to share the Good News of Jesus, crucified and risen.
We
gather as those who have been called,
opening
our hearts and souls to God’s presence,
may
we be refreshed and energized by this time together
OPENING PRAYER
Source
of Life, in the beginning you spoke into the chaos,
causing
light and life to erupt and fill the earth.
God
who feeds our bodies and our souls, as we join our hearts in worship,
as
we share prayers and songs and loaf and cup,
move
within around and among us,
empower
us to live out the tasks you place in our keeping.
God
who calls us to be the church,
may
we leave this place today ready to share your hope, to proclaim your
love, to be the church in the world.
We
pray in the name of Jesus, who invites us to and serves us at the
table of faith. Amen
PRAYER
FOR & ASSURANCE OF GRACE (uses language drawn from A Song of
Faith)
God
who is Holy Mystery and Wholly Love,
made
in your image, we yearn for fulfillment that is life in you.
And
yet we live in a broken world.
We
are touched, shaped by that brokenness
and
we lament that it leads us from your hope for who we could be.
God
who invites us to join in the song of the church,
a
community of broken but hopeful believers,
we
know that the church has not always lived up to what it could be.
So
we join our voices with many other voices,
asking
for grace and forgiveness,
asking that the Holy Spirit would reorient
us, as
individuals and as a community,
to
live into who we could be, to be a blessing to your creation.
God
of Grace, we open ourselves to your grace.
That
we would be renewed and refreshed as we follow The Way of Jesus.
Amen.
COMMISSIONING
We
are called to be the church
We
sing the song of a renewed church, a renewed world, a healed
creation.
We
have been fed, we have been loved, we have been called.
We
go into the world God loves to be the church, to share the Good News,
to bring hope and love to all we meet
As
you go may the Holy Mystery who is Wholly Love, made known as:
the
One who has created and is creating, as Jesus the Word made flesh and
as the Spirit who works and through us always;
walk and sing and dance
with you.
Today,
tomorrow and forevermore.
Sunday, March 12, 2023
For March 19, 2023 -- Lent 4A
OPENING PRAYER
Creator,
Giver of Life, God who calls us together.
What
do you see as you look at this group gathered for worship today?
Do
you see our whole beings, our flaws and our features, our triumphs
and our disasters?
Do
you see us as we are, as we would like to be seen, or something
different altogether?
God
who names and claims as as your own, God who meets us in our baptism,
Help
us see ourselves as you see us, beloved and full of promise.
God
who challenges us to love our neighbours, families, friends, and
enemies,
Help
us to see the world as you see it, beloved and full of promise.
As
we worship today, open our eyes to see clearly, we pray in the name
of Jesus; our teacher, guide, and role model, who encourages us to
pray saying...
COMMISSIONING:
Go
as those chosen by God, who sees great things in you.
Go
to serve the world in which we live and love
We
go to try and see the world as God sees it
We
go to look beyond the surface
We
go to see our neighbours as God’s chosen and beloved servants
May
you see the face of Christ in everyone you meet
And
may everyone we meet see the face of God in us
Go
with God: who calls us, claims us, challenges us, and walks with us
always.
Amen
Thursday, February 16, 2023
Call to Worship for Lent 2023
The
Lenten road stretches out before us, the path is clearly marked.
Walking
with Jesus we step out on the path that leads to Jerusalem.
As
we travel toward parade, trial, cross, and tomb,
we
stop along the way to sing, to pray, to listen for God’s voice.
The
road may grow dark, but we do not walk alone.
Let
us worship together.