A Christmas Prayer for 2024

God who meets us where we are and offers Hope

when we read the daily news it is too easy to give in to despair.
Open our eyes and souls this year to see the other stories,

the ones that don’t make the headlines,

the ones that reveal that there is hope for the future.

God of hope, help us live as a hopeful people.

God of Peace, of a transformed world,

the angels sang about Peace on Earth, Good will to all,

There is such a lack of peace in the world today.

People and countries are in turmoil, lives are turned upside down.

Help us find the places of peace in our world this year.

Help us to work for peace in all the circles of our lives.

God who leads us to the springs of Joy,

sometimes joy is easy, sometimes joy is hard.

When joy seems far away remind us that we are not alone.

As we sing the carols and remember how you chose to live among us,

as one of us,

help us find the joy that comes from trusting that you are with us.

God who is Love, who loves the world, who fills our hearts to overflowing,

as followers of Jesus you challenge us to be people known by our love.

There is so much anger and distrust and division in the world around us.

Move in our hearts to meet that anger and division with a different heart.

Help us act lovingly toward all we meet, loving others as you love us.

God of Christmas, of angel song and the story of Good News to all,

as we remember and retell the story this year,

may the truth of the gift sink into our hearts and souls.

Remind us, we pray that you continue to share our lives.

Remind us that hope, peace joy and love continue to fill the world around us.

Help us join in the angel song, help us share the Good News,

may the promise of the Baby in the manger lead us into the New Year as a transformed people.

Amen

Christmas Eve Commissioning

 Listen! Can you hear the angels singing?
Can you hear the shepherds shouting for joy?
Can you hear the cries of the new-born babe?
Look! Can you see the light shining from the manger?
Can you see the shepherds running down the street?
Can you see the glow of hope and love in Mary’s face?
Go now to share the story, the Good News that shall be for all people.
Go to spread the hope, peace, joy, and love promised by the birth of the Christ Child
Go out to join in the song of the angels:
Glory to God in the Highest! Peace on Earth! Goodwill to all!

The (N)Ever Changing Story (a draft anyway)

Christmas Eve 2024

It is his first Christmas (ogres don’t celebrate much after all) and Shrek is determined to make it perfect for Fiona and the babies. He is given a book called “Christmas for Village Idiots”. The book talks about decorations and feast but makes it clear that the highlight, the most important part of a good Christmas is the telling of the Christmas Story.

 
Of course in Shrek the Halls the story being told is A Visit from St. Nicholas (aka ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas”, not the story we tell tonight but the fact remains that for many of us the most important part of Christmas is remembering the story – although maybe presents and chocolate come a really close second.

I believe that stories are always really important. I think stories are one of the best ways we have of teaching each other, and ourselves. Author Tom King says “the truth about stories is that that’s all we are”, United Church musician and storyteller Linnea Good says “For we are a people of a story, of stars that sing...”. When we gather in this place at Christmas we always make sure to tell the story of a baby in a manger, of shepherds in the fields, of angels proclaiming Good News and Peace on Earth.

One of the things that makes a story last long is that it can be told in many different ways. We can change some of the details, tell it from a different point of view, highlight a different character but as long as the core of the story is there it is still the same story. Sometimes we tell it differently to make it seem a bit more up-to-date (which I think is what the creators of the Gen Z Bible were attempting). Sometimes we do it to use imagery that is more familiar to a different culture – certainly that is what Jean Brebeuf did in writing the Huron Carol and why we now have an Indigenous Translation of the New Testament. A great story can be told in many different ways but remain the same story – it changes constantly without really changing.

I invite you to think of the different times and ways you have heard the Christmas story told. Maybe in a TV movie (part of me always hears the story in Linus’ voice from A Charlie Brown Christmas). Or maybe from a story book. Or maybe in a YouTube Video – there are some interesting ones out there, like the one I found a few years back that uses popular music (well popular for 2012) to tell the story or the couple I found in 2010 that told it using Social Media. Another way we tell the story is Nativity scenes. I have lost count of how many different ones fill our living room each year Mind you we don’t have this more modern-ish one
the imagery of the story can grow with the times it seems.

Or then there are Christmas Pageants. Those traditional little plays where we do our best to find parts for everyone. Sometimes the story takes on new twists – sometimes unplanned or unexpected – based on the surprises that come with giving young people a microphone. May favourite is the story of the child who was very unhappy to be cast as the innkeeper and so when Mary and Joseph knocked on the door he threw it wide open and said “We have lots of room! Come on in!”. We have never had that happen here but we have had the story told by birds one year and by a flock of sheep another. Then there was the year where we acknowledged that EVERYONE wanted to be Mary...

I think there was a year where our pageant had the various stable animals tell the story but I know that a few years ago we used a book  on Christmas Eve that does just that. 

What might we learn from a different telling? What does the cow think about this invasion of her feed trough? How might the shepherd tell the story (did that for a sermon one year in another place). Maybe telling the story in our own way allows us to immerse ourselves in it, to imagine where we might find ourselves (even if EVERYONE wants to be Mary).

One of the ways I like to retell the Christmas story is to make it feel a bit more ‘real’. They may be much beloved carols but somehow the image of a Silent Night or a baby of whom it is said “no crying he makes” don’t always match how I envision the story. I think it might have been a little loud, chaotic and messy. One of the new favourite Christmas songs in our house is a rewrite of the Pogues song “Fairytale of New York” into “Fairytale of Newborn” which begins with “It was Christmas Eve, babe Man, the place stank!” and includes Mary saying “When I made my birth plan I was oh so naive No midwife or doula Just strange men and sheep!” Sometimes the story needs a dose of reality to make us see it more clearly.

If you had to re-write the Christmas story for 2024 how would you tell it? (Change Slide) Would you set it in a barn with someone seeking shelter from a storm like this book – one of my favourites – does? Would you put it in a small farming town on the prairies (I was in a play 30 years ago that did that)? What would the characters look like? What parts would you highlight? Would you use traditional language or would terms like delulu, skibidi, or rizz show up? What songs and tunes might you choose to use to make the story more interesting

For me it depends what I wanted to bring out in the story. Or maybe it would depend on what someone challenged me to do (ended up writing about the Christmas Snail one year because I was challenged to do so). But I am sure that images like this would help shape my telling of the story. The never changing part of human existence is that there are always people living on the edges. Mary and Joseph, the shepherds, Pippin the Christmas pig, maybe the Amazon delivery drivers in that Nativity scene, Shrek and his fairytale friends, even Jesus himself were out on those margins. At its core, the Christmas story is about the God who shows up at the edges of life and brings hope, and joy, sharing the promise of peace, reminding us that we are loved. That is the part that never changes.

We are here tonight to remember a story. It is a story that can be, and has been, told in many different ways over the years. Some we like, some we don’t. Some will seem too “out there” for us while for others the more outlandish the better. It is a story that changes frequently. It is also a story that has never changed. We might set it in small-town Canada or some metropolitan centre in Europe or a remote village in Asia or even in some future space port. We might change shepherds into gig workers, Mary and Joseph into into people living on the streets and the Magi into investment bankers. Still the story of God who loves the world, who loves their Beloved Children of every colour, age, and gender, the God who breaks into the world by living among us as one of us runs true. At Christmas we remember that God is with us, that God takes on flesh and shares our lives. It is a story that happened long ago. It is a story that still happens today. We can tell it however we want, the details are not always important. God’s action to bring hope, peace, joy and love into the world through the miracle of a baby are what count. Christ is born! Alleluia! Amen.

Christmas Eve Call to Worship

After all our waiting and preparing,
the night is finally here!
This Christmas night we tell the old story,
a surprising story of a baby born and laid in a manger.
This Christmas night we open our eyes and ears,
to listen for angel wings and look for a bright light in the sky.
This Christmas night we join with voices around the globe,
to sing of Good News which is for all people.
Come and worship! Come and sing! Come and marvel at the scene!
We come with joy and hope, we come seeking peace and love.
Jesus is Born!
Alleluia!

For January 5, 2025 -- Epiphany Sunday

CALL TO WORSHIP (Based on Isaiah 60:1-6)
Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. (NRSVUE)
We come to praise the source of the light.
Look around you and see: everyone is coming together, they're all headed your way. Your squad is gonna come from far and your girls will be right by your side. (GenZBible)
We join with people from all directions to explore how God is with us today.
All nations shall come to the light and kings to the brightness of the dawn.
We gather together in worship and praise

PRAYER FOR & ASSURANCE OF GRACE
God sometimes we think we know exactly who is a part of your community.
But then you surprise us, and strange new visitors show up.
Broaden our vision, we pray,
help us see the wide diversity that makes up your family.
God of Grace, help us welcome both friend and stranger.
God of Grace, open our homes and hearts to the unexpected guest. Amen.

COMMISSIONING
We have been fed at Christ’s table, we have joined the Magi in Christ’s home
Now we go out to the world to share Christ’s love.
We have become part of the global community drawn to the light of Christ
Drawn from all directions and backgrounds, sometimes strange companions on the journey of faith
Strange companions and visitors all linked by one thing:
All are beloved children of God
As God’s Beloved children go out knowing that God:
who has created and is creating,
who is revealed in the Baby Jesus, the Word-Made-Flesh,
who works in each of us through the power of the Holy Spirit,
is with you as you continue the journey of faith and life
Thanks be to God. Amen.

Commissioning for Advent 2024

Jesus is coming! The world will be changed!
In this time of preparing and waiting we look for signs of _____ in the world around us.
Jesus is coming! We have Good News to share!
We share the light of ______ with all we meet.
As you go out into this Advent season go knowing that God:
who has created and is creating,
who is revealed in Jesus, the Word-Made-Flesh,
who works in each and every one of us through the Holy Spirit,
is with you each and every day.
Thanks be to God. Amen

For November 24, 2024 -- Reign of Christ

PRAYER FOR & ASSURANCE OF GRACE
God you challenge us to put our trust in you, to follow where you lead, to be loyal to you alone
But there are so many other voices out there,
so many saying we should follow them,
so many others saying we have to be loyal to them first.
God, as we try to live as citizens of your Reign,
help us re-focus our loyalty,
help us ask the hard questions about where true authority lies,
give us the courage to follow The Way of Christ.
And when we wander astray, following false promises and idols,
forgive us and lead us back.
...time of silence...
The Sovereign God rules with gentleness, grace and mercy. God offers forgiveness and a new start when we miss the mark. As beloved citizens of God’s Kin-dom we are welcomed, we are forgiven, we are loved.
Thanks be to God. Amen.

COMMISSIONING
We are citizens of many different communities
we live, work, love and move in a variety of circles
Go from here remembering that above all you are a citizen of God’s Kin-dom
and as such we pledge to share the values, promises, and hopes of God’s Reign with all our circles.
As Beloved Children of God, go secure in the knowledge that God:
Parent, Child, Spirit;
King; Guide, and Counsellor;
Servant, Leader, and Fellow Traveller
is with you wherever you travel in God’s Kingdom
Thanks be to God. Amen

 

For November 17, 2024 -- Proper 28B

CALL TO WORSHIP
May the Peace of Christ be with you.
And also with you
In a world of continuous change there is one constant
God is with us where ever we go
God who has been, is now, and always will be, our guide and companion invites us to sing and pray and listen.
We come together to celebrate God’s presence.

OPENING PRAYER
God of our past, our present, and our future,
the world is changing around us, and that makes us uneasy.
It is so easy to fear the changes, to worry about what is ending.
Help us to see the things that are continuing and the things that are continuing.
In this time of worship:
open our eyes and souls to see where you are at work in the world,
give us courage to stand firm as the winds of change toss the boat of life around,
and send us back out into the world refreshed and emboldened to proclaim your words of hope and promise.
We pray in the name of Jesus, who proclaimed the coming of your Reign and encourages us to pray saying....

COMMISSIONING
We leave this place of worship and go out into the world.
A world tossed around by the winds of change.
As some things end and other things begin, our call remains the same:
we continue to love our neighbours,
we continue to share words of hope and promise,
we continue to live as citizens of God’s Reign.
As God has been with you in the past, as God is with you today, may God be with you tomorrow.
Wherever we go. Thanks be to God.

For November 3, 2024 -- Proper26B

PRAYER FOR & ASSURANCE OF GRACE
God you challenge us to love our neighbour as ourselves,
and we do our best.
But sometimes we are tempted to ask what neighbour actually means,
does it mean those who are like us, or those who we know well, or those with shared values?
God you call us to love each other as you first loved us,
that is harder, that is more of a challenge.
Our faith stories are filled with migrants and refugees, people seeking a new place to live,
and we find that you love them, that they are to be treated as neighbours.
God of challenge, God of grace, help us to love all our neighbours, and remember what all means.
Even when they are not like us, even when their presence brings new ideas, new challenges, and new hopes.
...time of silence...
God who loves us calls us to love others. God who created us all and calls us good helps us see everyone as our neighbour. God who is gracious helps us learn better how to live as people of love
Thanks be to God. Amen.

Christ Candle Responses for leading into the Reign of Christ Sunday

Like a beacon leading us to the Promised Land, the light of God shines in the world.
May this candle flame remind us of God’s light, leading us into God’s Kingdom.
As followers of Jesus, the Light of the World, we centre ourselves for worship

 

For October 20, 2024 -- 22nd Sunday After Pentecost, Proper 24B

PRAYER FOR & ASSURANCE OF GRACE
(draws from Psalm 90 and the hymn O God Our Help in Ages Past)
God, you have been our refuge and dwelling place for uncounted generations.
You have been our help in the past, in you we find hope for the future.
Sometimes we sink into the bliss of your loving presence,
we dwell secure in the shadow of your throne and we rejoice.
Other times we feel alone, wondering where you have gone,
and we echo Jesus’ cry “Why have you forsaken me”
God when we feel alone and isolated,
remind us that you are there, satisfy us morning and evening with your steadfast love that we may rejoice and be glad.
...time of silence...
The Risen Christ promises to be with us “to the end of the age” We are not alone. Whatever path our life may take we are not alone. God is indeed our help in ages past and our hope for the future.
Thanks be to God, our guard while troubles last and our eternal home. Amen.

COMMISSIONING:
As you go out to live and love and work this week remember:
We Are Not Alone.
In a world where so many feel isolated in their struggles let us share the Good News:
We Are Not Alone
In everything that life might throw at us, in life and death and life beyond death.
We Are Not Alone. Thanks be to God. Amen

 

PRAYER FOR & ASSURANCE OF GRACE

Holy Mystery who is Wholly Love, you created us as curious and inquisitive beings,
and so we try to understand everything, to have all our questions answered
Holy Mystery who is Wholly Love, you also call us to live with mystery and uncertainty.
So help us, we pray, to be at peace with the questions we can not answer.
As we live with the complexities of the world you have created and are creating,
grant us the ability to trust those who know more than we do,
the courage to keep seeking new answer, even if they may be uncomfortable,
and the wisdom to know that some things will remain a mystery, beyond our understanding.
God of Grace that overflows, of Love that fills us up,
help us live with respect in creation, keep us searching for the best way forward, keep us humble we pray.
And lead us forward into the next steps of the journey we share with the rest of your creation.
Amen

For September 8, Creation Time 1

PRAYER FOR AWARENESS
God who has created...
we give thanks for the world in which we live,
we celebrate the big and small miracles that surround us.
God who is creating...
keep us from the assumption that the work of creation is complete,
open our eyes to see the new things that are emerging around us.
God who is re-creating...
help us see the need for renewal and revitalization throughout creation,
keep us open to be renewed and changed ourselves.
God who calls creation good...
give us the wisdom, the strength, the courage to live with respect for all of creation.
Always. Amen.

Christ Candle for Creation Time

In the beginning God spoke into the chaos and said: “Let there be light”
And there was light.
We light this candle to remind us that the light called forth by God continues to shine in God’s Creation
As we watch it glow may we grow in wisdom and love.
As people of God we centre ourselves for worship

For September 1, 2024. Proper 17B

OPENING PRAYER
God you invite us into your presence.
You call us to climb the hill, to sing and listen and pray as we celebrate Your presence.
God, in a world where we spend so much time working hard,
you invite us to pause, to take a break so we can sing and listen and pray as we sit in Your presence
As we sing and listen and pray this day,
refresh and renew us, prepare us to go out an continue to do the work of love.
We pray in the name of Jesus, who reminds us that we are loved, who calls us to rest in You, and who encourages us to pray saying...

PRAYER FOR & ASSURANCE OF GRACE
God sometimes we have trouble feeling worthy.
We know the mistakes we make. We know the times we have missed the mark.
We may use lofty words and share great hopes,
but to be honest our actions don’t always measure up to those words.
God of Grace, in those moments when we feel unworthy of being in Your presence,
on those days when we are just too aware of how we fail to be who we could be,
when our words and actions just don’t match...
forgive us, renew us, remind us that we are loved.
God is gracious, loving and forgiving. When we stumble or miss the mark God offer us forgiveness and a re-start. When we are sure that we are unworthy God looks at us and calls us beloved children, worthy just as we are, without one plea. This is Good News!
Thanks be to God! Amen

Prayer for Patience -- to go with readings for Ascension Day

Source of Life, we stand with the first disciples: watching and listening and wondering.
What do we do next? Is this the time to act?
We hear you tell them, and us, to wait, that you will fill them with the power of the Spirit.
Then it will be the time to act.
Waiting is hard. We see the need to act fast. We want to share Good News.
We don’t think we can afford to wait.
God who acts on your own time, God who calls us to listen for your voice,
help us to listen and to wait.
Open our eyes and ears and hearts so that we can follow where you lead rather than head off in our own
direction.
God who WILL move us forward, who WILL lead us into the future,
grant us the strength to act when the time is right, the wisdom to know when the time is right, and the patience to wait until the time is right.
And then when it is time.
May we go out to be faithful witnesses to your love, grace, and hope. Amen.

Prayers at the Foot of the Cross (2024)

God who promises to be with us in life, in death, in life beyond death,
you are with us in our times of triumph: singing and dancing and celebrating,
you are with us in our time of disaster and devastation:
sharing our grief, holding us up, carrying us forward.

This week we join Christians from all over the world in a journey,
we go from triumphant entry and waving palm branches
to a special meal in an upper room
to arrest, trial, conviction, execution.
Disaster has come.
And still you are there, even as Jesus the Christ takes his last breath.

This night as we tell the story we remember the disasters of the world.
Even as we trust in the promise that life and love may yet win,
we remember the seemingly overwhelming power of death and fear,
anger and destruction, to devastate so many lives near and far.

Hear us, Gracious God, as we lift up those whose life may have more disaster than triumph this night:
the people of Gaza, Israel, Palestine –
caught in a seemingly endless cycle of violence, fear, and conflict;
the people of Ukraine – dealing with invasion and war;
he people of Haiti – living in a time of social upheaval;
all those other places in the world where violence is the norm –
even though thy don’t make it onto the headlines anymore;
those in various countries where food is scarce;
those neighbours closer at hand who worry where the rent will come from,
or have to choose between food and utilities;
our 2SLGBTQIA+ neighbours near and far who are attacked, despised, cast out for trying to be true to who You created them to be;
Gracious God we lift up all those who have be pushed to the margins,
all those who feel broken by the world
may all your beloved children feel you meeting them in their time of disaster.

God of Love, the story we have just hear reminds us that love can be hard.
We hear how Jesus, who commands us to love,
challenged the powers of his world who found his understanding of the world to be a threat, knowing that it would likely end in a torturous death on a cross.
We are reminded that the powers of empire and control will strike back against those who are different, those whose vision for life calls for sacrifice and change.
Hear us as we pray for those who are unjustly arrested, persecuted, even killed
simply for trying to change the world...,
simply for trying to live into your vision for a world renewed.

Source of life and love, on this day of disaster, devastation and death,
we pray for the time when triumph, love, and life have the final victory.
We pray for a world that is broken in so many ways,
looking ahead to the promise of being made whole again.
Give us all, we pray, the courage to work through the broken-ness,
to face the devastation head-on,
to challenge those things that work against Your Kingdom,
so that we might be agents of change,
helping to bring wholeness,
carriers of Your love for the world.

We pray in the name of Jesus,
our teacher and guide,
our rock and redeemer,
whose passion for the Kingdom knows no bounds.
Amen.

Resources for Feb 11, 2024 -- Transfiguration Sunday

PRAYER FOR & ASSURANCE OF GRACE
Source of Life, as people who seek to follow your Way, we echo the old song:
Open our eyes that we may see, glimpses of truth...
Sometimes we see clearly, sometimes our eyes are veiled,
sometimes we only see the whirlwind, not the gift that lies hidden in its midst
sometimes we only see the clay jar, not the treasure that it holds.
Help us see beyond the obvious, help us see where you are active in our world,
and forgive us for the times we are oblivious, when we choose not to see.
In Grace-filled Love God continues to open our eyes, to help us see, to reveal God’s power and promise. Through God’s Grace we can see beyond the veil. Through God’s love and mercy our blindness is forgiven and removed. And so we continue to sing:
Open our eyes, illumine us, Spirit Divine. Amen

COMMISSIONING:
We came together, we sang, we prayed, we looked for God’s presence.
Now we go out to serve, to pray, to look for God’s activity.
As you live and serve, may you let God’s love flow through you into the world at large.
As we live and love, may our eyes be opened to see God in friend and neighbour.
So go now with open eyes and open hearts. Go trusting that God,
      who has created and is creating;
      who is revealed in Jesus, the Word-Made-Flesh;
      who works in each of us through the Holy Spirit
Is with you each step of life’s journey.
Thanks be to God. Amen

Sermon Opening for January 28, 2024

 With a sermon title of To do or not to do I really thought I should do at least the beginning of the sermon in blank verse as an homage to Hamlet's soliloquy:

 To Do or not to do, that is the question:
whether ‘tis nobler to declare our freedom
to do what we know is permissible
or choose to follow stronger rules and limits
and by that choice build up a church, share love.
control ourselves, live out our call to be
belov’d children of God, living fully.
In this we find the pow’r supplied by limits.
We know the truth that just because a thing
may be allowed does not make it all good.
In Christ we find freedom, In Christ we find
a higher call, in Christ we know that we must
take care to build a new community.
We build through love we build through neighborly care
Some days we claim we have great wisdom
we know the truths that set us free to live
we miss the truths of how to live in Christ.

Opening Prayer to go with Isaiah 40:28-31

God who does not faint or grow weary, Source of life and renewal and wholeness,
we come together today, some of us full of energy and some of us full of weariness.
As we sing, pray, listen, and eat together today,
renew our strength, help us rise as on wings of eagles, energize us to be who you formed us to be.
And when we leave this time of worship,
may we carry the promise of healing and renewal to a world that is often tired and wounded.
We pray in the name of Jesus, who brings healing and renewal to our lives.
Amen