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!

 

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.

 

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

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.

For February 5, 2023 --- Epiphany 5A

 PRAYER FOR AND ASSURANCE OF GRACE
God who is revealed in many ways, during this season of Epiphany,
we open our eyes and hearts to see where and how you are active in our world.
God of wisdom, a hidden mystery,
we try to understand your wisdom, to be led by the Holy Spirit.
However, all too often,
we fail to find your hidden wisdom, we ignore the leading of the Spirit
we follow the way of common sense, or the way of our own best interests,
we preference human wisdom, the way of the world,
and so we stray from the path, sometimes damaging our neighbours, ourselves, and the world along the way.
Gracious God, who continues to offer us the way of wisdom,
through your grace and mercy, forgive our stubbornness and wayward wandering,
lead us back to the path that leads to life and love. In Jesus’ name we pray.
...time of silent prayer...
Paul writes: “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the human heart conceived, what God has prepared for those who love [them]”. In God’s wisdom grace, mercy and forgiveness have a place and power far beyond human wisdom or conception. Through the grace of God revealed in Jesus Christ we are forgiven, renewed, and moved back toward the way of true, hidden, Godly, wisdom.
Thanks be to God! May the Spirit lead us on wisdom’s path. Amen.

FOr JAnuary 22, 2023 -- Week of Prayer For Christian Unity

 

PRAYER FOR AND ASSURANCE OF GRACE
God, you have called us to be the church,
part of a single body with many parts, working together to advance the Kingdom.
You have called us to be united in our diversity,
not all the same, not always agreeing, but still working for a common goal.
But if we are totally honest...
we sometimes do diversity better than unity, sometimes we divide ourselves into camps.
We proclaim, “I follow Luther” or Calvin or the Pope or Wesley,
or I am United, or Lutheran, or Presbyterian, Evangelical or Progressive
Each thinking that our way is the right way, or the best way, or even the only way.
And too often quick to point out the flaws of other ways.
For those times we divide the Body of Christ, when we break the unity we are called to build up,
forgive us, lead us to repair and rebuild the broken body.
...time of silent prayer...
Here is Good News: Though we are good at building walls God is good at tearing them down.
The church may seem divided but Christ is not divided.
God calls us to share our gifts as part of a larger whole, God is at work building a unified Kingdom and God keeps inviting us along for the ride.
In grace our divisions are overcome and we are called to be the church.
Thanks be to God. Amen.

Christmas Prayer 2022

God of Hope,
sometimes hope is scarce.
Soaring inflation tightens our budgets
Flu and COVID and RSV strain our health system
Our daily news so often brings despair.
As Christmas comes round again,
help us see the hope found in a baby,
a baby who will change, renew, revitalize our lives and our world.

God of Peace, tonight we mark the birth of one called “Prince of Peace”
He is born again into a world where we hear of mass shootings,
and warfare in Ukraine, and Yemen, and too many other places,
and domestic violence shelters full to the brim,
and people on our streets struggling with poverty, and health, and addiction.
Where is the Peace?
As Christmas comes round again,
help all of us see how peace and justice are possible
transform us to be people who actively work to make them grow around us,
so that we can echo the angel song of “Peace on earth, goodwill to all”

God of Joy,
sometimes Joy is absent.
When worry and stress take over our lives,
when there is an empty spot at the table,
when grief is still raw,
when we are afraid,
it is hard to sink into the joy of the Christmas season.
As Christmas comes round again,
remind us of the joy that goes deeper than happiness,
the joy of knowing that You walk with us, that You will always be with us,
the joy that comes with an abiding sense that somehow, someday, all will be well again.

God of Love,
lovingly you break into our lives, sharing all that we do and are and will be.
You challenge, command, convince us to live lives guided by love,
love for family, for friend, for stranger, for enemy, for neighbour.
Where we miss the chance to act lovingly, forgive us,
and move us to be better next time.
As Christmas comes round again,
fill us with the dream of a world where love is the universal rule of life,
fill us with the love that casts out fear
and may that love overflow from our hearts onto everyone we meet,
so that, as people of love, we can help build a renewed, revitalized world

God of Birth,
tonight we gather to celebrate a birth that happened long ago,
the birth of a child laid in a manger
But tonight we also celebrate births that happen everyday:
we sing praises for hope born anew in the midst of despair,
we watch as peace is born in the middle of violence and struggle and disparity,
we listen as joy is born afresh in the broken-hearted,
we are overcome with emotion as love is born time and time again,
overcoming fear and distrust and hatred,
we stand in the glow as tiny sparks give birth to a light that warms and illuminates the wonders of life.
For all the births we celebrate this night we offer prayers of thanksgiving and praise
Amen.