CALL
TO WORSHIP
People
of God! Gather together for worship!
We
come in this Easter Season to celebrate the promise of new life.
People
of God, gather together for worship!
We
celebrate the diverse family of God, with whom we gather to celebrate
God's presence.
And
so we turn to our friends and neighbours, our brothers and sisters in
faith, to share the Peace of Christ.
OPENING
PRAYER
God
of life in all it's wondrous diversity,
we
come from many different places, many different tasks, many different
realities.
Here
in this place you call us together.
Here
we worship together, naming what makes us united, celebrating our
diversity.
During
this time of prayer and song and word,
challenge
our ideas of who is welcome in the community, open us to draw the
circle wider.
This
things we pray in the name of the Risen Christ, who taught his
friends to pray saying...
PRAYER
FOR AND ASSURANCE OF GRACE
God
you call us to embrace each other as part of one circle,
but
we insist are drawing lines that keep some in and some out.
You
tell us that what you have called clean, we should not call profane,
but
we find ourselves unwilling to live that out.
You
tell us that in you the old dividing lines don't count anymore :no
more male or female, Jew or Gentile,
but
we find comfort in knowing who fits and who doesn't.
God
of grace,
move
in our hearts, opening us to be channels of your abundant grace and
love.
...time
of silent prayer...
There
is a wideness in God's mercy. God draws the circle wider than we can
imagine – keeping all of us inside the line. This is Good News!
Thanks
be to God!
Amen.
COMMISSIONING:
We
have gathered to celebrate the God who welcomes us all into the
circle.
Now
we go out into the many other circles of our lives.
Into
those circles we carry a precious precious gift:
the
love of God, the word of acceptance, the promise of welcome.
Go
now with the knowledge that God: Parent, Child, and Spirit,
Three-in-One goes with you
Wherever
we go. We are not alone. Thanks be to God 
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