Opening Prayer/Prayer of Confession
God who calls us to be the church,
you call us to form a community shaped by the values of the Kingdom,
a place where we celebrate Your presence, seek justice and resist
evil, love and serve each other.
This evening we gather as people who have been called into leadership
in this part of the church in this place and time.
As we meet tonight move through and within us, flow through the bits
and bytes that connect us across the miles, awaken in us a vision for
what the church, this testing ground of the Kingdom, could be.
We know that this community of communities that we call the United
Church has not always lived up to what it could be, what we tell
ourselves we are.
We admit that the church is prone to the same prejudices and biases
as the wider community around us.
God you call us to be the church,
a community of broken but hopeful believers, trying to embody
Christ’s presence in the world.
Help us celebrate where we get it right, help us admit where we have
missed the mark.
And then, through the Grace and Mercy proclaimed by Jesus of
Nazareth, help us sing of the church.
Empower us to live out the mission to which you have called us, move
us to live as citizens of the Kingdom.
We pray in the name of Jesus, crucified and risen, our judge and our
hope, who we proclaim as Christ, Messiah, Saviour, and Friend.
Amen.
Prayer to share In Memoriams and Celebrate Ministry Transitions
Source of life, God who shares every aspect of our lives as
individuals and as communities.
You are there in the beginnings and you are there at the endings, and
you are there in all the changes.
As we gather together tonight as the Northern Spirit Regional Council
we mark beginnings and endings and changes since the last time we
gathered together.
Tonight we pause to remember those in our communities who have taken
their final breath in this life, who have moved to that which
follows. We name them and we give thanks for the leadership they
offered to their communities [read names]
May they rest in peace. May light eternal shine upon them.
God who calls us to be the church.
Tonight we pause to celebrate the beginning of a new Community of
Faith, Living Spirit United Church in Drayton Valley. We welcome them
into the larger Community known as Northern Spirit Regional Council
and the even larger community known as the United Church of Canada.
Gift-giver, who calls us to use our gifts for the enrichment of
community,
you have called us all into leadership in some form or another.
You have called some of us into paid ministry within the church.
Some are called first into one part of the global, church and are
later led to exercise their leadership within the United Church of
Canada. Tonight we celebrate [name] who has followed
that leading to share his ministry in our midst.
As time goes by, the seasons of life move us into different places
and we may choose to retire from one role to explore other ways of
living, leading and serving.
So tonight, God of the turning seasons, we celebrate those who have
lived out their call and now move into the new adventure of retired
ministry [read names]
We thank them all for their years of service and wish blessings on
them as they discover what new challenges you might have in store for
them God of Grace.
God of beginnings and endings and transition we lift all these people in prayer in the name of Jesus of Nazareth. Amen.
