A Christmas Prayer (2021)

 God of Christmas, God made known in a baby laid in a manger,
we open our hearts and souls and minds,
our very beings, to your presence
We listen for the song of angels, and the soft cry of a newborn.

God of Hope
At various times this year it has been hard to find hope.
Living in a time of pandemic, and all the turmoil associated with it,
seems to work against hope.
The tendency of our news media to follow the old maxim “if it bleeds it leads” –
and then to tell those stories over and over –
brings despair when we most need hope.
God of Hope, move in our hearts this night.
Awaken the seeds of promise, help us dream of what could be,
as we gaze upon the babe in the manger may we see hope for the world.
For where there is life, especially new life, there is hope.

God of Peace
The promise of the kingdom, the promise shared by the child who is born tonight,
is a promise of deep abiding peace.
We look and look but too often peace is hard to find.
There is so much violence, so much distrust, so much brokenness in the world.
There are so many of our neighbours whose lives are filled with anxiety.
The promise or possibility of peace is so routinely shattered.
God of Peace, on this night where angels sing,
sharing Good News for all, sharing a promise of peace on Earth,
bring peace to our troubled hearts and souls.
As the angel song rings in our ears,
move us to commit ourselves to be peace makers and peace bringers,
make as agents of that deep abiding peace promised by the babe in the manger.

God of Joy
We join our voices with voices around the globe this night.
We sing of Joy, we sing our wonder and our praises. And yet...
We are all too aware that for many in our city, in our province, in our country,
for many of your Beloved children all around the globe,
Joy can be a challenge this evening.
So we hold in prayer all those who mourn and grieve this night,
all those who are lonely, missing family who did not come this year
all those whose health, mental, emotional, spiritual, or physical, is not what they wish it was.
May they all know that they are held in your love, held in our love.
God of Joy, on this night when songs of Joy are sung,
reach through our pain, and the pain of the world,
help us find the deep joy that comes from knowing that in Jesus, Emmanuel
you are with us in joy and in sorrow, wherever life may lead us.

God of Love
this year Love has taken new forms.
Masks on our faces, needles in our arms, keeping socially distanced,
all have been ways we live love with our neighbours this Covid-Tide.
In addition there are all the old ways we live love in this world.
The gifts we share, the acts of connection, the tokens of care
the big things and the little ones,
ways we make our love of neighbour real and tangible.
Thank you for the ways we have met love this year.
Thanks you for the chances we have had to share love this year.
God of Love, as Love Incarnate lies in a manger, recovering from his journey through the birth canal,
we remember that he will challenge us to put love at the center of life,
to love each other as you first love us,
to share a love that is willing to sacrifice for the good of the ones we love.
Help us live into the challenge over the year to come.

God of Christmas,
tonight we join our hearts in prayer with millions over the miles and through the years.
We lay all these prayers, and all the prayers we carry deep in our hearts,
the joys and the sorrows,
the hopes and the fears,
the peaceful and the disturbed,
the ones that lift us up and the ones that issue from broken hearts,
before you in the name of Jesus, the baby in the manger
the one we call Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Prince of Peace.
Amen

2021 Christmas Reflection

“Is Christmas going to be cancelled?”

I have seen some variation on that question over and over again since about mid November. As Covid numbers go up and down, then up again. As provinces unroll various levels of restrictions on gatherings across the country. As we fret about ICU numbers and “how easily will this new variant spread?” and who is eligible for a booster shot. What this Christmas season would look like has been uncertain at best. Even as I was starting to write this reflection on Monday my colleagues in Ontario were posting information about which churches were going online only for another Christmas and which ones were staying in-person and which ones were struggling to know what to do.

This Christmas is, again this year as it was in 2020, not exactly what we had hoped it would be. It is closer to what we might call ‘normal’ than last year – at least this year there is a chance for some gatherings – but we still feel the limits. But the Good News is that Christmas can never be cancelled. We change how it gets celebrated and commemorated, but the birth of Christ, the Word becoming Flesh, the wonder of the Incarnation can never be cancelled.

What do we mean by that phrase “Christmas is cancelled”?

Over the course of this pandemic we have talked a lot about things being cancelled, or possibly being cancelled, or limited in such a way that they almost felt like they had been cancelled. We have lost a lot over the last 2 years. Life has been changed in so many ways. So many things have been lost. And for something like Christmas, something which carries so many traditions and habits and memories the losses feel so much stronger. If Christmas can not be what we want it to be, what is was once upon a time, what we wish it could be does that make it feel, even a little bit, like something has been lost, like maybe the celebration has been cancelled?

I think it just might.

On the other hand, maybe being forced to change how we do things opens a window. Maybe it gives us a chance to ask ourselves what makes Christmas, well, Christmas. This is not to say we don’t grieve for what we miss. It means we do that, we name what is missing even as we look around and ask how Christmas is being made real in our world this year. It gives us a chance to put aside our image of the perfect Christmas gathering (an image which, if we are honest, only exists in our mind anyway – not one that has ever fully happened) and immerse ourselves in the Christmas we have in front of us.

In his song Anthem Leonard Cohen writes:

The birds they sang
At the break of day
Start again
I heard them say
Don't dwell on what
Has passed away
Or what is yet to be...

Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in.

Those words just sort of jumped off of the radio at me this week. They say something to me about how we best celebrate Christmas when times are good, even more so when times are difficult. We don’t try to recreate Christmas as it once was. We don’t try to have the perfect gathering (that may be hard for the perfectionists among us). We try to have an honest gathering, an honest celebration, which may well be a little bit cracked. But, as Cohen reminds us, that is where the light can come in.

In ministry you get the opportunity to help people plan their weddings. Some people really want the perfect wedding. I tend to tell couples to not worry about the perfect day, to be ready for something to not go not quite as planned or expected. After all, the story of a perfect day is relatively dull compared to the stories of how something went a little bit off. That is the crack that lets the light in. Perfect is over rated. Cracks are real. Let your Christmas, let your life, be imperfect and cracked. We will all be better off for it.

We started this evening’s service in relative darkness. Lights were low. We heard a song about dreaming. We were reminded that our faith story starts in darkness and begins with light. Then we lit candles and the light started to grow. The cracks of our world are filled with light when we pause to look. At the same time we only truly appreciate the light shining through the cracks when we take time to acknowledge the darkness.

So let us acknowledge the darkness. Let us pause and recognize the darknesses (real and metaphorical) that mark our lives. Some people are marking the first Christmas with an empty spot at the table. Some had plans that have had to change multiple times to keep up with the realities of this Covid-tide we have been in for 2 years. Some are wishing family was here, or that they had gone to visit family. Some are just anxious about life. Darkness and shadow come in many forms.

And if we are honest, sometimes we need those times of darkness. The dark, the quiet, the place where busy-ness has disappeared can be a place of growth and new birth. New ideas, new ways of being, new understandings of life, the universe and everything gestate and grow and form in the darkness. It gives us a place to pause and reflect and grow. Sometimes it is uncomfortable. Sometimes we would rather not. But sometimes we need to sit in the shadows and let growth occur so something new can be born.

But the words of the prophet echo through the centuries. “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness— on them light has shined.” There are always cracks in the shadows, crack that let the light seep in. Maybe there are days when the light is really dim, the crack letting it in is pretty small. But it is still there, glowing, waiting.

In the hymn Before the Wonder of this Night Jarpslav Vajda writes:

Before the marvel of this night, adoring, fold your wings and bow,
Then tear the sky apart with light, and with your news the world endow.
Proclaim the birth of Christ and peace, that fear and death and sorrow cease:
Sing peace, sing peace, sing gift of peace, sing peace, sing gift of peace!

This evening we join shepherds on a hillside as they are frightened by angelic visitors who bring Good News for all the world. With the coming of the Christ Child the world is not only cracked open, it is torn open. Light fills the sight, the same light that was there in the beginning is focused into a baby in a manger. We are invited to come and see the light that shines from the manger. We are invited to be transformed by the baby who has been born.

Later in that hymn Vajda writes:

The love that we have always known, our constant joy and endless light,
Now to the loveless world be shown, now break upon its deathly night.
Into one song compress the love that rules our universe above:
Sing love, sing love, sing God is love, sing love, sing God is love!

Love lies in a manger. Love has taken human form. Over the years I have had a variety of thoughts about what the word that God speaks in the beginning of Genesis, the word that speaks creation into being, might have been. You could say it is LIGHT. Hymn writer Linnea Good once suggested it was a great laugh. I think a strong argument can be made that the creating word is LOVE. Jesus, the Word-Made-Flesh is Love Incarnate. Love brings light into the world. Love shines out into the darkness to remind us that the shadows will not win.

And what difference does it all make? Having been invited to join those smelly shepherds running down to Bethlehem and see the light and love shining in a feed trough what difference does it make? How do we respond?

The shepherds responded by telling everyone they met about this child, about the angels who announced his birth. How do we respond to meeting the light of the beginning shining into our cracked imperfect lives?

To answer that question I am going to borrow from another tradition. Earlier this month our Jewish neighbours celebrated Chanukkah. Each night of the Festival of Lights candles are lit. There is one special candle on the chanukkiah. It is called the servant candle or the shamash.The shamash is the candle that is used to light all the other candles. This year during Chanukkah I saw a number of memes which encouraged us to be the shamash, the light which passes on the light to others. That I think is how we respond to the light of the world breaking into the cracks in our lives. We share the light with others, we serve others by passing the light among them.

As Linnea Good writes in the hymn A Light is Gleaming:

So let us live in the brightness God has giv’n,
and let us rise to see the dawn.
We trust that God is here a-sparkle and a-bla-ze,
warming all our days!
A light is gleaming, spreading its arms throughout the night,
living in the light.
Come share its gladness, God’s radiant love is burning bright,
living in the light.

WE are all at times the people who walk in darkness. We are all aware of the shadows the flit in and out of our lives. Sometimes those periods of darkness give us space to grow and develop. Sometimes they simply give us space to rest. Sometimes they make us feel trapped. But we have the promise that all who walk in a time of deep darkness will see light, light will shine upon them. At Christmas, with the birth of a baby who will change the world – even though at birth he is laid in a feed trough because there was no room at the inn – we are reminded that the light of God is always there, waiting to break into our lives. Our Christmas may not be perfect this year, our lives will certainly not be perfect but that is good new. When things are not perfect God has room to break into our lives and fill them with light. Remember what Cohen says:

Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in.

So ring your bells this Christmas. Celebrate the cracks in your imperfect lives. And rejoice in the light that shines from the manger.

For unto us is born this night a Saviour whose name is Jesus, the Christ of God. Glory to God in the highest, and on Earth – Peace.

Liturgy for Advent 2021

CALL TO WORSHIP/OPENING PRAYER
As the days get shorter and the nights get longer
We light candles, we turn on coloured lights,
we remind ourselves that the Light of the World is about to be born
In this season of preparation
we pause from the shopping and baking, we step away from the busy-ness
and we gather our hearts for worship
seeking to be reminded of the hope to be found in the midst of the season.
God has called us to this time of worship and so we pray...
(prayer appropriate for that week follows)

COMMISSIONING
The candle of ________ shines brightly in our worship space
The promise of ______ shines brightly in our hearts.
Go from this time of worship to carry _____ to all you meet
We go out with hearts made lighter by the promise of a baby to be born
with dreams of a world that will be changed
with souls singing praises for the God who is active around, within, among us.
Go with God, who promises new life and new hope, who is made known as Parent, as Child, as Holy Spirit
Alleluia! Amen!

Advent Candles 2021 (working with Year W of the Women's Lectionary)

November 28 – Advent 1 – Hope
1: Hagar was a slave girl, a person of no status and God heard her cries.
2: Mary was a poor peasant girl and God asked her to do something amazing.
1: Both were told they would have a baby.
2: Neither of them were promised an easy life.
1: Both trusted that the Living God was with them and that gave them hope.
2: Babies bring work, and worry, and they also bring hope. So Congratulations to Hagar and Mary. They will have babies!
1: We light a Candle to keep the spark of Hope shining in our lives.

 December 5 – Advent 2 – Peace
2: With this spark we remember the presence of Hope in our lives (relight 1^st candle)
1: Sometimes things seem impossible.
2: Like a baby for old Abraham and Sarah, or maybe that we will have peace on earth
1: But then God surprises us and makes it happen.
2: It sounds ridiculous, it makes us laugh to think about
1: But God, She who Speaks Life, is active around us.
2: We will trust Her words, we will allow ourselves to be surprised by a baby, and by peace.
1: We light a Candle to keep the spark of Peace shining in our lives.

December 12 – Advent 3 – Joy
2: With this spark we remember the presence of Hope and Peace in our lives (relight 1^st and 2^nd candle)
1: While we wait for a baby we have so many questions
2: Who will he be? What will she do? How will they make a difference?
1: Samson’s mother was given a promise, Mary was given a song.
2: The babies they would have would free their people, they would change the world
1: Freedom! Deliverance! Those promises make the world better. They bring Joy!
2: The Holy One of Old is at work here. Joy to the world!
1: We light a Candle to keep the spark of Joy shining in our lives.

December 19 – Advent 4 – Love
2: With this spark we remember the presence of Hope, Peace and Joy in our lives (relight 3 candles)
1: The Creator of All loves the world
2: She will never leave us alone.
1: The Gracious One is changing the world
2: One day at a time, one person at a time.
1: A baby is going to be born, a baby who will turn the world upside down
2: God is with us. God loves us. We wait for the baby
1: We light a Candle to keep the spark of Love shining in our lives.

For November 7, 2021 -- Proper 27B

 CALL TO WORSHIP
Gathered in person, gathered on-line, connected by technology, by community, by love
we open our hearts, our minds, our souls, our very selves to God’s presence.
Pausing from the busy-ness of life, we begin our time of worship.
As we sing and pray and listen, as we break bread together,
May the Peace of Christ be with you!
And also with you!

OPENING PRAYER
Ever-present God, the One who gives us life,
you have called us together today.
In this time of song, of prayer, of a shared meal,
speak to our hearts, touch our minds, refresh our souls.
In a world where we often wonder what we have to give,
open our eyes to see what we have to share,
open our arms to embrace our neighbours near and far,
open our hearts to let love overflow into the world.
We pray in Jesus’ name.
Amen.

PRAYER FOR AND ASSURANCE OF GRACE
God, we hear you calling us to assist in the mending of the world.
And we really want to. But sometimes we are not sure what we can do to help.
You call us to share the abundant gifts you have placed in our lives.
And we are not sure that our mite is big enough to make a difference.
You ask, but do not demand, that we find a way to participate in the Kingdom of hope, peace, joy, and love, the Reign of Shalom.
Help us respond to your invitation, help us to feel your grace at work in our lives, help us to pass that grace and love on to the world around us.
God is Gracious and invitational. God invites us to offer what we have, big or small, to the service of God’s Reign. Whether the gift is ostentatiously large or two small copper coins, the power is in the giving, in the sharing of love.
May we be empowered to respond to God’s grace-filled invitation. Amen.

COMMISSIONING:
We have sung, we have prayed, we have broken bread together.
Now we continue to live and serve as followers of Christ.
In a world where the needs are so many, we may wonder what we have to give.
We pledge to share what we can, big gifts or two small copper coins.
As you go to share the love of God, trust that you are never alone.
May God be with you as you live, as you love, as you serve, and as you share.
Amen

For October 17, 2021 -- Proper 24B

CALL TO WORSHIP
May the Peace of Christ be with you!
And also with you!
As a new week begins, we have been invited to gather together.
In person and at a distance we open ourselves to God’s presence.
Come, now is the time for worship, for prayer, for growing as followers of Christ

OPENING PRAYER
God you call us to love and serve each other.
We gather together in body and in spirit to grow in our ability to do just that.
Gathered here in this physical space and linked by wires and bits and bytes,
we pledge ourselves anew to be servant leaders.
In this time of prayer and song and listening,
open our eyes and our hearts to the realities of power in the Realm of Shalom.
We pray in the name of the Prince of Peace, who leads us to that realm,
and who encourages us to pray saying...

PRAYER FOR AND ASSURANCE OF GRACE
God, if we are honest, we often get caught by the promise of status.
Asking for special places at the table of life, feeling entitled to special treatment or privileges.
The draw of power and authority is potent,
tempting us to seek power over others, or at the expense of our neighbours.
But you call us to a different way of being,
power based on servanthood, where the last are the first and the greatest are the least.
For those days we fall victim to the siren song of power and privilege, status and specialness,
forgive our misunderstandings, lead us into new ways of seeing the world, we pray.
...time of silent prayer...
Through grace God opens the door to new opportunities. With mercy God gives us the chance to set aside our old understandings and learn new ways of being. Our mis-steps and poor choices are forgiven as we are given a chance to live into a new world.
Thanks be to God. Amen.

COMMISSIONING:
We have been called to love and serve in the world around us.
We go out to do just that, to provide leadership as we serve our neighbours.
As you go out into the world, carry with you God’s love for the world.
We pledge to share that love in our words, in our deeds, in how we serve our neighbours
Go secure in the knowledge that God, who models servant leadership in the life of Jesus Christ, is with you every where and every day.
We trust in God. Amen

For October 3, 2021, Worldwide Communion, Proper22B (Focusing on Job)

CALL TO WORSHIP
May the Peace of Christ be with you!
And also with you!
The God who invites us to the table,
The God who speaks to our hearts
The God who challenges and comforts us
Invites us to gather together for worship, for prayer, for renewal.
Come, now is the time to worship...

OPENING PRAYER
God of life and love,
we open our hearts and souls, our very beings, to your presence.
God made known in the love of family and friends,
renew our hearts, renew our capacity to love our friends and neighbours, families and enemies.
God who invites us to and serves us at the table of faith,
as we sing and pray and eat together, move in us, renew our vision of what the world could be.
God who promises that we are never alone,
when our time of worship concludes lead us back into the world to share the promise of love and hope and Shalom.
We pray in the name of Jesus, the Christ, who shows us the path of Kingdom living.
Amen

PRAYER FOR AND ASSURANCE OF GRACE
God, when we are honest there are a lot of things we don’t really understand.
So help us, please.
We want life to be fair, for people to deserve what they get.
But so often that is not the reality.
Bad things happen to good people, good things happen to bad people.
And we don’t think that is fair – especially when bad things happen to us.
We want to believe there is a plan, a reason and a logic to life.
But the plan is hard to understand, the logic hard to see at times.
Random chance and coincidence seem to shape so many things.
And so we lament, we fret, we get angry.
God of Grace, God of Presence, hear our prayers,
our laments, our confusion, our anger
...time of silent prayer...
When life seems neat and orderly God is there. When life seems random and unfair God is there. God is there to offer love and comfort, support and strength. With Grace God absorbs our tears and rage and bewilderment, then leads us onward into another day.
Thanks be to God. Amen.

COMMISSIONING
As our time of worship closes,
our time of service continues.
The world around us sometimes seems unfair,
and still we choose to love and serve each other
still we choose to be faithful, to trust in God
still we choose to be who Christ calls us to be, people of Shalom, citizens of God’s Country.
Go out to love and serve in the name of God made known as Parent, as Child, and as Holy Spirit
Go to love and serve trusting that you are never alone, for God is with you.
Thanks be to God! Amen

 

DEDICATION OF NEW AV EQUIPMENT

INTRODUCTION
PRAYER
Here in this place of worship we gather in the name of God the Creator, the Redeemer and Sustainer.
Here we dedicate this Audio Visual equipment to the service of God.
Let us pray:
Source of Life, you call us to be the church.
A community of faith where all are welcome to celebrate your presence, a community which gathers together to grow stronger, to love each other.
Source of hope, you call us to be the church.
A community of different abilities and needs. A community that strives to serve each other as best we can.
God present in this place, and in our homes, and in the bits and bytes of our digital world.
You have gifted humanity with technology that helps us connect, that helps us care, that helps us be the church.
We give thanks for the gifts of many who have made this part of your Body what it is. We give thanks for the vision of hope that keeps this community of faith moving into an uncertain future.
May this equipment which both enhances our experience in this building and allows us to expand our gathering out into the world help us be the church. May we have the wisdom and the courage to use all the tools you have given us in ways both traditional and innovative so that we can share your promise of hope, of love, of a world renewed.
In Christ’s name we dedicate this, and all the tools of our worship life, to your service, God who brings us together.
Amen.

PRAYER FOR AND ASSURANCE OF GRACE for September 19, 2021(reading from Proper 19B)

God you wash the scales from our eyes and ask us what we can see.
Some things we see clearly, some things remain fuzzy.
You put Jesus in front of us and you ask what we can see.
We see hope, we see love, we see what we want to see.
God help us to see the world around us clearly.
Open our eyes that we would see those glimpses of truth that pop up in daily life.
God help us to see Jesus more clearly.
The hope and the promise and the call to service and sacrificial love.
God for those times we prefer to see things dimly, for the time we refuse to see things clearly.
Forgive us, keep washing away the scales, keep prying our eyes open.
God of grace, in grace help us see clearly, help us see you active in Jesus Christ, help us see that there is always another chance for full restoration and healing.
Amen.

Opening Prayer & Prayer of Confession for September 5, 2021 - PRoper 18B

 

Hi God! Today we gather in person and in virtual space.
Here we will sing, we will pray, we will open ourselves to your life-giving Spirit.
We gather to listen for the Word of life, we gather at the table of faith.
Here we are reminded that all are welcome to be fed, here we learn of Your overwhelming love and grace.
And yet, God who feeds our bodies and renews our spirits, we know that we are not always as open as we could be.
At times we show partiality to those who are like us, or spurn those who are different,
at times we have our own clear sense of what makes people acceptable
at times we look after our own wants before attending to the needs of others.
For all those times we miss out a chance to share Your border-less love, forgive us.
For all the times we limit our definition of neighbour, forgive us.
...time of silent prayer...
Here is Good News! The God who challenges us to love all our neighbours models that love with us. In love and grace God offers us forgiveness and second, third, 100^th, chances. WE are forgiven, we are loved, we are lifted up to try again.
Thanks be to God! Amen

Prayers of the People for MAy 9, 2021

 (Uses words from the hymn by Walter Farquharson Would You Bless Our Homes and Families)

Would you bless our homes and families, Source of life who calls us here;
in our world of stress and tension teach us love that conquers fear.
On this day we call Christian Family Sunday we remember our families
we remember that our families can be sources of great support,
we also remember that families can be sources of great struggle or pain.
We give thanks for the gifts of families,
and we pray with those whose relationship with family is strained or breaking or broken.
In this year of pandemic and distance we pray with those
who have been unable to get together with family in the same way as normal
who have lost family members to the disease
who have had relationships strengthened by time spent at home together
and who have had relationships tested by so much time home together.

From the homes in which we’re nurtured with the love that shapes us there,
teach us, God, to claim as family every one whose life we share.
God who calls us all family, we pray for families of all shapes and sizes and types:
the families that have two parents and lots of children,
the families with multiple parents in different houses, sharing children,
the families with parents of different genders, the families with parents of the same gender,
the families where the children have four feet and fur,
the families who do not include children,
the families related by blood and the families made by choice,
the families bonded by legal status and the families bonded by love,
the families made up of friendships that have spanned the test of time,
we see the wondrous diversity of families and we are thankful.

Parenting God, on this day set apart to celebrate mothers
we give thanks for those who have been mothers or been like mothers to us.
At the same time we pray with and for those who find this day painful:
mothers alienated from children, children alienated from mothers;
those who have had to stand by a grave and say farewell to their children;
those who have had to say farewell to their mothers;
those who have wanted to bear children but for some reason it has never been possible;
those who have chosen not to bear children but have been told it was the wrong choice;
those who have become parents at a time they would not have chosen and have sometimes felt trapped;
those who made the hard choice to offer a child for adoption,
and those who were pushed or forced to make that choice.
God hear our prayer.

Let us reach beyond the boundaries of our daily thought and care
till the family you have chosen spills its love out everywhere.
God of this large, diverse, sometimes strange, family of faith;
we celebrate today with our siblings who sing and dance
we weep today with those who grieve
we pray with all those who struggle
we strive to live out the love you call us to share,
love that breaks down the boundaries and walls we create between each other.

And through all that life may offer, may we in your love remain;
may the love we share in families be alive to praise your name.
Help us learn to love each other with a love that constant stays;
teach us when we face our troubles, love’s expressed in many ways.
All these things, all the prayers of our lives
we pray in the name of Jesus, the Risen Christ, our Rock and Redeemer, our teacher and guide,
the one we call Saviour, Friend, Messiah and who leads us on the path of love.
AMEN

For May 2, 2021 -- Easter 5B, Vine and Branches

 

PRAYER FOR AND ASSURANCE OF GRACE
Source of life, you offer us roots that will feed and sustain us.
Sometimes we cling to those roots.
Sometimes we insist on relying on our own roots, our own strength, our own sources of sustenance.
In Jesus, the True Vine you invite us to remain connected to You and to each other,
spreading as branches of the tree of Love, spreading Love and hope into the corners and crevices of life.
Sometimes we feel disconnected, cut off from the vine, isolated from those things that sustain us.
Sometimes we decide we don’t need the vine, and then wonder why our leaves droop and we start to wither.
God of life in abundance, God who calls us to be fruitful branches, when we cut ourselves away from the vine, when we insist on doing things on our own, when we resist your attempts to prune and guide us for better growth:
forgive our headstrong natures, show us how to reconnect, renew our lives to help us bloom.
...time of silent prayer...
Our faith story begins and ends in a garden. The God who creates and re-creates us is a gardener, watering and weeding and pruning to give growth. This same God calls us to be connected and rooted in the soil of love so that we can grow and be fruitful. In Christ God forgives us and helps our branches renew our connection to the vine. God helps us grow to full flower, rooted in God’s love. This is Good News!
Thanks be to God! Hallelujah!

For April 11 2021 -- Easter 2, service looking at John 21

CALL TO WORSHIP
May the Peace of Christ be with you!
And also with you!
As we still stay physically separated to keep each other safe,
God invites us to join together in this virtual space
Connected by the Holy Spirit, and by technology, we continue to celebrate the reality of Resurrection
Let us worship together as followers of the Risen Christ.

OPENING PRAYER
God, we gather here together in spirit, though separated in space,
in this time together speak to our hearts, bring us hope, energize our souls.
Remind us of the power of Easter to bring life that conquers death.
And push as to live as people of hope, help us live as those who have been transformed.
We pray in the name of the Risen Christ as we share together words he once taught his closest friends.

PRAYER FOR AND ASSURANCE OF GRACE
Death-defeating God, in the Resurrection you challenge us.
You reveal a new world, you call us to move beyond what we once called normal
To be honest, sometimes it is hard to be transformed.
Like Peter we want to go back to what we once knew, to the familiar and the comfortable.
Still you meet us where we are, with our grief and our guilt and our fear,
so that we can live into the new reality, so that we can take the risk of being changed.
God when we are hesitant to be transformed, when we want to remain where it is comfortable,
give us strength, forgive our reluctance, push us to be Easter people, we pray
...time of silent prayer...
In the Risen Christ we meet God’s power to transform death into life, defeat into victory, despair into hope. Through Christ God brings us forgiveness and grace, new life and new hope. We ARE Easter people.
Hallelujah! Amen.

COMMISSIONING:
God calls us to live as Easter people!
We go out to share the promise of new life.
God calls us to be transformed by our encounter with the Risen Christ!
We go out to live in a new world, changed by history and changed by faith.
Go now to share God’s love,
Go to share God’s promise of life,
Go to share God’s transforming word of hope.
And go knowing that God: Creating Parent, Risen Christ, and Empowering Spirit
Is with us through all life’s changes. Hallelujah!

Prayers at the Foot of the Cross (2021)

 

Barukh atah Adonai Eloheinu melekh ha'olam,
Blessed are You, LORD, our God, King of the universe,
You have brought us through another year,
a year of challenges and struggles
nd yet you are there in all of it.

Creator of all that is, you share your vision of how the world could be.
Btu the world as it is falls short of that vision.
Every year, on this day we call Good, we pause to name the broken-ness of the world.

On this day we remember a story of execution,
a story of powerful striking out against a different vision for the world,
a story of passion and commitment,
and as we remember the story we wonder how it speaks to our current reality.

Today, God of Grace, we lift up those who have been broken by the world:
the ones who have been sacrificed in the name of bigger profits or lower taxes...
the ones who have been shut out of decision making and power...
the ones who have been targeted because of race, or gender identity, or sexuality...
the ones who live on the margins, or who have been labelled expendable...
the ones who are not treated equally or fairly by the systems of society...
the ones who know that they are not welcomed just as they are...
all those who have been made to feel as if their lives, their welfare, is less important.
God hear our prayer that they would be lifted up.
May this broken world be made whole, may healing flow.

Ever-present God, on this day when we mourn and grieve,
we join our hearts in prayer with all those whose hearts are heavy with grief:
for family members they can not visit in this time of pandemic precautions...
for those who have died of COVID-19...
for those who have been driven to despair and have given up on life...
for those who are lonely and isolated...
for those who share the Psalmist’s cry Eli Eli Lama Sabachthani.
My God, My God, Why have you forsaken me...
may all those who carry today a load of pain, of grief, of anxiety, of fear,
know that they are not alone, that they are held in a love that will never let them go.

God of Passion, the story we tell today reminds us of commitment,
of devotion to your vision for the world,
of Passion for the Kingdom.
Plant in us, we pray, that sort of passion and devotion.
Strengthen us to have to ability to offer of ourselves for a greater cause.
Give us the wisdom to know how best to advance your Kingdom
and help heal the broken-ness of the world

God of the Cross,
God who is with us in life and in death and in life beyond death,
we pray all these things in the name of Jesus, the crucified Messiah,
who challenges us to follow The Way that leads to Your Reign,
even though the path goes to a cross on a hill and a tomb in a garden
and a mystery that brings new hope.
Amen

Prayers of the People for March 21

 God of hope, of life, of resurrection we live and move and love in you.
We open our hearts and souls to you this day,
trusting that you are at work within and around us, writing the law of love on our hearts,
trusting that you are leading us to a place of new, transformed life, life beyond death
We look at the world around us and know that we need that word of hope and promise.
We see the broken-ness all too clearly.
We see the lack of love in our news feeds as we read about the shooting in Atlanta
an incident steeped with racist and sexist overtones.
We look at a year of living with pandemic restrictions
and some days we struggle to find the hope that lies beyond COVID-19.
Bring us hope, remind us that life wins.
Write your law upon our hearts, weave it into the fabric of our being,
transform us with life in abundance.

God who has created and is creating,
we look at the world around us and we are awestruck.
And so we open our hearts in prayers of awe:
for the beauty of the sun at rising or setting...
for the dancing of the Northern Lights...
for the sign of spring, carrying the promise of new growth bursting from frozen ground...
for birdsong, and wind in the trees, the sounds of nature in all its fullness...
For all those things that leave us speechless and awestruck,
God hear our prayers of WOW!

God who was there as we were formed in our mother’s womb,
God who filled our lungs with the breath of life and heard our borning cry,
God who is present in our every breath,
you share our joys and our sorrows.
You weep with us, laugh with us, celebrate with us.
You see and hear our fears and anxieties and worries.
Today we lift up in prayer all those who struggle.
The ones we know and love, the ones we can barely stand, the ones we have never met.
We pray with those who find themselves wrestling with dis-ease of body, mind, or spirit...
We pray with those who are anxiously waiting for their vaccine appointment,
with those forced to self-isolate due to a virus outbreak,
with those who are ill with COVID...
We pray with those who are lonely and isolated...
with those who are grieving...
with those who face financial worries...
May all those who struggle know that they are not alone,
that they are held in a love that will never let them go,
that there is life and hope, transformation and resurrection awaiting us all.
God hear our prayers for help

At the same time, God of life and love and those in abundance,
we pray with all those who sing and dance and celebrate this morning.
The ones who experience the promise of new life in a baby’s cry...
the ones who have seen love shining and active in the world...
the ones who have found new ways to connect with loved ones and rebuild relationships...
the ones who have met blessings expected or surprising in their daily activities...
For all those things that bring joy into our lives, God hear our prayers of thanks.

God of transformation, of resurrection, of new life and new hope,
God who is writing law and love on our hearts,
we share these, and all the prayers of all our lives in the name of Jesus,
our rock and redeemer, our teacher and guide,
the one who teaches us how to live as citizens of the Kingdom
Amen.

For March 21, 2021 -- Lent 5B

CALL TO WORSHIP
May the Peace of Christ be with you!
And also with you!
In a world still turned upside down, where physical distancing is still the rule and norm,
we still gather for worship, sharing this virtual space in real time, linked by bits and bytes, cables and modems.
As people who seek to follow The Way of Jesus Christ,
we gather to listen, to be renewed, to have the new covenant engraved deeper in our hearts.
Looking forward to the time of casting seed into the ground, where it will be transformed into flowers and food,
we continue to follow that path that leads to the cross, to the tomb, to a transformed life that lies beyond them both.
Come, let us worship together.

OPENING PRAYER
Gardener of life, you call us to this time together.
Here you plant seeds of hope in our hearts, here you lead us into transformation.
As we pray, and sing, and listen, and ponder this morning,
stir the soil of our lives, water the seeds in our hearts, reveal new life in our midst.
We gather as ones who follow Jesus, we pray in his name, and we share words he once taught his friends...

PRAYER FOR AND ASSURANCE OF GRACE
Rule-maker, you offer us guidelines for how we should live.
And while we sometimes rebel, against the rules, sometimes we see them as gift and challenge.
Covenant-maker, you call us to live in mutual support with each other and with you.
We try to live up to our part in the covenant, even though sometimes we know we miss the target.
Life-giver, you offer us transformation, renewal, and abundant life.
Help us to feel your Grace and embrace the transformation and new life we find in living as people of the covenant you have written on our hearts.
...time of silent prayer...
God has written the law of love on our hearts, woven it into the fabric of our very being. God challenges us to live as people of the covenant. And when we miss the target God says again “I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more”. We are forgiven, we are invited to new life, we are beloved children of God.
Thanks be to God! Amen.

COMMISSIONING
Our time of worship draws to a close. Our time of service continues.
Beyond our computer screens, outside our windows, there is a world that needs our presence.
Go now, carrying the law of love in your hearts, go out and water the seeds of hope that lie waiting to germinate and grow.
We go as gardeners, we go as seeds ourselves, we go to live transformed lives.
And go knowing that God: Parent, Child, and Spirit; the Great Gardener of Creation, goes with you to bring forth new life.
Thanks be to God. Amen

 

For February 28, 2021 Lent 2B

CALL TO WORSHIP
May the Peace of Christ be with you!
And also with you!
People of God, you are invited into this virtual space.
Sitting in front of TVs and phones and computers we gather to worship with our friends in faith.
Let us open our hearts and souls to God!
We come to celebrate God’s presence.

Opening PRAYER
Source of life and love, we open our lives to you.
In this unending season of COVID-19 we seek your comfort and your wisdom.
As we listen for your voice during this time of worship,
remind us who we are called to be, empower us to live into that reality.
As we strive to follow Jesus, to live as citizens of your Kingdom,
keep us bold both when the way is easy and when the road is darker and more challenging.
We pray in the name of Jesus, who leads us on the road, who calls us to be ready to offer our lives, and who teaches us to pray saying...

PRAYER FOR AND ASSURANCE OF GRACE
God is the time now? Is the Kingdom of God alive here in our midst?
If so, help us to repent, to change direction, to believe in the Good News.
God you call us to follow Jesus on The Way, even though it may lead us to difficult, even dangerous places.
We want to. Really we do.
But to be honest that whole “lose our lives to save them” thing seems a little...odd, hard, unsettling.
God you challenge us to be bold for the Kingdom, for a renewed vision of a changed world.
When we are unsure we can be that bold, strengthen us, when we have trouble seeing the vision, open our eyes.
God of Grace, you tell us that the time is now, that the Kingdom is alive in our midst.
God of Grace, you lead us in The Way, when it is easy and when it is difficult.
God of Grace, help us to live fully, to offer of ourselves, to see beyond our preconceptions and fears.
We pray in the name of Jesus, our teacher, our guide, our source of hope. Amen.

COMMISSIONING
The time is here!
The time is here when we will share the Good News that the Kingdom of God is at hand
As our worship concludes, we commit ourselves to live for God’s Kingdom.
Taking the risks that come with this commitment, opening ourselves to renewal, pledging to follow a new path.
Take on this commitment knowing that God, known as Parent, Child and Spirit is with you every step of The Way.
Thanks be to God. Amen.

 

For February 14, 2021 -- Valentine's Day

CALL TO WORSHIP
May the Peace of Christ be with you!
And also with you!
God calls us together in this virtual space.
We gather together in Spirit to worship the God who loves us and commands us to love each other.
God is at work in the world, transforming it through love
God is at work in us transforming us through love.
Let us worship together.

OPENING PRAYER
God of love, you meet us in every moment of our lives.
Meet us again, we pray, in this time of worship.
God of of love, you love us and call us to love each other, to embrace the transforming power that is love.
As we worship, remind us that we are loved, embolden us to love our neighbours, open our hearts to be transformed
We pray in the name of Jesus Christ, Love incarnate, who taught us about your love and who encourages us to pray saying...

COMMISSIONING:
The world around us is crying out for love.
As followers of Christ we carry love to that world, loving it as we have been loved.
The world around us is waiting to be transformed
Transformed by the power of love, a power that moves in the heart and soul to renew and remake.
As you go through your week, may you know God’s transforming power at work in you.
And may you know that God: the Lover, the Beloved, the Love is with you always.
Thanks be to God! Amen.

 

 

To go With John 1:35-51 on February 7, 2021

CALL TO WORSHIP
May the Peace of Christ be with you!
And also with you!
Come and see! Come and hear!
See who? Hear what?
The Lamb of God is walking by! Jesus from Nazareth!
Let’s go see him together!

Opening PRAYER
God you see us under the fig tree, or brewing coffee in the kitchen, or relaxing on the couch,
and you recognize us for who we are.
We wonder what you are up to, where you might be found,
and you invite us to come and see.
In this time of worship,
move in our hearts and souls,
give us the curiosity and the courage to come and see,
and then to share what we have seen and heard.
We pray in Jesus’ name Amen

PRAYER FOR AND ASSURANCE OF GRACE
Come and see!
God you invite us to explore what you are doing in the world.
Come and see?
But we are sometimes comfortable where we are and maybe a little dubious that there is much to see anyway.
Come and see?
Where we are reluctant to see and hear, where we are reluctant to share what we have seen and heard, strengthen our curiosity, embolden our words, we pray
Come and see! God is at work in the world. God is sharing the news of God’s grace and mercy. God is being revealed in our midst.
We come to see, to hear, to be reminded of God’s presence in our lives.
We are not alone. Thanks be to God. Amen.

COMMISSIONING
Go and share!
Share the Good News about what God is doing in the world.
Share the exciting news the God is afoot, that the world is being changed
Share the promise that God sees us where we are and welcomes us into the circle.
We have come to see, now we go to share the love of God with the world around us.
And you are not alone. The Three-in-One: Parent, Child and Holy Spirit is with you always.
Thanks be to God!

 

 

 

For January 24, 2021 -- 3rd Sunday After Epiphany

OPENING PRAYER (followed by the singing of Sidney Carter's Lord of the Dance)
God, you invite us to join in the dance.
Joining with fellow dancers all over the globe, kicking up our heels as you call out the moves.
You pick the tune, you hum the first few bars,
and we jump up from what we are doing, unable to keep still.
In this time of worship, re-invite us to join in the dance, to sign up for a new adventure.
Give us the vision that leads us to leave our nets by the water
give us the hope to sing a new song, or an old song with a new twist,
give us the energy to dance and prance even when the road seems long and hard.
We join with fellow Christians around the globe in the dance that unites us as we say together the prayer that unites us...
LORD’S PRAYER

COMMISSIONING:
The leader of the dance meets us where we live and work,
and calls us to leave behind what we know to try something new.
Will we have the courage to jump up and join in the adventure that awaits us?
We will dance where ever we may be,
we will go and fish with Christ,
we will join in the worldwide ministry of living, giving, and loving.
And our lives will never be the same again.
As we go out to join in the dance, to follow the adventurous path;
we do so trusting that God: who chooses the tune;
who calls out the moves;
who is made known as Parent, Child and Holy Spirit;
is with us along the way.
Amen.

For January 10, 2021 -- 2nd After Epiphany, Year B

 CALL TO WORSHIP
Maybe the voice came like a whisper in the night,
filling your dreams with hope and meaning.
Maybe it came in in the early dawn,
waking you from sleep, preparing you for the day.
Maybe it came in the middle of the day,
pushing you onward, energizing your work for love.
Whenever you hear it, God’s voice whispers to us, calling us to worship, calling us to serve.
Let us worship together...

PRAYER FOR AND ASSURANCE OF GRACE
God you whisper into our ears, calling us by name.
Like Samuel we do not immediately know who is there.
You whisper again, and again, and again,
waiting until we recognize what is happening and open our hearts to listen.
You challenge us with hard words to hear, hard truths to share.
So sometimes we choose to put it off for another day, pretending we did not hear you calling in the night.
But still you call, still you urge us back to the road of wisdom, you do no give up.
For the times we have rolled over and gone back to sleep,
for the times we have closed our ears and our hearts to your truth,
for the times we have chosen to keep silent when you call us to speak,
forgive and strengthen us we pray.
...time of silent prayer...
The God who calls us by name, who challenges us to live and serve, who moves us to share God’s truth, does so in love always. Where we miss the mark we are forgiven and called again to complete the task.
Call us again God. We will listen and we will answer. Amen.

COMMISSIONING:
Stop! Listen! Do you hear it?
Like the whisper of the wind, like the roaring of the storm.
God is calling us onward and outward.
As our worship concludes our service continues, as we share God’s truth and God’s love,
may we know that the God who calls us by name is with us always.
Thanks be to God! Amen