For October 25, 2015 (Service using parts of the story of Ruth)

CALL TO WORSHIP

God calls us to gather as sisters and brother in faith and life.

We gather with the members of our family.

God calls us together to be prepared to be sent out

we gather that we would be refreshed as servants of God.

As we gather together we turn to our friends and neighbours and exchange words and signs of Christ's Peace...

PRAYER FOR AND ASSURANCE OF GRACE

God you call us to name as family the people whose lives we share.

Help us to commit ourselves to care for them, and to allow them to care for us.

We know that sometimes our families, the ones we are born into and the ones we choose, fail us.

And we know that we sometimes fail them.

And so help us move beyond the failings to find the way where we can all flourish,

forgiving, giving another chance, taking the risks of love and commitment.

God of grace, God who calls us beloved children, God who challenges us to see brothers and sisters wherever we look,

give us the grace, the courage, the ability, to see beyond our old boundaries as we share the love you have shared with us.

And when our vision is limited, when we ask “who is my brother?”

open our hearts and souls to the breadth we find in Christ Jesus.

As part of the family you have chosen,

help us God to live in grace, in love, and in mutual support, committed to each other. Amen.

For October 11, 2015 -- Thanksgiving Sunday, The call of Moses

PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING

O God we call...

throughout the ages people have called out in their times of crisis.

O God we call...

those under the thumb of oppression, those struggling under the weight of life.

O God we call...

seeking to know that we are heard, seeking relief in our hardship.

From deep inside we yearn for you.

We ask you to break in to the world, to set things right.

We are not alone...

we trust that you hear the cries of your people.

We are not alone...

with thanksgiving we celebrate your constant presence, your assurance that the arc of the universe continuously bends toward justice.

We are not alone...

God of life, we thank you for the gifts you share with us, we thank you for changing the world so that all your children might flourish.

And so in hope and thanksgiving we echo the old prayer:

That all will be well, all manner of thing be well. Someday. Amen.

COMMISSIONING:

God hears.

And God calls us to hear too.

God acts.

And challenges us to act as agents of God.

We go out into the world,

looking for the “burning bush”, looking for those places where God invites us into the work of liberation.

And we go secure in the promise that we are not alone. God is with us.

Thanks be to God. Amen

For October 4, 2015 (using Week 3 Year 2 readings from the Narative Lectionary)

CALL TO WORSHIP

We are called to be the church

to celebrate God's presence.

We have responded to the call

and so we gather together in worship

As we gather we turn to our neighbours, our family of faith, and exchange Christ's Peace

OPENING PRAYER

God who calls us to be a community of faith,

a community that strives for justice and struggles to understand how you would have us live.

We come to this place,

to worship, to be renewed, to be challenged,

to be sent out,

to live your Way of Love and Hope, to make a difference in the world.

And in so doing to proclaim the Gospel of the crucified and risen Christ

Amen

PRAYER FOR COURAGE

God, grant us the courage,

to send all others across the stream and stay alone in the wild to confront our fears and our demons.

God grant us the courage,

to wrestle and strive and to not let go.

God grant us the courage,

to name our own failings, to grow stronger through our weaknesses.

God grant us the courage,

to wrestle with you, to struggle with your Word, to discern where your mission intersects with our lives.

God grant us the courage,

to laugh, to live, to love. Amen.

COMMISSIONING:

Our time of worship draws to a close.

We have gathered at the table of faith, we have listened for God's voice.

Our time of service continues.

We live and work and serve in the world around us.

Go to the world, go into every place.

We go to share God's love and hope. We go to live as people of the Way.

Go with God: Parent, Child, and Spirit , who is with us always.

We are not alone. Thanks be to God.

Christ Candle responses for Fall 2015

LIGHTING OF THE Christ CANDLE

A pillar of fire in the desert, the words of faith and Scripture, a candle shining in our worship,

all reminders of the God who leads, guides, challenges, and supports us.

For September 13, 2015 -- Garden of God

PRAYER FOR AND ASSURANCE OF GRACE

God of life, in the beginning, you gave us a garden.

Where the tree of life grew. Where we were invited to live in community with you and all creation.

In the end, in the midst of the New Jerusalem, there will be a garden.

Where the tree of life will grow. Where the river of life will flow. Where we are welcomed back into paradise.

In between we search for the garden.

Looking for signs of paradise in a world where paradise sometimes seems far from real.

Gardener God,

In grace lead us to find the gardens in our lives, reveal where paradise lies waiting to be found.

And when that seems impossible,

remind us of another garden,

where your grace and power were revealed in the face of death and disaster,

where resurrection returned paradise to the world.

Gracious God, reveal your grace and power and life to us

throughout our lives. Amen.

For September 6, 2015 -- The Parable of the Wedding Banquet

CALL TO WORSHIP

Come in, Come in and sit down!

We gather with our brothers and sisters in faith.

Come and gather at the banquet table of God.

Where all are invited, where all can eat, where we break bread together.

As we gather at the table, we greet our fellow guests with words and signs of God's Peace.

OPENING PRAYER

God of the banquet,

we gather together to sing, to pray, to open ourselves to your presence.

In this time together,

open our hearts to the breadth of your open grace, open our spirits to the width of your welcome.

You invite us to the banquet of life.

We respond, we join in the singing and dancing and feasting.

As we are fed in this time together,

prepare us to share the banquet with our neighbours. Amen.

PRAYER FOR AND ASSURANCE OF GRACE

God of the banquet, you invite us to come and celebrate.

But sometimes life is just so full, we are too busy.

God of the banquet, you invite us to come and celebrate.

But there are other things that seem more important. Maybe next time.

God of the banquet, you ask us to bring others to the banquet.

Who shall we invite?

God of the banquet, you open the table to everyone.

Which surprises us, which confuses us, which sometimes angers us.

God of the banquet, help your grace flow through us as we gather at the banquet.

Help us to be open to all our neighbours, to welcome them in, to celebrate together.

God of grace, through your grace, may the celebrations be loud and long lasting.

Amen.

COMMISSIONING:

We have gathered, we have shared in the Banquet of Life

We accepted the invitation.

Now as our worship concludes we go out into the world.

To share the love of God, to share the joy of the banquet. with all we meet.

Go with God, witness to the love of God, carry the hope of faith with you.

We are not alone. Thanks be to God, the host of the banquet of life.

Amen

For Summer Worship

CALL TO WORSHIP

In the dog days of the summer,

we gather to worship, to have the fire of the Spirit lit in our souls.

In this season of growth, as the earth puts out food,

we gather to worship, to be fed and energized.

As followers of Christ, we greet each other with Christ's peace...

PRAYER FOR AND ASSURANCE OF GRACE

Gracious God, you blow life's breath into our lungs.

We live in you, we live through you.

You call us to live lives marked by forgiveness, love, hope, compassion.

And we strive to do so.

But if we are honest,

sometimes our lives are marked by resentment, dis-interest, fear, self-centeredness

God of Grace,

when we get it right celebrate with us, when we miss the mark gently guide us back to the path of wisdom.

...time of silent prayer...

God is gracious and merciful. God celebrates our successes and mourns our mis-steps. God continues to call us back to the Way with forgiveness and grace and mercy.

Thanks be to God. Amen.