Communion Prayer: God you come to us in so many ways, in our gathering together in your name you promise to be particularly present. You promise to be present in the beginnings and endings of things—in transitions, when things are ephemeral and hard. And yet again, you promise to be particularly present in the bread and the cup, so that we might taste and see that you are good. Send your Holy Spirit to transform this meal into a feast of your blessing we pray. Amen.
Communion Prayer: Jesus Christ as we celebrate this time of coming together with one another, may you transform this communion into a prayer of reconciliation with one another and our community, so that we might learn how to pray as we eat, breathe and walk among the world. As we taste this bread and cup, let us remember that you sent your son Jesus Christ to live a human life and teach us how to live the life of embodied prayer, one where teaching, serving and loving can all be active ways of praying our way through life. May this communion that we celebrate be an act of prayer as well. Send your Holy Spirit to transform these elements into the embodiment of this communion with all those who have come before, all those who will come, and the entire church who is praying now and forever in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
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Easter Sunday: Prayer of the Resurrection: Good News and prayer have in common that there is still a mystery to them. Humans cannot fully grasp the whys and hows of God. We sometimes feel so overwhelmed that we would rather not even try. However, Jesus is both grace-filled and full of resurrection, giving us the opportunity to still be fully human, and still inviting us to spend time with God.
Breath Prayer: Inhale: Christ is Risen Exhale: Christ is Risen Indeed
Inhale: God is resurrected Exhale: We are a resurrection
Inhale: The tomb is empty Exhale: God can work with emptiness
Inhale: God is here Exhale: God teach me to pray
Call to Worship: Come let us go and see Jesus Christ Who has rolled the stone away The Good News Is here, Christ is Risen What if we need to pray on it awhile? Do not fear, the Good News will still be there waiting Come, let us pray on the Good News today, Christ is Risen!
Call to Confession: God is ready, even we are not, come let us confess ourselves to God.
Prayer of Confession: God we confess that sometimes we cannot take the news—be it good or bad. We confess that sometimes, some things, we need to pray on or about. Help us when we struggle. Give us what we need to process and share about those things we are uncertain about or cannot grasp we pray. (Silent Confession) Amen.
Prayer of Confession: God we confess that sometimes, even after all the instruction, encouragement and support, we do not know how to pray. We confess that this praying thing seems like a task or a to do list. We confess that we are uncertain should how often should we do it? Is it for holy days only? Who exactly are we praying to anyway? We confess feel like Mary and we want to run away. Remind us that that the Holy Spirit prays for us, when the only prayer we have is the air we breath. Help us to worry less about what we are praying about, and to instead try to sit and take in the Good News you have for us today. Amen.
Assurance of Pardon: God sees us and forgives us, let us proclaim the Easter Good News to one another today. In Jesus Christ we are forgiven.
Prayer of the Day/Dedication: God let us go into the world assured of your resurrection and that we are your resurrection people, even on the days that we want to run away, or feel unable to talk to you. Let us remember that we have permission to walk, color, sing or breathe the Good News in whatever way we can that is affirming and life-giving, and teach us to share your Love in grace filled ways we pray. Amen.
Taize: All will be Well, In the Lord I’ll be ever thankful
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God plants and tends joy as a space of sanctuary in our lives—it is not a feeling of happiness, but rather a place of safety and Sabbath to visit when you are happy or sad. It is the space that allow us to celebrate with others, even when we are in a different place in our own lives.
Inhale: God loves the world Exhale: We are God’s beloved
Inhale: Justice is God’s joy Exhale: Justice is Love Out Loud
Call to Worship: God is our righteous rule, let the earth rejoice Clouds and thick darkness surround the Divine, Righteousness and Justice are the foundation of God’s throne God’s lightenings light up the world, the earth sees and trembles The mountains melt like wax before God, et all who hear rejoice Light is sown for those who love justice, Joy lives in those who have equity in their heart Come let us give thanks in the name of our God!
Call to Confession: God plants the seeds of joy in us, let us confess where we feel we fall short, so that we rest in God.
Prayer of Confession: God, I confess that I often confuse joy with being happy. I confess that I want everything to be easy and that the formula to be “Smile Jesus loves you.” I do not want joy to be a seed that is planted and grown for the birds to nest in. I do not want to be glad to come to church, because it is the place of sanctuary where I can safely be unhappy. I confess, that sometimes I miss the point of tending and growing joy. Teach me how to tend to the needs of joy and the gardens of your kingdom work I pray. (Silent Confession) Amen.
Prayer of Confession: Jesus Christ, I confess that sometimes we as a culture are too obsessed with happiness. We feel like we need something to be happy—money, the perfect profession, a partner. Teach us that we do not have to be happy or joyful all of the time, that lightening moments of joy followed by moments of Sabbath, rest and simple companionship are enough. Teach us to be the birds that nest home in your mustard seed Kingdom we pray. (Silent Confession). Amen.
Assurance of Pardon: Jesus Christ promises us peach and love within the Kingdom, and so we know that our confession is seen, heard and accepted. Let us proclaim the Good News, In Jesus Christ we are forgiven.
Prayer of the Day/Dedication: God help us to appreciate and celebrate the joy as we see it in our lives. May we tend it, and let it grow. Help us to laugh with those who are laughing, even as we might weep with those who are weeping—providing sanctuary for all those in need we pray. Amen.
Taize: Laudate Omnes Gentes
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Being your full self in front of God, confessing your self in the midst of community so you are not alone in your humanity. Confession is about confessing the good and bad of what it mean to be part of the human condition, and hopefully remembering that Jesus was human once too. In terms of the paralytic, his sins were forgiven because of the faith and community of his friends, it was a confessional moment.
Inhale: I don’t know everything Exhale: It’s ok to not know
Inhale: I am me Exhale: I am enough
Inhale: Today I will not achieve Exhale: Today I will just be
Call to Worship Come confess yourselves to Jesus Christ I come, a full and imperfect human being And yet, somehow, Jesus promises to be particularly present whenever we gather Here we are, to confess, to worship to pray Come let us worship our Lord Come, let us celebrate and worship today
Call to Confession: God does not leave us where we are, but takes us where we need to be—therefore let us confess our full selves to God, so that we might no longer feel alone.
Prayer of Confession: God, we confess that this whole idea of naming our sins out loud is hard. What if the thing that is named does not exactly apply to me? What if it hits too close to home? Why do we even do this confession thing? Why do I need to say who I am to you? Are you not God? Do you not know me already? And then I remember, that to state who I am, is to reclaim myself. Then I remember that to name my burdens is to lay them at your feet. Then I remember that to name them together, is to remember that no one is suffering alone, that we are in community with one another. Thank you God for giving us a way to practice hope, love, humanity and forgiveness together, remind us that confession is about being our full selves, because you can handle us, we pray. (Silent Confession) Amen.
Prayer of Confession: Jesus, I confess it is hard for me, some days, to believe that you were fully human, and understood all of the emotions, pain and hardship that entailed. However, here I am, putting my whole human self in your hands. Please hold my pain in your hands. I confess that I am trying to trust that you understand hat I am going through—even as I am trusting that you can help me to walk through it, by holding my hand along the way. (Silent Confession) Amen.
Assurance of Pardon: Hear the Good News, the yoke of Jesus Christ is light, for Jesus Christ is here not to condemn us but to save us, thus we rejoice In the good news: In Jesus Christ we are Forgiven
Prayer of the Day/Dedication: God, let us go into the world remembering that being ourselves is enough. All you want is for us to be our full and true selves. For we are your beloved, and our faith is not about being perfect, but about working to love and serve one another, let us go into the world, and try to be ourselves wherever we go. In Jesus Christ we pray. Amen.
Taize: My Soul Finds Rest in God Alone
Prayer Activity:
Confessing the Self Option 1:Write down yourself as characteristics only Physical, Emotional, Intellectual, Vocational, Spiritual, give them to God as a confessional prayer to “give yourself to God in prayer” as pieces and a whole, a confession that you are pieces and a whole, and God accepts you exactly as you are.
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Lent 1 Themes: Call to Worship, Being Present with God Prayer is being particularly present with God, Taking Sabbath is taking stock, and resting in the grace of God
Call to Worship Praise God for we are bound together We are present with God when we pray We are called to be together in this space We are called to be a Sabbath people Come let us rest in prayer Come let us enter the House of Prayer, and take rest
Call to Worship Our Feet are standing in your gates We long to be present with you God We pray for peace Peace within and peace without, so that we can be present Help us to be fully present here today Let us give thanks to God I was glad when they said, let us go to the house of the Lord Come let us go, and be present in the house of the Lord
Call to Confession: God invites us in to the house of God with open and welcoming arms, and invites us to lay down our guilt along the way. Let us do that now together.
Prayer of Confession: God, we confess that when we hear the Call to worship, we are hesitant. We do not always feel your house as a place of peace, or a sanctuary. Too often it is a duty, a chore, or an item on the checklist. We do not always see it as a place to simply be. Help us to experience the call to worship as an invitation to simply be human in your presence, and to know your belovedness we pray. (Silent Confession) Amen.
Prayer of Confession: God, we confess that we do not always hear the call to prayer. What is this prayer thing anyway? Is it praise? Lament? A conversation with God? We confess that we find the concept confusing. Teach us to pray God, to rest in the knowledge that you accept all offerings, and that any sacrifice of prayer is acceptable to you, and allow us to find prayer as a form of sanctuary we pray. (Silent) Amen.
Assurance of Pardon: God loves us and forgives us, embracing us and calling us beloved no matter what state we are in, therefore we can be assured of the truth In Jesus Christ we are forgiven.
Prayer of the Day/Dedication: Let us remember that God is calling us to worship, because God loves to spend time with us. God gives us an open invitation. Let us go into the world, bolstered by God’s invitation to spend time with the Divine, knowing we can rest in God’s bosom, no matter what, and let us tell other’s of God’s extravagant hospitality as we go. Amen.
Prayer Activity: Meditation is being present and letting thing go: Ways to practice meditation: Coloring as Prayer: https://prayingincolor.com/ways-to-pray-in-color Particularly, Spending Time with God in Prayer
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Kneeling with Christ The Promise of a New Kin-dom Breaking [A World Beyond] Capitalism
Lent 6 : Anointed King by a Serving, Simple Woman or Throw him a parade instead of serving the poor, humans never change–Love and Serve the Lord, Jesus wants sacrifice of praise through loving and serving one another not a show of glory.
Breath Prayer Option Inhale: Christ is King Exhale: Hosanna
Inhale: Blessed is the One Exhale: Bless all who come in God’s Name
Inhale: the Lord is God Exhale: Let us Greet Jesus Christ
Call to Worship You are my God, I give thanks to you You are my God, I will extol you Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord Save us, we beseech you, Hosanna, Hosanna in the High Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good Come, let us praise God whose steadfast love endures forever
Call to Confession: Come let us cry out our confession to the Lord together.
Prayer of Confession: God we confess that we cry out Hosanna, even when we are uncertain whether or not we want to serve you today. We are uncertain how to anoint you as King. Yet here we are, crying out to be saved, from something. because deep in our hearts we know that you are our savior. Hosanna, blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord, come and teach us how to be a people of Christ we pray. (Silent Confession) Amen.
Prayer of Confession: Jesus we confess that we do not always know how to serve you. We would rather throw you a parade, then give away all of our possessions and go out and work with the immigrants, the poor, the hungry and the naked. Hossana, help us to learn how to serve you better, so that we may kneel beside you when you return to serve we pray. (Silent Confession) Amen.
Assurance of Pardon: Hear the good new, Jesus Christ came to save us, so we know the truth, In Jesus Christ we are forgiven. Amen.
Prayer of the Day/Dedication: God may we go into the world remembering that you will always be our God, and we will alway be your people. May we hold this in our hearts always. Amen.
Hymn Suggestions: Hosanna Loud Hosanna, All Glory Laud and Honor
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Kneeling with Christ The Promise of a New Kin-dom Breaking [A World Beyond] Capitalism
Lent 5: Serving God: Watching for God for the Kin(g)dom that is promised. Christ promises us that a new world is being built, how can we participate in the building and serve God? Your Kingdom Come/Your Will Be Done
Breath Prayer Option Inhale: Keep Awake Exhale: Watch for God
Inhale: God endures forever Exhale: I will serve God
Inhale: God’s Kingdom Come Exhale: God’s will be done
Call to Worship: God is enthroned forever, and promises to return We are waiting for Jesus God will rebuild all things, so that everything will shine with justice and mercy God will hear the prayers of those who are stripped of all things God will appoint the time and the place, stay awake Come let us listen closely to the Word of our God
Call to Confession: Come let us speak to the God who always listens with a confession.
Prayer of Confession: God we confess that we do not know the hour or the day of your coming and that troubles us. We worry that we will not be awake or aware enough for when you come. We are afraid that we will be asleep. Comfort us. Remind us that you are the God of grace, and that it is not a grace that is earned but one that is given out of love. Help us to know that you will help us to tend to the Kin(g)Dom work, so that we may pray and participate in Your Kin(g)dom Come, Your will be Done with confidence we pray. (Silent Confession) Amen.
Prayer of Confession: Jesus Christ, we know that too often staying awake and being woke is used as a bludgeon of judgement instead of a measurement that you are the help and sure redemption in our lives. Help us to reassure one another that you are the Lord of Sabbath and Rest and that the awareness you promise is that of hope, truth and Love (Silent Confession) Amen.
Assurance of Pardon: Hear the good news, if Christ is for us, who is against us? We know that Jesus Christ is even now working towards our grace, and so we can proclaim the good news, In Jesus Christ we are forgiven.
Prayer of the Day/Dedication: God help us to be aware of your presence as a space of comfort and hope as we venture into the uncertainties of the world we pray. Amen.
Hymn Suggestions: Great is Thy Faithfulness
Taize Option: Wait for The Lord
Children’s Activity: Build a Tower/Town together or a collage– Talk about cooperative learning/building together and how God wants us to be cooperatively learning and building and watching and waiting together and that this is Kin(g)Dom building work. Children’s Book: A Day without Words by Tiffany Hammond talk about how we can watch how other people interact and work in the world, and how we can build relationship with them, and how that is building the kingdom of God.
Children’s Book: A Day without Words by Tiffany Hammond talk about how we can watch how other people interact and work in the world, and how we can build relationship with them, and how that is building the kingdom of God.
Feel free to Email KatyandtheWord at Gmail for Text version for easy Copy/Paste Formatting Suggested Donation for Entire Liturgy $75 (you decide what is fair for portions) Receipt Available upon request Please give credit to Pastor Katy Stenta “KatyandtheWord”
Lent 4: Serving God: Love God exactly as you Are Don’t need to change Nothing (anything) first. How would the world be if we stopped worrying about appearances?
Breath Prayer Option Inhale: I am imperfect Exhale: I am ready to serve
Inhale: God loves me Exhale: I am the Widow’s Mite
Inhale: God is faithful Exhale: It’s Ok if I change
Call to Worship: I will sing of your steadfast love, forever! With my mouth, I will proclaim your faithfulness to all generations! God made a covenant with David and his descendants God is faithful, Come let us praise our faithful God!
Call to Confession: God knows us and loves us, come let us confess ourselves to our loving God.
Prayer of Confession: God we confess that it is hard to hear the story of the widow without judgement. Should we be the widow? Should the poor widow not have given her last mite? And yet, perhaps Jesus was just stating the facts that those who serve are going to be the poorest among us, because they get it. Help us when we judge how others use their money or how others serve, to instead just love and serve in our own ways, we pray. Amen.
Prayer of Confession: God we confess that the command to simply love God with all of our heart, minds and souls does not seem to be concrete enough for us. In what ways? Are there not specific hymns to sing or prayers to pray? We confess that it bothers us that Jesus does not say how we are supposed to love God, just that we should, and this means that we cannot judge each other. Help us not to judge, and to just love you the best we can we pray. Amen.
Assurance of Pardon: Hear the Good News, God loves us exactly as we are, so we know the truth In Jesus Christ we are forgiven.
Prayer of the Day/Dedication: God help us to remember that you have called us exactly as we are to serve you, encourage us to go and into the world ready to love and serve the Lord. Amen.
Hymn Suggestions: Just As I am Without One Plea
Taize Option: Wait for the Lord
Children’s Activity: Play Freeze (try not to move) or Red Light/Green Light. Talk about how God is always faithful even if you change/move.
Children’s Book: I’ll Wait Mr Panda by Steve Antony about how waiting for the results of hard work is worth it.
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Kneeling with Christ The Promise of a New Kin-dom Breaking [A World Beyond] Capitalism
Lent 3: Serving God: Rendering to God what is God’s, What do you have to offer?
Breath Prayer Option Inhale: Great is God’s Steadfast Love Exhale: God delivers me
Call to Worship God is great and wondrous You alone are God I give thanks to you, of you alone are God Let us give our whole hearts to God God’s steadfast love is eternal Come let us glorify God’s name forever
Call to Confession: God allows us to sit in the Divine presence even when we feel uncertain, come let us confess ourselves to God.
Prayer of Confession: God we confess that we do not know what to render to you. It feels like everything belongs to society and Caesar: our bodies, our time, our work. We confess that it angers us in such a way that we might become like the tenants, ready to lash out even at those who come to with messages from God. Help us to move beyond the structures of this world, so that we can serve the Kingdom we pray. (Silent Confession) Amen.
Assurance of Pardon: Hear the Good News, the yoke of Jesus Christ is light, and He is ready to forgive, so we know the Good News of Christ’s grace In Jesus Christ we are Forgiven.
Communion Prayer: God you are here to serve us and to feed us. You stooped your divine self into human form–translating divinity into a body and Good News into a format that we can understanding, so that we can taste and see the Good News of your life, one of service and foot washing. Send your Holy Spirit upon these elements so that we can feel your holy presence as a moment of communion with you and understand your teachings as moments of grace and love, we pray in the name of your son Jesus Christ we pray. Amen.
Prayer of the Day/Dedication: God, we are here to dedicate ourselves to you, because when we do, our lives are more joyful and complete. Help us to recognize the ways you move and are in our lives, so that we might live more fully in service to you we pray. Amen.
Hymn Suggestions: We Give Thee But Thine Own
Taize Option: Ubi Caritas
Children’s Activity: Talk about offering and what it means, and why it is you give offering–and how one can give offering of money, time and talents. Arrange a service project–preparing food or toiletries or birthday kits for the community.
Children’s Book: The Power of One by Trudy Ludwig or Children’s Book: The Power of One by Trudy Ludwig how goodness has ripple effects or Thank You Mr Panda by Steve Antony about how waiting is hard but it can have good effects.
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A reflection on the ongoing violence in Gaza, CW: war, death violence against children
God I hear her in the middle of the night
Sometimes when my children run around the house in their ruckus game of Hide and Seek (which I do not tell them they are too old for) their teenage feet sound like hippos With the hunger to go with it a trail of crumbs going up and down the steps
I do not yell at them for the noise the chaos the mess
I hear Rachel weeping All the way from Gaza it is a whispered choking sound
Her snuffling lament It sounds both angry and full of hurt
And I can hear it all too often echoing across the oceans
Rachel is weeping for her children
She refuses all comfort I see her pacing Unable to eat or sleep because her children are buried under rubble or blown to pieces
Her children who were scrounging for food and licking the rain off of gutters Her children who she packed up in the middle of the night
First to travel to one part of the world and then another In the bitter cold In hats and gloves knitted by an old Auntie, who unrolled all the wool they had Just to cover the children
And then in a blink of violence
Rachel’s children are gone And sometimes her eyes play tricks on her And she thinks that she sees them Out of the corner of her eye or in the line marching towards a border Blocked by soldiers Even as her heart beats
They are gone They are lost I can’t find them
Rachel weeps the tears flow so that she does not notice them any longer she does not notice…
Jeremiah 31:15 Thus says the Lord: A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping. Rachel is weeping for her children; she refuses to be comforted for her children, because they are no more.
Picture of the wall written on by these students, which is lovely because it gives a fuller story of the conflict which is complicated by the terrorist group Hamas who wanted this war, the corrupt governance of Netanyahu and the anti-semitism throughout the world that begs for a safe place for Jewish people to exist and be (and this summary does not even do the situation justice, however this poem expresses some of the pain of this moment) https://lisaschirch.wordpress.com/2017/10/10/rachel-is-weeping-at-the-separation-wall/
With thanks to Rev Kyle Delhagan and Presbyterian Women for finding the image
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