Epiphany
“Star Words” A Service
Below is a complete order of worship created by Rev. Leigh McCaffrey for Sunday worship at Barre Congregational Church, Barre, VT on January 9, 2022 (The Feast of Epiphany). The order ends with the distribution of “star words” to the entire congregation. What are star words? See description below from https://www.ucc.org/worship-way/festival-of-epiphany-year-c/ (accessed 12/8/22), written by Debbie Gline Allen, Commissioned Minister of Christian Formation, who serves as Minister of Faith Formation for the Southern New England...
read moreHope Fund: Epiphany Resources 2023
Promoting the HOPE Fund During Epiphany 2023 As the HOPE Fund committee winds down our fundraising efforts and hands the baton to the HOPE Fund Discernment Team to award grants, we are asking congregations who have not yet contributed to the HOPE Fund to be part of this historic effort in the Vermont Conference. It would be so exciting to have 100% of our congregations participate in some way as we prepare for 2023, and the projects that the HOPE fund will support! Perhaps you have a traditional year-end fundraiser, or usually designate a...
read moreBaptized
A short poem for Baptism of Jesus Sunday. Could be used as a call to worship, prayer, or just printed in bulletin/projected. Audio version of the author reading poem along with text version are both below. baptized, i know i am i’ve got the certificate in my safe illustrated baby on the front tied with blue ribbon (if i remember correctly) a signature from my pastor at the time that’s all i know about the moment i was dipped long before i was aware of it my baptism was shaping me into a servant who wins by losing...
read moreMLK 2018
Below is a call and response prayer that could be used as a Call to Worship, Pastoral Prayer, Benediction, etc. The text is taken from various MLK quotes and the congregational response is from King’s “I Have a Dream” Speech, after the prophet Amos. One: We now raise the voice of the prophet Martin Luther King whose voice we still need so much: “I have the audacity,” King said, “to believe that peoples everywhere can have three meals a day for their bodies, education and culture for their minds,...
read moreTransfiguration: Holy Ground
Below you will find a Call to Worship and a Prayer for Illumination for Transfiguration Sunday. The Call to Worship weaves in Matthew 17:1-9 and is most appropriate for Lectionary Year A. The Prayer for Illumination is appropriate any year. (Note: the Bible translation used below the Common English Bible but any could be used). CALL TO WORSHIP (Matthew 17:1-9) One: Six days later Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, and brought them to the top of a very high mountain. He was transformed, transfigured, in front of...
read moreTransfiguration: Still Glowing
Our congregation often begins worship with a spoken call to worship….maybe yours does too. To enter into Transfiguration Sunday in a different way, you may consider the simple Call to Worship below. It weaves together Scripture, song and prayer. The Scripture is from Mark 9:2-8 (Common English Bible translation). The song is “Bless the Lord,” by John Bell. See more info about song here. Others songs could certainly be used. MANY: [SING] Bless the Lord… One: “Six days later Jesus took Peter, James, and John, and brought...
read moreMLK 2017: Resources
Below are some resources written for Martin Luther King Sunday, 2017. For your service, you may want to consider interspersing readings from the writings of MLK throughout your service and/or adding a video projection of an excerpt of MLK speaking/preaching. Call to Worship One: It is good that there are fire extinguishers in this place. MANY: Worship. One: It is good that there is water close by. MANY: Worship. One: It is good that God’s Word burns, God’s Spirit blows, and God’s prophets speak. MANY: Worship. Prayer of Confession (unison)...
read moreNativity: Look Again
Most of us have 1 or 5 or 10 of them. You know crèches…nativity sets…little wooden houses with painted shepherds, magi, doting parents, and the baby Jesus in a manger. They are an ancient and effective tool that the church uses to tell the story of the birth of Jesus Christ. We also see them so often during Advent and Christmas that well…maybe…we don’t see really see them at all. Here are some ways you might use nativity sets in the worshiping life of your church to reclaim them as a tool for telling the...
read moreThrough the Church Year
Below is a detailed liturgy for a single Sunday morning service that walks a congregation through the entire Church calendar from Advent through Reign of Christ. Through Word, explanation, and song, this service is a worshipful way to educate and to help a multi-generational congregation to participate in the rhythms and patterns of the liturgical year. It was originally used in 2006 for a United Church of Christ congregation in Massachusetts. (Note: *= Stand as you are able) Order of Worship Prelude & Meditation Time Greetings,...
read moreWhat You Have: A Prayer-Poem for the Season of Epiphany
Below is a prayer-poem I wrote for the season of Epiphany, which is all about SEEING. This could certainly be used at any time in the church calendar when temperatures cool and snow falls… What You Have It’s hard to know what you have. the field behind my home is fertile and open an expanse of grass and hay. every now and then I’ll see a dog out for a walk or a cat lazing about or a few friends playing catch. And then it snows. by midmorning there are ski tracks and deer tracks and boot prints and paw ...
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