By Liturgical Element
Burdens Down
Sometimes tragedies trickle and sometimes they flow like a firehose. From late August through Early October 2017, Hurricane Harvey, Hurricane Irma, Hurricane Maria, earthquakes in Mexico, and a mass shooting in Las Vegas filled our public consciousness and burdened us. In both my church and personal life I experienced these tragic events having a cumulative and withering effect. The prayer below was written to be used in congregational worship to help people “lay their burdens down.” In conjunction with the prayer, you may...
read moreSo Much to Learn: A Blessing
Below is a short and easily adaptable blessing for Sunday School students and teachers to be used at the start of a new school year, or whenever appropriate. God, there is so much to learn about ourselves, our neighbors, our world and about you. So, as children, youth, and adults, we again set aside this year of Sundays, and plenty of other times too, to learn: to learn from your Word to learn your ways of peace and justice to learn to worship and pray to learn resistance to learn grace to learn how to be church and to learn a million other...
read moreFrom Summer
In September, many congregations regather to begin a new program year (e.g. “Rally Sunday,” “Gathering Sunday,” etc.). To mark this change of congregational rhythm in the context of worship, below is a call to worship and opening prayer that can be adapted for use in your setting. Supplies Needed: 1) Map (any kind will do), 2) bed pillow, 3) Bible, 4) something to symbolize the spirit (dove, blowing fan, etc.), 5) cross Personnel: 5 people, 1 to carry each of the above items (inter-generational mix would work nicely)....
read moreThanksgiving in July/August
In many of our churches the summer months include the vacations of pastors and other worship leaders. This can make worship planning in general and pulpit supply in particular difficult. Is it possible to provide your congregation with an inspiring and educational worship experience without a sermon? YES! One simple approach is to pick a theme, select Scripture verses and hymns based upon this theme, and weave them together. Done well, your congregation might not even notice there wasn’t a sermon! Below is a sample service outline...
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