Special Sundays/Services
2018 Blessing of the Sunday School
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. 2018 Blessing of the Sunday School Curriculum ordered and received. Classrooms organized. Bulletin board updated. Paper, scissors and sticky glue ready at a moment’s notice. Christian Education team is on top of things. A new Sunday School year is about to begin. Some teachers here may be a bit nervous about what is being asked of them. Some students may be a bit nervous about...
read morePractice Celebrating!
During a recent Sunday morning worship service, my church celebrated a new partnership between our church and an organization in Uganda called Malayaka House. This celebration was a year in the making, made possible by the hard work of our missions team and a handful of dedicated others. Our celebration was not a “dog and pony show” but it was a regular worship service supplemented with a brief greeting from the director of the organization, a special sermon, a special collection, a special prayer time with maps and pins, and a...
read moreBlessing of the Graduates
In June, many congregations take time in worship to celebrate those who have reached academic milestones. Here is a short prayer that can be used or adapted for use in your setting. God of knowledge and reason, we pause at the end of this academic year to recognize and to celebrate those who have graduated from various programs and institutions. The names on our bulletin inserts, and on our tongues, represent a tremendous amount of commitment, dedication and hard work. [Invite congregation to call out names of graduates] Thank you for...
read moreBreath of God: Creation to Pentecost (for 3 voices)
Here is a Pentecost Sunday reading for 3 voices, interspersed with a sung congregational refrain. The refrain included here is from “Like the Murmur of the Dove’s Song,” (Daw & Cutts) but another hymn could easily be substituted. The Scripture translation is from the Common English Bible but, again, another translation could easily be substituted.” READER 1: As the Holy Spirit comes with fire and with wind, the congregation sings: CONGREGATION: [SING] “Like the murmur of the dove’s song, like the challenge...
read moreBlessing of the Palms 2018
A simple blessing of the palms for Palm Sunday 2018. Blessing of the Palms Blessed Christ who comes in the name of the Lord, may these palms be, not toys, but tools: tools that we hand out to one another on Palm Sunday; tools that we walk over as we enter worship; tools that we fold into crosses and playfully swat our brother or sister with; tools that we bring home with us to dry and to remind; tools that we will burn next Ash Wednesday to mark our foreheads, and our mortality; and tools that we use to enter into this Holy Week, enter into...
read moreEaster 2018
Here are selected resources to assist you with your Easter Sunday planning. Though I have separated the resources for Sunrise and Later Morning Service, you could use any of the resources at either service. EASTER SUNRISE SERVICE Call to Worship One: We are standing on holy ground. We have entered a day of miracle and mystery. We are unsure of what it all means. Many: Don’t be alarmed! One: How can it be? How can the dead live again? How can a cross become and empty tomb? Many: Jesus has risen! One: Today is a day to experience. Today is a...
read morefragile…exposed…mortal
A prayer for Ash Wednesday that could be adapted to use throughout an Ash Wednesday service. Fragile…exposed…mortal…temporary…finite… …ashes and dust…we…you and me. So we put on clothes and then armor… …we put on degrees and wealth… …we put on insurance policies… …we put on achievements and addictions… …and we put on anything that will make us feel… …if only for a minute… …that we are anything but ashes and dust. So God calls to us… …through prophets like Joel… …through a savior like Jesus… …and through this season of Lent… …for...
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 moreConvo w/Incarnation
Christmas Eve 2017 is a Sunday which means that many of our churches will have a morning service, and an evening service or two. It is a busy day and in some churches, the morning service will be sparsely attended as people wait for the evening services. If you won’t have time to prepare a sermon, or you want to shorten and simplify the morning service, below is a reading for 2 voices based on John 1:1-14 that could be used in place of a sermon, or elsewhere in the service (it could be adapted for use on other occasions). It is a...
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 more