some offerings for worship planners
In you, O God,
We live and move
and have our being.
Alleluia!
Before the beginning
after the end,
and in all the times in-between,
you are!
Alleluia!
We speak your praise.
We sing your love.
We celebrate your being!
ALLELUIA! Amen.
Jesus said to his disciples,
“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”
Love God with all your heart and soul and mind and strength.
Love your neighbour as you love yourself.
Love one another as I have loved you.
Go into the world to share the gospel,
Helping others to believe.
So we gather here –
to remind ourselves of God’s call.
To feel the dance of the promised Advocate.
To be renewed, refreshed, and refilled.
So we gather here –
To worship God!
Where are you leading us, God?
Where does your vision direct us?
Where does your love invite us to go?
Through the Risen Christ,
we trust in your guidance.
Through the Risen Christ,
we know your love.
Bless our coming in
and our going out –
this day, and all the days to come. Amen
Are we like sheep?
Baaa. Baaa. Baaa!
How are we like sheep?
Even when we stand on our own,
we find strength in community.
How are we like sheep?
We listen for Christ’s voice,
and hearing it, we follow.
So we come together –
to listen for Christ’s voice,
to celebrate God’s care –
to leap and dance in Easter joy!
So we come together –
to worship God!
Loving God,
you have given your people
a great gift –
your faithful presence
on every step of our life’s journey.
Always guiding,
always listening,
always offering us your great love.
On this day, in this place,
help us to feel the life of your Spirit,
burning within us,
so that we might worship you
with our lives! Amen.
In times of loss and sadness,
we can feel as if we were alone.
Our vision can be clouded
by our tears and our grief.
But when we share the Story,
when we gather at table,
when we live our faith –
we can see God’s presence!
Christ is risen!
Christi is with us!
Alleluia!
So, with our eyes clear,
And our hearts “burning within us”…
We worship God!
Christ is risen. Alleluia!
Oh, come on.
Pardon me>
“Christ is risen.”
How can you believe that?
I don’t understand.
How can you believe
in something so impossible,
in something so incredible,
in something so naive?
Because of you.
Us?
You!
I look into your faces, and see God’s love.
I listen to your questions,
and I hear Jesus’, “Who do you say I am?”
I offer my hand,
and feel the incredible impossibility
of life pulsing through your veins.
So I can say, “Christ is risen.”
Look at each other… (pause)…
do you see what I see?
Christ is risen, indeed.
Alleluia.
ALLELUIA, AMEN!
We don’t understand, God.
Perhaps that’s all right.
Our heads can’t make sense
of this “Resurrection”.
Perhaps that’s all right.
Perhaps it’s about something
other than knowing,
other than believing.
Perhaps it’s about seeing the mysterious,
and the miraculous in the world.
Perhaps it’s about seeing the mysterious,
and the miraculous in our own lives.
Perhaps it’s about seeing you.
Help us to see,
even when we can’t know.
Help us to see,
even when we can’t believe.
Amen.
In tears and mourning, we stood at the foot of the cross,
only knowing that Jesus had died.
In fear and in deep sadness, we walked to the tomb,
only knowing that hope had died.
In confusion and terror, we saw the tomb empty,
only knowing that our love was gone.
When a voice told us -
He is risen!
He is risen?
He is… risen!
Christ is risen!
Christ is risen, indeed!
Alleluia!
ALLELUIA, AMEN!
God is with you.
And also with you.
Lift up your hearts.
We lift our hearts to God.
Let us give thanks to God, our God!
We give God our thanks and our praise!
On this day of celebration -
on this day of renewing our faith -
on this day of walking with the Christ,
to Jerusalem… to Golgotha… and beyond -
we give you thanks, great and loving God.
Thank you, loving God!
From the very beginning, you have loved us.
You created all that is, calling it into being.
With the ruach - the Spirit - with the Wind and the Word,
you saw what you had created,
and called it, “Good!”
Thank you, loving God!
But.
But?
But.
Time and time again,
in history and in our story,
we have turned away from your love.
We have turned away from your hope.
We have turned away from you.
We have wandered away, thinking we knew best.
But..
But?
But you never left us
to walk by ourselves, loving God.
Even when we turned away.
Even when we turn away.
You walk the road with us.
Through prophets, priests and storytellers,
through mothers and grandmothers,
through fathers and grandfathers,
through teens and children and infants,
you called us back to your love.
Thank you, loving God!
There came a time when you sent Jesus to speak to the world.
To speak to us.
To teach us your love.
To give abundant life.
To make us new.
Thank you, loving God!
He lived a life as one of us - a child, a youth, an adult.
He laughed with those who laughed,
he cried with those who cried.
In all of this, he walked the hard road -
the way of the Cross
and the way of the Resurrection.
On the night before he was put to death,
he gathered for a meal of celebration with his friends.
There he recommitted himself to your love,
and to his people.
He took bread, thanked You, and broke the bread,
giving it to his friends, saying,
“Take this and eat it. This is my body, given for you.
Each time you do this, remember me.”
We remember him.
After the meal was over, he took the cup of blessing,
thanked You, and poured the wine,
giving it to his friends, saying,
“Take this and drink it. This is my blood, given for you.
Each time you drink this, remember me.”
We remember him.
And so we do as he asked us, loving God.
We pray that your Spirit might fill these gifts,
and fill us - that all might be vessels of your love,
your hope and your life in the world.
Come, Holy Spirit, come!
Jesus’ Prayer
Richard Bott is a writer, storyteller, and minister in The United Church of Canada, currently living in Maple Ridge, BC, and serving with
St. Andrew's United Church.
Everything posted here has been written by me and shared in congregational settings. Other congregational resources can be found at richardbott.com
