leadinginworship

Open Call to Worship - Responsive

Open our ears
to hear your word.             
Open our eyes            
to see your presence.
Open our arms
to the embrace of community.
Open our minds
to the beauty of truth.
Open our hearts
to the joy of new life.

Upright Call to Worship

Our call to worship is from Psalm 68:8-9:
"Bless our God, O people,
let the sound of God’s praise be heard,
who has kept us among the land of the living,
and has not let our feet slip."

Let's pray:
Here we are Lord,
filled with life and breath,
citizens in the land of the living,
by your grace.
You know our paths,
and the help we will need
to keep our feet firm.
In this time of worship,
equip us to be your upright followers,
in Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.

Breath of Spring Congregational Prayer

We listen this morning to the sound of our own breath,
and the breathing of those around us. [pause for 30 seconds]
Thank you God for breath,
for life flowing in and out of each of us.
It is wonderful to be alive—thank you for life!
Thank you for the sweet scent of the breath of spring;
for blossoms--apricot, cherry, peach,
for daffodils and sweet hyacinths,
for the good earth, turned over and ready for seed,
for the strong sun and its power.
Thank you that you are a God who hears our breath.
You hear our slow steady breaths as we’ve slept,
the panting of children as they run and play,
the deep breaths of hard work and manual labour,
our slow sighs when we are weary or filled with grief.
You hear our first little baby breath,
you are the one who hears and knows our final breath.
Your Spirit moves over the earth, enlivening us all.
Help us to exhale hatred, and inhale your love
Help us to exhale greed, and inhale your generosity.
Help us to exhale despair, and inhale your hope.
Breathe life into peacemakers,
in the conflicts in our own town and country,
where class and race and ideology divide us.
Breathe life into peacemakers in ___________
where war has ruled so long.
Breathe inspiration into our government leaders and diplomats,
helping them work for peaceful solutions.
Forgive us when we are not outraged by war and violence,
and instead are numb to every new story of destruction.
On this most beautiful of days,
with your Spirit blowing over this land,
thank you for giving us this chance
to be part of your breathtaking work,
humble servants in the service of Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen

Prayer to the Mother of Us All

We all have one.
She goes by different names:
mom, mama, mummy,
my mother, my birth mother,
the woman who bore me.
We may know her intimately,
or she may be just a name.
But it was she who carried us|
nurtured us with her body,
gave birth to us
and launched us into this wide world.

Some of us have experienced her love and care.
The deep gaze of tenderness and
the long slow work of constant love
evident in thousands of meals
and clean clothes and a ready ear
and picking up and dropping off
and watching and helping
and being tucked in and
a hand on the forehead when we are sick.
A mother’s love.

Others have felt other things;
putdowns, ridicule, judgement,
cruelty and abuse,
neglect and abandonment,
made all the more bitter since it comes
from one whose love we so crave.

And then there are the bereft,
torn from their mother’s embrace too soon,
when war or sickness or death
blighted a life-giving relationship.

Together we come to you for a blessing,
Mother of us all.
Bless the loved and the unloved,
the cherished and the orphaned.
Surround us with your tender care,
that forms us, kindness by kindness
into your family of peace.

Prayer for the Scientific Method

Thank you for human ingenuity, God,

for our ability to think and reason

and figure things out.

On this landmark day when a vaccine

to prevent the spread of ebola is announced,

I give thanks for science researchers everywhere.

Thank you for people who toil away

year after year in laboratories,

hypothesizing and testing,

and re-hypothesizing and re-testing.

The result is a world largely free from small-pox,

free from epidemics of polio,

free from the scourge of mumps, measles, tetanus,

and scores more diseases.

Thank you for countries rich enough

to devote money to universal health-care,

and for the doctors and nurses

who give and track vaccines.

In a world where some of our worst enemies

are unseen to the naked eye,

I give thanks for the long lifespan

afforded in this time and this place.

God of hope, we ask that an HIV vaccine

could be found this year.

You know each of the 25 million people lost to AIDS

in the last thirty-five years…

thank you for equipping researchers

with perseverance, insight

and the resources they need to do their work.

 

A prayer for when I am self-destructive

Lord, I am an instrument of your peace.

Where there is self-hatred, let me sow love;

where there is negative self-talk, kindness;

where there is loathing of my body, acceptance;

where there is nursing of old injuries, release;

where there is envy of others, gratefulness;

where there is perfectionism, humanness.

 

O Divine Mother, grant that I may not so much seek

to be self-hurting, as self-healing;

to be self-denying, as self-cherishing,

to be numb, as to feel.

For it is in being loved by you, that I know I am lovable;

through your confidence in me, I confidently face each day,

it is in being yours now and eternally, that I live in peace.

 

Peace Prayer for Those Living with HIV/AIDS

Immanuel, thank you for being with us in our HIV/AIDS filled world.
We pray expecting your presence among us!
Be with all who live with the effects of this disease.
Be with those who wait to die because they have no access to medication.
Be with children who received HIV as a legacy from their parents.
Be with orphans and families who have lost loved ones.
Be with countries who have millions of citizens with HIV/AIDS.
Be with all who are stigmatized and ignored because they have this virus.
Be with researchers and scientists who work to find a cure.
Be with corporate executives who control access to affordable medications.
Be with healthcare workers and caregivers who comfort and encourage.
Be with all who have lost hope because of HIV/AIDS.
Forgive us when we don’t give a thought to this disease
because it does not personally affect us.
Help us see your face in the thirty-six million people
who live with this disease.
Lord, we long to hear the angel's song of peace:
empower people of good will to work
for justice and healing for all
who suffer from HIV/AIDS.  Amen.

Peace Prayer for Imprisoned Sexual Offenders

Great God, hear my prayer for every person in prison
convicted of a sexual offence.
These are the people I count as enemy,
that our society counts as enemy;
rapists, abusers, child molesters.
Jesus, you are the key of David,
you walk through every locked prison door,
you look with love into the heart of each one.
You know the history of aggression,
and that when the unspeakable is done to us,
blind pain can cause us to lash out.
You see how violence leaves deep scars on the violators.
And so we pray—
for those who have no hope of parole,
show them that you can open the prison of their heart;
for those who are stuck in webs of lies and denial,
open their eyes to the value of repentance;
for those who are in desperate need of therapy,
change our systems that deny treatment;
for those who have been abandoned by friends and family,
bring visitors and helpers to comfort them;
for those who have internalized hateful labels
like “scum of the earth”, and “garbage”,
open their ears to hear you whisper the word “beloved”.
Unsettle us with improbable and unexpected incarnations
as you are born again in the cages we call prisons.
Right in the midst of broken dreams and wasted lives
there you are: Immanuel, Christ the Lord,
God with us.  Amen.

A Prayer for when Sexual Abuse is Discovered

My God, my God,
where were you?
My innocent child,
my beautiful innocent child,
a child of God, your child,
this child has been abused.
First and foremost,
protect my child, Lord.
Keep them from further harm.
Heal the hurt.
Mend the memories.
Restore what is lost.
Show me how to help
and how to get them the help they need.
Let there not be lasting, lingering effects
from this deed done.

God of all the dark places in the world,
you know what I am feeling inside.
Such a feeling of guilt:
how could I have missed this?
how could I not have known?
how could I not be there to protect?
These feelings are enough to engulf me,
but they are matched thought by thought
with rage and outrage and anger.
How dare he?
If there was a trigger to pull,
I would pull it.
With every wailing prophet,
I call down judgement and destruction,
never in my life have I longed this much
for a God of wrath.

And yet the next moment
I am filled so much with sadness
for this broken hurting world;
so many little ones abused,
so many warped people hurting others,
probably after being hurt themselves as children.
God of all of us, how can you bear it?
Jesus, thank you that you too felt the outrage,
you too spoke of millstones around necks
and people being drowned in the bottom of the sea.
Yet your actions were all of love;
even in extreme pain, you spoke the word “Forgive”.

Holy Spirit, I need your presence with us on this journey.
Lead me in good paths, not bitter ones.
Teach me how to trust again.
Be our companion as we work for justice and accountability,
accompany us as we walk step by step towards healing.
And yes, even touch the heart of the one who offended,
convict, convert and illumine their minds,
so that they can understand the wrong they’ve done,
and never do it again.

My first and last thought is for my baby, my own,
a child of God, wounded and hurting.
You who sees the littlest sparrow falling,
reach out and catch this one,
mend them inside and out,
and keep them in your loving care forever.  Amen.

A prayer for those contemplating suicide

For each of your beloved children
who this night are poised to take their own life,
we pray this prayer.
For those plagued by despair,
for those haunted by hopelessness,
for those immersed in mind-numbing pain,
for those confused by bewildering delusions,
for those mired in violent memories,
for those pushed to the edge by grief,
for those bullied because of their sexuality,
for those overwhelmed by stress or financial pressures,
for those caught fast in chains of addiction,
for those feeling unwanted and unloved,
for those who can love everyone but themselves,
for those who feel that the world would be better off without them,
Creator of us all, hear our prayer.
Send your rainbow of hope
arching over these dark moments.
Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet;
thousands of angels of every hue
surrounding and supporting each dear one
tenderly, lovingly,
away from the brink.
Your presence a bridge to one more day.

Body Congregational Prayer

Thank you for the miracle of our bodies;
for breath that fills us,
blood that circulates,
synapses that spark,
microscopic particles exchanging in good order
everything working together in harmony.
We are fearfully and wonderfully made.
 
As creatures, we are vulnerable,
we have weaknesses and sicknesses.
Creator God, we need your healing presence:
when we have symptoms that are unexplained
and we wonder, “What does this mean?”:
bring healing, bring peace.
When we live with chronic pain
and we cry, “How will I get through this day?”:
bring healing, bring peace.
When the road to healing is so long,
and we are doubtful, saying, “I don’t think I can do this”:
bring healing, bring peace.
When we look for answers,
and we ask, “Why is this happening to me?”
Bring healing, bring peace.

We pray for your body, the Church,
that our congregation could be salt and light
in our community and in our world.
Grant us today;
your courage to fill us,
your power  circulating in us,
your hope sparking in us;
your community communing in good order.
And when we argue,
and we do argue,
show us how to do this well,
to be passionate, yet loving,
committed, yet humble enough to change our minds.
Help us to model our life together
on Jesus Christ, who showed us
how everything is knit together for good.
It is in his name we pray, Amen.

Born into darkness

Jesus is born into darkness,
a darkness that’s over the deep:
the deep sorrowing of our world,
the mourning over murdered children,
the soft sobbing of the hungry,
the wailing over bombed cities,
the despairing over a polluted earth,
the crying over our own sad stories.
On our darkest Christmas eve,
when we’ve forgotten what light looks like,
a baby is born. 

On that first Christmas eve,
the baby came like all babies--
with pain, with great labour,
with giant heaving breaths.
Hope and fear mixed together,
with blood, sweat and tears,
Jesus is born.
Light fills the eyes of Mary and Joseph
as they behold their newborn son,
a child promised of God.
Held by loving arms,
his tiny eyes open,
seeing the world God created
for the very first time.

In the same way in our darkness
light struggles to be born.
We struggle against hatred,
we work against prejudice,
we labour in the face of despair.
With blood, sweat and tears,
with heaving breaths of hope,
Jesus is born.
In the now-done darkness,
we open our eyes
to the beauty of God’s present
for the very first time.

[thank you to Gerard Manley Hopkins for the phrase "now-done darkness" which he used in his 1918 poem "Carrion Comfort"]

Call to worship for every body

Creator God,
thank you for our bodies
for new baby bodies,
for young bodies,
for middle-aged bodies,
for old bodies.
Thank you that we are somebody in your sight.
Thank you for our church body gathered here today
and the body of Jesus,
broken for us, raised for your glory.
Thank you for your Spirit,
embodied in each of us here today.
Bless our worship, and every body here. Amen.

Did I See You? A Reading About Abuse

Did I see you?
When I was hungry you broke bread with me.
When I was sick you sat by my bedside.
When I was in prison, you petitioned for my release.
When I was sexually assaulted, you listened to my pain.
When I was afraid to be alone, you stayed with me.
When I felt guilty and ashamed, you told me it was not my fault.
When I had to go to court, you went with me.
When I was filled with anger and hatred, you did not reject me.
When I was filled with sorrow and hopelessness, you held my hand.
When I kept my story secret for years, you understood why.
When I called on God for help, you came and helped me.

Abusing a Precious Gift

When all is not what it seems,

when evil masquerades as good,

when it seems the wrong path is calling us,

Jesus, we need your help.

 

When sexually explicit images appear before us,

when curiosity and desire urge us to linger,

when it seems innocent just to look,

Jesus, we need your help.

 

When we make sexual comments in a social setting,

when our words make another uncomfortable,

when it seems funny at the time,

Jesus, we need your help.

 

When affection turns to passion,

when we are not committed in marriage,

when it seems there’s no point in waiting,

Jesus, we need your help.

 

When sexual desire sparks inside us,

when we know we are committed to someone else,

when it seems harmless just to imagine,

Jesus, we need your help.

 

When we touch someone who does not want to be touched,

when we trespass where we should not go,

when it seems that no one could prove it happened,

Jesus, we need your help.

 

When having sex is all about me,

when we give hardly a thought to our partner,

when it seems normal to live this way,

Jesus, we need your help.

 

When we want to act on our sexual desires,

when that person is a child,

when it seems that they will never remember,

Jesus, we need your help.

 

When we use our sexuality carelessly,

when we abuse this precious gift,

when we are confused and broken,

Jesus, your help saves us.

Parenting Prayer: Holding it Together, or Not

God, you know I hold my family together:

balancing the needs of everyone

the schedules of everyone

the health of everyone

juggling each ball with dexterity

and not dropping one, not one.

I give thanks for strength and stamina.

 

But there’s a haunting sense

that I’ve reached my limits

and that even this camel’s back

will not take one straw more.

The morning I stand on the road

and say, “I can’t do this.”

I am too afraid to even go there.

 

I have not let “can’t” be part of my vocabulary.

There are people who need me,

children who need me

and I would give my life for them.

I give my life for them.

I need more strength, more time, more energy

for the journey stretches before me.

 

Jesus, you walked a road in Jerusalem

carrying a heavy load

that you took up willingly,

knowing it was your burden to bear.

What happened when your body said “Can’t”

and you fell there on that dusty road?

Did you have the feeling of defeat I’m fearing?

Did you look on Simon from Cyrene

with despair or gratefulness?

 

Spirit, give me wisdom on my road

to know that you are with me when I can

and that you will be there with me

on the ground when I can’t.

When others have to carry for me

you will know that my spirit is willing,

but the flesh is only human.

 

God of the winding road,

God of the heavy load,

God of the time to pick things up

God of the time to lay things down,

be my God, now and always.

Final Prayer

Eternal God, lover of us all

stay close to my side.

When death stares me in the face,

back me up.

When sickness diminishes my powers

and I become someone I don’t recognize,

know me through and through.

When my fears consume me

be a steady centre.

O God of ages,

be with me in my old age.

As you knit me together in my mother’s womb,

watch tenderly over this unravelling.

My self, loosed from independent living,

loosed from mobility,

loosed from date and time,

loosed from rational thought,

loosed even from identity.

Take me as I am. 

Everything I have been,

everything I might have been,

this body’s mystery

wrapped in your presence.

A single strong cord of love.

Sexual Attraction

Thank you God for sexual attraction,

for the pull of thoughts and emotions and bodies.

Thank you that we are creatures

who feel for each other and with each other.

Give us wisdom in this give and take,

    to give our best with kindness,

    to take what’s given graciously.

Preserve us from dangers of intimacy,

    from giving ourselves too hastily,

    from taking without reverence.

In the flesh and blood of our relationships

    may integrity and fidelity kiss.

humble thanks

For all that I put in my body

every morsel, crumb, piece

every tidbit, chunk, mouthful

food in all its delight

something solid, an apple

changed, who knows how,

into the swinging of an arm

into my body bending, leaping.

the earth’s rich harvest

fodder for the body’s slow burn

 

for hunger, the quiet gnawing:

the blood talking to the brain

talking to the stomach,

the need for food,

the insistence of this wanting.

created to be like this,

desiring what we cannot live without

 

God of grocery stores and markets

God of farms and fields

God of tables and silverware

God you Great Provider

each day my body meets you

in tabletop worship.

humble thanks to a God who has food for life

for my body’s deepest hunger

Age-old Chorus

In the hospital for sick seniors

each pillow cradles a face 

framed with white hair

underscored by bony knuckles

clutching white sheets.

Bodies, getting older together

join in a choir of symptoms;

the deep voice of bones broken

the tenor of organs failing

the soft alto of senses dulling

the high soprano of pain.

Doctors know this tune,

nurses move to its rhythm.

Lord of the song,

tune my ears to the meaning

of this slow dance towards death,

to the grace notes

in the age-old chorus.