If you’ve struggled to find liturgical language adequate to this moment (pandemic, political crises, civil unrest, widely publicised injustices, and so much more), you’re not alone. Here we have some contributions from our RevGals community to help — feel free to use as-is, adapt, or use for inspiration. If you use them in printed materials, please note the author and revgalblogpals.org. If you use them in online worship and it is possible to give credit in video descriptions, that is sufficient (no need for verbal attribution). Thanks!
Call to Worship by Teri Peterson
We are many, yet one. Scattered, yet united.
Whatever your gift —
teaching, giving, encouraging;
truth-telling, justice-seeking, trailblazing;
quiet caring, feeding, organising;
challenging, subverting, provoking —
whatever your gift, you are needed.
You are wanted.
You matter to this Body,
and we cannot be who we are called to be without you.
So come, bringing your mind and your heart and your body and your spirit,
to love God with your whole self,
and to find yourself renewed and transformed.
Come, it is time to worship.
Prayer of Confession by Kathy Swaar
We come, Holy One, trusting you are here.
Turning from those things that often define our days
and strip our attention from you,
we offer our whole selves on your altar of grace.
We confess we aren’t always aware of your work in the world.
“If you had been here,” we’re tempted to say – especially these days –
“these things would not be happening.”
But you are here, Author of Life.
Our help and stay, our Companion and Friend,
you are present in all things.
Forgive us for living in worry rather than hope.
For conforming to the headlines and sound bites of the world,
rather than embracing your transforming Word.
Pour out your mercy upon us, Sacred Presence.
Accept, forgive, and heal us,
body, soul, and spirit.
Open our hearts, that our confession may be true;
that we may declare your praise, proclaim your
saving Love to all we meet, honor you in all we do.
Prayer by Teri Peterson
You ask us who we say you are…
And we admit that sometimes it’s easier to quote someone else,
or easier to say what you are not.
Naming you so clearly feels dangerous, or at least arrogant.
But…or perhaps Because…naming you also means naming ourselves.
For you made us in your image,
you gave us those powers of binding and loosing,
you called us your Body on earth.
If it’s true that you are who you have revealed yourself to be,
that means that we ought to be who you called us to be.
That may be beyond us, God.
Beyond our comprehension, beyond our ability, just…beyond.
Yet you entrust us with this gift, this calling, this truth.
So we pray this day for the courage to live into your vision,
to proclaim who you are, and therefore who we are as your people,
with our lives as well as our words.
We pray for the courage to bind and loose according to your love —
to proclaim and enact freedom for those who are captive
to injustice,
to fear,
to capitalism,
to greed,
to white supremacy,
to violence,
to one way of thinking, being, or doing,
to themselves…
and to proclaim and enact the binding power
of compassion,
of healing,
of humility,
of grace,
of wonder,
of love —
binding us together,
and rejecting the power of hostility, division, and dis-ease.
Through the power of your Spirit,
we pray for your Church to demonstrate who you are,
and who we are,
that all may know the abundant life you promise through Jesus Christ,
in whose name we pray. Amen.
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Musical suggestions are shared as inspiration. If you wish to use anything shared below, please note that we do not own the rights to this music. Use the information in the link to contact the original posters or owners of the music.
thinking about the body of Christ in a different way…
the body and its gifts…
RevGalBlogPals encourages you to share our blog posts via email or social media. We do not grant permission to cut-and-paste prayers and articles without a link back to the specific post. For permission to use material in paper publications, please email revgalblogpals at gmail dot com. For Worship Words, you may use or adapt what you find here, but please credit the author in printed orders of service/web publications and in public video descriptions if possible.
If you have written words for worship in this strange new world that you are willing to share, please send us an email: revgalblogpals at gmail dot com.
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