worship words for 6 September 2020

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 Kathy Swaar

Where there is praise
you dwell.
Where your faithful gather – virtually, singularly, or together
indoors or out,
you are here, in our midst.
With gladness and joy,
we praise you, Holy One.
With dancing hearts,
we praise you, Creator God.
With thanks for all your gifts and graces,
we praise you, Sacred Presence.
With all we are and all we have,
we praise you, Author of Life.

Call to Worship by Elsa Cook

One: Worker God, whose hands built the earth,
molded our bodies, and sowed the stars across the sky,
Many: we gather in your presence this morning
with praise and thanksgiving for your mighty deeds.
One: Meet us here, Worker God;
Many: strengthen our hearts and our hands
to work with you in the building
of a world filled with justice and peace.

Labour Day Confession by Elsa Cook

It’s time to put away smugness, clichés,
and worn out self-serving political sound bites.
Let us come before God to seek new understanding of
what is fair and what is just. Let us listen
not to one or two laboring beside us
but let us listen to the needs of all
workers so that we bend our ears
to hear from garbage collectors, census takers,
Whataburger employees, ranchers and farmers,
contact tracers and scientists, bartenders and cooks,
volunteer fire fighters, domestic servants, hospital and hospice workers,
teachers, professors and administrators, and so many others
that are overlooked or undervalued as this pandemic rages on.
Let us confess before God that we are too comfortable
and that we’re more likely to concern ourselves with our own fairness.
Let us repent of our selfishness and open our hearts to still more love and justice.

Silence for personal prayer and confession.

Assurance of Grace
What has been in the past does not have to define the future.
God’s grace can transform us, will transform us.
Receive this good news and move in a new direction.
Thanks be to God. Amen.

(used with permission…more of Elsa’s liturgical offerings can be found at her website.)

Prayer of Confession by Teri Peterson

“Love does no wrong to a neighbour”…
God, we confess we are not accustomed to thinking much about our neighbours,
unless they are annoying us.
And if our “neighbour” includes people who live any farther away than our street, we definitely don’t think about them.
We admit that we enjoy doing what we want, acquiring what we want, and going where we want, without thought for what would be loving toward our neighbour, or toward you, or toward the earth.
Forgive us when we have wronged our neighbour with our thoughtless consumption.
Forgive us when we have wronged our neighbour and never noticed.
Forgive us when we have wronged our neighbour and refused to care.
Forgive us when we have used words of love not backed up with actions of love.
Lead us to the kind of love that does justice and seeks reconciliation,
that we may live in the truth of your grace for all, not just for us.
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.

“Mayenziwe nthando yakho” = “your will be done, O Lord”. Many of us know the arrangement of this popularised by John Bell…here is an arrangement recorded just last week.

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.