Worship Words for 4 October 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. Day 476,902 of 2020 finds many of us a little numb and low on creativityHere 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!

A Visual Call to Worship from Cathy Kowley (words available at her website)

Call to Worship – based on Psalm 19- from Kathy Swaar

Glory! Glory! Glory!
The heavens are telling—
the skies announce your majesty, Creator God.
And we, too, respond with praise.

Morning stars and silvery moons
tell of your wisdom.
The silence of your Shalom
fills the earth.

And we, too, Sacred Presence,
lift our hearts in worship.
Glory! Glory! Glory!

Prayer of Confession – alludes to Psalm 19:7-14 and Exodus 20:2-17- by Kathy Swaar

Your perfect law—if we will let it, Holy One—
revives, instructs, enlightens, sets free.
But, we confess, we don’t much like that word.

“Law” sounds too strict; too divisive;
too “Thou shalt not”; too judgmental.
And there’s already too much of that
going around these days.

Help us see past those narrow perceptions,
Father and Mother of Mercy,
to what you originally intended:
a way home; a blueprint for maintaining relationship,
which is at the heart of your heart.

Remind us that those words we see only as proscriptions
are in fact the framework that enables us to relate
in healthy ways, to one another and to you.

Forgive and heal us, Sacred Presence,
when we put people and things before you,
when flashy idols capture not just our attention, but our hearts.

Forgive us when we misuse your name,
and those of our brothers and sisters,
when we use words to deny, to denigrate, to criticize, to shame.

Forgive us for all the ways we dishonor
the Sabbath, our ancestors, the planet,
ourselves, and those we share our lives and world with.

May these words of confession, and the prayers of each heart,
be received and welcomed by you, Author of Life,
and may your grace and peace restore and fill us.

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.