Worship Words for 7 February

If you are looking for some words to use for worship, or some inspiration for your own, here are some you can use or adapt, thanks to members of our RevGals community. If you can please give credit in video descriptions or print versions, that would be great, though spoken verbal attribution is not necessary.

Call to Worship by Joanna Harader
God calls us to worship
Wherever we are:
At church or at home;
In the bedroom or the kitchen;
Sitting at a table or reclining on the couch.

Wherever we are, we gather to worship.

God calls us to worship
With whoever is near:
Physically distanced from others yet joined in spirit;
With family or friends gathered around;
Snuggled up with our pets.

Alone or with others, we gather to worship.

God calls us to worship
In whatever ways we choose:
Sitting or knitting or walking around;
Talking back or taking notes;
Singing out loud or with a song in our hearts.

In stillness and movement, silence and sound, we gather to worship.

God calls us to worship
And so we have come.
Let us worship God together.

And the video version Joanna made for her congregation, feel free to use if it’s helpful:

 

Prayer of Confession by Kathy Swaar, based on Isaiah 40:21-31 and Psalm 147:1-11, 20c

Have you not known? Have you not heard?
No… Not everything.
There are gaps in our understanding and experience.
There isn’t a human creature on the planet who knows it all.
But the unknown is so uncomfortable for us,
we act as though we have.
Taking your place, we cast ourselves fountains of wisdom
who have been everywhere, done all. the. things.
Forgive us, Creator God.

Have you not known? Have you not heard?
No… not always.
But instead of filling those gaps by asking questions,
seeking wisdom, spending time in your Presence and your Word,
we push on in our own strength rather than resting in yours.
Mistakenly thinking it is all up to us – that to be “good enough”
we have to do it all, and do it all right the first time,
we just keep doing, and doing, and doing,
taking no time to be.
Forgive us, Author of Life.

Have you not known? Have you not heard?
Sometimes we do; we have.
But so many voices and needs vie for our attention,
it’s hard to keep track of what we know and what we don’t,
what we need to find out and where to look.
The crush of daily life in these uncertain, pandemic days overwhelms.
Weary and brokenhearted, lost in the din,
we miss your still, small voice.
Forgive us, Holy One.

Silent prayers of confession may be offered here.

Friends: Ours is a God of unending wisdom, grace, and love whose understanding is unsearchable. One who does not grow weary, who heals the brokenhearted, gathers the outcast, calls the stars by name.

Rest, this day, in the assurance that you have been seen, heard, forgiven and freed. Believe this Good News and be at peace.

 

Prayer by Teri Peterson
God, we look at the world and see so much hurt and need.
We wonder: when you will do something about it?
We look for you, desperately seeking your help,
and sometimes we forget that you have called us.
We know you can heal and teach and love,
we know your presence is always with us,
but it is so easy to forget, to make excuses,
to look for someone else to do the work.
Remind us that, through you,
we too can heal and teach and love.
Take us by the hand, Lord, and lift us up,
that we may serve you and one another. Amen.

 

Prayer by Joanna Harader
God of shadows and light,
God of hiddenness and revelation,
Forgive us when we miss you–
when we overlook the love,
when we turn our backs on the hope,
when we gaze too intently at ourselves
ignoring the blessed others that surround us.
Forgive us, God, and in your infinite grace
shine your holy light
or perhaps sit with us in the dark.

 

Rev. Joanna Harader commends to you all the recently published Mennonite hymnal, Voices Together. You can see the full list of included hymns on hymnary.org. In this collection, attention was given to including music from a broad range of sources and to using expansive language for God. There are also many new worship resources in the hymnal and the accompanying worship leader book. She has a number of hymns included in this collection!

One of the hymns that comes immediately to mind when thinking about Peter’s mother-in-law is this one…Chet Valley Churches has given permission for people to use this video as long as you have the relevant licenses for streaming.

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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.