Worship Words for 13 June, Ordinary 11B

There’s something about Ordinary Time this year, isn’t there? Last year it was Ordinary Time during incredibly Extraordinary times. This year we’re somewhere between extraordinary and ordinary, where actually the ordinary that we long for is also anxiety-producing when we experience it, particularly since it comes alongside the strange. Which makes liturgy written for “normal” hard to use, but energy is low to write new….so here is some help from your fellow RevGals. Feel free to use or adapt. Please give credit in written material/video descriptions. Thanks!

Prayer-Poem by Melissa Hinnen
We walk by faith
Guided by the wisdom of ancestors
And led by Christ’s love

We walk by faith
Baby steps:
Tentative,
Vulnerable,
Fragile

We walk by faith
Leaps and bounds:
Confident
Protected
Strong

We walk by faith
Mourning what has passed away
Embracing new creation

We walk by faith
Each movement forward an act of courage
Learning to live as wounded healers

Walking by faith
Constantly becoming
ancestors to the next generation.

Confession by Teri Peterson (based on 1 Samuel 16.1)
You, God, are doing a new thing…and we confess that we are still grieving over the ways we used to know. We hear you ask “how long will you look back at the old way?” and we admit that you won’t like our answer. We remember how it used to be, and we yearn for a return to those memories, even if they are not what you call us to today. We confess that we hold tightly to things that you have set aside, and so we are not able to focus on, let alone grasp, what you are doing now. Forgive us, God, and give us the courage to turn away from the familiar things that no longer serve your purpose, so that we can turn toward doing your will here and now. We ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Litany by Teri Peterson (based on Mark 4)
The kingdom of God is like…things we do not understand.
More than that, the kingdom of God is like things that are impossible.
Starting with ordinary, and moving to extraordinary with a breath, with a word.
Mustard seeds do not grow into trees. And yet.
Farmers do not scatter seed recklessly. And yet.
The kingdom of God is like…things we cannot control.
More than that, the kingdom of God is impossible to control.
Starting with ordinary, and moving to extraordinary with a word, a breath.
Day and night, things happen beneath the surface, hidden from our sight.
Night and day, we work and we watch for the moment it breaks through.
The kingdom of God is like…
a story that opens more every time, with room for all in its branches, feeding whoever will come.
Starting with ordinary and moving to extraordinary with a breath, with a word.

(Music ideas are offered for inspiration. Please note that we cannot give you permission to use this video — Wild Goose has given permission for their music to be used online during pandemic times, and they are covered by licenses in various parts of the world, but you would need to contact the owner of this video for permission to use their performance. Or get your local musicians to sing it!)

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Teri Peterson is a minister in the Church of Scotland, where she ministers to a fantastic congregation in the most beautiful place, and lives in perhaps the nation’s best manse with the best view and a 15 year old cat who is the actual pickiest eater in the universe. She is the liturgy writer for the BibleWorm podcast, blogs (very) occasionally at CleverTitleHere, co-authored the book Who’s Got Time: Spirituality for a Busy Generation, and serves on the RevGalBlogPals board.

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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. We are looking for contributions!