Worship Words for Sunday, June 27, 2021

Are you and Jairus pleading for help on behalf of a loved one? Are you stretching to simply touch Jesus’ hem? Are you proclaiming with Jeremiah good things that are yet in store for God’s people? Here are a few worship words to help you on your way this week. Use them as they have been written, or let them be a spring-board for your own creativity, (and then share with us what you have written, if you will be so kind). Please give credit in print and video descriptions, but verbal attribution is not necessary.

Blessings dear Rev Gals, may God’s love flow through you; inspiring, encouraging and uplifting you and your flocks.

Call to Worship after Lamentations 3:22-33 and Mark 5:21-43 by Rev. Dr. Becky Zahller McNeil

Leader: God’s steadfast love never ceases.
Response: God’s mercies never come to an end.

Leader: Some of us, frightened and weary, fall at Jesus’ feet begging.
Response: God’s steadfast love never ceases.

Leader: Some of us, at the end of our rope, tug at Jesus’ hem, hoping.
Response: God’s mercies never come to an end.

Leader: We come to worship seeking and believing that healing and wholeness will be found here.
Response: God’s steadfast love never ceases, God’s mercies never come to an end.

Leader: At the feet of Jesus, let us worship God.

Invocation after Lamentations 3:22-33 and Mark 5:21-43 by Rev. Dr. Becky Zahller McNeil

Bowing before you, bending to touch your hem, O God, we beg you to notice us in our need, and to heal us. Help us in this hour to rise up and stand as your beloved children, help us to leave behind the sins and the sorrows that have burdened us, that we may be whole, that we may serve you and one another. Amen.

Words of Assurance after Jeremiah 32:1-3a, 6-15 by Rev. Dr. Becky Zahller McNeil

Houses, fields and vineyards,
Shelter, sustenance and opportunities,
Home, hope and a future,

God will restore.
God will provide.

Prayer after II Corinthians 8:7-15 by Rev. Dr. Becky Zahller McNeil

God,
We love to excel. We love to receive certificates with glossy gold stars embossed upon them. To stretch ourselves and to achieve more than we previously believed we could.
We love to love those who excel. We love to watch, breathless, as athletes compete, breaking records and soaring to ever-higher heights of human achievement.
Help us strive to excel at generosity more than at anything else.
Help us derive our greatest pleasure from living a level of boundless grace.
Help us be most inspired by those around us who give not to receive, but because giving is to them as natural as breathing.
Help us, in our abundance, to celebrate the harvest of goodness in our lives by joyfully sharing with others.
Until all people in all places have enough to live well.
Amen.

Prayer after Mark 5:21-43 by Rev. Dr. Sarah Agnew

bid me rise

when I am ‘sleeping’,
Jesus take me by the hand
and bid me, rise.

when illness lays me low,
a day, a week, a lifetime:
Jesus take me by the hand
and bid me, rise.

when grief breaks my heart,
and weeping fills my nights and days,
Jesus take me by the hand
and bid me, rise.

when despair, depression, anxiety
stop me from living well,
Jesus take me by the hand
and bid me, rise.

when I am homeless, when I am poor,
when I am friendless and alone,
Jesus take me by the hand
and bid me, rise.

when I am ‘sleeping’,
Jesus take me by the hand
and bid me, rise.
Amen

Prayer after Psalm 130 by Rev. Dr. Sarah Agnew

deep

Psalm 130
A lament

this cavern runs deep
and I crawl, crawl toward
the morning: hear me cry

these ashes bury me deep,
and I gasp, gasp for your
Breath: hear me cry

this pacing wears deep
treads and I watch, I watch
for you: hear me cry

your lovingkindness reaches deep
and I weep, I weep, in your
embrace: hear me cry

Prayer after Psalm 30 by Rev. Dr. Sarah Agnew

A song of joy and thanksgiving
after Psalm 30

I dance, I sing, I praise you, Holy One;
Holy One of joy and kindness.

Holy One saw me in my spirit’s peril;
Holy One restored my soul to life!

I was in mourning, all hope departed;
I was dismayed: I cried, I wailed.

Holy One heard my voice, listened
and answered my prayer: Holy One is my help!

I thought your face was hidden from me:
how could I doubt your faithfulness?

Healing has come through Holy One,
try to keep me silent – you shall not!

I dance, I sing, I praise you Holy One:
Holy One, my healing and hope!

Rev. Dr. Rebecca Zahller McNeil retired June 1, 2021 after serving ministries in Oklahoma, Kentucky, Zaire, Illinois, Ohio, Michigan and Nebraska in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and the United Church of Christ. She and her husband Mike just moved to Trinidad, Colorado and look forward to getting their boxes unpacked so they can begin packing their camper and heading out for parts unknown to hike and drink in the beauty of God’s creation. Becky blogs at http://everydaystories.blog

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. Material is due by Monday for the upcoming Sunday.