Remember that resurrection is more than mere resuscitation! It is life transformed!
It is faith in possibilities, when others are convinced of inevitability.

O God of empty tombs and resurrection living:
Make us mindful of the pervasiveness of hope, 
the determination of faith, 
and the persistence of love.  

  PENTECOST Here’s a call to worship, rooted in the Christian past, but open to the global voices, and celebrating an Earth-based liturgy. Three voices scattered in the worship space, perhaps one at the Table, another at …

  Darkness envelops our world and our lives. Shadows enshroud our spirits. We come to pay homage to one who tried to bring light to the darkness, whose brilliant compassion and loving-kindness left no shadows on those …

After searching for an opening Easter Acclamation that is progressive and cosmic in nature, and finding nothing that went where I’d like to take the congregation, I decided I’d just have to write one.

This acclamation/invocation draws on themes found in the Gospel of Thomas, Meister Eckhart, Hildegard von Bingen, Teilhard de Chardin, and Thomas Berry. I also hope is has some of the poetic flare of that great earth mystic, Saint John (Muir) of the Mountains.

We come before you today in abject pain and anguish
There are no words to describe the distress of losing someone
You love very deeply
ALL: Jesus said “Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted”

One: A Blessing on you who are poor
Many Yours is the household of God
One A blessing on you who mourn
Many: you shall be comforted

The pain of our Good Fridays
still lingers among us.
We still dwell inside the long waiting
of our Holy Saturdays.
Old wounds hold us in calloused hearts.
Ancient histories mold our souls in fear.
New worries drag us toward the abyss of dread.

Jesus travelled from town to town, healing people who were sick
All: Help us to heal broken bodies

This service is appropriate for a small congregation of 20-60 people. The service is conducted in two settings:

All of us have experienced mental or physical suffering at the hands of other people. But each of us has also brought suffering to others.
However when we are unwilling to forgive, we deny the essence of God’s loving-kindness, and deprive ourselves of the healing for which our life-force longs.

Ceremonies are points of cohesion beyond the boundaries of reason, a journey into the shadowy mystical world of the human spirit where truth reaches beyond the logical and the literal, yet they must not violate our rational intelligence or our world view.

We live in a society were many older people feel put out to grass – no longer useful
All: Help us to live life in all its fullness

One: May God the World Maker bless you;
Many: Let us delight in sunlight and starlight and surprises of the turning earth.

Links to collections of worship liturgies on the theme of care of the Earth

I believe in a mysterious impulse, where the essence of peace restores what is good
I believe in healing love that grows through faith to create joy

Resources for the thanksgiving for the birth of a child or for the sacrament of the baptism of infants.

Pastor: Following the tradition of Jesus, who welcomed children into his community, we celebrate the presence of children within this community of faith and offer them the sacrament of baptism.