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Worship Ideas
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Here are some other worship ideas which have been used at the Church21 Conferences.
Some resources used in the FINAL EUCHARIST Church21 Conference 2012
Opening prayer:
Give us, Lord, the courage to enter into this moment in time
Into this gathering of your disciples,
Into this time of grace.
Lord, give us courage to enter in.
Give us, Lord, the courage to enter into the possibilities that lie before us,
Like shells on the seashore, waiting to be discovered.
Lord, give us courage to enter in.
Give us, Lord, the courage to enter into the tasks and challenges before us, in a spirit of exploration and generosity, in the spirit of your Son.
Lord, give us courage to enter in.
Hymn: “Welcome to the feast”
A sung Gloria from Iona
A Creed:
We believe that God is present in the darkness before dawn;
In the waiting and uncertainty where fear and courage join hands,
Conflict and caring link arms, and the sun rises over barbed wire.
We believe in a with-us God who sits down in our midst to share our humanity.
We affirm a faith that takes us beyond the safe place; into action, into vulnerability and into the streets.
We commit ourselves to work for change and put ourselves on the line;
To bear responsibility, take risks, live powerfully and face humiliation;
To stand with those on the edge; to choose life and be used by the Spirit
For God’s new community of hope.
Amen.
Free intercessions interspersed with the chant “O Lord, hear my prayer”
Hymn: “An upper room did our Lord prepare”
The invitation:
The table of bread and wine is now to be made ready
It is the table of company with Jesus and with all who love him.
It is the table of sharing with the poor of the world, with whom Jesus identified himself.
It is the table of communion with the earth in which Christ became incarnate.
So come to this table
It is Christ who invites us to meet him here.
Eucharistic prayer
Blessed are you, O God
For you have brought forth bread from the earth.
Blessed are you, O God
For you have created the fruit of the vine.
In the beginning you watered the earth that man and woman might have food and drink.
You gave to your servant Sarah bread to strengthen her family on their journey, and wine to make them glad.
You called Moses and his people out of bondage and refreshed them with food in the wilderness.
You gave Mary and Jesus their daily bread to share.
And here at your table you offer us bread and wine for the journey to nourish us as sons and daughters.
And so with all our sisters and brothers,
Before us and beside us, we join in the song of your unending greatness:
Holy, holy, holy Lord,
God of power and might,
Heaven and earth are full of your glory.
Hosanna in the highest!
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
Hosanna in the highest!
The blessing of the bread and wine
Lord Jesus Christ, present with us now
As we do in this place what you did in an upstairs room
Breathe your Spirit upon us
And may this bread and this wine
Be to us heaven’s food and drink
Renewing, sustaining and making us whole,
And that we may be your body on earth,
Loving and caring in the world.
The breaking and Sharing of the Bread and Wine:
Look, the Bread of heaven is broken for the life of the world.
The gifts of God for the people of God.
Closing hymn: “Shine, Jesus Shine”
The following resources were used at our Follow up Days
An extract by Archbishop Oscar Romero who was murdered at the altar in El Salvador
It helps now and then,
to step back and take a long view.
The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts, it is even beyond our vision.
We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction
of the magnificent enterprise that is God’s work.
Nothing we do is complete, which is another way of saying
that the kingdom always lies beyond us.
No statement says all that could be said.
No prayer fully expresses our faith.
No confession brings perfection,
No pastoral visit brings wholeness.
No programme accomplishes the Church’s mission.
No set of goals and objectives includes everything.
That is what we are about.
We plant the seeds that one day will grow.
We water seeds already planted,
knowing that they hold future promise.
We lay foundations that will need further development.
We provide yeast that produces effects far beyond our capabilities.
We cannot do everything,
and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that.
This enables us to do something, and do it very well.
It may be incomplete, a step along the way,
an opportunity for the Lord’s grace to enter and do the rest.
We may never see the end results, but that is the difference
between the master builder and the worker.
We are workers, not master builders, ministers not messiahs,
We are prophets of a future not our own.
This prayer of commitment is an extract from the Annual Methodist Service of Renewal of the Covenant
“I am no longer my own but yours.
Your will, not mine, be done in all things.
Wherever You may place me,
In all that I do, and in all that I may endure;
When there is work for me, and when there is none;
When I am troubled, and when I am at peace.
Your will be done when I am valued,
And when I am disregarded;
When I find fulfilment, and when it is lacking;
When I have all things, and when I have nothing.
I willingly offer all I have and am to serve You, as and where You choose.
Glorious and blessed God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
You are mine and I am yours.
May it be so for ever.
Let this covenant now made on earth be fulfilled in heaven.
Extract from the Annual Methodist Service of Renewal of the Covenant
A Reflection on the theme of ‘Threshold’ used at a team talk day
Begin with silence
Take a few moments to sit comfortably………………
Become aware of the one thing that has really touched you, or stood out for you today.
Acknowledge it.
Thank God for it.
Now let it go……………
And for the moment, Imagine you are sitting in a doorway, on the threshold
Think of what the word ‘threshold’ means –
Its origin leads into the place where the wheat is separated from the chaff
A place of sorting and sifting
And maybe that is just the sort of place we find ourselves in at present
a threshold in the life of our Parish
A threshold is a vital part of any spiritual journey
Threshold is an in-between space
A place of uncertainty
A place for taking stock
What is behind us is known
What lies ahead is unknown
Above all it is a transforming place
A space where growth can take place
Some things must be left behind
It marks the division between who we are now and who we will become
Let’s pray….
“Listen, I stand at the door and knock”………………..
Father God, my guide and saviour
When I stand on the threshold of a new experience
You are there beside me
You hold my doubts, my questions
my darkness and disturbance
In the safe embrace of your love.
You will guide me to clarity and peace
I open the door of my heart to you.
I open the door.
Amen
Added on 8 Nov 12
A Simple Outline for Iona Worship
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Iona Worship
Iona is situated on a small Hebridean island and has been a powerful spiritual centre over the centuries. Today it is a dispersed ecumenical community whose core belief is that worship is all that we are and all that we do, both inside and outside the church, with no division into the ‘sacred’ and the ‘secular’.
The purpose of the community is to help people, not to become more ‘religious’ but to be more fully human.
Its main principle is that our whole life is a search for wholeness.
Iona worship material draws on many traditions including the Celtic, and aims to help us be fully present to God. Its style is simple and the tunes are quite easy to pick up.
See www.iona.org.uk
Worship resources from Wild Goose publications.
Prepare a focal point using a celtic cross or items from nature, bog wood or branches, moss etc.
Gathering prayer :
Leader Come now all who thirst
All: And drink the water of life
Leader: Come now all who hunger
All: And be filled with good things.
Leader: Come now all who seek
All: And be warmed by the fire of love.
Hymn: “Spirit of God unseen as the wind”
A Reading
Response: Confession
Leader: You asked for our hands, that we might use them for you
All We gave them for a moment, then withdrew them, for the
work was hard.
Leader You asked for our mouths, to speak out against injustice.
All We gave you a whisper that we might not be accused.
Leader You asked for our eyes, to see the pain of poverty
All We closed them for we did not want to see
Leader You asked for our lives, that you might work through us.
All We gave a small part that we might not get too involved.
Leader Lord, forgive us our calculated efforts to serve you only
when it is convenient to do so, only in those places where it
is safe to do so, and only with those who make it easy to do so.
All Father, forgive us, Renew us,
Send us out as usable instruments that we might take
seriously the meaning of your cross.
Through Jesus Christ our Lord,
Amen
A psalm
Iona creed
We believe in God above us,
Maker and Sustainer of all life,
Of sun and moon
Of water and earth,
Of male and female,
We believe in God beside us
Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh.
Born of a woman’s womb, servant of the poor,
He was tortured and nailed to a tree
A man of sorrows, He died forsaken.
He descended into the earth to the place of death.
On the third day he rose from the tomb.
He ascended into heaven to be everywhere present,
And His kingdom will come on earth.
We believe in God within us,
The Holy Spirit of Pentecostal fire,
Life-giving breath of the church,
Spirit of healing and forgiveness,
Source of resurrection and of life everlasting
Amen.
Iona hymn (suggestion: “Only by grace”)
Prayers of intercession with the following refrain to be sung between each petition:
“Listen Lord, Listen Lord
Not to our words but to our prayer.
You alone, you alone
Understand and care”
Celtic Blessing
May the blessing of light be on you-
Light without and light within.
May the blessed sunlight shine on you like a great peat fire, so that stranger and friend may come and warm himself at it.
And may light shine out of the two eyes of you, like a candle set in the window of a house, bidding the wanderer come in out of the storm
All Bless O Christ our faces
Let our faces bless everything
Bless O Christ our eyes
Let our eyes bless all they see
Amen
Closing Hymn
“Will you come and follow me?”
Added on 8 Nov 12
A Simple Outline for Taize Worship
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Taize Worship
The Taize community was founded in France in 1930 by Brother Roger. Today, the Taizé Community is made up of over a hundred brothers, Catholics and from various Protestant backgrounds, coming from around thirty nations.
Taize worship requires a darkened space with a large cross placed centrally with many tea lights or small candles and a few icons may be used as a focus to meditation.
The distinguishing feature of Taize worship is the singing of short songs, repeated again and again, giving it a meditative character.
As the words are sung over many times, they gradually penetrate the whole being. It allows everyone to remain together in attentive waiting on God, without having to fix the length of time too exactly. You will note that the songs begin gently and at the end they will tail off rather than have an abrupt end. Worship will include a time of prayer and a Reflection.
There are no announcements during the liturgy but it will flow seamlessly and naturally. After the last song please feel free either to leave quietly, or to remain in prayer for as long as they wish.
For resources including simple chants with music See www.taize.fr
Begin with sound of Taize bells
Suggested opening song: “ Laudate Omnes Gentes”
A Reflection
Great Silence
Song to introduce prayers eg: “O Lord, hear my prayer”
Intercessions with Kyrie Eleison
Some of the best known Taize chants include “Bless the Lord, my soul”
“Within our darkest night” or “Ubi caritas”.
(There is a book of simple Taize chants available with music.)
Added on 8 Nov 12
The Beautiful Gate - CMS Ireland Annual Project 2012 Nepal
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The Beautiful Gate resource is designed to help children and young people find out more about Nepal and learn something about SD Church. Through stories from the bible and Nepal, through videos, crafts and activities, the Annual Project will help explain and explore the importance of Loving God and Loving Others. To find out more about this exciting resource, please come along to one of our Annual Project launches or contact cms ireland by phone 028 90775020 (Belfast office) or 01 4970931 (Dublin office) or email us at: annualproject@cmsireland.org
Added on 24 Jan 12
Church Edit Website
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Church Edit can build you a church website but it is also a website which gives tips for church websites. There are general advice tips that can be applied to all websites and not just Church Edit built sites. You can sign up to receive monthly Church website tips – all free of charge!
Added on 23 May 11
Church21 Preparation Course
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The Church21 Preparation Course has been designed to help prepare parishes participating in the Church21 Conference but other churches may also find it helpful. To get the best from the conference, parishes should have identified their particular needs beforehand, so we invite you to reflect on where you are now and where you feel God is calling you to be. Are there key areas of parish life you need to focus on? The Preparation Course provides a framework within which to examine six areas of development – welcome, fellowship and caring, worship and nurture, service to others, communications and ministry.
Download the Preparation Course here.
Added on 8 Feb 11