Invocation – Wandering and Wondering

Incarceration Sunday

Here is a Call to Worship, Invocation, and Prayer of the People from our Incarceration Sunday, when we consider the issues around incarceration and our prison system. This weekend we focused on a wonderful program in MA, called Partakers and the long standing relationships that can come from mentoring someone who is incarcerated.

Call to Worship (DMA)

Pastor: Jesus could have spent time only with the rich and the powerful;

People: instead, he knelt on bended knee.

Pastor: Jesus could have spent his time gathering prestige and power;

People: instead, Jesus sought out the troubled, the wayward, the lost, and the least.

Pastor: Jesus could have reached out for the crown of an earthly king;

People: instead, he lifted up the lowly.

Pastor: Jesus made straight the crooked path

People: and smoothed out the rough road.

Pastor: Jesus looked to the margins and welcomed all in.

ALL: Jesus reminded us that all are worthy of God’s love and redemption.

Invocation: (DMA)

Holy One of Grace and Mercy, We come before you to learn the way of Christ. We come before you to ask forgiveness for the times we wandered and stepped in front of our siblings in need. We come before you to offer praise and thanksgiving for all you are and all you have done. Meet us here in this time and place that we might, through community, get to know you more fully. AMEN

Prayer of the People (DMA)

Our prayer, O Lord, extends today beyond unexpected borders – not national borders, but borders that we create right here in our country: borders that come in the form of bars and borders that take the form of quiet exclusion.

We pray for the youth that are caught in juvenile courts. We pray that at least one adult will be able to get through to them. We pray that they might know their value and worth. We pray for their future and their safety.

We pray for the youth that get tried as adults, who are pressed up into a system that fails to take into account the psychology of development. We pray for their protection, for their ability to endure a harsh system, for their resilience.

We pray for the first time offender – for all the steps that brought them to this place. We pray for their future. We pray for the possibility of restorative justice that might allow them to reintegrate with the community.

We pray for the reoffender, for the many who do not see options or have alternate opportunities. We pray for a system that sometimes looks for the slip up. We pray for the challenges they face once the word “criminal” or “felon” is attached to their name.

We pray for the lifers – especially for those who have used the time well and done the work that needed to be done and yet are not eligible for release.

We pray for our criminal justice system which often puts more weight on retribution than on restoration and rehabilitation.

We pray for the families of those incarcerated and the challenges they face because their loved one is behind bars.

And of course, we pray for the victims and all who have been hurt and harmed.

May we work toward a world where pain and suffering are no more.

Lord, hear our prayer. We pray in the name of your son, Jesus Christ, who taught us to pray together saying: (Insert the Lord’s prayer as your church says it)

Lenten Liturgy

Call to Worship (based on Psalm 37 )

Pastor: Trust in the Lord.

People: We take delight in the Lord.

Pastor: Commit your way to the Lord.

People: We listen for the word of the Lord.

Pastor. Be still before the Lord.

People: We wait patiently for the Lord

Pastor: Our steps are made firm by the Lord.

People: The Lord holds us and leads us.

Invocation

Holy One, In a world that sometimes doesn’t know which way is up, be our center. Enter into our days. Enter into our heart. Enter into our lives. Teach us your ways and guide us in your paths so that we may discern how to live in this unbalanced but beautiful world. AMEN

Prayers to remember those who have died – Memorial Service for someone who enjoyed a long life

CALL TO WORSHIP – Psalm 90

Pastor: The Lord has been our dwelling place throughout all generations.

People: In the Lord, we have lived and in the Lord, we die.

Pastor: The Lord, God, is from everlasting to everlasting,

People: from before the mountains were born until the end of time.

Pastor: God was there when we were formed from the dust,

People: and God is there when we return to it.

Pastor: Throughout our life, we are blessed to see the wonders God has wrought.

People: Even as we stand at the end of life, let us celebrate and be thankful for the blessing of our days and for the one who gave us life.

INVOCATION –

Holy One, You grant us each day, each moment, each breath. Let us rejoice and be thankful. Let us count our days like the gathering of precious stones. Stopping to deeply appreciate each one that comes our way. May we never take the gift of life for granted. We give you thanks today for life itself and for your presence in it. AMEN

A wonderful offering of birdseed offered after a memorial service in memory of Brian Smith who loved the out of doors and especially the birds.

Transfiguration Prayers

Invocation

Moutaintop God, Your glory astounds us. We are in awe of all that you have done. The child who came to us just weeks ago now takes his place between Moses and Elijah. Help us to bear the light and not look away. Help us to be the light. Let us take momentary refuge here so that we too are changed; and then push us back into the world and the work you set before us. AMEN

Prayer of Illumination

Pastor: God is Holy, God is beyond what we can know, beyond what we can see, beyond what we can understand; and yet, we look, we listen, we try to comprehend.

People: God, let us see you if only but a glimpse. Let us hear you if only but a whisper. Let us understand you, if only in our heart. AMEN

Call to Worship & Invocation

Prlude

Call to Worship (based on Psalm 138 )

L: We give you thanks, O Lord.

P: We give you thanks with our whole heart.

L: We give thanks for your steadfast love.

P: We give thanks for your abiding word.

L: We give thanks for your presence in our lives.

P: We give you thanks.

L: Let us honor the one who is, was, and ever will be.

ALL: AMEN

Invocation

Holy and steadfast God,

You stand beside me each step I take and yet I look past you, over you, and around you. I act as if I am an island floating on the open sea. In our time today, open me to seeing, noticing, and appreciating the many ways you seek to make yourself known and the many ways in which we are interconnected with our siblings and the earth itself. Give me eyes to see and ears to hear your constant and consistent presence. AMEN

Psalm inspired liturgy

Sometimes it can be a challenge to write liturgy from week to week, so sometimes I need to look elsewhere for inspiration. Sometimes I find liturgy that others have written that I can use (I especially appreciate https://re-worship.blogspot.com/ ). Other times, I reach into the Biblical text, especially the Psalter. Because the Psalms were originally sung, the liturgy gathered from the Psalms practically writes itself. Here, for example, is the Call to Worship and Invocation that I am using this week, which is drawn from Psalm 18. One Psalm can often be the inspiration for a multitude of prayers, litanies, and the like. The Psalms are like a well that is fed by an unending aquafer.

Call to Worship

Pastor: In the Lord I take refuge.

People: God is my deliverer.

Pastor: God is my rock and my fortress.

People: God is my safe place.

Pastor: In the Lord, I put my hope and my trust.

People: God is my protector.

ALL: I will praise God forever more.

Invocation

O God, my protector, you are with me in all that I do: from my waking to my sleeping. You watch over me and seek to guide me. Today, in this time, wake me up so that I may witness your work and begin to see the world around me with more clarity. AMEN

An extra special resource as it pertains to Psalmody is Richard Bruxvoort Cooligan’s Psalm Immersion. His musical creations from the Psalms can be used as background for meditation, for musical prayer responses, or for deepening your perspective on a specific psalm. I encourage you to check his work out.

NOTE: You are welcome to use the liturgy in worship or educational settings. Please cite the origin sources.

Lenten Planning

Today, I finally packed away the final Christmas ornaments (except the one I said I would keep out to remember Jesus’ birth throughout the year), Epiphany is in full force, and I’m in full Lenten planning phase.

*The Christmas ornament that I held out from my birth-father and his wife.*

I try to finish my planning within my blocked out planning time, but this season, it just didn’t pan out. I continue to fill in the blanks, but I have gotten pretty far and should be ready long before March 5th.

Here is a glimpse into the overall theme:

And here is a Call to Worship and Invocation from the series:

CALL TO WORSHIP (based on Psalm 51 & 103 – DMA)

Pastor: We come to you, O Lord, imperfect, but hungry.

People: We trust in your steadfast love and take hope in your abundant mercy.

Pastor: We turn to you, O Lord, recognizing that too often we turn away.

People: We trust that indeed you are merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in compassion and lovingkindness.

Pastor: We desire, O Lord, your wisdom in our inmost heart.

People: We open ourselves to you.

INVOCATION (DMA)

Creator, Meet us here. Meet us now. Walk with us on our Lenten Journey. Continue to create us and form us in your likeness. Let our very being act as an offering to you. AMEN

If you are a pastor, what are you considering for this Lenten season?

If you are not a pastor, what would you hope to hear in church this spring?

NOTE: If you ever would like a template that I’ve created, please just ask. I’m happy to share. If you would like to use a prayer, piece of liturgy, or poem for educational or religious reason, please just cite me as the author.

Economic Justice Sunday

This Sunday we are holding an Economic Justice Sunday as we kick-off our drive for our mission trip to Maine this summer to repair houses through MATE.

For that worship service, here is a Call to Worship and an Invocation:

CALL TO WORSHIP – Based Psalm 69

Pastor: Save us, O God. The water is up to our neck.

People: We are sinking with nowhere to place our feet.

Pastor: The water is deep

People: and our voice is being drowned out in the tumult.

Pastor: Hear, O God, our cumulative cries.

People: Respond to those in peril and send angels to their sides.

Pastor: If we are among the troubled, bring us peace and justice.

People: If we are among those already in peace, bring us purpose and perspective.

INVOCATION: –

Holy One, In our time together this morning, press open our hearts to the pain and pressures of life that others are bearing. Let us hear the cries of those being overwhelmed by the world around them. Shake us from complacency. Move us to action. Forgive us when we justify inequity. Inspire us to act as your emissaries in this world, and let us become a part of your healing balm. Be with us as we are awakened to and reminded of the harsh realities that exist in world today. AMEN