Gathering Music

Call to Prayer

One: Come, all that are weary, all that are carrying burdens so heavy
Many: Jesus will give us rest
One: Come, take what Jesus has to offer: love, forgiveness, and grace
Many: Christ will give us peace
One: Come, find rest, and learn from Jesus
Many: For the spirit will give us rest
One: Come, let us worship our God
Many: The Holy One who leads us into life.

Opening Song

“Gather Us In” FWS #2236 (v. 1 & 4)

Here in this place new light is streaming
now is the darkness vanished away
see in this space our fears and our dreamings
brought here to you in the light of this day.
Gather us in the lost and forsaken
gather us in the blind and the lame
call to us now and we shall awaken
we shall arise at the sound of our name.

Not in the dark of buildings confining
not in some heaven light years away
here in this place the new light is shining
now is the kindom now is the day.
Gather us in and hold us forever
gather us in and make us your own
gather us in all peoples together
fire of love in our flesh and our bone.

Reading

Revelation 22:12-17 (NRSV)

12 “See, I, Jesus, am coming soon; my reward is with me, to repay according to everyone’s work. 13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”

14 Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they will have the right to the tree of life and may enter the city by the gates. 15 Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and fornicators and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.

16 “It is I, Jesus, who sent my angel to you with this testimony for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.”

17 The Spirit and the bride say, “Come.”
And let everyone who hears say, “Come.”
And let everyone who is thirsty come.
Let anyone who wishes take the water of life as a gift.

One: Hear what the Spirit is saying
Many: We are listening

Sung Response

“Come and Fill Our Hearts”

Come and fill our hearts with your peace.
You alone, O Lord, are holy.
Come and fill our hearts with your peace.
Alleluia

Confitemini Domino
Quoniam Bonus!
Confitemini domino
Alleluia

Come and fill our hearts with you peace.
You alone, O Lord, are holy.
Come and fill our hearts with your peace.
Alleluia

Reading

‘Often Rebuked, Yet Always Back Returning’ by Emily Brontë

Often rebuked, yet always back returning
To those first feelings that were born with me,
And leaving busy chase of wealth and learning
For idle dreams of things which cannot be:

Today, I will seek not the shadowy region;
Its unsustaining vastness waxes drear;
And visions rising, legion after legion,
Bring the unreal world too strangely near.

I’ll walk, but not in old heroic traces,
And not in paths of high morality,
And not among the half-distinguished faces,
The clouded forms of long-past history.

I’ll walk where my own nature would be leading:
It vexes me to choose another guide:
Where the gray flocks in ferny glens are feeding;
Where the wild wind blows on the mountain side.

What have those lonely mountains worth revealing?
More glory and more grief than I can tell:
The earth that wakes one human heart to feeling
Can centre both the worlds of Heaven and Hell.

One: Hear what the Spirit is saying
Many: We are listening

Sung Response

Bless the Lord, my soul.
And Bless God’s holy name.
Bless the Lord, my soul.
Who leads me into life.

Guided Meditation

Sung Response

Bless the Lord, my soul.
And Bless God’s holy name.
Bless the Lord, my soul.
Who leads me into life.

Unison Prayer

God of the impossible, we pray for justice, peace and reconciliation. When the challenges seem too many, remind us of your resurrection power. When the task seems overwhelming, remind us of the miracle of love. When apathy threatens us, remind us of your vision of a world made whole. Help us to hope that the impossible can happen and to live as if it might do so today. Amen.

Blessing

Sending

Sing praises all you peoples
Sing praises to the Lord
Sing praises all you peoples
Sing praises to the Lord

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Worship Notes:

Call to Worship adapted by Kelsey Wallace from https://re-worship.blogspot.com/2014/06/call-to-worship-matthew-11.html
Emily Brontë Poem from https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/53697/often-rebuked-yet-always-back-returning
Meditation from https://www.know-stress-zone.com/guided-meditation-script.html
Unison Prayer from: Creation Sings Your Praise, edited by Annabel Shilson-Thomas, Canterbury Press, 2010. Posted on the Monthly Prayers page of the Christian Aid website. http://www.christianaid.org.uk/
Blessing from: John O’Donohue, To Bless the Space Between Us (NY: Double Day, 2008).