1. PRECIOUS LORD, TAKE MY HAND - 670
During the Season after Epiphany and Lent we are reading a section of the most recent United Church affirmation of faith, A Song of Faith, as a part of worship. You are encouraged to reflect on this document as congregations and presbyteries prepare to respond to Remits 6.
Question for Reflection: Today’s section of A Song of Faith deals with what it means to be “church”. What does “church” mean to you?Responsive Reading from A Song of Faith
Sung Response: To You, O God VU752 Refrain 2 (stand)
We sing of a church
seeking to continue the story of Jesus
by embodying Christ’s presence in the world.
We are called together by Christ
as a community of broken but hopeful believers,
loving what he loved,
living what he taught,
striving to be faithful servants of God
in our time and place.
Our ancestors in faith
bequeath to us experiences of their faithful living;
upon their lives our lives are built.
Our living of the gospel makes us a part of this communion of saints, experiencing the fulfillment of God’s reign
even as we actively anticipate a new heaven and a new earth.
The church has not always lived up to its vision.
It requires the Spirit to reorient it,
helping it to live an emerging faith while honouring tradition,
challenging it to live by grace rather than entitlement,
for we are called to be a blessing to the earth.
We sing of God’s good news lived out,
a church with purpose:
faith nurtured and hearts comforted,
gifts shared for the good of all,
resistance to the forces that exploit and marginalize,
fierce love in the face of violence,
human dignity defended,
members of a community held and inspired by God,
corrected and comforted,
instrument of the loving Spirit of Christ,
creation’s mending.
We sing of God’s mission.
Responsive Reading excerpted from A Song of Faith: A Statement of Faith of the United Church of Canada
The word “Tenebrae” is Latin for “shadows,” but liturgically it has meant more particularly a service during which light fades into darkness. Its origins are set as far back as the eighth century, and its observance spread over Wednesday, Thursday and Friday nights of Holy Week. The diminishing light symbolizes the declining loyalty of the disciples and the waning of the light of the world as Jesus was departing from it. The form of “Tenebrae” we are using has been adapted as a candle ritual for successive use on the 6 Sundays of Lent.
