The
Congregations of St. Mark’s and St. David’s
United
Church of Canada
Port
Hawkesbury/Port Hastings, NS
Office:
625-2229, Fax 625-3597, e-mail: stmarks1@eastlink.ca
Blog:
http://ourcontactonline.blogspot.com/
Minister: Nan Corrigan D. M.
Minister
of Music: Al Fougere
May
18th, 2014-5th Sunday of Easter-Affirming
Ministries
A
thought around which to gather as we worship-”The
welcoming movement
offers a place of
hospitality for those in the church open to God's whisper of a new
thing. It witnesses to the lives of those seeking to take seriously
the incarnation, God's good creation, and sexuality and sexual
orientation as part of that good creation. In so doing, it stands in
the tradition of Jesus, who overturned religious and social
traditions that diminished people's status as children of God. It
stands with Jesus in refusing to accommodate that which excludes
whole groups of people. It stands with Jesus, who saw himself as an
outcast in his own land, and with a God who grants protection to the
outcast. And it affirms and witnesses to the belief that God's grace
is available to all.”
From
Shaping
Sanctuary: Proclaiming God's Grace in an Inclusive Church,
edited
by Kelly Turney. Copyright ©2000 by Reconciling Congregation
Program.
Reprinted
by permission.
Announcements The Work
of Church and Community
WE GATHER TO WORSHIP GOD
Greeting
One: The peace of Christ
be with you. All: And with your spirit.
* Introit
Kum
ba yah, my Lord—2nd
time Come by here, my Lord
Call to Worship
One:
Come- worship the One who calls us into a relationship of love, more
intimate than our dearest friendship, more lasting than the tides of
the ocean and more beautiful than the span of heaven on a clear
night.
All:
For I have formed you, my beloved one, says our Creator,
and
I walk beside you each moment.
One:
I have called you by name, you are mine.
All: For you are my
chosen people, even before your first babble sounds, I knew your
thoughts.
One:
You are precious in my sight and honoured, says God.
May we accept the invitation to
know this ancient love – completely.
Opening
Prayer (together)
Creating
God, what did we do to earn your love? When we wake up in the morning
you are there to greet us, when our lives are filled with grief and
angst, you wrap us round in your arms of light. Before we were born
you envisioned our lives fulfilling your purpose and you gave us the
skills to do so. When we came to birth you echoed our birth cries
with murmurs of joy resounding through the universe. Open our hearts
to receive this everlasting love, and teach us to respond in praise.
Amen.
* Hymn
Let
Us Build a House Printed
Prayer
for Wholeness
Lover
of beauty and of the winter sky, with sunrises deep red fading into
yellow, frost that plays at the edge of the window’s light and
jewels
that dance in the new fallen snow, you remind us again of how much
you are in love with variety.
In
the arid desert, cactus blooms of every colour follow the rain, life
clings to the edge of the deep ocean volcano, new stars burst forth
with vibrancy and energy, lichen of every colour line the earth of
the tundra.
There
are birds to sing and turtles to crawl, worms to till the ground,
lady bugs to fly away home and butterflies that move from pupae to
flight.
If
we take delight in these great and playful works that came from your
deepest dreams, why do we object when human beings are made with the
same array of difference?
Different
colours of skin and hair, voices high and low - some to sing and some
to shout for freedom.
A
full spectrum of sexual diversity: straight, gay, and some whose
bodies erase strict gender lines.
Some
celebrate the Spirit in drums, others make statements with turbans
and burke, still others worship in silence.
We turn to all that is
filled with grace and reverences the sacred to remove our prejudices,
and draw us in by the Spirit’s voice to that place of acceptance
that allows us to grow. Amen.
Words
of Affirmation
WE LISTEN FOR GOD’S WORD
1 Peter 2:2–10 A living stone…chosen and precious in God’s sight
This
is the witness of the early church. All: Thanks be
to God.
Psalm 31 I
trust in you, you are my God. Pts.1, 3
VU 758
*Hymn What a Friend
We Have in Jesus VU 664
Opening the Word & The
Lord’s Prayer
The
Gospel Acclamation
Matthew
22: 1-10 The Wedding Banquet
This
is the gospel of Jesus Christ. All:
Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
Reflection
We’re Already Welcoming, So Why Become Affirming?
Readings
from
Open Hearts: Resources for Affirming Ministries in The United Church
of Canada, Alyson C. Huntly, pp. 11-14
Copyright
© 2011 Affirm United/S’affirmer Ensemble
WE RESPOND IN FAITH
* Hymn The Church’s One Foundation VU 332
Minute for Mission
Offering
Our Gifts to God
*Offering
Song
Lyrics:
R. Mitchell-Walker (Used by permission)
Your
love, O God, to all You show.
We,
gathered here, commit to grow.
We offer You these gifts, that we
may
celebrate diversity. Tune: Old 100TH
Prayers of Our Heart
WE GO TO SERVE GOD
*
Hymn Go
to the World VU
420
* Commissioning and
Benediction
Go, as Easter people,
living stones,
each unique, called and
chosen,
precious in God's
sight, building a new community,
working together to
show God's mercy, truth and love.
We go to live
God's love in the world.
*Choral Amen
Worship
material prepared by Affirming Ministries Committee, Saskatchewan
Conference,
United Church of Canada for
Affirming Ministries Sunday, 2009.
