prayer of confession, Epiphany

Prayer of Confession:
The prophet speaks of the coming light of God which calls all the people of the earth to come together in God’s realm of shalom.  Let us confess the ways in which we have rejected God’s vision of wholeness:
God of light and darkness, We have seen the glimmer of your star-light beckoning to us, but we have turned away and followed other paths.  We confess that we have not loved you with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our mind, and with all our strength. We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves.  Forgive us, Holy One.  Strengthen our faltering steps and guide us in your holy way of peace.  Amen.
Assurance of Pardon:
Lift up your eyes and see the grace of God poured out into your lives.
The light of God shines through the darkness.  Our hearts rejoice for Christ is in our midst.

prayer of confession, Christmas 1

Prayer of Confession:
On this the sixth day of Christmas, as another year draws to a close, we come together before God and with one another, confessing,
the ways in which we have been caught up in the frenzied spirit of the holidays,and turned away from Your Spirit of Peace;
the times we have focused so much on our own lives and desires,
that we have neglected the voices of your children who cry out for Justice;
in our focus on making the season perfect,
we have turned away from the hurting people and broken places in our world in need of Healing;
in the times we have dismissed Christmas as a time only for children,
and we have stubbornly closed our hearts to your amazing gift of Love.
O Holy Child of Bethlehem, Word Become Flesh, our Savior and King, hear us as we humbly pray,
Cast out our sin and enter in; be born in us today. Amen.
Assurance of Pardon:
Hear the good news of Christmas.Today God reveals to us the wonders of divine love.
For unto us a Child is born; unto us a Son is given.His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.

advent candle lighting liturgy week 4

Advent 4, Year A
The days grow short in our Northwest winter. The darkness easily pushes back the afternoon sun, as evening casts its shadows over our lives. Is it no wonder we fill our neighborhoods and our homes with Christmas lights? The sparkling lights offer a quiet beauty in the face of ever-creeping darkness. The splendor of lights is a small act of defiance against the shadows–it speaks of our faith that the dark will not have the last word.The psalmist gives voice to a people who have been waiting for the advent of God’s realm.  The people who have been living in darkness cry out to God to bring light into their world, 

Shepherd of Israel, hearken, He who drives Joseph like sheep,enthroned on the cherubim, shine forth…O God, bring us back, and light up Your face that we may be rescued.(Psalm 80: 1-2, 4, translated by Robert Alter)  

Our waiting is almost over. A fourth candle joins the three candles shining in the darkness. The candle of love adds its light to the flickering flames of God’s dream of peace, justice, and healing for all creation.

advent candle lighting liturgy week 3

Advent 3, Year A With each passing day the lights of Christmas grow brighter. Holiday decorations line the downtown streets and beckon us outside; the music of the season fills the air around us–in the shopping malls, doctors’ offices, and elevators. Everywhere we turn we find festive backdrops and a Christmas musical score for our daily routines. The holidays are indeed upon us.But just behind the glitter and twinkling lights, there is an emptiness. All the holiday cheer cannot overcome the private disappointments, fears, failings and griefs we carry with us: our memories of loved ones sorely missed; grief that refuses to be pushed aside; unobtainable perfections; worries forever creeping into our thoughts. The wilderness places of our lives are never far away.When we find ourselves in the wild deserted places, we may quickly lose heart and our strength fails us. Feeling alone, we struggle to see beyond the emptiness pressing in against us.The prophet Isaiah knows too well the wilderness places of human existence. Surrounded by the destruction of his country and the broken dreams of his people, he envisions the presence of God’s realm where wastelands will be transformed into brilliant gardens in full bloom:

Wilderness and desert will sing joyously,the badlands will celebrate and flower—Like the crocus in spring, bursting into blossom,a symphony of song and color. (Isaiah 35:1, The Message) 

Isaiah’s vision of God’s renewal brings the welcome promise of God’s healing.

Energize the limp hands, strengthen the rubbery knees. Tell fearful souls,”Courage! Take heart! God is here, right here,on his way to put things right, And redress all wrongs. He’s on his way! He’ll save you!” Blind eyes will be opened, deaf ears unstopped, Lame men and women will leap like deer, the voiceless break into song. Springs of water will burst out in the wilderness,streams flow in the desert.(Isaiah 35:3-6, The Message) 

During Advent we need not shut the door on our empty wilderness places and pretend that all is well. Rather, Advent invites us to name our brokenness, joining our hopes for restoration with the dream of Isaiah.Today we light the third candle of Advent. The flickering light of healing now joins our prayers for the peace and justice of God’s realm. Your kingdom come, O Lord, Your kingdom come.

advent candle lighting liturgy week 2

Advent 2, Year AHoliday traditions bind us to our roots and to the generations that have gone before. There is the ornament we keep hanging on the tree year after year not because of its beauty, but because it once hung on the Christmas tree in our childhood home. Holiday celebrations just wouldn’t be the same without Grandma’s special eggnog recipe. Our Christmas Eve worship harkens us back to candle-lit services long ago.The prophet Isaiah calls his people back to their roots, too. Not in a candy-coated nostalgic way, but as an alternative vision of the way life is meant to be in God’s realm.

A green Shoot will sprout from Jesse’s stump, from his roots a budding Branch.The life-giving Spirit of God will hover over him,the Spirit that brings wisdom and understanding,The Spirit that gives direction and builds strength,the Spirit that instills knowledge and Fear-of-God.Fear-of-God will be all his joy and delight.He won’t judge by appearances, won’t decide on the basis of hearsay.He’ll judge the needy by what is right, render decisions on earth’s poor with justice.His words will bring everyone to awed attention.A mere breath from his lips will topple the wicked.Each morning he’ll pull on sturdy work clothes and boots, and build righteousness and faithfulness in the land.The wolf will romp with the lamb, the leopard sleep with the kid.Calf and lion will eat from the same trough, and a little child will tend them.Cow and bear will graze the same pasture, their calves and cubs grow together, and the lion eat straw like the ox.The nursing child will crawl over rattlesnake dens, the toddler stick his hand down the hole of a serpent.Neither animal nor human will hurt or kill on my holy mountain.The whole earth will be brimming with knowing God-Alive, a living knowledge of God ocean-deep, ocean-wide. (from Isaiah 11:1-9, The Message)

The Advent season invites us back to our roots, to God’s dream for all creation. It’s a dream of justice for the downtrodden and hope for the poor. In God’s realm former enemies will live together as friends; distrust of the stranger will disappear as the whole earth dwells in the richness of God’s shalom. “When will these days come,” we whisper, “for all we want for Christmas is God’s peace and justice.”

advent wreath candle lighting liturgy

Advent 1, Year A
Each year we tell ourselves it will be different. We will say no to the fuss and the stress. We will say yes to opening our hearts for the Christ child. Yet each year the neighbor across the street gets Christmas lights up before we do. And the calendar fills up quickly: holiday progams, Christmas parties, volunteering, shopping, cleaning, baking, putting up the Christmas tree. Before we know it, nothing has changed at all.
This year, the invitation comes to us again.
Listen. An ancient prophet dreams of a world transformed by God’s vision of peace:

In days to come the mountain of the Lord’s house will be the highest of the mountains…all the nations will stream to it. Many will say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; that he may teach us his ways and we may walk in his paths.”…The Lord will judge between the nations, and will settle disputes for many peoples; they will beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation willll not lift up sword against nation, neither will they learn war any more.

Today we light the first candle of Advent. One solitary light that flickers with the hopes and dreams of all the years gone by. This year, we pray for that ancient dream of God’s realm of peace. All we want for Christmas is God’s peace, in our hearts, in our homes, in our neighborhoods, and in the world.

Guiding vision worship, week 1

Blessed to be a blessing worship 2007Originally uploaded by revnancy

First Christian Church of Puyallup is a gathering of diverse individuals called by God to live as a blessing in our own neighborhoods and in the world.

Blessed to be a blessing was the theme of our worship. We picked up this marvelous idea from Steve Taylor at emergent kiwi.

The major roads/rivers/lakes in our area were mapped out the floor. For the offering time individuals were given stars to place on the map to indicate places in which they were called to be a blessing.

It was a wonderful, chaotic experience! One person even put a star on the bottom of their shoe and told me, “wherever i am, i’m to be a blessing!”