Hanging of the Green (cont.)

I've posted an additional sample of a Hanging of the Green service on our church website.  You can access it by clicking here.  This one is based on the idea of the marriage supper of the lamb and celebrating Christmas/Advent through those lens.

Take a Moment for National Adoption Month

November is National Adoption Month.  Did you know that a child is orphaned every 18 seconds in the world?  That there are 143 million orphans in the world today?  that they will spend an average of 10 years of their life in an orphanage or in foster care if we do nothing to help?  That if only 7% of the 2 billion Christians in the world would care for the orphans, there would effectively be no more orphans?  God has led the way by adopting us into God's family.  The scriptures also tell us that pure religious that is faultless is to care for orphans and widows (James 1:27).  

In honor of national adoption month, the very least we can do is to pray for these kids.  This Sunday, we are using the following prayer, adapted from a poem/prayer by Ina Hughes.  We are doing it with two readers and the congregation's response (it should make sense when you read it).  Maybe you could use it in your church this week?

We pray for the children

who put chocolate fingers everywhere,

who like to be tickled,

who stomp in puddles and ruin their new pants,

who sneak Popsicles before supper,

who erase holes in math workbooks,

who can never find their shoes.  

And we pray for those

who stare at photographers from behind barbed wire,

who’ve never squeaked across the floor in new sneakers,

who never had crayons to count,

who are born in places we wouldn’t be caught dead,

who never go to the circus,

who live in an X-rated world.  

Lord, hear our prayer.

We pray for children

who bring us sticky kisses and fistfuls of dandelions,

who sleep with the dog and bury goldfish,

who give hugs in a hurry and forget their lunch money,

who cover themselves with Band-Aids and sing off-key,

who squeeze toothpaste all over the sink,

who slurp their soup.  

And we pray for those

who never get dessert,

who watch their parents watch them die,

who have no safe blanket to drag behind,

who can’t find any bread to steal,

who don’t have any rooms to clean up,

whose pictures aren’t on anybody’s dresser,

whose monsters are real.

Lord, hear our prayer.

We pray for children

who spend all their allowance before Tuesday,

who throw tantrums in the grocery store and pick at their food,

who like ghost stories,

who shove dirty clothes under the bed,

who never rinse out the tub,

who get visits from the tooth fairy,

who don't like to be kissed in front of the school,

who squirm in church and scream in the phone,

whose tears we sometimes laugh at and

whose smiles can make us cry.

And we pray for those

whose nightmares come in the daytime,

who will eat anything,

who aren't spoiled by anybody,

who go to bed hungry and cry themselves to sleep,

who live and move, but have no being.

Lord, hear our prayer.

We pray for children who want to be carried,

and for those who must be.

For those we never give up on,

and for those who never get a chance.

For those we smother with our love,

and for those who will grab the hand of

anybody kind enough to offer.

Lord, hear our prayer. Amen.

*Adapted from “We Pray for the Children” by Ina J. Hughes

Unleashing the Power of the Blog

How long do you really think that people remember the sermon after the hour on Sunday is over?  What if you could continue the discussion started on Sunday morning all week long?  One of the ways that we are trying to use the internet to help expand our ministry is through the use of the blog.  If you are reading this, you probably already know about that, but how about using a blog to further expound on the Sunday morning message?  Our pastor has been doing a series called "Freedom From Busyness," based on the book by the same title by Michael Zigarelli.  There just isn't enough time to preach on everything on Sunday morning.  In addition, there are readings from the book for every day as well that provide fodder for discussion.  Therefore, Jack started a blog to give folks the opportunity to go deeper during the week.

If you check out his blog, you'll also notice that we have had a little bit of a hard time getting people to go there and post their comments (part of this has to do with the fact that this is the first time that we've tried this and we haven't promoted it a lot - I'm just trying to be honest, learn from our mistakes).  That doesn't mean that it is not a great idea and that it could be a very useful tool that you will just have to train people to use (though you may not have to if they are young folks).

Framing your worship set

This morning, we were doing a worship set on God's grace.  We introduced the set with a paraphrase of Romans 6 (see below) followed by a corporate prayer of confession from the Common Book of Prayer.  Then we used the Chris Tomlin's chorus for Amazing Grace (My Chains are Gone) to frame the set.  

Romans 6

Silent Prayer

Prayer of Confession

Chorus (My Chains are Gone)

Glorious Day (Todd Agnew)

Chrorus (My Chains are Gone)

Amazing Grace

Chrorus (My Chains are Gone)

By finding some common theme to tie songs together, it brings a sense of cohesiveness to the service/set. This scripture reading and prayer also set the mood nicely for the congregation to be ready to receive the the message of the song(s).

 

Romans 6:13-23 (paraphrased)

Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.  For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him.

The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.

In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.  Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires.

We do not offer the parts of our body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but to God, as those who have been brought from death to life;

Offer your body to him as instruments of righteousness. For sin shall not be your master.

We are not under law, but under grace.

What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means!

We have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.

Now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.   For the wages of sin is death,

but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

 

Prayer of Confession (from Common Book of Prayer):

Most merciful God, we confess that we have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done, and by what we have left undone. We have not loved you with our whole heart; we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We are truly sorry and we humbly repent, for the sake of your Son Jesus Christ, have mercy on us and forgive us; that we may delight in your will, and walk in your ways, to the glory of your Name. Amen.