Fall 2016 Worship Night

INVITATION
By Kevin Borst
You are invited tonight to pause in the middle of your week to worship with us. 

Our hope is that through singing, prayer, and sharing in the Eucharist together
we would be reminded about who God is, because it is in that space
That we are reminded who we are.

CALL TO WORSHIP
Psalm 145

MUSIC
Jesus Culture - Fierce
All Sons & Daughters - You Will Remain
Hillsong United - Say The Word
Hymn - Be Thou My Vision
Jesus Culture - God With Us
Bryan & Katie Torwalt - Holy Spirit
Chris Tomlin - Good Good Father

PRAYER & RESPONSE
By Bobbi Salkeld
In the beginning,
Before time, before people
Before creatures or the created,
Before our experiences of beauty & terror, anxiety & joy,
Before the world began:
God, in the beginning, You were.

Here and now,
Among us, between us, within us,
In narrative and in action, In our waking and in our sleeping,
Jesus, you draw us to yourself.
And we participate in the coming of your kingdom,
A community where the hurting, the lost, the seeking are
Healed, found, and invited to guide the way:
God, here and now, You are.

In the future, beyond the veil of our understanding,
Wrapped up in mystery but not left to chaos,
And long after we have turned to dust,
But finally, when all we long for has been fulfilled by your Spirit:
God, in the future, You will be.

Not denying the human experience, but authoring it and delighting in it,
Not condemning the world, but drawing near to the places that hurt the most,
And healing them, redeeming us through Jesus,
In gentleness, perfect patience, and power,
Reminding us in these quiet moments of silence that:
God, you were.
God, you are.
God, you will always be.  

Pause

Loving God,
We confess together that we bring our whole selves with us to worship tonight
We may be able to hide from ourselves and each other; but we cannot hide from You.

And so we consider in honesty and in safety here with one another and with you:
Things we have done that we regret,
Things we have failed to do that we regret,
Unfulfilled tasks we can’t let go of,
Unfulfilled hopes we grip so tightly to that we’ve cut off circulation to imaginative hope:
God of all time,
Forgive us,
Help us,
Invite us to lay down our burdens of regret. 

Loving God,
Our worship also draws us to connect to the needs of the world,
The needs of people we live with and work alongside of,
The needs of our most intimate relationships.

And so we consider people locked in circumstances beyond their control, near and far,
Restrained by oppressors, stuck in cycles of violence or addiction.
May they discover hope; may we discover hope, 
Buried in the deepest suffering,
Through Jesus Christ who walked a road of suffering, but who was and is the Perfect One.
Jesus, you can bring life and light out of the darkest darknesses. 
God in your mercy, You hear our prayers.

And now, God-among-us, I pray: 
For people in this room under stress,
For those who seek comfort,
For those who need help, 
And for everyone who is afraid,
Give us all grace to love you and each other when stuff of life isn’t tucked into neat or tidy spaces. God in your mercy, You hear our prayers.

Glory to the Father (who is also our Mother), and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit,
As it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever,
World without end,
Amen.

PRAYER FOR EUCHARIST
By Bobbi Salkeld
In this meal, a Spiritual Feast, we unite ourselves with your body, Jesus.  
We remember your life on earth, lived in a body like our own,
And we are so glad that in your living, dying, and rising to life you are with us now
and you draw us into this meal of remembrance.  

In Communion we connect to all who have followed after you,
and been transformed from death into life, 
and we connect to that eternal life, 
mixed right into our own flesh and our bones, even now.

So we sing together, we pray together, and we eat together,   
In the name of Jesus, who never stops giving us life, we pray,
Amen.

CLOSE & THE LORD'S PRAYER
By Kevin Borst
May you know that God is for you. 
That His grace and peace is with you. 

May you know that beyond nights like this
but in our everyday
when we declare who God is
we are reminded who we are.

Would you join me in The Lord’s Prayer,

Our Father, who art in heaven hallowed be thy Name.
Thy Kingdom come. 
Thy will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
As we forgive those who trespass against us. 
And lead us not into temptation, 
But deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
The power and the glory,
For ever and ever.
Amen