Theme “Community”
Closing blessing
O Beloved Community
Suffused with the Divine Presence
We will carry you in our hearts always.
What does church mean to me?
This originally appeared in The Inquirer, Issue 8024
https://www.inquirer.org.uk/pages/
I was brought up going to church. I was taken every Sunday,
week by week, sometimes once, sometimes twice a day.
I never liked it. For some reason it was just the Sunday
services. I don’t know why I was never sent to Sunday School,
maybe the
For those not with us
We pray for those not with us,
those still on their way here,
pray for those hurrying to join us this morning
let them find calm despite anxiety,
respite in their rush.
And we pray for those who are joining us online,
still looking for a charger,
whose audio is still connecting,
those who are
Go forward in peace
As we leave today’s gathering and head into the coming week, may we both find peace and work for peace.
May we be treated generously and treat the people around us with generosity.
May we have wisdom, strength, and patience and know when to exercise each.
May the community of love that we share here
Taking the journey together
As we travel the paths that our lives reveal to us,
We are often not sure of the way, the distance, or the destination.
Nevertheless, we have each other.
We can look to one another for wisdom,
We can be grateful for each other’s companionship,
And we can seek support when we have lost hope.
What do we want from this church?
What do we seek from this church?
What is it that we want?
How do we plan to get it?
How will we know when we have it?
We light our chalice this morning to help guide our way.
Come we here in gathered meeting
Suggested Tune: Abbot’s Leigh 87 87 D
Come we here in gathered meeting, ours to live with love and prayer. Here a story to all our living, come we in thought word and deed. This we share in grace of giving, searching our ways to serve the call, here we stand, in song and speaking. This
The ongoing quest
We gather this morning to share a particular kind of community – a community of faith in which each of us is free to quest for our own ways of being spiritual and religious.
We gather this morning to think about how we have done this until now, and how we might do this from now.
We