Here you'll find liturgy, scripture, and preaching for the 5th Sunday of Eastertide. If you'd like to recite this along with a recording of it, click here.
Call to Worship Psalm 31 Adapted
One: In you, O Lord, we seek refuge;
All: do not let us ever be put to shame;
One: in your righteousness deliver us.
All: Incline your ear to us;
One: rescue us speedily.
All: Be a rock of refuge for us, a strong fortress to save us.
One: You are indeed our rock and our fortress;
All: for your name's sake lead us and guide us,
One: take us out of the net that is hidden for us, for you are our refuge.
All: Into your hand we commit our spirits;
One: you have redeemed us, O Lord, faithful God.
All: Our times are in your hand;
One: deliver us from the hand of enemies and persecutors.
All: Let your face shine upon us, your servants;
One: save us in your steadfast love. Let us pray:
Prayer of Invocation (in unison)
Abiding God, who is being, and in whom we live and move and have our being: we pray also that you may come to abide in us; that, as we shelter in place for yet another week, we might find ourselves sheltering in your presence.
Fill our homes with your living and your light.
Fill our bodies with your spirit of hope and even joy.
Fill our families and households, be they of one or of many, with your divine energy and birthing way. Grant us a newness of faith, a freshness of grace. Grant us an emptiness that is full of you.
We strain amidst the isolation that though holds us in common. We are pressed upon by restlessness, worry, enervation. Without the presence of one another, we search ourselves for time to hold its shape, for days to hold their purpose, for tasks to reach their purported aim and end. This is difficult. Managing life on our own isn’t how we were made to be or what we were made to do.
And yet we must.
Bless us then so to do.
Help us to sustain even amidst suspension. Help us to feel your presence even amidst so much absence. Help us, sheltering God, which you do as ever you have.
In Christ, who manifest your presence and embodied your Spirit and lived out your grace poured out for our sake, we pray. Amen.
