Transfiguration/Fully Awake
Worship
THE WORK OF THE PEOPLE
Liturgical Aids
Call to Worship
We would be fully awake to the glory of God.
It is a wondrous presence that indeed invests all of creation.
Yet to witness it, we must in faith be willing to see.
Thus would worship focus on the holy, and so inspire us.
We use here the best of mind and spirit - our whole self -
That we be led to heightened perception and a deeper commitment.
Invocation
Gracious God, how wonderful that you grant us glimpses of the Holy, eyes that allow us to see if but for a moment the eternal. It is your expectation that by faith we receive these evidences of your power into our lives, that we discern your will, your purpose for each of us. You would thus have us appreciate life - life as we have been blessed to know it on earth, life as it is promised in your eternal realm so glorious as to be beyond our present comprehension and grasp. With life around us and before us, we pray that we be kept on the Way, your Way, O God, of grace and truth, in order that we grow into the full and complete children of the Holy that you mean us to be. Guide us this hour into a greater understanding and a deeper communion. This, in Jesus' name. Amen.
Call to Confession
Do we truly appreciate the Holy? Do we see the Holy - active in our lives and in the world around us? Indeed, what is real to us, that which governs our decisions, dictates our actions, determines our future? Are we fully awake to all that God would share with us? Each of us answers these questions in his or her own way. Let us, however, join voices in a common word of confession that includes us all.
Prayer of Confession
God, you are present, here, in our midst. You reveal your glory and majesty in many an insightful way to those with eyes to see and ears to hear. You would have us know your eternal purposes for humankind, indeed for the whole of your creation. Yet all too often we display a dullness, a spiritual stupor to things eternal - rather than be fully awake to receive your wisdom and power into our living. Love is always fully awake. We do not savor life to the full because, quite simply, love has not gained access to all aspects of our living. On certain occasions we prefer not to see, not to hear, not to be alert to your word of counsel, your gesture of mercy. In other words, not awake to love. So do we deprive ourselves of the life, life everlasting, life eternal, O God, that you offer us. We seek forgiveness and faith to be awake - that we might receive your life into our lives. That this happen and happen for all, Jesus opened the way. That way is still open today. With thanks to him do we pray. Amen.
Words of Assurance
How amazing that God persists, that life is still God's gift to us, that no force opposed to God and to life can endure, but will itself be transformed by the power of God's love, such that God be all in all, forever and ever. We know this to be true because of God's coming among us in Jesus Christ, who not only taught us, but by example, the example of his life--giving sacrifice, makes God's grace available to all.
We praise God's purpose, God's gift, God's everlasting love.
Psalter Reading (from Psalm 99)
The Lord is king; let the peoples tremble!
He sits enthroned upon the cherubim; let the earth quake!
The Lord is great in Zion; he is exalted over all the peoples.
Let them praise your great and awesome name. Holy is he!
Mighty King, lover of justice, you have established equity;
You have executed justice and righteousness in Jacob.
Extol the Lord our God; worship at his footstool. Holy is he!
Moses and Aaron were among his priests; Samuel also was among those who called on his name.
They cried to the Lord, and he answered them.
He spoke to them in the pillar of cloud; they kept his decrees, and the statutes that he gave them.
O Lord our God, you answered them; you were a forgiving God to them, but an avenger of their wrongdoings.
Extol the Lord our God, and worship at his holy mountain; for the Lord our God is holy.
Offerings Sentences
If indeed we are awake, fully awake to God's purpose for our lives, the giving of self becomes central to each day's living. Nothing is deemed to be of greater value than the sharing of God's gifts of love and hope, joy and peace - gifts that have already done their redeeming work in us and which we would see active in the life of friend and neighbor and stranger. Let us share to the full these wonderful gifts of God with others.
Prayer of Dedication
We place this offering, O God, as a sign and seal of our devotion, on this common table, which represents our common purpose in serving you. Guide us in its use, we pray, that it find a redeeming work to do - that persons in need be healed and that many be awakened to the wonder of your love. All that the name of Jesus be exalted and that all of your children be made whole. Amen.
Benediction
When we become fully awake, we shall see Christ clearly. Moreover, we shall see that work, that holy work, which he would have us do as his followers. May this blessing of seeing be ours now - that we go in peace, that we serve the Lord. Amen!
We would be fully awake to the glory of God.
It is a wondrous presence that indeed invests all of creation.
Yet to witness it, we must in faith be willing to see.
Thus would worship focus on the holy, and so inspire us.
We use here the best of mind and spirit - our whole self -
That we be led to heightened perception and a deeper commitment.
Invocation
Gracious God, how wonderful that you grant us glimpses of the Holy, eyes that allow us to see if but for a moment the eternal. It is your expectation that by faith we receive these evidences of your power into our lives, that we discern your will, your purpose for each of us. You would thus have us appreciate life - life as we have been blessed to know it on earth, life as it is promised in your eternal realm so glorious as to be beyond our present comprehension and grasp. With life around us and before us, we pray that we be kept on the Way, your Way, O God, of grace and truth, in order that we grow into the full and complete children of the Holy that you mean us to be. Guide us this hour into a greater understanding and a deeper communion. This, in Jesus' name. Amen.
Call to Confession
Do we truly appreciate the Holy? Do we see the Holy - active in our lives and in the world around us? Indeed, what is real to us, that which governs our decisions, dictates our actions, determines our future? Are we fully awake to all that God would share with us? Each of us answers these questions in his or her own way. Let us, however, join voices in a common word of confession that includes us all.
Prayer of Confession
God, you are present, here, in our midst. You reveal your glory and majesty in many an insightful way to those with eyes to see and ears to hear. You would have us know your eternal purposes for humankind, indeed for the whole of your creation. Yet all too often we display a dullness, a spiritual stupor to things eternal - rather than be fully awake to receive your wisdom and power into our living. Love is always fully awake. We do not savor life to the full because, quite simply, love has not gained access to all aspects of our living. On certain occasions we prefer not to see, not to hear, not to be alert to your word of counsel, your gesture of mercy. In other words, not awake to love. So do we deprive ourselves of the life, life everlasting, life eternal, O God, that you offer us. We seek forgiveness and faith to be awake - that we might receive your life into our lives. That this happen and happen for all, Jesus opened the way. That way is still open today. With thanks to him do we pray. Amen.
Words of Assurance
How amazing that God persists, that life is still God's gift to us, that no force opposed to God and to life can endure, but will itself be transformed by the power of God's love, such that God be all in all, forever and ever. We know this to be true because of God's coming among us in Jesus Christ, who not only taught us, but by example, the example of his life--giving sacrifice, makes God's grace available to all.
We praise God's purpose, God's gift, God's everlasting love.
Psalter Reading (from Psalm 99)
The Lord is king; let the peoples tremble!
He sits enthroned upon the cherubim; let the earth quake!
The Lord is great in Zion; he is exalted over all the peoples.
Let them praise your great and awesome name. Holy is he!
Mighty King, lover of justice, you have established equity;
You have executed justice and righteousness in Jacob.
Extol the Lord our God; worship at his footstool. Holy is he!
Moses and Aaron were among his priests; Samuel also was among those who called on his name.
They cried to the Lord, and he answered them.
He spoke to them in the pillar of cloud; they kept his decrees, and the statutes that he gave them.
O Lord our God, you answered them; you were a forgiving God to them, but an avenger of their wrongdoings.
Extol the Lord our God, and worship at his holy mountain; for the Lord our God is holy.
Offerings Sentences
If indeed we are awake, fully awake to God's purpose for our lives, the giving of self becomes central to each day's living. Nothing is deemed to be of greater value than the sharing of God's gifts of love and hope, joy and peace - gifts that have already done their redeeming work in us and which we would see active in the life of friend and neighbor and stranger. Let us share to the full these wonderful gifts of God with others.
Prayer of Dedication
We place this offering, O God, as a sign and seal of our devotion, on this common table, which represents our common purpose in serving you. Guide us in its use, we pray, that it find a redeeming work to do - that persons in need be healed and that many be awakened to the wonder of your love. All that the name of Jesus be exalted and that all of your children be made whole. Amen.
Benediction
When we become fully awake, we shall see Christ clearly. Moreover, we shall see that work, that holy work, which he would have us do as his followers. May this blessing of seeing be ours now - that we go in peace, that we serve the Lord. Amen!
