Giving and Receiving Worship Theme

HOOK: When people arrive have them chooses two stones from a basket (you could have stones with words written one them or beads of different colors). At the opening of the service, have people walk around and welcome people to the space, even if they are new to the space. Each person simply says welcome and hands someone one of their stones. The other person returns the gracious hospitality by too offering words of welcome and the giving of one of their stones to the other. At the end of the exercise, everyone should have one original stone and one new stone from another in their hands.

THEME: Giving and Receiving. This theme focuses on hospitality and the idea that hospitality is a two-way street.

SCRIPTURE: -Gen 18:1-10; Matthew25.41-45; Luke (Mary and Martha); Hebrews 13.2

EXPERIENCE: * Story: In wisdom literature, there is a Japanese story of the difference between heaven and hell, but after reading it…what I saw in the story related to our worship theme of hospitality. In replacing the words heaven and hell with hospitality and inhospitality, a great image of the difference appears:

“Long ago in Japan an old woman wanted to see for herself the difference between hospitality and inhospitality. The monks in the temple agreed to grant her request. ‘First you shall see inhospitality,’ they said as they put a blindfold over her eyes. When the blindfold was removed the old woman stood at the entrance to a great hall. The hall was filled with round tables each piled high with the most delicious feast- meats, vegetables, fruits of every kind, and desserts to make your mouth water. The old woman noticed that there were people seated just out of arm’s reach of the tables. Their bodies were thin and their pale faces convulsed with frustration. They held chopsticks almost three feet long. With the chopsticks they could reach the food, but they could not get the food back into their mouths. As the old woman watched, a hungry, angry sound rose into the air. ‘Enough,’ she said. ‘let me see hospitality.’ When the blindfold was removed a second time, the old woman rubbed her eyes. For there she stood again at the entrance of a great hall with tables piled high with the same scrumptious feast. Again she saw the people sitting just out of arm’s reach of the food with those long chopsticks. But the people [at that banquet] were plump and rosy-cheeked, and as she watched, the musical sound of laughter filled the air.

And then the old woman laughed, for now she understood the difference. The people experiencing hospitality were using those three-foot long chopsticks to feed each other.” Life requires both giving and receiving…true hospitality flows both ways. –I do not know the name of the author-author unknown to me

-have people talk of their experiences of hospitality within your church; what are your strengths as a church and what are your growth areas; and where is God?

SENDING:
This week may you see the Christ in the other and may they see the Christ in you. Amen.

-By Becky Jones, Pastor

Taking on and Giving up Worship Theme

HOOK: Have someone stand at the front of the space with a hula-hop around them. The person should be in the center of the circle. Slowly, begin to add things into the circle with the person. Soon, there will be so much stuff in the circle that you can either not see the person (bury them under the stuff) or they are pushed out of their comfortable circle. The things that are added should be things that take up our time, even if they are “good” things. You could also label the “stuff” or the things that take up our time, even the ‘good’ things, on sticky notes and place the sticky notes all over the person so that all you end up seeing is sticky notes and barely any of the person.

THEME: Giving up and Taking on. This theme centers upon self-care and healthy boundaries.

SCRIPTURE: Ecclesiastes 3.1-8

EXPERIENCE: We know self-care/healthy boundaries includes: eating a healthy diet; exercising; getting enough sleep; balance of work and play; knowing how to say no; etc. How does God fit into a self-care equation? This would be a great time to lead the congregation in a guided meditation. You could also lead the congregation in centering prayer. Also, for an out-of-the-box experience, you could open the space and have various types of prayer experiences set-up for the congregation, such as a labyrinth, a reading corner with various books on prayer with such authors as Desmond Tutu, Mother Teresa, Martin Luther King, Jr. etc., maybe have mandalas to color, maybe have a place to create prayer beads, etc. Be creative! The point is to have various ways that people can intentionally take time to connect with God and maybe learn a new way to stay connected daily with God.

SENDING:
God, bless us with the courage to care for ourselves. Be with as we learn new ways to be intentional about caring for our bodies, our time, our boundaries and our relationships, including intentionally carving out time to be in communion with you. Amen.

-By Becky Jones, Pastor

Saving and Sharing Worship Theme

HOOK: On the altar, have three large clear cups or vases. Leave one empty, one half-filled with colored water and the third completely filled with colored water. Where are the people in your congregation? They may find that they are full in one area of their life and empty in another. Are they trying to give out of their abundance or out of their emptiness? Are they saving rather than giving in their areas of abundance?

THEME: Sharing and Saving. The theme centers upon stewardship. What is the balance between saving for our own needs and sharing out of our abundance with others? This could be viewed as the balance between saving and sharing, both personally and communally, our energy, our time, our spirituality, our financial resources, our gifts, our opinions, etc. How does God fit into our sense of both sharing and saving?

SCRIPTURE: Ecclesiastes 3.1-8 (if not already used for another service)

EXPERIENCE: Have an interactive dialog with the congregation. Ask them where they are full, half-filled and empty, both personally and communally. What do they need to fill them? What are they able to share out of their abundance? How does God fit into the three categories? Where is God in their emptiness, full-ness and the in-between? You can have people write down their personal answers, however really think about people discussing openly about the places where they see the congregation. Where would the congregation like to share the abundance and where do they need to save to fill any emptiness? You could have people break into small groups to discuss these questions and others you would like to ask. End with intercessory prayer, lifting those places where the community needs to save and where they can share.

SENDING:
May God flow from our spaces of abundance as we share with others and may God continue to breathe life into us in times of emptiness. May we find the balance between saving and sharing and may we look for God’s presence no matter the circumstances. Amen.

By Becky Jones, Pastor

Sabbath and Service Worship Theme

HOOK: As they are able, have people in your congregation stand in silence until they are tired. As they become tired, have them sit down. After a certain amount of time (5-7 minutes), have those who are still standing (if any) to sit. Touch on the idea that we all need rest in addition to the service/work we do.

THEME: Sabbath and Service. This theme centers around balancing work and rest.

SCRIPTURE: Gen 1.-Gen 2.2; Ecclesiastes 3.1-8

EXPERIENCE: [Saint] Benedict was quite precise about it all. Time was to be spent in prayer, in sacred reading, in work and in community participation. In other words, it was to be spent on listening to the Word, on study, on making life better for others and on community building. It was public as well as private; it was private as well as public. It was balanced.

With the invention of the light bulb, balance became a myth. Now human beings could extend the day and deny the night. Now human beings could break the natural rhythm of work and rest and sleep. Now human beings could begin to destroy the framework of life and turn it into one eternal day with, ironically, no time for family, no time for reading, no time for prayer, no time for privacy, no time for silence, no time for time.
Joan Chittister (Wisdom Distilled From The Daily (San Francisco: HarperCollins, 1990) 74-75.

Real leisure, holy leisure, Sabbath leisure, contemplative leisure, has more to do with the quality of life and the depth of our vision than it does with play and vacations. The rabbis taught that the purpose of Sabbath was threefold. The first purpose of Sabbath, the rabbis said, was to free the poor as well as the rich for at least one day a week, and that included the animals, too. Nobody had to take an order from anybody on the Sabbath. The second purpose of Sabbath, the rabbis teach, is to give people time to evaluate their work as God evaluated the work of creation, to see if their work, too, is really life-giving. And finally, the purpose of Sabbath leisure was to give people space, to contemplate the real meaning of life. If anything has brought the modern world to the brink of destruction, it must surely be the loss of Sabbath.
The purpose of holy leisure is to bring this balance of being, not a balance of time, back into lives gone askew, and to give people time to live a thoughtful, a contemplative as well as a productive life.… Holy leisure, in other words, is the foundation of contemplation. And contemplation is the ability to see the world as God sees the world.

The great Benedictine abbot, Dom Cuthbert Butler, wrote once, “It is not the presence of activity that destroys the contemplative life. It is the absence of contemplation.” You are as much required, and I am as much required, to the contemplative life as any cloistered monk or nun. Otherwise, how shall you explain the union of Jesus with God the Creator as He walked from Galilee to Jerusalem, taking animals out of ditches, raising women from the dead, and curing lepers? In Benedictine spirituality, life is not divided into parts, one holy and the other mundane. To the Benedictine mind, all of life is holy. All of life’s actions bear the scrutiny of all of life’s ideals and all of life is to be held in anointed hands. No, personal comfort, purposeless play, vacuous vacations, however rich, however powerful, have not saved the world. Ask the Romans. We need the wisdom of holy leisure now.
—Joan Chittister
Trinity Institute Benedictine Spirituality Conference, 2003

-Let the space be a place for true rest. Do people need to sleep? Have space available for napping. Do people need family time? Have games available. Do people need space and quiet to read a book, magazine or newspaper? Have a “reading room” space available. If we are really not getting time to rest, make this space on this day available for rest and relaxation with God and self/family.

-Another idea is to make this time and space a spiritual retreat time for your congregation and God. Offer space for quiet; space for reading Scripture; space for prayer; space for quiet music; a place for resting, etc…people could rotate through the various spaces or choose one and remain there for the duration of the service. What are the needs of the congregation in terms of rest? This can be asked ahead of time and then those types of spaces could be created.

-third option is to have people try what the rabbis suggest Sabbath is for: 1. True rest; 2. Evaluate their actions over the past week-what was good and where are the growth areas?; 3. Contemplate the real meaning of life. Create space to do these things. It could be that you have three separate stations through which people rotate or do all three things together as a group.

SENDING: Yes, we are sent out into the world to be servants, and yet even God rests. As day is to night, service is to Sabbath. May you find both for there you will too find God.

-By Becky Jones, Pastor

Fasting and Feasting Worship Theme

HOOK: Bring canned food to donate to a local food pantry…decorate the space with the canned food; Could also have Communion during this service as a way of feasting…thus Table set with bread/wine for the feasting aspect and maybe a box on the altar in which people could imagine placing the thing(s) from which they might want to fast.

THEME: Fasting and Feasting

SCRIPTURE: -Exodus 34:28; Neh 1:4; Isaiah 58:6; Dan 9:3; Mt 4:2; Lk 2:37; Acts 13:3; Acts 14:23

EXPERIENCE: *this is not mine…it was given to me and I do not know the name of the author

A Lenten Prayer
During Lent, let us…
Fast from judging others;
feast on the Christ within them.
Fast from emphasis on difference;
feast on the unity of life
Fast from apparent darkness;
feast on the reality of light.
Fast from thoughts of illness;
feast on the healing power of God.
Fast from words that pollute;
feast on phrases that purify.
Fast from discontent;
feast on gratitude.
Fast from anger;
feast on patience.
Fast from pessimism;
feast on optimism.
Fast from complaining;
feast on appreciation.
Fast from worry;
feast on trust in God’s Care.
Fast from unrelenting pressure;
feast on unceasing prayer.
Fast from facts that depress;
feast on verities that uplift.
Fast from lethargy;
feast on enthusiasm.
Fast from thoughts that weaken;
feast on promises that inspire.
Fast from shadows of sorrow;
feast on the sunlight of serenity.
Fast from problems that overwhelm;
feast on prayer that under-girds.

*Questions: (could be used for active discussion or quiet reflection during the service or Lenten journaling)

1. Name something of which she/he is too full or
something for which she/he hungers

2. What are your general reactions to the idea of fasting?

3. In realizing that fasting does not necessarily involve food, what are
something other items from which we can fast? Make a list (tv or at least a favorite show, cell phone, email, facebook/my space, smoking, etc)

4. What does it mean to hunger for God? Does fasting deepen your hunger for God or satiate your hunger? How?
5. Are there times when we hunger for God more than others? What are those times?
6. Does God hunger for us? If yes, in what ways? If no, why not?
7. When do we feast with God?

SENDING: “Do not take away the hunger of my soul or let me fill it with spiritual trifles, ready to hand, sweet to the taste, but good for only a moment’s satisfaction. Deepen my hunger . Enkindle my desire. Come to me in the longing in my heart, for in my emptiness you are present.” (God Hunger, John Kirvan, 33)

-By Becky Jones, Pastor

Nature and Nurture Worship Theme

Trash in the Lancaster Theological Seminary's Chapel
from when a similar worship was done.

Hook: Have trash strewn about the worship space. Happy meals, magazines, coffee cups, Styrofoam packaging, etc.

Theme: Nature and Nurture. The theme will be one of environmental stewardship and taking care of the world God has created and has charged us with its care.

Scripture: There are many. The Fund for Christian Ecology has a great list of Scripture passages found in the link provided.

Experience: The experience is one of confession and seeking pardon. Walking into a trashed area will automatically unsettle your worshipers. Allow them to sit in it before cleaning it up (to be done IN worship, not after). Allow the trashed space to serve as a metaphor for our larger world and reality.

Sending: This prayer by William N Richards and James Richardson should be offered in closing:
Father God,
just as children spoil their presents,
so we abuse your good gifts to us.

We dump rubbish in the rivers,
we leave litter on the streets.
Our beaches are contaminated with oil.
The air is filled with fumes and smells.
Noisy machines and radios destroy our peace.
And so many of these things we allow in the name of progress.

Give us a great respect for the world you entrust to us,
so that by our greed and selfishness,
we do no destroy or spoil,
that which we could never have created for ourselves.
(from Prayers Encircling the World: An International Anthology. Westminster John Knox Press, page 80)

Sound and Silence Worship Theme

HOOK: Have as much noise as possible in the space…tv, radio, fan, etc during the opening…it will be difficult for people to hear and this is the point…slowly turn things off, 1 by 1 as you are talking until there is silence.

THEME: Sound and Silence. This theme seeks to help persons understand that God maybe found both in the sound and silence of our lives and that both are needed. Can balance be sought?

SCRIPTURE: Psalm 46.10; Psalm 98.4

EXPERIENCE: Once quiet, then lead centering prayer: “It seems that you must knock very loudly to catch my attention. Something else, someone else, anything else, anyone else has an easier time catching my ear. I am busy about many things when only one thing matters. Please knock again. Here in the silence of the morning/night I am listening. Speak, Divine, your servant is listening” (John Kirvan, God Hunger, 99).

Then for a period of time (30-45-60 minutes depending on length of service), sit in silence with a “break” every 10 minutes using a song or Scripture verse to intertwine both sound and silence in a sacred manner.

SENDING:
God of both sound and silence, fill us with a joyful noise when we are too silent and with your still small voice when life is too loud. Bless us this day and always with a way to find a balance of both sound and silence within our lives. Amen.

-By Becky Jones, Pastor

Old and New Worship Theme

The Head of Christ by Warner Sallman

This worship will cover old and new ways to see Jesus.

What you will need: The Head of Christ by Warner Sallman and printouts showing art depicting many cultural depictions of Jesus (this link is a simple Google search of the same name).


Hook: In the center of your worship space, have the painting or printout of "The Head of Christ" by Warner Sallman displayed for all to see. Keep the other pictures hidden to be handed out later.

Theme: Old And New. The assumption is that while our traditions, creeds, and personal theologies of Jesus are truly great things, sometimes they can prevent us from seeing Jesus in new ways.

Scripture: Matthew 13:52 and Mark 2:21-22

Experience: A brief meditation will be given and then the other pictures are to be handed out.

My meditation would look like this but feel free to write your own:

Warner Sallman painted a picture that seems to be in every church. It's a picture of Jesus with light glowing around him. He looks stoic. He's familiar. He looks very white with European features. How does this make you feel? Have you seen it before? 

I do not mean to trash this painting, it's way better than I can do. I think it's a great painting, and when I see it I am reminded of my grandma and her faith she set for me. I do not want to imply that we throw it out, for our Matthew text stated that we are to "bring out the old and the new." I do think that this picture can become TOO comfortable and make Jesus too familiar to us and thus shield us from the radical life and relationship with him that he is inviting us all in. So tonight let's look at some depictions of Jesus that aren't so familiar to us. Let us discuss how these make us feel and what impact it may have on our relationship with Christ.

Questions to help stimulate discussion: Which images affirm your understanding of Jesus and his life? Which images challenge your understanding of Jesus? What about your understanding of Jesus still surprises you, pushes you, invites you out of your comfort zone?


Sending: Offer a prayer about recommitting yourselves to walking the path that Jesus has set before you. Covenant with God to help you continue to see the way, the truth, and the life of Jesus as a radical challenge to journey in faith. Then offer the following benediction:
May you depart knowing the invitation of God, to move
- from comfort to insecurity
- from what we know to what we have yet to discover
- from where we have been to where we have yet to go
- from safety to a place of risk
Go in the example of the saints before you, the Israelites in the wilderness, Paul blind in Damascus waiting for Ananias. Go in the name of Jesus, our Christ, who said ‘follow me’ without saying where he was going just promising transformation and relationship with the Triune God along the way. AMEN.

The Worship Format

A helpful visual, like this one, will
accompany each post (witty caption
is optional).

Each of the worship liturgies presented here will follow this format:

Hook: An exercise, art, or decoration that will serve to "hook" your worshipers and establish your theme.

Theme: Our themes will follow the 8 themes set here. These are:
Giving and Receiving
Fasting and Feasting
Sounds and Silence
Giving Up and Taking On
Saving and Sharing
Old and New
Sabbath and Service
Nature and Nurture

Scripture: Each worship will have at least one scripture that is chosen based on the theme.

Experience: An additional worship experience or liturgy will be set after the scripture. This could be a brief meditation or sermonette, an exercise, or time for contemplation or conversation.

Sending: A prayer and benediction will close out each worship experience.