What Sweeter Music

What sweeter music can we bring
Than a carol for to sing
The birth of this our heav'nly King?
Awake the voice! Awake the string!
Heart, ear and eye and ev'rything.
Awake! The while the active finger
Runs division with the singer.

- Michael Fink

There is no rose

There is no rose of such virtue as is the rose that bare Jesu.
For in this rose contained was heaven and earth in little space.
Res miranda (a wonderful thing).

There is no rose of such virtue as is the rose that bare Jesu.
By that rose we may well see that He is God in persons three.
Pari forma (of the same form).
The angels sungen the shepherds to: Gloria in excelsis Deo!
Gaudeamus (letus rejoice).

There is no rose of such virtue as is the rose that bare Jesu.
Leave me all this worldly mirth, and follow we this joyful birth;
Transeamus (let us go).

There is no rose of such virtue as is the rose that bare Jesu.

- Howard Helvey
Words traditional 15th-century carol

In this Season

In this season of bleak sun and chilling wind a voice of infinite warmth and tenderness is heard: "I shall comfort my people." It is God come to us in splendid mercy, in human form. Let God gather you as a shepherd sweeps up a lamb into his arms.

There, rest in joy.

Let us worship the good Shepherd who gathers us unto himself.

Advent - The Word

When God begot His first-born Son on earth,
He called us to assist the wondrous birth.
What good is Mary's greeting, Gabriel,
If you be not my messenger as well?

- Angelus Silesius (1624-1677)

The Good Shepherd - A Prayer

All we like sheep have strayed from the Good Shepherd.
We have often forsaken the Shepherd's voice, each following our own way.
Let us ask for God's mercy and blessing.

O Spirit of the Shepherd God,
Bend over us, as angels brushing low.
Open our eyes to the splendor!

Bid us rise to our feed, as the shepherds rose out of fear,
Rising into the peace and the favor of God.

O Spirit of the Shepherd God,
Bend over us, as angels brushing low.

Then send us, too, seeking Christ in humble please.
With glad hearts we stand ready to welcome your Son.

Glory to God in the highest!

A Communion Prayer

Bountiful God, we give you thanks for the gift of our Savior's presence in the simplicity and splendor of this holy meal. Unite us with all who are fed by Christ, that we may faithfully proclaim the good news of your love in an uncertain world.

Amen.

Good Christians, all Rejoice!

Good Christians, all rejoice!
With heart and soul and voice;
Give ye heed to what we say:
Jesus Christ was born to save!
Calls you one and calls you all,
To gain his everlasting hall.

Christ was born to save!
Christ was born to save!

- In Dulci Jubilo

Advent - A time of Anticipation

Advent is a time of anticipation, a time to give concrete form to spiritual concepts.

It is a time when feelings become gifts, thoughts become prayers, and faith becomes loving action.

It is a time when we remember that God's gift of light became known to us through Jesus Christ.

As quietly as the winter steals upon us, this season of light approaches.

We wait for our Redeemer, for God's promises to be fulfilled.

The day is coming quickly!
The God of mercy draws near.

Therefore we wait with joy, attentive to all the signs of God's coming.

Christmas Comes Again This Year

Christmas comes again this year.
It is coming, ready or not.
Christ is coming, ready or not.
He's the one for whom we have no room,
Not then, not now, not ever.
Until we take His Advent
Seriously.

- Wayne Saffe

Prayer of Dedication

The creator of all life and love has endowed our earth with bountiful blessings.
We return to God portions of what God has given us:

Our time
The fruits of our labors
Our commitment.

May the giving from the fullness of our lives be acceptable in God's sight.
May the gifts we bring prove God's Rule is at hand -

both now
and in the days to come

Amen

Thanksgiving

For the joys and hopes and dreams of children, and for the safety of home,

We thank you, loving God.

For the exuberance and energy of youth, and for the ability to question and find one's own way, never deserted by your love and care,

We thank you, loving God.

For the girts of maturity, and the opportunity we are given to nurture others in our family and our community, and when we are given the occasion to bring our gifts into the world,

We thank you, loving God.

For the accumulated wisdom of experience, and the knowledge that you never desert us, and for the chance to help those who walk the paths we have already walked,

We thank you, loving God.

Thanksgiving prayer after meditating

We give You thanks, Lord God Almighty, for all the benefits You have given us. May all our intentions and works this day be directed solely to the greater glory of Your Divine Majesty. May Your grace dwell always in us. We ask these things of You who live and reign forever and ever.

Amen.

Commitment Prayer

Jesus, I love you.

I am sorry for my sins. I thank You for dying on the cross for me personally. I celebrate Your resurrection this beautiful day by giving life to You.

I invite You into my life, in my home, into my business, into my school, into my recreation, into whatever I am.

Come, Lord Jesus.

I truly accept You as my Lord and my God and my personal Savior.
Come now and fill me with Your Spirit.
Fill me with Your Holy Spirit.
Fill me Lord Jesus with Your love and send me forth to my family and friends to share with them Your love and concern.

Jesus, I love You and I will follow You as Your disciple ever day of my life.

Amen.

Christ .....

.... is counting on you.

Healing prayer at bedtime

Jesus, through the power of the Holy Spirit, go back into my memory as I sleep. Every hurt that has ever been done to me -- heal that hurt. Every hurt that I have ever caused to another person -- heal that hurt. All the relationships that have been damaged in my whole life that I am not aware of, heal those relationships.

But if there is anything I need to do -- if I need to go to a person because they are still suffering from my hand, bring to my awareness that person.

I choose to forgive and I ask to be forgiven. Remove whatever bitterness may be in my heart and fill the empty spaces with Your love.

Thank you, Jesus.

Amen

Prayer

Praise the Father,
the Son,
and the Holy Spirit,
the God who is,
who was,
and who is to come
at the end of the ages.

Christian Community

Christian Community,
the Body of Christ,
requires total mobilization:
of the head, through study;
of the knees, through piety;
of the hand and feet through apostolic action.

Statement of Faith (The United Church of Christ)

We are not alone; we live in God's world.
We believe in God; who has created and is creating;
Who has come in Jesus, the Word made flesh,
to reconcile and make new;
Who works in us and others by the Spirit.

We trust in God:

We are called to be the Church,
to celebrate God's presence,
to love and serve others,
to seek justice and resist evil,
to proclaim Jesus, crucified and risen, our judge and our hope.

In life, in death, in life beyond death, God is with us.
We are not alone.
Thanks be to God!

Bless God, O My Soul

With compassion God works justice when oppression shackles truth;
Like the phoenix, God restores us to the vigor of our youth.

Bless God, O my soul! All with-in me bless God's name!
Bless God, who was and is, and shall ever be the same!

As a parent's love is endless, so God's mercy follow us: For th grade of God is great as heaven stands high above the earth!

Bless God, O my soul! All with-in me bless God's name!
Bless God, who was and is, and shall ever be the same!

Gladness of Heart

Eternal God, grant us an ease to breathe deeply of this moment, this light, and this miracle of now. Beneath the din of fury of great movements and harsh news and urgent crises.

Make us attentive still to good news, to small occasions, and the grace of what is possible for us to be , to do, to give, to receive, that we may miss neither our neighbor's gifts nor our adversary's needs.

Holy God, grant us a sense of humor that adds perspective to compassion,
Gratitude that adds persistence to courage,
Quietness of spirit that adds irrepressibility to hope,
Openness of mind that adds surprise to joy.

That with gladness of heart we may link arm and arm with the One who saw signs of your kingdom in salt and yeast, pearls and seeds, travelers and tax collectors, foreigners and fishermen.

And who opens our eyes with these signs and our ears with the summons to follow to something more of justice and joy.

Amen.

A Call to Worship

In the name of God, the Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer,
Amen!
This is the day that God has made.
Let us rejoice and be glad in it.
Let us come before God, our Creator.
Let us praise God in our speaking and our praying.
Let us worship God!

Stained-Glass Windows

People are like Stained-Glass Windows.
They sparkle and shine when the sun is out,
But when the darkness sets in,
Their true beauty is revealed only
if there is a light within.

Elisabeth Kulber-Ross

I Asked God

I asked God to take away my habit.
God said, No.
It is not for me to take away, but for you to give it up.

I asked God to make my handicapped child whole.
God said, No.
His spirit is whole, his body is only temporary.

I asked God to grant me patience.
God said, No.
Patience is a byproduct of tribulations; it isn't granted, it is learned.

I asked God to give me happiness.
God said, No.
I give you blessings; Happiness is up to you.

I asked God to spare me pain.
God said, No.
Suffering draws you apart from worldly cares and brings you closer to me.

I asked God to make me grow.
God said, No.
You must grow on your own! But, I will prune you to make you fruitful.

I asked God for all things that I might enjoy life.
God said, No.
I will give you life, so that you may enjoy all things.

I asked God to help me LOVE others, as much as He loves me.
God said...Ahhhh, finally you have the idea!!

Worship the God of our fathers and mothers!

Let us come to listen for all God seeks to teach us.
Every perfect gift comes to us from God.
God's image is a part of each one of us.
God's grace has been poured into our lives.
Wisdom and understanding are offered to us.
We honor God by honoring one another.
Let worship the God of our fathers and mothers!

Shoulders

If we stand tall it is because we stand on the shoulders of many ancestors.

- Yoruba proverb

A prayer - Fathers and Mothers

Great God, who does parent us all and embraces us in the great family of heaven and earth, we come today to thank you for fathers and mothers. For their nurturing, and for the different ways that families come together, and change, and still remain family.

We praise you all the more as you lead us to recognize Christ in our neighbors who are in need, and in responding to their needs, to know the real warmth and affection of your family.

We thank you for our brothers and sisters and also the members of our extended families. We pray that we may work and play together, letting go of harmful ways of relating, so that a new understanding can be found; for if we do not love those whom we see, how can we talk about loving you?

He us to become wise in the understanding of people, eager to live as the body of Christ, making a difference in the world.

Adoring praises now we bring
And with the heav'nly blessed sing;
"Christ has triumphed! Alleluia!"
Sing, choirs of angels, loud and clear!
Repeat their song of glory here:
"Christ has triumphed! Alleluia!"
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!

Hear our prayer

We find your name upon our lips, O God, for you have placed it in our hearts. However much we twist and turn and run to flee from your great love, we sense in the inmost citadel of our being that we have no future save the future that we know in you.

For minds that can think,
for hearts that can feel,
for hands and feet that can do:

We thank you, God.

For large purposes that call us; for associations and causes that unite us; for grace that restores and forgives:

We thank you, God.

In a day when the problems that confront us seem more than we can handle, open our eyes to the resources at our command as your children. You, who are able to demolish the old and bring the new to birth, work in this our city, our state, and our country and make us agents of our neighbor's good and the glory of your name.

O God, hear our prayer.

Help us to act on the truth we know lest we lose it and fall back; spare us the hypocrisy of assuming that our convictions are objectively pure while our brother and sister's point of view is slanted with self-interest;

When our grasp of you is weak,
Keep firm your hold on us;

When what you are is most hidden from our eyes,
Held us to cling to what you command,

May it be our joy and upper most intention
To rest in you,
To work for you,
To become like you.

Hear our prayer.

Springtime

Springtime changes are bursting forth around us.
The earth awakens from winter with a display of wondrous color.
The cycle of recreation continues.
As it has for ages past and will for ages to come.
Lent has passed and the celebration of Easter Sunday is over.
But the message of new life, new awakenings, and new possibilities remains with us.

Alleluia!

The Kyrie

You are the Lord, giver of mercy!
You are the Christ, giver of mercy!
You are the Lord, giver of mercy!

Litany of Confession - Maundy Thursday

God in whom the heart's deep terrors are assuaged and the furrowed brow soothed to long-sought peace, hear our prayers for all whose darkest night still lies before them. No more than Christ are we exempt from deepest distress; no less than he are we granted the deep delight of your presence.

Hold tenderly in your arms all who are weary, embattled, and shattered. Restore us, as Christ, into everlasting light.

O God, in your presence we discover who we are. Jesus washes our feet, and we learn how often we are reluctant to serve one another.

As he prepares to give himself away, we are still seeking promotions and possessions.

Often our love scarcely suffices to fulfill the requirements of good manners. And though we lift the cup and break the bread with him tonight, tomorrow he shall die alone. We have not yet read what your finger has written upon our hearts.

Loving God, we know you have forgiven us. Help us to forgive ourselves and to more completely become the creation you made and to which we aspire.

Requiem

May the angels lead you into paradise;
may the martyrs welcome you upon
your arrival, and lead you into the holy
city of Jerusalem.

May a choir of angels welcome you,
and, with poor Lazarus of old,
may you find eternal rest.

- Gabriel Faure

At The Last Supper

It was this, I feel sure, that Jesus wanted so much to make clear to Peter and the disciples. In all his days with them, but especially at the Last Supper, in his last moments with them, he wanted to underline the truth: my Kingdom is a Kingdom of Love! It is not a place where power rules or people compete. It is not a playground of pleasure or a haven for those who have no heart to try. The solemn and solitary requirement for entrance into the Kingdom of God is the choice of love as a life principle. There is only one badge of identification: "By this shall all know that you are my disciples, that you love one another as I have loved you" (John 13:35).

"If you cannot accept this," Jesus insisted with Peter, "you cannot be my partner. The only power in my kingdom is the power of love!"

Jesus wants to know if the lesson has come through. He apparently found in the Apostles the same lack of understanding that I so often find in myself. In Mark's Gospel, Jesus asks the Apostles seventeen times (I once counted them!): "Are you still without understanding?"

I must ask myself the same question again and again: Do I really understand that such a commitment is the only way to true and abiding happiness? These are the questions whose answers lie deep inside of me. I must at least attempt a search of those deepest parts. My whole life is at stake.

(From Unconditional Love by John Powell, S.J.)