Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Call and Response

My congregation charged me with coming up with some liturgical pieces to use outdoors for more informal worship (and so people would not have to have so much "paper" in their bulletin.  Here are two that I came up with.  I taught the congregation (in three sections) the three responses, and alternated with pieces that I wrote.  See what you think:

LITANY OF THANKSGIVING

Responses:
A  The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases
B  God's mercies never come to an end
C  Great is Your Faithfulness, O God.

In the morning and the evening, in the stars and the sun and the rain
A,B,C

In the strm and in the rainbow after a storm, in the song of birds, iin the beauty of flowers bursting with colors
A

In the springtime and in the winter, at harvest and during summer
B

In the wandering in the wilderness, in the manna you provide us, in the waysy ou sustain us throughout our lives
C

In our families and in the strangers who are your gift to us, in our neighbors near or far
A

In good times and in hard times, in joy and in sorrow, for richer, for poorer
A, B

In the water that washes over us, in the name of Jesus who claims us, in the bread and wine that feed us
B,C

In the man of sorrows who was acquainted with grief, who forgave his enemies, and who promised us paradise
A

In the empty tomb and the words, "He is risen,", in the appearances to his disciples, as he promised, "I am with you always"
A,B,C
AMEN

LITANY OF CALL

Responses:
A  Now you are the body of Christ, and individually members of it
B  And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and all your soul, and all your strength and all your mind (okay, that one was hard, but they rose to the occasion!)
C  And you shall love your neighbor as yourself

God calls our feet "beautiful" and urges us forward to make God's name known in the world.
A,B,C

God has given us eyes so that we can see the beauty in creation, and the beauty in our neighbor
A

God has given us eyes so that we can see the pain in the world, and hands to reach out to give comfort and to work for justice
B,C

God has given us ears to hear God's word of promise and grace, and God has given us ears to hear cries of joy and cries of sorrow
B

God calls us to use our hands to comfort, heal, serve and left each other up
A

God calls us to raise our voices in praise, and to raise our voices to speak up for the powerless
B, C

God calls us to kneel, to run, to stand up, to sit down, to carry each other's burdens, to use our whole bodies to show God's love and care for the world
A,C

God calls our feet "beautiful," and urges us forward to make God's name known in the world.
A,B, C

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