12.05.13 Easter 6B English

Prelude:  Tiento de medio registro de tiple (Francisco Correa de Arauxo)
Hymn:  Easter Gloria (Marty Haugen/O FILII ET FILIAE, traditional French) GC †
Call to Worship

One: Love one another.
All: This is The Way of Christ.
One: Serve one another.
All: This is The Way of Christ.
One: Live in peace with one another.
All: This is The Way of Christ.
One: Seek justice for one another.
All: This is The Way of Christ.
One: We are called to walk, act, speak and live all of our lives with the love of Christ Jesus.
All: Come, let us follow The Way, let us love one another, and let us worship Christ our Savior.

Song:  Dear Mother God (Janet Wootton/EM) RAEH (text)
Prayer of Confession

One:  Most holy God, most of the time we see ourselves as nice people,

who are trying to do the loving thing in a difficult world.

We try not to lie, cheat, malign, abuse or injure others.

We try to serve you through the church and within the community.

We pray for peace and justice, and we attempt to forgive those who sin against us.

By the standards of love in the wider community we have not done so badly.

All:  Yet deep within we know how far we fall short of the love-standard set by Jesus,

and we even fall beneath the level that our own ideals have set us.

We feel compromised and mislead by this hustling world with its glitter.

We become frustrated and undermined by a negativity within ourselves

which diverts us and leads us into withholding love.

One:  Loving God, we certainly need your pardoning grace and humbly we ask for it.

But also we need much more.

All:  We seek the grace of self honesty, and a sharper awareness of our own hearts.

We need your illuminating Light, helping us to see through the humbug of society.

We need to allow ourselves to become saturated with your love.

One:  We ask for the spur of your Spirit

to make us more eager for the art of true loving,

and more determined to practice what we preach.

All:  Grant us these graces we pray, for without you we are as nothing.

Hear our prayer, through Christ our Savior.  Amen!

—Silent reflection—

One:  Sisters and brothers in the family of God, listen well for it is written of old:  “You are a God ready to forgive, gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.”  What was thus written was in the fullness of time made gloriously visible and accessible in Jesus of Nazareth.  In God’s name, please welcome into your minds this living truth, and accept into your hearts the saving grace of Christ Jesus.

All:  Let it be, dear Lord, let it be!  Amen!

Song of Praise:  Psalm 34, verse 1 (adapted John Bell/TALLA CRIOSDH, traditional Scots Gaelic) * †
Prayer of the Day

Most holy Friend, Three-person’d God, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, please help the family of the church to learn the way of love from you. Bring us together in spirit and action, bearing one another’s burdens and sharing each others gifts, and establishing here on earth colonies of heaven. In the name of Christ, our Brother and Savior.  Amen!

Sh'ma Israel (Max Helfman)
Reading from Hebrew Scripture:  Isaiah 66:7-14 (non-lectionary)
Alleluia  (Indonesia)
Gospel Reading:  John 19:25-27 (non-lectionary)
Sermon:  Good Friday as Mother's Day 
Hymn:  At the cross her station keeping (Stabat Mater, Jacopone da Todi/German traditional) Pius X Hymnal, alt. **

Litany for Mother's Day

One: Midwifing God, the Prophet Isaiah declared that You are the one who delivers us.
All: We remember that You are Mother and Father to all of us, all of us are Your children.
One: Mothering God, You bring forth new life in our midst.
All: We honor the mothers around us, and all who care and love children.
One: Grandmother God, You comfort us in our time of grieving and sorrow.
All: We remember our mothers and grandmothers who have passed on, for all those we miss on this day.
One: Teaching God, You have taught us to honor our mothers and fathers and have taught us the ways of love.
All: We remember those who have been like mothers to us, giving wisdom and guidance in our lives.
One: Creator God, we remember that we are all created in Your image
All: We honor and respect all women in our midst, mothers and aunts and sisters and friends.
One: We honor and remember these great women, loving God, who You have sent into our lives.
All: Mothering God, guide us into ways of honoring and respecting women around our world, working towards justice and liberation, health and safety for all women and girls. In the name of Christ, who like a mother hen desires to gather us together, we pray. Amen.

Prayer Song:  Psalm 34, verse 3 (adapted John Bell/TALLA CRIOSDH, traditional Scots Gaelic) * †
Prayers of the People
Announcements
Offerings (regular and food)
Song:  Psalm 23 (Bobby McFerrin) MfL *** ††
Prayer of Thanksgiving
Hymn:  O sons and daughters (François Tisserand/O FILII ET FILIAE, French traditional) NCH

Obviously Mother's Day got a lot of coverage today
*A cappella, the congregation singing the two supporting parts and the soprano cantor singing the melody.
**Verses sung in alternation by unaccompanied soloist and congregation with organ
***Sung by quartet
† seasonal songs (Easter)
†† click here to hear Bobby McFerrin sing it

Forces:
Soprano
Tenor/Guitar
Tenor/Bass Guitar
Organ/Piano