Invitation To Unknowing
Seekers Church
A Christian Community
In the Tradition of the Church of the Saviour
Lent 2004
Invitation To Unknowing
REFLECTION
I said to my soul, be still,
and let the dark come upon you
Which shall be the darkness of God.
T.S. Eliot, “East Coker”
PRELUDE
CALL TO WORSHIP
Leader: Today we worship God
as we seek to follow Jesus
on his way toward Jerusalem.
People: Today we seek to learn how unknowing
allows us to pass
through the valley of the shadow of death.
All: Today we celebrate together
as we follow Jesus into the future.
Invocation
Hymn
Word for the Children
Silence
Chant
[Click to play tune.]
Silence
PRAYERS
CONFESSION
Leader: Creator God,
our faith is thin
and swaying like a twisting stem
before the wind.
People: We cannot understand
how suffering
like Jesus on the cross
can bring new creation.
Leader: We want our God to be triumphant:
vanquishing all evil;
visiting the captives;
clothing those who shiver on the grates;
and ending violence and war.
We want our church to win.
People: And yet, we know our wanting victory
is but a shell that hides our fear.
We want to trust.
All: Forgive our need to know.
Individual Prayers of Confession
Assurance
Leader: God’s love passes all understanding.
We are forgiven in the midst of our unknowing.
Prayers of the Community
JESUS PRAYER
All: Eternal Spirit: Earth-maker, Pain-bearer, Life-giver,
Source of all that is and all that shall be,
Father and Mother of us all, creation resonates
with celebration of your nameless name.
Let justice and mercy flood the earth;
let all creation harmonize in your imagination;
and let us recognize
that every thought and thing belongs to you.
With the bread we need for today, feed us;
in the hurts we absorb from each other
and those we inflict on others, forgive us;
in times of test and temptation, stand with us;
from the grip of all that is evil, free us.
For you alone are creating our universe,
now and forever.
Amen.
HYMN
THE WORD
First Lesson
Silence
Gospel
Sermon
Silent Reflection
OFFERING
SHARED REFLECTIONS
ANNOUNCEMENTS
HYMN
BENEDICTION
Leader: As the sun from its zenith,
sinks down into the night,
it is also thus with the soul
and with the body.
The richly loving soul sinks down
into such profound humility
that it is overcome.
Go forth, resting on the peace of God.
All: Amen
Worship resources:
Reflection and Call to Worship found in an undated Seekers liturgy used prior to 1985.
Chant based on Psalm 130, by Billy Amoss
Confession and Assurance first used in Lent, 1985.
Jesus Prayer adapted from the Lord’s Prayer found in the Anglican New Zealand Prayer Book, rev. ed., 1997
Benediction from Mechtild of Mageburg, first used in Lent, 1983
