I have written several posts now regarding the flow of worship in Community of Christ. As I had stated this was in part due to my being asked to preside today (21 May 2006) at Tuality Community of Christ (TCC). What follows is a modified version of the order of worship being used at TCC today. How is it modified? First I have removed names of participants. Second, formatting/presentation is of course different. There may be a few other slight alterations that I am forgetting at this moment. After the order I will provide some additional information about the service, and specific liturgical elements within it. Also abbreviations will be explained at the end. I apologize for the formatting, but I did not have a lot of time to make it as nice as I wanted to for this post.
Family of God
Hymn of Peace Center of Peace SP 1
Candle of Peace
Hymn of Peace We’re Signing a Peace Song SP 19
We Rejoice and Give Thanks for this World
We gather together in Community. As a community, we welcome one another this day and recognize the ever-present One. We celebrate the wonders of God’s creation.
Welcome and Call to Worship
*Hymn of Celebration Earth and All Stars HS 49
*Invocation
*Response
We Realize Our Failings and Seek thy Renewing Grace
We sing of the pain we cause and suffer from in this world. We tell of our failures, and ask forgiveness. We pray together and individually for Peace in this world. We seek thy renewing Grace.
Hymn of Contemplation Creator of Sunrises HS 186
Prayer of Confession & Prayers of the People
Ministry of Music Reflections
We Seek Guidance for a Better World
We turn to the written, experienced, and living Word. We listen to the telling of the Word. We reflect upon the Word.
Reading of the Word I John 5:1-6
Proclamation of the Word
Quiet Reflection on the Word
We Recognize Our Call and We Respond
As Disciples of the risen Christ, we respond generously with all that we are. We proclaim our intentions on embracing our call, embracing the Word, and striving for a better world, the Peaceable Kingdom, aye even Zion. We go forth to create a better world.
Hymn of Call Community of Christ R-11
Disciple’s Generous Response
*Hymn of Response Canto de Esperanza SP 25
*Prayer of Response and Sending Forth
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*All that are able please standAdapted from: L. Anderson II, “21 May TCC Worship Service: Working Draft: Order” 17 May 2006; 1.
HS — Hymns of the Saints
SP — Sing for Peace
R — By Request: Songs for the Community of Christ
At TCC each Sunday there is “Church School” from 9:30~10:30. At ~10:40 Family of God starts. This is listed as a separate worship service from the main service, though I personally feel it is the start of the service. This service is a period where prayer concerns of the congregation are lifted up, and also where the Joys and good news is shared. Various members of the congregation are asked and scheduled to lead this service. After Family of God, TCC typically lights the Peace Candle as a period of transition from Family of God into the main service. Sometimes though it is included as part of the service. As I worked on the service I switched back and forth between having the lighting of the Peace Candle as part of the second flow element, or where it is as transition. In the end I felt it was best for both the overall feel and the overall flow to have it at the start. Thus this places a few elements outside of the four main flow elements, though I think the circular flow that reflects the circle of life is still intact, and flows just as nicely.
The call to worship for this service will be primarily the reading of Psalm 98. This is the psalm assigned in the lectionary, and if also goes well with hymn Earth and All Stars, which flowes it. I would not be surprised if this hymn was in part inspired by the Psalm.
The Prayer of Confession is a prayer written by me. It is based off of what Anthony Chvala-Smith, theologian-in-residence of Community of Christ, wrote in chapter 7, “Humankind: The Broken Mirror,” of Understanding the Way. It may also have been influenced by various prayers and other works that I consulted while preparing it, and of course influenced by the theme “Create a Better World.” The Prayers of the People were primarily taken from several different “Prayers of the People” portions of the Daily Prayer for Peace services. I modified several of them for various reasons, and one ore two may be primarily of my writing. For this service I have two people reading these prayers. The Prayer of Confession is split into three sections, alternating between the two readers. Then there is a slight pause, followed by the first part of the Prayers of the People, another pause, and so on through all 7 “prayers of the people” In a way there are 8 prayers being read, (Prayer of confession, and 7 prayers of the people” and yet at the same time it is just one prayer. I have chosen to not reproduce that prayer here.
The guest minister will be reading the scriptural reading (Reading of the Word) of I John 5:1-6 prior to his message (Proclamation of the Word). Once he is done there will be a brief period of silence (Quiet Reflection on the Word) for people to reflect on what has been said prior to us signing the Hymn of Call.
Hopefully this is enough to give those who are not there that read this an idea of what the service was like. Feel free though to ask any questions you may have.
(This post written with the intent of being posted at 10:40am PDT (-7GMT). It should go live then, though it may not. If the timestamp is earlier or latter than this, pretend it was posted on Sunday Morning right as Family of God is suppose to start.)
Peace be with you,
— Lyle II