Worship at Home for March 22, 2020

Due to the spread of Covid-19, we are taking a sabbatical from our normal Sunday morning gathering, but unity and community are more important than ever before in this season of uncertainty. To help facilitate this, we are providing a liturgy, complete with embedded songs and a meditation from Pastor Karen, so that, one in heart, we can worship together even as we maintain distance out of love for our neighbors. This is designed to be used on your own or together as a family or community. We hope this resource is a blessing to you. Remember to check in on friends and neighbors with calls or text, especially the elderly among us and others who are particularly vulnerable. To see last week’s liturgy, click here.

Opening Songs

Opening Prayer

Loving God,

In these times of uncertainty, we remember that you are God alone.
So many things are outside of our control, but you are God.
Many things worry and concern us, but you are God.
So many things that are familiar are changing so rapidly, but you are God.
We do not know where all this is heading, but you are God.
In these times of uncertainty, we want to follow you, to trust in you, to love you and to love our neighbors in Your name.

Help us to trust you, and give us the courage that comes from trust.

Amen.

Centering Song

Call to Worship

Frayed and frazzled, our lives jangling
with tension and anxiety.
we gather to find that place of peace
which God offers to us.
Awash in worries and doubts,
drowning in a sea of fears,
we gather beside the still waters
where Jesus offers us a cup of grace.
Weakened by the burdens of life,
wandering as if lost in a wilderness,
we gather so the Spirit can restore our souls
and show us the path to the kingdom.

Hymns of Adoration

Seeking the Shalom of the City

During this time, we encourage you to pray for friends and family, neighbors, our city, our country, and the world. Particularly keep in mind those who are most vulnerable during this time: the elderly and immuno-compromised who are particularly vulnerable to infection, the poor who are particularly vulnerable economically as daycares and businesses close, and those without healthcare coverage.

Pray also for our healthcare workers who face a daunting task ahead and who place themselves in harm’s way in love and service to their community.

Finally, take a moment to listen for the voice of God. How is God inviting you to seek the shalom of the city in light of the spreading corona virus? Perhaps there is someone who God is calling you to check in on, perhaps a text or call with encouragement for someone who is suffering, perhaps a donation to an organization on the front lines. Listen for God’s invitation and make plans to respond in love and obedience.

The following is a liturgy for hand washing shared by a Facebook friend. It takes about 25 seconds to pray. I encourage you to print it out and put it by your sinks and to pray through it each time you wash your hands. May it be a centering practice for us all during this time:

Call to Confession and Reconciliation

We have no time for rest, or to sit by calm oases of grace, or find the right paths to follow, and so we hurt people with our words and deeds, we turn away from the One who seeks to feed us with goodness and mercy.  Let us come to our God, who longs to anoint us with forgiveness, as we offer our prayers, saying,

God who shepherds us, you must wonder how long we will continue to live the way we do.  We snatch hope out of the grasp of those who need it most.  Our acts of kindness are offered only to those we think to be deserving of our generosity.  We gather around to watch endless reality shows, while those whose real lives are filled with struggle and loss are ignored.

Yet you refuse to keep forgiveness a mystery, Gracious God, but offer it to us without any hesitation.  You gather us in the green pastures of mercy, so we might find hope; you offer us a drink of the living waters so we might become still enough to listen to your heart; you send the Spirit to take us by the hand to lead us on the paths of justice; the goodness and mercy of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, follow us all the days as we seek to be faithful in our calling to serve him.  Amen.

Take a few moments to confess your sins to God and to entrust to God those things that are causing you anxiety.

Assurance of Pardon

Hear the good news: God will lead us into places of hope; God will give us the waters of life to strengthen us; God will be with us in every moment, in every place of our lives.

Anointed with grace, fed with joy and wonder, we offer blessing and thanksgiving to the One who forgives us now and forever.  Thanks be to God.  Amen.

Meditation by Pastor Karen (2 parts)

Part 1

Part 2

Hymn of Response

Prayers of the People

In the form below, you can share your joys and concerns. We’ll compile them and share the list by email so that we can all be praying with each other as a church family. If you have pastoral or practical needs that you’d like to share privately, you can email Pastor Karen at karisuhg@aol.com.

This prayer by Cameron Bellm (shared on Facebook) helps us enter into the posture we ought to have as Jesus followers:

Esta oración de Cameron Bellm (compartida en Facebook) nos ayuda a entrar en la postura que debemos tener como seguidores de Jesús:

May we who are merely inconvenienced
Remember those whose lives are at stake.

Que nosotrxs, que estamos simplemente incomodados
Recuerdan a aquellos cuyas vidas están en peligro.

May we who have no risk factors
Remember those most vulnerable.

Que nosotrxs que no tenemos factores de riesgo
Recuerdan a los más vulnerables.

May we who have the luxury of working from home
Remember those who must choose between preserving their health or making their rent.

Que los que tenien el lujo de trabajar desde casa
Recuerdan aquellos que necesitan decidir entre preservar su salud o pagar su renta.

May we who have the flexibility to care for our children when their schools close
Remember those who have no options.

Que nosotrxs que tenemos la flexibilidad de cuidar a
nuestros hij@s cuando cierren sus escuelas.
Recuerdan aquellos que no tienen opciones.

May we who have to cancel our trips
Remember those that have no safe place to go.

Que los que tenenos que cancelar nuestros viajes
Recuerdan aquellos que no tienen un lugar seguro para ir.

May we who are losing our margin money in the tumult of the economic market
Remember those who have no margin at all.

Que nosotrxs que estamos perdiendo nuestrx margen de dinero
en el tumulto del mercado económico
Recuerdan aquellos que no tienen margen

May we who settle in for a quarantine at home
Remember those who have no home.

Que nosotrxs que nos comodamos con una cuarentena en casa
Recuerdan a los que no tienen hogar.

As fear grips our country,
Let us choose love.

Mientras el miedo se apodera de nuestro país,
Elijamos el amor.

During this time when we cannot physically wrap our arms around each other,
Let us yet find ways to be the loving embrace of God to our neighbors.

Durante este tiempo cuando no podemos abrazarnos físicamente,
Encontremos formas de ser el abrazo amoroso de Dios a nuestros vecinos.

Amen.

The Lord’s Prayer

Our Father, who art in heaven
Hallowed be your name
Your kingdom come, your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven
Give us this day our daily bread
And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us
Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil
For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever
Amen

Offering

Even as we are unable to gather for our Sunday morning worship services, many of the church’s expenses remain the same, and now more than ever we want to have the resources to bless the community around us. Your gracious donation will ensure that Westminster continues to Seek the Shalom of the Capital City of Trenton and beyond.

1. Westminster can receive donations via a simple text:

   • Text to 609-438-8828 the word “Give”

   • Westminster’s online giving number will respond asking how much you’d like to give, and steps to follow
     

2. Westminster can receive donations online:

   • http://westminstertrenton.breezechms.com/give/online
     

3. Westminster can receive donations by check:

   Westminster Presbyterian Church
   PO Box 3719
   Trenton, NJ 08629

Prayer of Dedication

God who leads us to green pastures and beside still waters,
Still our hearts.
Good shepherd, guide us into paths of righteousness - justice, selflessness, generosity, sacrifice -
For your name’s sake.
Knowing that you are preparing a table for us,
That you will anoint us with oil,
That goodness and mercy will follow us all the days of our lives,
That we will dwell in your house forever.
Amen.

Closing Song

Benediction

The Lord be with you
And also with you

La paz de Dios sea con-ti-go
Y tam-bien con-ti-go

Sa-wa-bona
Si-ko-na

Pyeong-hwa
Pyeong-hwa