O Holy One, Lengthen Your love In these Lenten days Increasing Your Light In every evolution Of the human heart In its daily discovery Of a gravitational pull To You who centres Everything and everyone Even as You radiate Into spaces cosmic And otherwise unknown Except by You. Let it illumine Every hidden corner Longingly […]
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Loving God, Centre us in your heart Pulsing with Christ-love Healing and holding Challenging and changing Everything in order For your vision to rise. Take every weariness And form resurrections Small and large in us Offering a strength Beyond our own Binding us to you And to each other And your whole creation. By this, […]
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Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands. —Isaiah 49:15-16a O Divine Lover, How relentless You are in drawing our attention to Your devotion […]
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Loving God, Let today be the day I turn to You in everything Before I get so involved In the call of the many I forget You are ready To Break open Every hard place Too heavy for me Alone to open. O Love, Let today be the day I trust your love more Than […]
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O Love, Help me entrust Everything to you For I am at risk Of forgetting it is you Who gives me life And calls me to a work Seen and often unseen. Help me remember It is not mine to do alone But rather your work of love Awakened in me by you For whatever […]
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Lectionary reading — Lent 3 Year C O dear God, I love you! I ache for you, my heart burns for you and only you can quench this fire only you can satisfy my desire O sweet God, be on my lips lightly brushing, then with the full force Of my passion for your presence […]
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Tune: Westminster Abbey (Christ is made the sure foundation) Love eternal, here among us Breathing hope into every life Love from heaven, love descending Walking humbly and by our side Holding, healing, love revealing Love once broken, crucified Love enduring, here to save us Here to lift us away from hate Love redeemed and resurrected […]
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Loving is sharing in beauty. Living is sharing in the earth’s great cycles–life and death, crucifixion and resurrection, germination and bloom, sorrow and wonder and solace. Our sorrow is deep. Our connection, pulsing too. Practicing resurrection is recognizing the love that flows through the heart of the world. Being alive is a gift. Tuning into […]
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Tune: love unknown (My song is love unknown), composed by John Ireland in 1918 Your love invites me in To shelter in your peace To know the hope you bring To feel how you can release You set me free So I can be Eternally The child you see Your love rebuilds my trust You […]
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O Love, Stretch me just enough To ready me for You And the calling You offer Already supported by You On Your great trellis of love. By your stretching grace Help me live expectantly Trusting You will reveal The holding and releasing Necessary to answer Your call often overlooked As daily or ordinary. Grant me […]
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Tune: In my life Lord be glorified, by Bob Kilpatrick Stand among us Pour out your hope, let your grace flow Take our burdens Hold us in your great love Come and rescue Save us from fear, make your Word clear Come and heal us Hold us in your great love Lighten darkness Shine down […]
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Song of Solomon 2:9b-13 NRSV Ancient words for today’s lovers …gazing in at the windows, looking through the lattice. My beloved speaks and says to me: ‘Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away; for now the winter is past, the rain is over and gone. The flowers appear on the earth; the time […]
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Song of Solomon 8:6-7 NRSV How wonderful it is when an ancient sacred text speaks with a seemingly contemporary voice. Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm; for love is strong as death, passion fierce as the grave. Its flashes are flashes of fire, a raging flame. Many […]
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This might be used as a Call to Worship or Call to Communion. It works as a responsive reading involving the entire congregation or read by 2-3 readers. It has been written with young readers in mind. If you’re worshipping on-line, parents might video their children reading this, or audio-record it and play as the […]
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‘Tis a fearful thing to love what death can touch. A fearful thing to love, to hope, to dream, to be – to be, And oh, to lose. A thing for fools, this, And a holy thing, a holy thing to love. For your life has lived in me, your laugh once lifted me, your […]
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Jesus loves Tune: This old man Traditional nursery rhyme melody For the lyrics, music and a power point, click here. Jesus loves; he loves one; No! Not one! but everyone; Telling each one, everyone, this is what we know, Jesus loves us as we grow. Jesus loves; he loves two; He gives love to me […]
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In Singing a New Song, volume 3, a book of hymns by George Stuart For the lyrics, music and a power point, click here. Tune: Hanover Remember the one who brought us to birth; So special, unique; a person of worth; Our love and our thankfulness we wish to show For she shared her body to […]
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Pray with me. Indeed our hearts are overflowing with joy! As we sit at these tables, tables filled with the earth’s bounty for our celebration, we remember and give thanks, Eternal One, for your unnumbered blessings in our lives. We give thanks for family and friends gathered here. We remember loved ones not with us […]
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Tune: Nicaea (Holy, Holy, Holy) Words by Jim Burklo (use freely with attribution) Holy, holy, holy, love now ascending Early in the morning our song shall rise to you Holy, holy, holy, joy that has no ending Giving, forgiving, breathing life anew. Holy, holy, holy, love without a limit Care that binds creation in sacred […]
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Prayers for our world — inspired by Psalm 23 Let us turn our mind and thoughts to others. We will lift up prayers for our world, our nation, our community and our church, responding with the phrase: Good Shepherd, Guide us in love. Pray with me. . Good Shepherd, we hear the cries and joys […]
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Tune: Blaenwern 1 Corinthians 13 Any words which I may utter, Without love to reach their goal, Are no more than clashing cymbals, Empty gongs without a soul. Though I conjure future visions, Understand life’s wherewithal, And have faith which moves the mountains, Without love I am not whole. Acts of charitable giving And the […]
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What words shall we use on Valentines Day? Valentines Day as an opportunity to express our love for our earth. These Valentine bookmarks can be distributed as Valentines or used to complement a service focusing on the earth and caring for our environment. PDF Bookmarks – Valentine for the Earth, ready-to-print To You, My Valentine Oh, it […]
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For weddings and Valentine’s Day… Yes, we have become partners. I have become yours. Hereafter, I cannot live without you. Do not live without me. Let us share the joys. We are word and meaning, unite. You are thought and I am sound. May the nights be honey-sweet for us. May the plants be honey-sweet […]
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How do we speak of love? What words hold the essence of the feeling, the experience, the action of loving? Newest ‘Valentine’s Day’ posts . . . (images link to posts) Alphabetical archive of all ‘Valentine’s Day’ resources . . .
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for a wedding and Valentine’s Day… You have become mine forever. I do not love you as if you were salt-rose, or the arrow of carnations the fire shoots off. I love you as certain dark things are to be loved, in secret, between the shadow and the soul. I love you as the plant […]
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The mystery of matrimony “Who brings this woman to be married?” We do. To be married To be coupled To be knotted, twisted together Today tomorrow to death Joining a heritage of still-married Great grands through alcoholism and a debilitating stroke The hospital bed at living room centre Year after year Today tomorrow to death […]
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