Category: Worship

Happy Sunday, 

This week Gov. Evers extended the Safer at Home order through May 26th. We will be together again as soon as we are able to do so. Continue to reach out to loved ones and those in the congregation family.

Thanks so much to Gretchen and Greta for their effort and tenacity at putting together this week’s liturgy. Thanks to Roxanne for suggesting recording as much as possible at GST. We are learning this new way of being community together. 

We pray for:
> Adams, Robinson and Nelson family for peace and comfort upon the death of family member Gloria Robinson from covid 19. 
> Kayla, recovering from covid 19.
> Healthcare workers, grocery store employees, bus drivers, business owners, those filing for unemployment. 
> Employees of Patrick Cudahy 

Be well. Know that you are loved.
-Amanda 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMMgA2K65ZI&feature=youtu.be

You can follow along with the E: Liturgy at: https://www.facebook.com/goodshepherd.church.948

CALL TO COMMUNITY Adapted from L.R. Knost

Here’s to the bridge-builders, the hand-holders, the light-bringers, Here’s to the funeral directors, water chemists, and tow truck drivers, those extraordinary souls wrapped in ordinary lives who quietly weave threads of humanity into an inhumane world. The nurses, the bus drivers, the grocers, They are the unsung heroes in a world at war with itself. The mask makers, the 3D printing engineers, the musicians. They are the whisperers of hope that peace is possible. Look for them in this present chaos. Light your candle with their flame. Bring light to a dark and desperate world. Be the hero you are looking for.

SONG

Prayer of the Day: Adapted from the ECLA Prayer of the Day

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. And also with you.

Let us pray… O God where bones are dry and withered, grant possibility and hope. Where anxiety is infectious and widening, grant peace and reassurance. Where impossibilities close every door and window, grant imagination and resistance. Where distrust twists our thinking, grant healing and illumination. Where spirits are daunted and weakened, grant soaring wings and strengthened dreams. Breathe upon us the power of your Spirit, that we may be raised to new life in Christ and serve you in joy all our days, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen

SONG OF ILLUMINATION: Rain Down

READING: Ezekiel 37:1-14

SERMON: We Are the Bones

HYMN OF THE DAY

PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE

Adapted fromhttps://www.presbyterianmission.org/ministries/worship/service-lords-day/service-lords-day-people/

Almighty God, in Christ you taught us to pray. Hear now our prayers: for the healing of planet earth … for those whose work is essential … for all those who are dying … for all who need healing … for peace and justice in the world … for nations and leaders … for our local community … for this congregation, its mission and ministry … Guide us, O God, by your Holy Spirit, expand our hearts to be filled with your grace… that we may serve your will and show your love; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

OFFERING

Friends in Christ…we offer what we can to the body of Christ… as we can. We offer what we can to this community through our offerings.

We have an excellent team which worked hard to make online giving possible. http://goodshepherdtrinity.org/

ACTION

Death Cleaning, Death Kits, Death Positivity We trust in the death and resurrection of Jesus and we will become bones.

Swedish Death Cleaning:

https://www.nbcnews.com/better/health/what-swedish-death-cleaning-should-you-be-doing-it-ncna816511

https://www.treehugger.com/cleaning-organizing/swedish-death-cleaning-new-decluttering-trend.html

Death Positivity Research:

Start Here

https://www.youtube.com/user/OrderoftheGoodDeath/videos

CREED – We believe that our lives are held within the encircling love of God, who knows our names and recognizes our deepest needs.

We believe that Christ is the divine Child of the living God, and that his grace is like living waters that can never be exhausted.

We believe in the birthing, renewing, enabling Spirit of God who yearns over our welfare as a mother yearns for her child.

We believe that God is in the arid desert as well as in green pastures, and that hard times and disciplines are also loving gifts.

We believe that our journey has a purpose and a destination, and that our path leads to a human glory we cannot yet imagine.

We believe that in the church we are fellow pilgrims on the road, and that we are called to love one another as God loves us.

This is our faith and we are humbled to profess in Jesus the Christ. Amen

LITANY – God of life, hear my prayer. Withered and cracked, sometimes I feel like a pile of old bones. Dry bones, hear the word of the Divine! Dry, brittle, broken Sometimes I feel as though all hope is lost. Dry bones, hear the word of the Divine!

Your word of mercy, peace and justice shakes me into being and fills me with hope and purpose and empowers me to rise renewed and re-charged Dry bones, hear the word of the Divine!

The Divine speaks. I will put my spirit within you. You are who you are because I created you in my image. My spirit breaths through your lungs. I love and you shall live.

SONG

BLESSING –Adapted from Liturgies Alive, Models of Celebration. It is not enough to acclaim Jesus Christ as our Lord and King. Our mission in life is to make his kingdom a reality among us and to bring it to those around us by our words and deeds. The way to do this is to live as he lived: imagine new possibilities of love and service. May almighty God bless you for this task: the Creator, and the Redeemer, and the Sanctifier. Amen.