A Model Order for a Worship Service Marking First Anniversary of Start of Iraq War

A Model for March 2004 Services

BUILDING BRIDGES FOR PEACE
PEACE: A FAITH BASED INITIATIVE

With thanks to the:
Drexel Hill United Methodist Church, Drexel Hill, PA
March 13, 2004

ORDER OF WORSHIP

SPECIAL MUSIC “Make Me An Instrument Of Your Peace”

Make me and instrument of your peace. Make me an instrument of your peace.
Make me a sacrament of your love. Make me a sacrament of your love, O God.

WELCOME

CENTERING

GREETING

Leader: How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news.

People: Who publish peace, who bring good tidings, who publish salvation, and proclaim, “Your God reigns!”

Leader: God will judge among many peoples,

People: And they shall beat their swords into plowshares and nation shall not lift up sword against nation: neither shall they learn war any more.

All: Let us lift up our voices and praise the God of peace and justice.

SONG “This Is My Song”

CALL TO CONFESSION

Leader: Lord, as we hear your words we become sorrowful, for we know that we have failed to live as your people. We confess that as individuals and as a nation we have failed to spread your peace.

LITANY OF CONFESSION

Leader: We hear the words of your prophets, Lord, and we wonder - are they directed at us?

People: Sin does not just take place on international levels. It takes place here among us - in our community, in our homes, and in our hearts.

Leader: We have forgotten the poor in our midst. We protect that which we have, while hiding our eyes from our brother’s and sister’s needs.

People: But poverty has many forms: the worst of which is spiritual poverty that allows us to forget that all men, women, and children are created by you, and are therefore our brothers and sisters.

Leader: Lord, we ask for your forgiveness.

People: Forgive us for seeking to destroy rather than build up. Forgive us for putting our faith in false gods. Forgive us for the silent assent to the sin in our land.

Leader: Create in us a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right Spirit within us.

People: Cast us not away from your presence and take not your Holy Spirit from us.

Leader: May we remember your words to us and the words of the confession which we have made.

People: Grant us the vision and courage to walk in your ways and to do your will. May your peace be a reality among us. In the name of Jesus Christ we pray. Amen.

ASSURANCE AND PARDON

God is even now giving us the gift of repentance. God is at work in the world. It is not we who hope, but God who hopes in us.

SPECIAL MUSIC “If You Remove” (text based on Isaiah 58:9b-11)

SCRIPTURE Matthew 5:1-11

SERMON

PRAYER FOR PEACE

Leader: May the Peace which passes all understanding be with you!

People: And also with you!

      Leader:       Light is an image from scripture associated with peace, harmony
                        and oneness with God. When all was in the darkness God created
                        light and called it good.

People: Light is a symbol of God’s goodness and of all that is created. Let
us celebrate the light of the world.

      Leader:       In the great story of the Exodus from Egypt the people were afraid
                        and fearful for their lives. God gave them a pillar of cloud by day
                        and a pillar of fire by night that they might find their way to
                        freedom and peace.

People: We too are afraid that the nations will lose their way. O, God,
give us light that we might find our way to peace.

Leader: Let us pray to the God of life for Peace:

All:

God who created light that your children might walk in the light and live an abundant life, we come before you in faith and in hope that even now the nations might choose to walk in light and put aside warfare and killing. Drawn to your Light we make bold to pray that you will touch the hearts and minds of world leaders afresh. May the councils of the powerful yield to your everlasting wisdom. Wherever wars and rumors of war abound may your Peace and understanding quiet all fears and animosities. May you give new and powerful Gifts of courage and leadership to those who speak and work for Peace. Help us to confess that war in this time is a mark of our failing one another and contrary to your will. In these days of anxiety and war stand by us and make us strong that we might not be paralyzed by fear but rather empowered to speak on behalf of Peace, work for Peace, pray for Peace, and live in Peace each with one another. Amen.