We’ve been encouraging each other to light a candle wherever you are on Sunday mornings as you read or listen to the Call to Worship. Candles (and other forms of fire) are ancient symbols of the presence of God.
Traditional Calls to Worship often include language asking God to “send” the Holy Spirit to the gathered people. How do we open worship when we understand that God’s presence is already among us? As we gather for liturgy, song, and prayer, we don’t need to wait for the Spirit to arrive. We may even imagine that it is the Spirit who grants us the impetus to gather ourselves and the impulse to pause in wonder.
Opening Prayer
From
Praying a New Story
by Michael Morwood
We gather, conscious that the Spirit of Wisdom
moves in each of us as it has moved in all people
since the beginning of human life,
working in and through whom and what it has to work with.
May we be wise in our sharing today, ready to listen,
open to learning where new insights and knowledge may take us,
May we draw on wisdom that stands the test of time.
May we become courageous enough to discard
whatever can no longer sustain our faith.
We pray that our gathering may allow the Spirit of Wisdom
to be expressed here as graciously and as clearly
as is humanly possible.
Amen.
