There are many ways churches celebrate All Saints’ Sunday and remember their members who’ve passed away. I’d love to hear about your traditions or new acts of remembrance for All Saints Sunday. Below is a liturgy for All Saints remembrance that segues into a liturgy of Great Thanksgiving for communion.
Click here to download: All Saints Remembrance and Great Thanksgiving
Comment with your favorite All Saints traditions and share the inspiration!
Happy Planning!
World Communion Sunday is this week!!
Maundy Thursday is my favorite worship service of the Christian year! Yes, for me it even tops Christmas Eve and Easter. Jesus knew this was his last chance to show his friends God’s Truth and he does not disappoint! Teaching us what love is, giving us a new covenant open to everyone, sharing one last blessing with those he loved even though he knew they would soon desert him… that’s the good stuff.
This year, we used a Taize style worship for Ash Wednesday and it was so well received we decided to do it again for Holy Thursday. We’ll be holding this worship service around tables in our Community Room with candles and Communion elements on each table. The service includes the song By My Side from Godspell and a poem/reflection on Jesus’ foot washing by Rev. Carol Ferguson.
Download the PDF worship outline here: Maundy Thursday Taize Worship 2019
There’s more Holy Week resources coming.. I’ll be sharing our Good Friday prayer stations soon! Check out my Easter Sunrise worship and be sure to subscribe!
Happy (almost) Holy Week! May the odds be ever in your favor!
I recently had the rare joy of attending a worship service where my friend and colleague Rev. Rachel Morse introduced us to a beautiful simple song she had us use as a sung response throughout the liturgy. When I found out it was based on a Wendell Berry poem I loved it even more!
So thanks to Rachel’s inspiration and because April is National Poetry Month, I created another Communion Liturgy using Rev. Amy McCreath’s song, What we need is here that was inspired by the closing line of Wendell Berry’s poem, “The Wild Geese.”
Click here to download the PDF for a Communion Liturgy of Poetry & Song
As Holy Week nears, I’m planning to share a Maundy Thursday Taize service as well as Good Friday prayer stations! Be sure to click the follow button below to subscribe so you don’t miss any of that resource-y goodness!
And be sure to check out my resources from years past for a Kids’ Easter Vigil script, a Palm Sunday Responsive reading (sermon alternative!), and a fun little Easter Sunrise service!
Happy Holy Week Planning!
I’m quite excited the inspiration for a sung communion liturgy came in time for Advent 1! Feel free to use or adapt and let me know if I can clarify any of the phrasing. The congregation will sing the bolded words.
You can also watch this video of how it all came together for our congregation.
Sung Advent Communion to the tune of ‘O Holy Night’
(Tune: CANTIQUE DE NOEL)
O Holy God, your grace and love surround us
we lift our hearts to give you our praise.
You gave to us the earth and all that’s in it
you blessed us, but we were led astray.
A thrill of hope our weary world rejoices
For yonder breaks a new glorious morn
Hope is alive!
O hear the angel’s message,
“Do not be afraid
for the Christ will be born.
Eman-u-el
God with us, Emanuel!”
Christ came and taught us to love one another
His law is love and His gospel is peace
Chains shall He break for all slavr’y be over
And in His name all oppression shall cease
Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we,
Let all within us praise His holy name
Hope is alive!
We join the angel chorus,
“Do not be afraid
for Christ is born.”
Our savior has come!
God’s great gift for all the world.
Led by God’s grace, he brought his friends together
with glowing hearts to this table they came.
Bread broke like flesh, the cup with wine of heaven
a new covenant made in Christ’s name.
A thrill of hope our weary world rejoices
For yonder breaks a new glorious morn
Christ gave his life
to show us how to live.
This is God’s gift
giv’n for all to be received.
O bless this bread and cup
that we too might be blessed. (music repeats ending)
The gift of hope we shine into the darkness
For we shine forth God’s new and glorious morn
We fall on our knees
and join the angel voices
O Christ divine
Thank you God for Christ your son
United in Christ
We are Christ for the world.
Text: Corey Turnpenny, 2018
O Holy Night A Sung Communion Liturgy for Advent is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
The Day of Pentecost will soon be here! This year at my church we’re celebrating Pentecost by having a birthday party for The Church! And since we’re having a party we’ve declared June 4th ‘bring a friend to church Sunday’!
I love that Pentecost falls on a Communion Sunday for us this year. Celebrating Holy Communion seems like the best way to remember and celebrate the birth of Christ’s Church. If you’re looking for a Communion liturgy for Pentecost (with modern language) I’ve got you covered: Pentecost 2017 Communion Liturgy
I’ve also included the Call to Worship we’re using below.
Enjoy celebrating the Spirit this Sunday!
The Call
The day of Pentecost has arrived!
And we are all gathered together in one place
ready to remember and celebrate the birthday of Christ’s Church
and to receive again the gift of the Holy Spirit!
God, bless us that we will truly be Your Church,
on fire with Your Holy Spirit!
And work through us in all we do as a church
that we might truly be a gift to the world.
Click the link below to view the PDF of a modern take on the traditional Great Thanksgiving liturgy for Communion.
Modern Great Thanksgiving Rev. Turnpenny
getlitworship.wordpress.com 