Vineyard Canada Prayer & Communal Fast January 20- 30, 2021
Day Seven and Eight: Our Response – A Call to Worship
Anchored to the One who walks with us and leaning into the on-going prompting of the Spirit's work in our hearts, for the next couple days, we will move into a time of response to God.
Here are a few anchoring thoughts from Kris MacQueen who is our National Catalyst for Vineyard Creative:
"We are called to worship...made to worship in fact. We know this. Whether fuelled by great, deliberate intention or in the unthought daily rhythms and affections of our lives, we are worshipping creatures. And yet worshipping the LORD is neither easy or automatic. As the people of God recited daily over the course of millennia, quoting from Deuteronomy 6; 'love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength.' These are expensive days in heart, mind, soul and strength, aren't they? In times like these, the worshipping lives of the saints are precious indeed."
Over the next couple of days, as we press into this time of prayer and fasting, how might you give the LORD your unique, precious worship? After all, this is the one thing we do for Him. In all others matters, He is the gift-giver, we the recipients. But in this, the equation is reversed.
How costly it is to sing the following words as if we ourselves wrote them?
"When peace like a river attendeth my way
When sorrows like sea billows roll
Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say
It is well, it is well with my soul."
From the hymn "It is Well With My Soul," written by Horatio Spafford upon reaching the spot where his daughters lost their lives at sea.
Perhaps as you read this, another song or poem or psalm comes to mind. Or perhaps something new is rising up in you, whether new language or some other expression of the heart. Give it to the LORD. Sing, speak, shout, whisper, dance, paint...these precious, costly gifts that you've paid such a dear price for, and offer them to the LORD. And may the LORD shine His face on you as you do.
Our common prayer by Walter Brueggemann:
We will not keep silent
we are people who must sing you,
for the sake of our very lives.
You are a God who must be sung by us,
for the sake of your majesty and honor.
And so we thank you,
for the lyrics that push us past our reasons,
for the melodies that break open our givens
for cadences that locate us home,
beyond all our safe places,
for tones and tunes that open our lives beyond control
and our futures beyond despair.
We thank you for the long parade of mothers and fathers
who have sung you deep and true;
We thank you for the good company,
of artists, poets, musicians, cantors, and instruments
that sing for us and with us, toward you.
We are witnesses to your mercy and splendor;
We will not keep silent...ever again.
Amen
Please keep sending your contributions to Thank you to all of you who have responded
We have included some musical worship by Erika Kobewka from Old Strathcona Vineyard in Edmonton, AB
Grace & Peace
For a few years now, I have been learning a bit of the craft of congregational call-and-response readings. Simply put, I find there is something profoundly restorative in a community of faith 'saying aloud' and 'saying together' words in time and space.
The cadence and rise and fall of spoken word and the joined confession of many gathered voices has captured me in a different but not altogether separate way than what I have typically come to know as 'congregational worship.'
In this litany I combined a melodic tag that I wrote for another song to function as a sung response. I intentionally kept the response simple and singular in words so that it could perhaps work like an inhale and exhale in a melodic way.
May this litany finds its way to your faith community, your home, or your gathering tables. Peace to you in the holding on—my hope is that in the breathing in and out of these words a deeper knowing of being held and carried would perhaps rise to the surface, even for a moment.
A LITANY FOR HOLDING ON
By: Erika Kobewka
Triune God - Father, Son, Spirit, in You we live and move and breathe
E A/E E
Halle-lu—jah
Jesus Christ, first-born over all creation, the Word made flesh, image of the
invisible God. In You all things were created and find their place. All of our
beginnings and all of our ends - You were before all things and in You all things
have been made.
E A/E E
Halle-lu—jah
All of our groanings, fears, spoken and unspoken longings, sorrows, grievances,
tears, complexities, waverings, and losses - nothing slips through the cracks,
nothing is lost in Your spaciousness. You hold it all, and in You all things exist
and dwell. All the threads and strands, fraying and loose ends, are gathered up,
woven and held by You. Nothing goes to waste, and You never let go.
E A/E E
Halle-lu—jah
You are holding onto us. Creating, recreating, making new, pursuing, mending,
healing, reconciling, renewing, making whole. Everything, absolutely everything
finds its home in You. We find our home in You. All the broken and dislocated
people and things, animals and atoms.* You hold it all. You hold us all.
E A/E E
Halle-lu—jah
*Eugene Peterson's, The Message (Colossians 1:18-20)
