Tag Archives: worship

It’s Good to be Gathered!

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Our Scattered and Gathered Worship Event was a great success, with visits to at least ten different congregations and a wonderful potluck dinner, worship service, and conversation that is helping us think carefully about hospitality and worship.  I wrote some thoughts on the church website, so take a minute to look those over and offer your own observations in the comments section at the end of the article.

This Sunday, our worship team is back to bring us the Sunday Gathering we know and love.  We’ll be concluding our five part series on “Big Questions for a New, Emerging Church” with How shall we live together?

Take a minute to think of someone you know – maybe a neighbor or a friend – who doesn’t currently have a church they attend, and invite them to join us Sunday morning for worship.  The worst that could happen is they say “no,” and if they come they’ll get a chance to experience the community that you and I enjoy every week.

May you encounter Jesus in other people this week,

Signature
Pastor Ted Carnahan

P.S. – If you have a favorite Christmas Eve worship tradition, please share it with me by replying to this email.  I can’t promise we’ll use every idea, but I’m curious about what you know and love.

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Scattered and Gathered: Recap

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Last night we held our Scattered and Gathered Worship Event.  Instead of coming to the chapel on Sunday morning, we asked our participants to scatter out into the surrounding community and attend worship in another congregation.  Then, last night, we gathered for a potluck, a brief service of Holy Communion, and conversation around worship and hospitality.  Here are some of my thoughts from the night:
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Blessing of the Animals

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On Saturday, October 1 we gathered on the Phelps County Courthouse lawn for a Blessing of the Animals service, commemorating St. Francis of Assisi.  This was a joint service with Mother Karen Watson and St. Elizabeth’s Episcopal Church.  After some music and prayer, we proclaimed God’s blessing on each of the animals there.  There were a bunch of dogs, a hamster, a picture of a goldfish, and a stuffed ladybug!

Blessing of the Animals
By Spirit of Grace Lutheran Church, Holdrege, NE  |  View on Facebook

What a great opportunity to spend the afternoon in the warm sunshine together!

A prayer attributed to St. Francis of Assisi:

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love.
Where there is injury, pardon.
Where there is doubt, faith.
Where there is despair, hope.
Where there is darkness, light.
Where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master,
grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console;
to be understood, as to understand;
to be loved, as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive.
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.

Amen.