My blog is now at www.stephenmfearing.com!

This blog has been moved to http://www.stephenmfearing.com.  To be redirected to this new location, click here.

Liturgical Confession from Iona Community

I stumbled across this today and I absolutely LOVE it!  Far too often, liturgy is assumed to be a one-way street.  This confession from the Iona community in Scotland embraces the mutuality between liturgist and congregation.  We are ALL in this together!  Amen!

Before God, with the people of God, I confess to my brokenness:
To the ways I wound my life, the lives of others and the life of the world
May God forgive you, Christ renew you, 
     and the Spirit enable you to grow in love.
Amen.

Before God, with the people of God, we confess to our brokenness:
To the ways we wound our lives, 
     the lives of others
     and the life of the world.
May God forgive you, Christ renew you, and the spirit enable you to grow in love.
Amen.

Prayer of the Day | Zacchaeus | From the United Church of Canada | Twenty-fourth Sunday after Pentecost (Year C)

The following liturgy is from the United Church of Canada.

Like Zacchaeus, help us, O God,
to lose our fear of stepping outside our place,
of doing things differently,
of seeking Christ in our lives.
Christ’s invitation awaits us
to start anew,
to make amends,
to live in Christ’s way.
God of change and renewal,
we give thanks for your love
that makes this possible
for each one of us.
Amen.

Confession based on Psalm 32 | Twenty-fourth Sunday after Pentecost (Year C)

Liturgy by Stephen M. Fearing.

I haven’t been writing a lot of liturgy lately so I am trying to get back into the swing of things.  Here is a call to confession, prayer of confession, and assurance of pardon for this upcoming Sunday, November 3rd, 2013.  It is based off of Psalm 32.  As always, I welcome your thoughts!

Call to Confession:

The Psalmist tells us that our silence causes us to waste away.
There is so much that is heavy upon us,
so much that we carry.
so much that we dare not utter.
Let us dare together to declare our brokenness.
Let us no longer remain silent.
Let us acknowledge our sin to God.

Confession:

God of Goodness and Mercy,
You created us good and we have not lived up to your expectation.
We have stayed silent when we should have spoken.
We have spoken when we should have stayed silent.
We have tried to hide from you rather than trust your protection.
We have been chosen to be covered by our sin
     when we could have been covered by your goodness.
We have done all these things…
     We are doing all these things…
          We will do these things…
               Hear our prayer this day…

(silent confession)

God of Deliverance,
You create us even this day and in the days to come.
     This alone is our hope.
     This alone is our life.
     This alone is our salvation.
Create within us a hearts of repentance, trust, and faithfulness.
Surround us with glad cries of deliverance
     that we may hear your grace,
          receive your song,
          and sing your goodness.
This we pray in the name of our Savior, Christ Jesus. Amen.

Assurance of Pardon:

Happy are those whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.
Happy are those to whom the LORD imputes no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.
Friends, hear the good news of the Gospel:
God has heard our cry,
God has forgiven us,
God has renewed us.
Hallelujah! Amen!

Zacchaeus Was a Tax Man | Hymn by Carolyn Winfrey Gillette | Twenty-fourth Sunday after Pentecost (Year C)

I found this great new text by Carolyn Winfrey Gillette at her website here.  It is sung to the tune of AURELIA (to which “The Church’s One Foundation” is often sung).  It is based off the gospel lectionary passage for this upcoming Sunday, November 3rd (24th Sunday after Pentecost – Year C).  Enjoy!

Zacchaeus was a tax man who one day climbed a tree,
For he was short in stature and said he could not see.
And yet he had a problem that mattered even more:
He didn’t see the suffering his greed had caused the poor.

O Lord, you saw Zacchaeus — so wealthy, yet alone.
You said, “Come down — and hurry! I’m coming to your home.”
For you broke bread with sinners and saw within each one
A person loved and treasured — God’s daughter or God’s son.

It wasn’t just the treetop that helped Zacchaeus see;
Your love and welcome showed him how different life could be.
He said that he’d start over and work to make things fair;
He’d speak the truth, bring justice, and find new ways to share.

O Christ, you bid us welcome and help us all to see!
May we respond by building a just society.
Then children won’t be hungry and all will share your bread.
Then those who now must struggle will live in joy instead.

For more great hymns by Carolyn Winfrey Gillette, check out her website here.

Children’s Church IS the Church – Rodger Nishioka

The following article is by a friend and professor of mine, Rodger Nishioka.  It was posted by “Next Church” at their website here.  It is a wonderful article which concisely speaks of the historical creation of the “Children’s Church.” 

In their book, The Godbearing Life, which has now become a youth ministry standard, Kenda Creasy Dean who teaches at Princeton Theological Seminary and Ron Foster, pastor of a United Methodist congregation, identify one of the most problematic models traditional youth ministry as the “one-eared Mickey Mouse.”  In their description, the congregation and its ministry form the head of Mickey Mouse while youth ministry forms one ear that, like the Mickey Mouse image, is barely attached to the head.  The problem, they say, is that young people grow up with an understanding that youth ministry is only tangentially connected to the life of the whole church if it is connected at all.  They view youth ministry as something that is separate.  This view ends up reinforcing the natural egocentrism of adolescence and while that may suffice for a while, when young people grow up, they find themselves bereft of any understanding of church and the whole church’s ministry and their part in it.  That is when they drift away.  Tragically, we set them up for this by locating their ministry as something apart from the rest of the church.  This analogy is potent as we consider the place of children in the church.

In too many congregations, our children are “dismissed” to go to “children’s church” or something like it either a few minutes into the congregation’s worship or in place of being present in the congregation’s worship at all.  As far as I can tell, this is a 20^th century phenomenon.  In reviewing session minutes from Presbyterian congregations in the archives here at Columbia Theological Seminary, this action of sending children out of worship began in the 1950s at the height of the post-war baby boom.  Prior to this, no such thing existed.  Children were in the whole of worship with their families.  But in the years following the second world war with the tremendous influx of newborns, congregations began looking for immediate and cost effective ways to gain more space in the sanctuary to accommodate all these young families and their children and some inventive pastor or church educator thought about sending the children out to make more space for adults and thus, the phenomenon of “dismissing” children from worship was born.  If a generation runs approximately 20 years, then we are into our third generation of this experience and it has become normative for us all.  Indeed, when I have preached in congregations where there is now plenty of room for all ages to worship together, church after church still sends children out of worship because “that’s what we have always done.”  The truth is, that is NOT what we have always done and even more, we are now reaping what we have sown.

We have sown three generations of children leaving or never worshipping with us, and it is no wonder that so many find worship boring and incomprehensible when they come of age and are expected to join us.  Further, when I suggest that children remain with us during the whole of worship, some of the loudest objections come from some young parents who want worship to be a time for them when they do not have to worry about their child’s behavior.  My own sense is that this reflects the current belief among developmental theorists that adolescence is extending well into young adulthood and what else is a true sign of adolescence but the primary focus on one’s own needs over others.  And after all, these parents of young children experienced the pattern of a separate “adult worship” and “children’s worship” when they were young so is not that what church is supposed to be like?

Here is the greatest problem I find in separating our children from us in the worship of God.  In Matthew’s gospel, he relays the story also found in Mark and Luke about Jesus encountering little children.  Parents are bringing their children to Jesus because they want their daughters and sons to meet him, but the disciples turn them away.  Jesus tells the disciples to , “Let the little children come to me, and do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs.”  (Matt. 19:14).  Readers of Matthew know that the gospel writer often uses the words “kingdom of heaven”  euphemistically for “God.”  Given the quote from Jesus, he seems to be telling us all that God belongs to children.  This is unique, truly.  I can find no other place in the gospels where God is said to belong to anyone.  It seems that there is something about children that they alone are named as the ones who possess God.  For me, then, the question of children and the church is first and foremost a theological one.  If we are called as the body of Christ to worship God and to glorify God and to enjoy God (as the Westminster divines tell us in the catechism), then does it not make sense that those to whom God is said to belong, our children, should at least be present among us?   In fact, should not our children be leading us in this endeavor for which we were created?

There is no “children’s church” separate from the “church.”  Children’s church IS the church.  Amen.

Rodger Nishioka is the Benton Family Chair in Christian Education at Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, GA.

A Prayer of Confession Inspired by Psalm 106

The following prayer of Confession was written by Stephen Fearing and used at Conyers Presbyterian Church in Conyers, Georgia on Sunday, October 27th, 2013.  On this date, CPC dedicated the newest addition to their worship life, the new Presbyterian Hymnal, Glory to God.  The sung response throughout this confession is hymn number 576 in Glory to God.  It is a simple, heartfelt, and concise sung confession that can be easily learned in almost any group.  The confession is based off of the text of Psalm 106.

Forgive us for what we have done….
                                We have sinned.
                                We have rebelled.
                                We have forgotten your works.
                                We have put you to the test.
                                We have worshipped idols.
                                We have grumbled, provoked, and angered you.
                                We have sinned.
                                          (Kyrie #576)

Forgive us for what we have left undone….
                                We have not considered your wonderful works.
                                We have not remembered the abundance
                                               of your steadfast love.
                                We have not waited for your word.
                                We have not had faith in your promise.
                                We have not served you.
                                (Kyrie #576)

Remember us, O Lord.
                                Show favor upon us, your people.
                                Save us, O Lord our God, and gather us
                                that we might give thanks in your holy name
                                and glory in your praise.
                                           (Kyrie #576)

“When Worry Breaks Our Troubled Hearts”

“When Worry Breaks Our Troubled Hearts”
by Stephen Fearing

1. When worry breaks our troubled hearts
and hands that tremble fill with fear,
Creator, come and fix in us
the faith that knows your grace is near.

2. When gone seem days that once were fair
and eyes that cry seek peace above,
Redeemer, come and free in us
the fullness of your steadfast love.

3. When dread, despair, and death oppress
and feet but stumble, trip, and fall,
Sustainer, come and seal our hearts
with courage, peace, and love for all.

4. “I will be who I’ll be,” says God
to us who serve the Three in One.
We strive together ’til the day
when God, at last, sees all things done.

LM (8.8.8.8.)
Suggested tunes: Prospect, Bourbon, Duke’s Street, Erhalt Uns Herr, and Hamburg.

With many thanks to Michael Morgan at Columbia Theological Seminary for his editorial and theological support!

“Death Has Died, No Longer Holds Us”

Well, here it is: my first ever attempt at hymnody. The following text that I have composed is structured as 8.7.8.7. D. Suggested tunes are ABBOT’S LEIGH, BEECHER, HOLY MANNA, HYFRYDOL, HYMN TO JOY, and NETTLETON.

Death has died, no longer holds us;
God’s embrace and love endure.
Never ceasing, always blessing,
grace has found us, made us sure.
God the Alpha and Omega
gives us life anew each day.
Christ has died and Christ is Risen;
all our fears have passed away.

Text by Stephen Fearing.

Prayer of Confession | Fourth Sunday in Easter (Year C)

From the United Church of Christ.

We seek and find you in Creation, O God,
in the world you have made and the people you have called.
Your vulnerable, powerful Lamb is our shepherd and guide,
leading us to share the shelter of your abundant life.
Let us recognize you here in the beauty of this morning and in its challenge; may the Risen One, your Shepherd-Lamb,
lead us to act for your justice and peace:
so that all may drink from your springs of the waters of life,
and find their tears of sorrow and pain wiped away.
In the name of the Risen One we pray: Amen.