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An opportunity to welcome people to the gathering
God who calls us in and sends us out
to announce that the kingdom of God has drawn near
open us to the journey ahead.
Announcing the kingdom of God has drawn near
Inspire us by your radical hospitality to all
That like you we might risk the road ahead
Offering good news to those we encounter
Announcing the kingdom of God has drawn near
Jesus who sent his disciples out to proclaim the kingdom, open us today to your word.
Inspire us to the hospitality of welcome and blessing
that we might risk the good news that God has drawn near. Amen.
Suggested Song: Road Less Travelled
John Coleman © 2008 Revealing The Holy
The peace of the Lord be with you.
And also with you.
You are invited to turn to those around you and offer them a word of greeting and peace.
The Word around the Bush
Luke 10: 1-11.
After this the Lord appointed seventy others and sent them on ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go. 2 He said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few; therefore, ask the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest. 3 Go on your way. See, I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves. 4 Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals; and greet no one on the road. 5 Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace to this house!’ 6 And if anyone is there who shares in peace, your peace will rest on that person; but if not, it will return to you. 7 Remain in the same house, eating and drinking whatever they provide, for the labourer deserves to be paid. Do not move about from house to house. 8 Whenever you enter a town and its people welcome you, eat what is set before you; 9 cure the sick who are there, and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ 10 But whenever you enter a town and they do not welcome you, go out into its streets and say, 11 ‘Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off in protest against you. Yet know this: the kingdom of God has come near.’ 12 I tell you, on that day it will be more tolerable for Sodom than for that town.
From your Scattered Community Minister or another leader within your gathering.
Spend some time in silence sitting still (suggested 5 minutes). Close your eyes lightly. Sit relaxed but alert.
Eternal God,
where there is hope, you are there.
Where there is compassion and the desire for wholeness, you are there.
Where there is the struggle for peace, you are there.
Where the hungry are fed, and the poor empowered, you are there.
Where there is delight in the trees of the land, or the depths of the seas, you are there.
Wherever love is announced, you are there.
In you is such longing for your creation, and for humanity, and we thank you for that presence of you, in Spirit, in people, renewing, calling, and saving.
In that knowledge, and in our simple faith, we bring our prayers for your creation and for the people of this world.
•O Christ we open ourselves in prayer for:
[silence for personal prayer or invite others to open prayer in between each]
Your creation …
Silence
For others we have hear about throughout our world …
Silence
For other people we know and are close to …
Silence
For our church and our wider community …
Silence
For ourselves …
Silence
Let us go from here, as people on the road, called to announce to others…
The Kingdom of God has come near.
Let us go from here, as a people of the paths of life, clinging to few things, called to announce…
The Kingdom of God has come near.
Let us go from here into the countryside, as a people of peace, announcing peace towards others with whom we sit and eat, talk and walk.
Lord, bless us and the people we meet along the way.
Father,
Son
And Holy Spirit. Amen.
Saltbush – Uniting the Scattered Community, seeks to encourage and connect Uniting Christian communities, irrespective of size or location, and to affirm their place within the wider church and community.