Summer Chapel

June 11th

Order of Worship

Welcome to Summer Chapel – a guided experience to help you practice the presence of God through silence, reflection, and prayer.

 Please begin with the Personal Prayer described below. After about 5 minutes, I will move us along to what is next.

PERSONAL PRAYER – HERE I AM (adapted by Anthony Bloom’s book Beginning to Pray)

Intention – to practice being present in the moment, present to your surroundings, and present to God.

• Be seated and think to yourself, “Here I am.” Begin by repeating the simple prayer to God, “Here I am.” Feel your body relax. Settle into your chair. Pay attention to your breathing. Focus on the moment.
• After a minute or so, continue to pray, “Here I am”, but this time be aware of what is around you – the room, the surroundings, the people. What draws your attention? Just be present in silence and listen. Relax even more.
• After a minute or so, move to the prayer, “Here I am in your presence, God. Here I am.” And repeat the prayer to Jesus saying, “Here I am in your presence.”

WELCOME AND OPENING PRAYER

ALL: You make known to us the path of life; you will fill us with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.
We welcome You, Spirit of God, You who seek our company and choose to make yourself known to us.
ALL: We are grateful for Your many blessings, including bringing us together at this time, in this place.
Christ redeeming and forgiving One, who is always faithful and merciful.
ALL: We gather to give you thanks.
Spirit indwelling and compassionate One, who calls us into relationship with the living God,
ALL: We gather to give you thanks.
God who created the earth and the heavens, eternal, redeeming and sustaining One,
ALL: We gather to give you thanks.
We come with hearts full of gratitude, for all things good.
ALL: We gather to give you thanks. AMEN

 MOMENT OF GRATITUDE

GUIDED PRAYER AND REFLECTION – The Cross and Patient Endurance
What does the cross mean to you?
Where in your life today are you needing patient endurance?
“Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary or lose heart.”

Two Prayer Movements – taken from Hebrews 12:2-3

• • Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith… NIV

We look away from the natural realm and we focus our attention and expectation onto Jesus who birthed faith within us and who leads us forward into faith’s perfection. TPT

SONG – Christ Be With Me

• • • For the joy set before him he endured the cross…NIV

His example is this: Because his heart was focused on the joy of knowing that you would be his, he endured the agony of the cross and conquered its humiliation. TPT

PRAYER FOR EACH OTHER -Prayer adapted from Celtic Daily Prayer

Lord, be with _____.

Surround _____ with Your love…

In waking and sleeping, in joy and in pain, in waiting and longing.

Enfold _____ with Your peace.

Encircle _____with Your protection.

Flow through _____ with Your healing.

Fill _____ with Your hope.

So that ______ may endure patiently. AMEN

CLOSING PRAYER

Christ be with you
ALL: And also with you.