Overview
This worship service explores gratitude and wonder through opportunities for spiritual practice. Instead of a sermon, the service includes time for personal reflection, community storytelling, and action. Please feel free to add to, subtract, adapt, or re-order the suggested elements to best serve your community. Likewise, if the suggested hymns aren’t familiar, please feel free to make substitutions.
Liturgy
Supplies
- Paper for journaling, doodling, and drawing
- Thank you cards with envelopes, one per congregant/participant
- Stamps for cards
- Writing utensils
- Colored pencils, markers, or other drawing supplies
Preparation
Place journaling and art supplies throughout the room, within reach of where congregants will be sitting. Decide who will distribute thank you cards and ensure those people have the cards ready to go. Decide who will keep time for the spiritual practice sections, too. If you wish, you might choose to close those times with a chime or bell.
Script
Prelude
Welcome
[Begin with your usual welcome words. Then continue:]
In today’s service, we will explore gratitude and wonder through our own experiences. Instead of a sermon, there will be time for personal reflection, for storytelling, and for creating something to give away. If you’re joining from home today, you might want to gather some supplies. You could have a journal, art supplies, and/or a greeting card.
Wherever you are, I invite you to take an easy breath, or give a little wiggle, or whatever else would help you feel more settled in as we begin our time together.
Opening Words/Chalice Lighting
We gather as people of faith
We gather as people of heartache
We gather as people of wonder and joy
We gather as people of love
We gather as people of beauty
We gather as people of abundance
— Liz Weber
Opening Hymn
Singing the Living Tradition #38, “Morning Has Broken”
Reading
Love Abundant by Alicia R. Forde
Spiritual Practice: Beginning in Wonder
We have pairings today of readings and times for spiritual practices. For our first spiritual practice time, I invite you to go inward. I’ll share a prompt for reflection in a moment. You might want to journal, doodle or draw, meditate or pray. Walking meditation is also an option. You’ll have about five minutes for reflection. Our question for this time is: “Where do you find help and strength? Who or what is a support for you?”
[Give about five minutes for reflection time. If you wish, call people back with a chime or bell.]
Hymn
Singing the Journey #1009, “Meditation on Breathing”
Joys and Sorrows
[Include if this is a part of your congregation’s usual practice.]
Pastoral Prayer
For All That Is Our Life by Liz Weber
Musical Interlude
[Choose an instrumental piece, a piece for an ensemble or vocal soloist, or an anthem.]
Reading
Our Lives Intersect and Intertwine by Tania Y Márquez
Spiritual Practice: Connecting with Each Other
In this spiritual practice time, we’ll take turns sharing with each other. Our prompt will be, “Where do you find a miracle in life, or what are you thankful for?” We will pass the mic around for this. If you’d like to share, raise your hand. We’ll come to you. If you’re on Zoom, please feel free to share in the chat. We’ll read your responses aloud to share with the whole group. Again, the prompt is, “Where do you find a miracle in life, or what are you thankful for?”
[Give about five minutes for sharing. If it works better for your congregation, have people share with their neighbor or in groups of 3–4 instead of passing the mic. Remember to read aloud from the Zoom chat if you’ve said you would.]
Call for Offering
Offertory
[Thank you cards and stamps should be distributed as the offering is collected.]
Reading
For What Shall We Give Thanks? by Laura Horton-Ludwig
[Skip the first two lines of this reading, which are specific to Thanksgiving.]
Spiritual Practice: Moving Outward
In our final spiritual practice time, you have an opportunity to send someone a note of thanks. If you did not receive a notecard during the offertory, please raise your hand so we can bring you one now. Take a moment to think of someone you feel gratitude towards and what you’d like to tell them. It can be something big or something small. We have about five minutes again to write your note. If you end up needing extra time, just finish it during coffee hour or at home.
[Give about five minutes for card writing. If you wish, close the time with a chime or bell.]
Closing Hymn
Singing the Journey #1010, “We Give Thanks”
Extinguishing the Chalice or Closing Words
We depart as people of faith
We depart as people of heartache
We depart as people of wonder and joy
We depart as people of love
We depart as people of beauty
We depart as people of abundance
We depart as people of thanks
— Liz Weber