Worship Order - Theme - Reformation

Special Order of Worship for Reformation Sunday

Greeting
Leader: Blessed is our God always, now and unto the ages of ages.
All: Amen.
Leader: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God”
All: Amen

Invocation
Leader: Our God, the True Reformer
All : We gather in your name.
Leader: Jesus the Son, the Light of the World
All: We gather in your name.
Leader: Holy Ghost , the Spirit of Truth
All: We gather in your name.

Prayer in Unison

Lord Jesus Christ, thank you - for calling us together in faith and love - to be the reformers of this time. Lord we acknowledge that - reformation is not static- but it is dynamic and a continuous movement. We affirm that you are our God who renews and reforms our lives each moment. Lord we as a faith community - believe that reformation is not traditionalism - but finding the true meaning - of the traditions and practices. Lord we realise that - reformation is not blindly following or rejecting the traditions - but it is creating new traditions and practices which are life affirming. Lord Jesus enable us to create a space for questioning our own spiritual orientations and our faith expressions in the light of your word and deeds. Lord help us to create such spaces today in our families, parishes and the Church. Lord we accept and and affirm that Christ, Bible and liturgy are not to be monopolised by a few but to make available to all without any kind of discrimination. It created a sphere where all can read, study and speak your word. Lord breathe again the new life of your Holy Spirit among us which you showered upon our pioneers of reformation. That we may hear your holy word, Pray in your name, Seek reformation in the Body of Christ . And live more fully the faith we profess.All glory and honour be yours. With the Father, and the Holy Spirit, for ever and ever. Amen.


A Litany

Women: God called us from the darkness towards God’s wonderful light

Men: God help us to be the reformers of today by walking in God’s wonderful light

Women: God, You led us and liberated us. Your way leads us from darkness to light. Through reformation you called us to be the agents of light. You enlightened and filled us with your spirit. You have been with us and will be with us. Strengthen us on our common way of freedom through dynamic reformation

Men: Christ says whoever follows me, will not walk in darkness but have the light of life.

Women: God, you re-formed our imaginations and our walks of life through reforming engagements of our fore-parents

Men: Jesus says, you are the light of the world. Let your light shine before others.

All: Lord help us to re-read your Word. Help us to re-imagine your Word. Help us to re-interpret your Word. Christ, the incarnated Word of life, live in our lives and in our Church. Amen.

Congregational Prayer

Children: Jesus the reformer and true missionary, help us to regain the missionary zeal which made our church to be the first indigenous missionary movement in India.

All: O God , you have broken the silence through the revelation of your Word, Jesus Christ. Help us to be the evangelists of gospel of redemption which affirms justice and peace. Open our eyes that we may see Jesus, the star who dispels our shadows; Open our ears that we might hear the voices of millions. Open our hearts that we may know how to respond to the pain of those who suffer among us. We the the reformed church assembled here together, to shatter the silence and dispel darkness by being the agents of genuine reformation which affirms the royal priesthood of all. Amen


Prayer of Thanksgiving

Children: We thank you for our fore-parents who sowed the seeds of reformation by engaging themselves in reading the Bible, trusting in God in the midst of struggles, and found real power and strength in prayer. Lord, we praise you for giving them enlightenment, wisdom, boldness, vision and new imagination with you.

All: We thank you for our sisters, mothers, brothers and fathers who have shown a new paradigm of sharing by set apart ‘a handful of rice’ for the mission activities of the Church.We thank you for their unconditional and sacrificial sharing, tearful and genuine prayers, initiatives and selfless living for the Church and society that made us to grow in the midst of poverty and nothingness. Lord we thank you for the vision you have given to our pioneers of reformation. They had a vision of a Church which is God centred and reflects and carries the love of God. Lord help us to uphold the values, ethos, traditions and practices of our fore-parents. Help us to carry the movement and dynamism of reformation in your church and society today. Amen


Prayer of Confession

Children: Reformation is an act of Justice, it unveiled falsehood, it is a journey to affirm life.
Leader: “And when He comes, he will prove the world wrong about sin and righteousness and judgement”. Lord we lost of the consciousness of sin. Lord we forgot to call for justice, we speak lies not truth, we conceive mischief and give birth to iniquity ( John 16;8, Isaiah 59:4).
All: Lord Have Mercy

Children: Reformation destroyed the empires of evil and its images from the life of the Church.
Leader: “the Kingdom of God is among you”. Lord, we accept the fact that we created our own empires and created new golden calves and we worship these ungods. We sidelined you
( Luke17:21, Ex:32)
All: Lord Have Mercy

Children: Reformation redefined the power structures and affirmed that we are one and equal in Christ.
Leader: “And the Word became flesh and lived among us,and we have seen his glory, the glory as a father’s only son, full of grace and truth”. You came down from heaven. It was an act of reformation. But we look for the powers and pleasures of this world. We created divisions in the name of caste, gender, class, wealth (John 1: 17)
All: Lord, we know that reformation is a journey towards a community where Christ lives, rules. But today we rule our empire and the justice is of this world , not yours. Reformation is a journey towards the discourses of life. It opened the Bible and liturgy and thereby democratised the very communication of God. Today we lost the Bible which our fore-parents opened and given to us. We failed in our pursuit to know the depth of our liturgy. But we have power, wealth and the the masters of this world. Lord Have Mercy, Lord Have Mercy, Lord Have Mercy

Leader: Let us hear Christ’s promise of pardon:
"Peace I leave with you: my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid."

All: Thanks, praise and glory be to God.

Leader: Let us hear Christ’s promise of pardon:
"Peace I leave with you: my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid." Today salvation has come among us through God’s forgiveness. “For the son of Man came to seek out and to save the Lost”

All: Thanks, praise and glory be to God.

Prayer of Commitment

Leader: Let us look to Jesus, the perfector of our faith.

Leader: Jesus Christ, we look upon your cross.
We come to you and stand before your cross.
Your cross speaks to us cost of commitment
Your cross reveals the cost of faith and engaging ourselves in the movement of reformation
Your cross points the way from death to life, because you defeated death for ever.
Your cross reveals that there is pain, rejection and alienation in the movement of reformation
Your resurrection calls us to rejoice in a joy that no one can take from us.
Lord Jesus Christ, you are the resurrection and the life. We worship you, dedicate ourselves for the dynamic reformation which we would like to initiate in our all walks of life

Prayer of Intercession

Leader: Let us pray to the God, through the Son and in the Holy Spirit, for the needs of our
church, our world and ourselves. We pray without ceasing for the inevitability of the movement of reformation today
All: Lord, have mercy on us and hear us

Leader: We pray without ceasing for the Laity, Evangelists , Clergy , Bishops,Saffragan Metropolitan, Metropolitan, Valiya Metropolitan, organisations, decision making bodies, Diocese, particularly North America and Europe Diocese and all the people who serve the church, that they may persevere in the task of reformation
All: Christ, have mercy on us and hear us

Leader: That all faithful members of our Church might witness to the gospel and to the ethos of reformation, turning away from all that is destructive, to embrace justice, peace and solidarity.
All: Lord, have mercy on us and hear us

Leader: For the poor, the oppressed, victims of war and of violence. For the broken hearted and for those who are hated and maltreated. We pray for the people in Africa who are in utter starvation.
All: Christ, have mercy on us and hear us


Leader: We pray that the Lord may hear and respond to our constant prayers, through Christ
our Lord.
All: Amen


Final Blessing

Leader 1: May God bless you with a restless discomfort about easy answers, half-truths and superficial relationships, so that you may seek truth boldly and love deep within your heart and engage yourself for reformation.

Leader2: May God bless you with holy anger at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people, so that you may tirelessly work for reformation, justice, freedom, and peace among all people.

Leader 3: May God bless you with the gift of tears to shed with those who suffer from pain, rejection, starvation, or the loss of all that they cherish, so that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and transform their pain into joy.

All: May God bless you with enough foolishness to believe that you really can make a difference in this world, so that you are able, with God's grace, to do what others claim cannot be done.Amen.

(Notes: Preferably there should be three leaders for this worship. One Sunday School Student, one male and one female.)

Prepared by
Rev.Sajeev Thomas(Vicar, St.James MTC, London)