Lay participation in the service is one of the things that makes the 9:00 am service at First†Metropolitan special. Here are a few resources which will assist you if you have offered to help with the service and are getting stuck writing Prayers of the People:
Here are some suggestions for Prayers of the People:
- The prayer usually has an opening that names who/what we are addressing (e.g., Holy One, Creator God, Divine Mystery
- This is followed by a statement of thanks, e.g., for the beauty of nature, for families, for our church, etc.
- Then there are petitions which can include prayers for the world, prayers for our nation and province, prayers for our city and church, prayers for our own church family, members of our own families and ourselves.
- The prayer can be ended with a reiteration of thanks and a prayer for wisdom/guidance as we move into the activities of our lives.
- It can also be helpful to include elements of the Scripture and sermon messages and prayers related to world events or church celebrations in our prayer. See the Lectionary resources below.
A few websites that might be helpful in composing Prayers of the People include:
- The Centre for Liturgy website of St. Louis university posts prayers that follow lectionary themes.
- Each week, the World Council of Churches names a part of the world we might wish to pray for. If you click on that suggestion, you’ll pull up more specific prayer suggestions.
- Richard Fairchild’s Lectionary resource site includes a large list of resources, but by sifting through the possibility, you’ll likely find your own favourites.
- Bruce Prewer, a minister in the Uniting Church of Australia, has a website that includes entire liturgies, including his sermons. In the midst of this material, you can find good prayers.
- Nathan Nettleton, another Australian preacher has a webpage with easy to access prayers.
- World Prayers is a site dedicated to gathering the great prayers of the world into one database. Though these sacred verses arise from divergent paths, voices, languages, cultures and heritages, they all carry within them the same burning flame – the same impassioned love for life and the divine mysteries.
- The United Church of Canada website has downloadable copies of the lectionary for the current liturgical season and links to external sites where you can view the Scripture passages in several different versions of the Bible.
This is a major family event and is very well attended by the whole community. It is for children and youth of all ages (and their parents and grandparents). We encourage active participation and supply the costumes. Lots of music, lots of action, lots of happy sounds. Live animals will be in attendance. (In other words, this is not a quiet contemplative service! That is available at 11 pm)
Service starts at 4:30 pm but doors open at 4 pm.
Date: March 6, 2010
Time(s): 7:00 pm
Location: First†Metropolitan United Church Sanctuary
Come and hear this this special concert highlighting our delightful young people in song and chorus. Sponsored by the Music Team with proceeds earmarked to support the bursary program. Tickets $15. Refreshments will follow:
First†Met
Congregational Family Camp
Camp Registration Time!!
Here we are! We are already making plans for our 8th Annual First+Met Congregational Camp for June 25th to 27th. We had 145 people attending last year. This year we are anticipating Branter lodge, with newly built 12 rooms. Families are already signed up and some people even booked at the end of last year’s camp! We are looking forward to hearing from you. Although the deadline is early June, we suggest you register ASAP. If you have any questions, contact the church office.
Camp Fee and Meals
This year Camp fee is:
- Adults $50.00, Children & Youth $25.00, Preschoolers $10.00
2 yr and under (no cost)
- Includes 2 nights accommodation, 2 breakfasts, 2 lunches, 1 supper, 4 snacks, program activities.
*Those coming just for Saturday
- bring $20 per adult (if you are coming for both lunch & supper & fun)
- If you don’t stay for supper the cost will be $15 per adult.
- Youth & Children $10 with or without meals
- Preschoolers ( no cost)..
Please prepay at the church office in order for us to know the numbers for meals.
Directions
Camp Pringle is located on the west side of Shawnigan Lake, next door to the Provincial Park. It is 45 to 60 minutes from Victoria. Turn off to Shawnigan Lake just 2 km past the Petro Canada gas station on the Trans Canada highway. Continue 6 km until you see the sign telling you to take the left road. Camp Pringle is just 7 km further. Camp phone: 250-743-2189 if you are lost.
Call no.: 248.866 Z72
Reviewed by Susan Walma.
Maybe you know someone who is seriously ill or dying. If you are one of these and have concerns as to how to respond or behave in such a situation or would just like hands-on ways as to what to do or not to do, then this book may be for you. The author addresses both the needs and concerns of the person who is dying and their caregivers. Questions about physical and spiritual issues as well as practical and legal plans and decisions that need to be made in regard to caregivers and the dying person, their wishes, and the kind of welfare that optimizes wellbeing in the final stages of life are addressed. Appendices providing help in planning for funerals / memorial services including resources such as Christian or secular suggestions for appropriate readings and music and songs are also included
Call no.: 261.873 W726
Reviewed by:
The title of the book refers to The Peace and Truce of God that was a medieval European movement of the Catholic Church. The movement applied spiritual sanctions in order to control and stop the violence of feudal society and constituted the first organized attempt to control civil society in medieval Europe through non-violent means. It began in 989 AD and survived in some form into the 13th century.
This book addresses questions about our fears in regard to violence as these apply to the modern era and discusses these using the insights provided by the gospel and the cross. The discussion includes modern concerns in regard to the violence that we experience daily; for example, catastrophes involving complex modern technology as well as terrorism, the terror of the occult as so often expressed in film (The Exorcist), psychopathic violence, uncontrollable animal attacks etc. that are so often presented to us in the mass media in one form or another. The author feels that many of these notions lead to feelings of being unable to address these anxieties and the attendant moral dilemnas that can lead us to a detachment, including a moral one, from the troubling issues we are presented with daily.
The discussion centres on the nature of the violence that we experience today and disusses what is peace and the nature of the peace and the grace of God that is the antidote to the debillitating effects that these violences have on us. The author does not pretend to provide answers to these troubling issues. Instead, using mostly Christian concepts but also drawing insights from other religions, he has suggested “…how the Christian faith offers some resource for meeting these fears and for reinforcing resistance to those aspects of our culture that will maim and even kill us as human agents if they are left unchallenged.”
Call no.: 263.042461 R946
Reviewed by: Gillian Chamberlin
At age 60 Joyce Rupp, well-known author and speaker, embarked on the adventure of walking the ancient pilgrimage road from the French border to Santiago de Compostela in northwestern Spain. With her walking companion, Tom, a retired pastor, Joyce learned lessons that can help all of us travel life’s journey with more grace and lightness. She writes this account in hopes it will stir up fresh enthusiasm and insight into the gifts available to us in our own lives, as this pilgrimage did in hers.
A rich account of the events and conditions of the route, the many different encounters with people and the land, and Joyce’s discoveries about herself and her relationships with her human and divine companions.
Stories United: