Covenant Church
an ecumenical liberal baptist congregation
  • Home
    • Blog
    • Contact Us!
    • Press
    • Celebrating 50 Years
  • About our Church
    • This Coming Sunday
    • Covenant Staff/Leadership >
      • Staff Opportunities
      • Committees
      • Deacons
    • Worship & Church Mission >
      • Liturgical Year
      • Easter at Covenant
    • Covenant's History
    • Missions >
      • Blood Drives
      • Community Garden
      • Nursing Home Support
      • Montrose Grace Place
      • Refugee Resettlement Project
    • Adult Education >
      • Adult Education Recordings
      • Theology Book Group
      • Lending Library
    • Sacred Space >
      • The Labyrinth
      • Covenant's Color Garden
    • Space for Rent
    • All Church Retreat
    • Becoming a Member
  • Sermons, Music, Media
    • Proclamations
    • Live-Stream Worship Services
    • Online Worship Services
    • Books & Resources
    • Worship Orders
    • Music
    • Photos
  • Children & Youth
    • Education & Programs >
      • Nursery (0-2)
    • Summer Camps!
    • Youth Mentoring
  • Calendar
  • Member Area
  • Giving
  • A Call to Action
  • In Memoriam
  • Blue Tiger Project

A Service of Worship for
April 26, 2020

It's not a cry that you hear at night
It's not somebody who's seen the light
​It's a cold and it's a broken hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
 
Prayer is translation. 
A man translates himself into a child 
asking for all there is in a language he has barely mastered.
 
Children show scars like medals. 
Lovers use them as secrets to reveal. 
A scar is what happens when the word is made flesh.
Leonard Cohen
Worship Order
Worship notes are also included at the bottom of this page.
​

With this link you can make donation to Covenant through PayPal or a credit card. 

Prelude
"Anthem of Hope" by Anthony DiLorenzo, River Oaks Chamber Orchestra.

​Call to Worship

Opening Sentences
We remember that your church was born
in wind and fire, 
not to sweep us heavenward
like a presumptuous tower, 
but to guide us down the dusty roads of this world
so that we may lift up the downcast,
heal the broken,
reconcile what is lost,
and bring peace amidst unrest.


​Scripture Lesson: Psalm 40:1-12

​Time for Children

​Call to Confession
Unison Confession
God of love,
plunge me deep into a sense of sadness
at the pain of my sisters and brothers,
that I may learn again to cry as a child
until my tears baptize me
into a person who touches with care
those I now touch in prayer:
victims of violence,
people with broken bodies
with broken hearts,
with broken lives,
whom I remember now in silence before you.
Amen.
​​Music
“I Waited for the Lord,” Dana Guidroz and Hannah Rice.

​​​​Proclamation

Prayer
God of empty tombs, parted waters, and fiery furnaces,
remind us to notice and name the miracles in our own stories -
life-saving drugs
forgiveness
flowers
a kind word.

Stories of extraordinary love.
Love offered as an expression of our best selves.

God of rainbows, prodigal sons, and lost sheep,
teach us to be mindful of the sacred stories of others–
second chances
faded photos
scars
a broad smile.

Stories of tireless hope.
Hope distilled from truth and disappointment, a reflection of our highest aspirations. 
​

By Raymond Stubblefield
​
​Invitation

​Prayer of Dedication
There need to be stories;
love has to be told, danced,
sung and whistled.
Love has to be evoked
over and over again.


​Affirmation of Faith
The task for a spirituality of survival, liberation, and wholeness is to address the existential and essential brokenness of all creation in a holistic manner, ministering to body, mind, spirit, and the material.

Such spirituality remembers God who is the strength of all life, who keeps humankind in harmony with the sacred in our everyday work, and who works for the healing and wholeness of creation.

​Benediction
And so, be at peace. And as you abide in peace, sing the new song that is yours to sing; work for justice; join in God's work of true liberation. Amen

Postlude
"Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring,"  Jacy Grannis, viola.

Worship Notes

The worship leader is Jme Guehring.

The prelude is "Anthem of Hope" by Anthony DiLorenzo, River Oaks Chamber Orchestra.
Website:  https://roco.org/
Twitter:  @rocohouston
Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/rocohouston/
Instagram: @rocohouston

The Call to Worship is “Dear Crazy, Crying Heart” from Morning Watch by Barbara Pescan.

The Opening Sentences are from
Garth House.

The Unison Confession is adapted from Guerillas of Grace by Ted Loder.
“I Waited For the Lord” is sung by Dana Guidroz and Hannah Rice.

The Prayer of Dedication is a prayer from “Where Love Is, There Is God,” in The Mystery of Death by Dorothee Soelle.

The Affirmation of Faith is from Sisters of Dust, Sisters of Spirit: Womanist Wordings on God and Creation by Karen Baker-Fletcher.

The postlude is played by Jacy Grannis, viola. 
Copyright (c) 2020, Covenant Church
Picture
Covenant Church
4949 Caroline St., Houston, TX 77004
office@covenanthouston.org
713-668-8830
If you have any problems with this site please contact office@covenanthouston.org.
Proudly powered by Weebly