Prayer of Invocation | Easter Sunday (Year C)

The following prayer is by Andy James and Teri Peterson via LiturgyLink.Net. We go to your tomb, O Christ, expecting to be met by the cold hardness of stone, sealing the death of hope. Instead, we find that the stone has been rolled away and you are not there! Help us to encounter your risen presence everywhere we go and live in the joy of Easter morn each and every day, through Christ our risen Lord. Alleluia! Amen.

Submitted by Rev. Andy James, First Presbyterian Church of Whitestone, Queens, New York, and Rev. Teri Peterson, Ridgefield-Crystal Lake Presbyterian Church, Crystal Lake, Illinois.

Comment

Stephen Fearing

Stephen was born in 1988 in Cookeville, TN, where his parents met whilst attending Tennessee Tech. Shortly after, they moved to Dalton, Georgia where they put down roots and joined First Presbyterian Church, the faith family that taught Stephen that he was first and foremost a beloved child of God. It was this community that taught Stephen that it was OK to have questions and doubts and that nothing he could do could every possibly separate him from the love of God. In 1995, his sister, Sarah Kate, joined the family and Stephen began his journey as a life-long musician. Since then, he has found a love of music and has found this gift particularly fitting for his call to ministry. Among the instruments that he enjoys are piano, trumpet, guitar, and handbells. Stephen has always had a love of singing and congregation song. An avid member of the marching band, Stephen was the drum major of his high school's marching band. In 2006, Stephen began his tenure at Presbyterian College in Clinton, SC where he majored in Religion and minored in History. While attending PC, Stephen continued to explore his love of music by participating in the Wind Ensemble, Jazz Band, Jazz Combo, Jazz Trio, as well as playing in the PC Handbell ensemble and playing mandolin and banjo PC's very own bluegrass/rock group, Hosegrass, of which Stephen was a founding member (Hosegrass even released their own CD!). In 2010, Stephen moved from Clinton to Atlanta to attend Columbia Theological Seminary to pursue God's call on his life to be a pastor in the PC(USA). During this time, Stephen worked at Trinity Presbyterian Church, Silver Creek Presbyterian Church, Central Presbyterian Church, and Westminster Presbyterian Church. For three years, Stephen served as the Choir Director of Columbia Theological Seminary's choir and also served as the Interim Music Director at Westminster Presbyterian Church. In 2014, Stephen graduated from Columbia with a Masters of Divinity and a Masters of Arts in Practical Theology with an emphasis in liturgy, music, and worship. In July of 2014, Stephen was installed an ordained as Teaching Elder at Shelter Island Presbyterian Church in Shelter Island, NY. Later that year, Stephen married the love of his life, Tricia, and they share their home on Shelter Island with their Golden Doodle, Elsie, and their calico cat, Audrey. In addition to his work with the people who are Shelter Island Presbyterian Church, Stephen currently serves as a commission from Long Island Presbytery to the Synod of the Northeast and, beginning in January of 2016, will moderate the Synod's missions team.

Communion Prayer | Maundy Thursday (Year C)

This communion prayer includes sung congregational responses using three verses of the hymn “What Wondrous Love Is This.” It is submitted by Andy James via LiturgyLink.Net. The Lord be with you. And also with you. Lift up your hearts. We lift them up to the Lord. Let us give thanks to the Lord our God. It is right to give our thanks and praise.

Eternal God, it is right to give our thanks and praise, for your love marks the expanse of creation, your justice stretches out into the farthest land, and your peace makes all things complete.

You are worthy of praise.

Yet we fall short. We have stepped away from your love. We have ignored your call for justice. We have sowed conflict rather than peace.

Yet you know no boundaries. Nothing we say or do can keep you away from us. Even amidst all our brokenness, you kept calling us back, with prophets and messengers and kings to guide us in your ways.

And in the fullness of time, you sent your own son, Jesus, to intervene in our world, to call us to know your love, to show us that we are worthy to bring you praise.

And so we join our voices with the multitude of the ages, singing joyfully of your wondrous love:

What wondrous love is this, O my soul, O my soul, what wondrous love is this, O my soul. What wondrous love is this that caused the Lord of bliss to bear the heavy cross for my soul, for my soul, to bear the heavy cross for my soul.

Your love in Jesus Christ is wondrous, almighty God. In him you stepped into our world; in him you taught us how to live in harmony with one another; in him you healed and made whole; in him you challenged us to journey a new road together.

In his death, you took on the fullness of our pain and suffering, and in his resurrection, you showed us that death will never have the final word.

So just as he did with his disciples on the night of his arrest, so we too gather, sharing a meal, receiving the bread of his body, welcoming the cup of his salvation, and trusting that we too will be made whole.

And so we sing our praise to you for the wonder of this gift:

To God and to the Lamb I will sing, I will sing, to God and to the Lamb, I will sing; to God and to the Lamb who is the great I Am, while millions join the theme, I will sing, I will sing, while millions join the theme, I will sing! And so gather us with those millions, loving Lord.

Pour out your Holy Spirit upon us and upon these gifts of bread and cup, that the bread we break and the cup we bless may be the communion of the body and blood of Christ.

By your Spirit, make us one with Christ and one another, united in faith, hope, and love with all those who share this feast as we reach out and serve the world with your grace, mercy, and hope until your kingdom comes and we are free to sing with all creation forever and ever:

And when from death I’m free, I’ll sing on, I’ll sing on, and when from death I’m free, I’ll sing on; and when from death I’m free, I’ll sing and joyful be, and through eternity I’ll sing on, I’ll sing on, and through eternity I’ll sing on.

Through Christ, with Christ, in Christ, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all glory and honor are yours, almighty God, now and forever. Amen.

Submitted by Rev. Andy James, First Presbyterian Church, Whitestone, New York

Comment

Stephen Fearing

Stephen was born in 1988 in Cookeville, TN, where his parents met whilst attending Tennessee Tech. Shortly after, they moved to Dalton, Georgia where they put down roots and joined First Presbyterian Church, the faith family that taught Stephen that he was first and foremost a beloved child of God. It was this community that taught Stephen that it was OK to have questions and doubts and that nothing he could do could every possibly separate him from the love of God. In 1995, his sister, Sarah Kate, joined the family and Stephen began his journey as a life-long musician. Since then, he has found a love of music and has found this gift particularly fitting for his call to ministry. Among the instruments that he enjoys are piano, trumpet, guitar, and handbells. Stephen has always had a love of singing and congregation song. An avid member of the marching band, Stephen was the drum major of his high school's marching band. In 2006, Stephen began his tenure at Presbyterian College in Clinton, SC where he majored in Religion and minored in History. While attending PC, Stephen continued to explore his love of music by participating in the Wind Ensemble, Jazz Band, Jazz Combo, Jazz Trio, as well as playing in the PC Handbell ensemble and playing mandolin and banjo PC's very own bluegrass/rock group, Hosegrass, of which Stephen was a founding member (Hosegrass even released their own CD!). In 2010, Stephen moved from Clinton to Atlanta to attend Columbia Theological Seminary to pursue God's call on his life to be a pastor in the PC(USA). During this time, Stephen worked at Trinity Presbyterian Church, Silver Creek Presbyterian Church, Central Presbyterian Church, and Westminster Presbyterian Church. For three years, Stephen served as the Choir Director of Columbia Theological Seminary's choir and also served as the Interim Music Director at Westminster Presbyterian Church. In 2014, Stephen graduated from Columbia with a Masters of Divinity and a Masters of Arts in Practical Theology with an emphasis in liturgy, music, and worship. In July of 2014, Stephen was installed an ordained as Teaching Elder at Shelter Island Presbyterian Church in Shelter Island, NY. Later that year, Stephen married the love of his life, Tricia, and they share their home on Shelter Island with their Golden Doodle, Elsie, and their calico cat, Audrey. In addition to his work with the people who are Shelter Island Presbyterian Church, Stephen currently serves as a commission from Long Island Presbytery to the Synod of the Northeast and, beginning in January of 2016, will moderate the Synod's missions team.