Worship service to accompany the Mission & Service Spiritual Practice Notes for worship leader: you will need to put your Spiritual Practice together prior to worship, make the stations work to your context ie. Instead of a large room where stations are created into a spiral, place in different parts of the church or different walls of the Sanctuary. Print enough copies of the journal for each person to have one. The worship and Spiritual Practice can be used at your regular Sunday morning worship as a way to inform your community of faith about Mission & Service or at another time of day, or as part of a retreat. Call to Gather: God calls us together for a time of worship. May we be transformed by our time together! As we gather, I would ask you to take a moment and take a deep breath in and out, notice your breathing as you continue to breathe in and out deeply. Let us say together this Gaelic blessing: Deep peace of the running wave to you. Deep peace of the flowing air to you. Deep peace of the quiet earth to you. Deep peace of the shining stars to you. Deep peace of the infinite peace to you. Hymn: MV 79 Spirit, Open my heart or VU 559 Come, O Fount of Every Blessing Prayer: O God, you call us to community. You call us to walk with one another Open our hearts and minds to know the many ways Mission & Service walks with others Open our eyes to see the difference Mission & Service makes in the world. Amen. Spiritual Practice: Share with the group where the stations are, let the group know that there is no particular order to experience the spiritual practice, hand out the journals, explain that the journals have extra prayers and information about each station and that the journal is for each person to take with them for their own personal reflection. Give the group as much time as they need, let them know that they can revisit stations if they wish, when they have completed their journey around the Spiritual Practice invite the group to sit down again, and sing VU 595 We are Pilgrims, as each person sits down encourage them to sing as well. Begin the Spiritual Practice with these questions for their reflection: I wonder which Bible story this section makes me think of? I wonder how I can make a more meaningful connection with Mission & Service? I wonder how I can share my reflections with others?

Scripture: Mark 8:22-25 22 They came to Bethsaida. Some people [a] brought a blind man to him and begged him to touch him. 23 He took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village; and when he had put saliva on his eyes and laid his hands on him, he asked him, “Can you see anything?” 24 And the man[b] looked up and said, “I can see people, but they look like trees, walking.” 25 Then Jesus[c] laid his hands on his eyes again; and he looked intently and his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. Time of Discussion: Seeing something clearly can be as simple as a new understanding. What is the new understanding you have now that you have encountered the Mission & Service Spiritual Practice? How can you make a more meaningful connection with Mission & Service? If time allows you can offer this reflection: Preacher and author Rob Bell says “it’s not that you have a spiritual life, you are a spiritual life” As spiritual beings we need to feed our life with moments of spiritual practice, both for ourselves and for others. It is my hope that this Mission & Service Spiritual Practice inspired you to understand how important you are. That you feed many with your gifts for Mission & Service, may you be fed by the knowledge of all that you do to mend the world. Amen. Prayer: May our experience today wash over us like renewing, refreshing rain. May we take all that we have encountered with us into a new understanding of Mission & Service. May we be able to give heart and soul to the Mission & Service of the United Church of Canada. Amen. Hymn: MV 89 Love is the Touch or VU678 For the Healing of the Nations End with a blessing: Bless to us, O God, the earth beneath our feet. Bless to us, O God, the path whereon we go. Bless to us, O God, the people that we meet. Today and every day. Amen