The dark and light dance together creating beauty and wonder in this piece. It was written as an alternative to counter the many uses of light as good and dark as bad. The verses go with the lighting of the Advent candles: hope, peace, joy and love. The tune is...
Authors: Susan Lukey
This Advent candle-lighting for two voices and the whole congregation is inspired by Psalm 104:19: “You have made the moon to mark the seasons; the sun knows its time for setting." The litanies invite us to understand dark and light as partners in creation in a dance that blesses us...
Do you have a sense of the general literacy level of your congregation? If you take time to observe and reflect, you might get a feel for the comfort level for reading among the people you serve. Yet, be aware of your biases and the assumptions that might be shaping...
Sylvia Dunstan (1955–1993) served as Editor of Gathering from 1985–1988. In the Advent-Christmas-Epiphany 1986 issue, she writes: “The editor’s mother (a restaurateur/food and wine writer) was visiting recently and looked through Gathering . She was of the opinion that Gathering is badly in need of a food and wine column...
A Prayer for Students and Teachers As a new school year begins, we offer this prayer for students and teachers to use as they enter into the adventure of learning together. Loving God, Wise God, remind me that you are with me as I return to school. Give me delight...
By joining in this worship, Gracious God, we are making a choice, a choice to be part of your transforming love in this world. We are offering ourselves—body, mind, and spirit—to the mending and tending of your world. We are opening ourselves to be changed by your compassion working in...
We, the Gathering Worship editorial team, would like to introduce ourselves to the whole Gathering Worship community! Get to know a bit about who’s behind the names that appear frequently on your page and screen—the people who put it all together. The first in the series is Susan Lukey. Hello...
We’ve got to stop being defensive about not reading the Bible literally and not believing it is the inerrant word of God. Taking the Bible literally as the inerrant word of God is not “good old-time religion.” The approach only took root about 130 years ago, at “Believers Meetings for...
These prayers were shared in the weekly congregational email and posted on the church website the week before school began. A Prayer for Students and Teachers As a new school year begins, we offer this prayer for students and teachers to use as they enter into the adventure of learning...
Next time you are writing a prayer, consider the period, a simple dot that carries profound power and responsibility. Punctuation was developed in the seventh century CE to help make the written word approximate human speech. For example, a question mark or an exclamation mark at the end of a...