Calls to worship, with imagery of stitching, weaving

Dee Ledger of Maryland offers two calls to worship. The first is based in stitching imagery and the second in weaving. They celebrate the community of quilted, woven faith. (even made with rag-patches and tangled threads!)

*CALL TO WORSHIP (responsive) based on Acts 9:36-43
One: Stitch us together, O Holy One.
We have come with our pockets filled with the fabric of our lives:
Two: Memories of our yesteryears, present patches and
fragmentary dreams and visions of our tomorrows.
ALL: Stitch us together, tailor us to your truth.
One: Some of us, lo, are frayed and worn;
some of us are ironed on hastily, our edges curling prematurely;
some of us are carefully stitched over time;
some are untimely torn…
ALL: Stitch us together, O Holy One,
And let your Holy Spirit stitch in us seams of grace
Two: Empower us to be a crazy, beautiful quilt of your love, challenge and story.
One: We are topstitched, backstitched, and dropstitched,
zig-zag, curved, and straight, full of color and texture,
ALL: Stitch us together, O Holy One, that all might receive what they need for another day,
Two: Patterned by our tailor Jesus
Whose seams are wide with mercy and forgiveness,
One: And whose heart’s loom is sturdy for the weft of our lives.
ALL: Stitch us together today, O Holy One,
With your piercing promise,
And raise us and your Church,
a garment of new life,
clothing for a new day.

*CALL TO WORSHIP (responsive)  based on Psalm 90:1-6, 13-17 and Proverbs 31
Leader: Before the mountains arose, boulder upon boulder,
tectonic plate crashing upon tectonic plate,
People: Before God suffered the birthpangs of a new creation,
From within, from beyond,
Leader: Time stretched like a colorful cloth on a loom between past and future.
People: God weaved us in, and God was God,
Leader: To dust our Weaver returns us,
saying, “Return, my precious wool and flax,
divine threads carefully spun by my hands,
Return now to my beloved earth.”
People: For a thousand years on God’s calendar
are like one evening of sweet soul rest,
like a blessed hour spent with an understanding friend.
Leader: Our plans and passions, our dust and disease,
Like a dream, God sweeps away our threadbare mortality,
People: Like grass we wither and rise; we weep and are woven anew.