ow! What a way to start the day, recognizing that God is in our work, that our work is our worship, and that all that we do, say, and think is connected to our worship.
Worship & Daily Life is a resource for worship planners written by eleven clergy and lay writers. It includes greetings, thanksgiving and praise, petitions, intercessions, confessions, affirmations of faith, dedications, Great Thanksgivings, hymn suggestions, and other worship resources designed to help us connect our faith with our daily life.
In the introduction by Doris Rudy, laywoman from Evanston, IL, she says, “Followers of Christ, specifically the people in the pew—the laity—spend most of their time outside the institutional church, in the world. The workplace, the home, the community and neighborhood, and the global community are the places of our daily lives. These are the contexts of our ministry as parents, firefighters, realtors, students, teachers, construction workers, composers, . . . public servants, and child-care givers. These are the places where we live out our discipleship. Making the connection between our faith and what happens in the daily places of our lives is not easy.”
This is also a book that will help persons who contribute toward devotions in church organizations, and families and individuals in their daily prayer life. Too often the things we do during the week—prepare families for school and work, go to meetings, write reports, clean house, carpool, shop for groceries—have no relationship to what we do on Sundays—go to Sunday school and church, read the Bible, and pray. Nor do we connect them to the biblical mandate to bring good news to the poor, proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, and let the oppressed go free (Luke 4:18).
The writers point out that, as our wardrobes include both Sunday clothes and everyday clothes, so our activities reflect that what we do on Sunday is ‘better’ than what we do all week. “As Christians we are called to wear the ‘clothes’ of our everyday lives into worship and to wear our ‘Sunday clothes’ to work, for we seek to worship God with our whole lives. The people of Sunday should be the same as the people of the rest of the week.”
Rudy relates the word liturgy to life and work. Jesus’ parables and healings were connected to everyday life situations. They connect life to prayer, quoting Paul’s advice, “Present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship” (Rom. 12:1). “If we understand the word Body to include our total being,” Rudy continues, “then prayer becomes a lifestyle and not a posture requiring a bowed head. Life is prayer.” And all that we do—cooking, teaching, answering the phone, parenting, managing a business, visiting with friends—becomes our prayer.
The writers suggest that we keep worship sacramental, remember that people are seeking God, consider all of the people, and continuously improve services based on what is working, what needs to be improved, and what was learned.
A Greeting, p. 21
You come bringing gifts,Affirmation of Faith, p. 46
Not in your hands
But your hands themselves.
In your eyes and your voice,
Your face and your spirit.They speak of you.
They say, “Here are all the places I have been.
Here are the people I have known.
Here is my spirit, not tucked away
But worn as a treasured garment.”You say, “Here is my gift.
It is the best I have.
I bring myself,
Knowing that when we leave,
Because of your gift,
I will look a little more like you
And a little more like God.”
We believe there is no place where God cannot be found.Prayer of Confession, p. 39
On street corners and in dark alleys,
God is there.
In hospital rooms and in hospice centers,
God is there.
In factories and in taco stands,
God is there.
In classrooms and in kitchens
God is there.
In prisons and in amusement parks,
God is there.
In daycare centers and in homeless shelters,
God is there.
In churches and in boot camps,
God is there.
In playgrounds and in mortuaries,
God is there.
In bars and in board rooms,
God is there.
In grocery stores and in mall shops,
God is there.
God is with us.
God is with us where we live.
God is with us where we work.
God is with us.
Leader: Lord, hear our heartfelt confessions today.
People: We have often shied away from talking about faith at our workplace.
Leader: We have worried that others would look down on us for such views.
People: We have kept a radical separation between our work life and our church life.
Leader: As if we have been ashamed of our faith and calling.
People: Enable us, O Lord, to see that our faith and our work cannot be separated from each other.
Leader: Move us to share with boldness the good news of God’s love for all. God has heard our confessions and forgives us lovingly.
From Worship & Daily Life: A Resource for Worship Planners, Copyright © 1999 Discipleship Resources. THIS RESOURCES IS NOW OUT OF PRINT, BUT MAY BE AVAILBLE FROM AMAZON.COM.
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