Dear Friends, we offer this self-directed worship outline as a resource for individual, family, or small group use. It is modeled on our regular order of worship, but please adapt it freely to suit your needs and circumstances. We hope this will be a blessing to you.
Gathering in Worship
Prelude
Brass Quintet No. 1 Op. 73 | Berlin Brass Quintet
Announcements, Introductions, and Birthdays
We welcome all to this virtual gathering for worship, hosted by Wilmington Friends Meeting. As you know, our regularly scheduled corporate meeting for worship has been cancelled, in light of the need to slow the spread of COVID-19 by refraining from gathering together in person. However, no virus is powerful enough to stop us from being gathered by the bond of love! Whoever you are, and wherever you’re from, we’re glad that you’re joining us. Please participate as you feel led by the Spirit.
If you would like to join us on Zoom at 10:00 a.m., please message our Facebook page to receive the link!
Other ways to gather with Friends:
Emily Provance is hosting Quaker Family Devotionals on Zoom. Click here for more information and to sign up.
Barclay Press is offering daily contemplative devotionals on their website.
The Quaker Religious Education Collaborative has started a new Facebook group: Valiant Together: RE Support During COVID-19. Join to connect with religious educators and share ideas!
Powell House, a Quaker retreat center in New York, has a series of virtual workshops planned. Check them out here.
Friends United Meeting offers reflections on the spiritual journey at their Journal.
Gathering Moment
Colossians 1:9-14
“…since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”
Centering Silence
Please take a moment to quietly collect your thoughts and prepare your heart(s) for worship.
Opening Music
I Sing The Mighty Power of God | Ball Brothers
(Lyrics available at the link.)
Caring in Community
Friendly Moment
This Present Time | Paulette Meier
Minute for Mission
Our Pastor, Julie Rudd, is auctioning off a handmade crocheted afghan to benefit Friends United Meeting! Details are available here on Wilmington Yearly Meeting’s Facebook Page. Head over there to share the post so that more people see it.
Praises and Concerns
Praise for the ways we are still gathering.
Praise for the continuing joy of spiritual fellowship.
Praise for the lengthening days.
Praise for the ways sacrificial love is being shown.
Praise for finding new rhythms and new life.
Praise for the God-given wisdom and tenacity of scientists.
Praise for the hope that lies within us.
Praise for the unexpected blessing of time with family.
Pray for Friends facing the unexpected challenges of time with family.
Pray for those who are grieving the loss of loved ones without being able to gather.
Pray for Friends who are struggling with bitterness, especially about politics.
Pray for strength and wisdom for healthcare workers around the world.
Pray that those who help sustain us will find ways to feel renewed.
Pray that Friends will continue to find creative and effectual ways of gathering by card, phone, email, and through online options.
Pray for our political leaders – locally, nationally, and on a global scale – that they would prioritize the peace and health of all people. We pray especially for Governor Mike DeWine, for Lieutenant Governor Jon Husted, and for Dr. Amy Acton.
Pray for our seniors, both the senior citizens and the seniors in high school and college, for whom this is a particularly isolating experience.
Congregational Prayer Focus
Dover Friends Meeting
Wider Quaker Prayer Focus
American Friends Service Committee
Personal praises and concerns can be found in our congregational email. If you would like to submit a praise or a concern, email it to julie dot rudd at wilmingtonfriendsohio dot org. All submissions will, by default, be made anonymous if shared online.
Pastoral Prayer
(Prayer by Dave Bookless)
Jesus, Lord of the Earth
By you all things were created
All creeping things, all flying things,
All living things, all dying things,
The highest hills, the deepest seas,
The strongest gale, the slightest breeze,
The blossom on a cherry tree,
A spinning spider’s artistry,
The smell of dry earth after rain,
Each cell within a human brain,
Each fallen leaf, each towering pine,
Reveals your intricate design.
Creator Lord, we stand amazed,
And for your earth, we give you praise.
Jesus, Lord of the Earth
For you all things were created
The smoothest pebble on the shore,
Detritus on the forest floor,
The undiscovered depths of space,
The wrinkles on a baby’s face;
Each sparrow and each human hair
Is numbered and is in your care,
All iron and oil and diamonds too,
Whilst used by us, belong to you,
Forgive us Lord, for we forget,
All things are yours, and yet,
Provider Lord, we stand amazed,
And with your earth, we give you praise.
Jesus, Lord of the Earth
In you all things now hold together
All of earth’s greatest mysteries,
And all our personal histories,
Each planet and each grain of sand,
You hold them in your nail-scarred hands,
You feed the birds and clothe the flowers,
You warm the soil and send the showers,
You sound the rhythms of the earth,
Of tides and seasons, death and birth,
It is for you creation sings,
The head, the centre of all things,
Sustainer Lord, we stand amazed,
And with your earth, we give you praise.
Jesus, Lord of the earth
In you all things are made new
Lord God before all time began,
Yet you became a Son of Man,
You stepped into the world you made,
A world once good, now spoilt, decayed,
As Son of Man your death reversed
The chaos of creation’s curse,
The earth itself quaked on that day,
Released from bondage to decay,
All things are reconciled to you,
Creation’s hope is born anew.
Redeemer Lord, we stand amazed
And with your earth, we give you praise.
Jesus, Lord of the earth
By you all things were created,
For you all things were created,
In you all things now hold together,
In you all things are made new.
And all creation cries Amen!
Offering and Offertory
Gabriel’s Oboe | The Faroe Islands Philharmonic Orchestra
If you wish to financially support the work of Wilmington Friends Meeting, please mail your donation to us at 66 N Mulberry St, Wilmington, OH 45177, use this link to donate online, or download the EasyTithe app and find us there. Or, as a way of embodying generosity, please make a donation to the religious organization or charity of your choice. Thank you for supporting holy work in the world through your hands and prayers and financial gifts.
Hearing the Scriptures
Quaker Query
Quaker Queries for All Seasons | Charity Kemper Sandstrom
Psalm 126:5-6 — Those who sow with tears will reap with songs of joy. Those who go out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with them.
Query: When I am suffering difficulty, do I set my heart on a hopeful future?
Scripture Reading: Acts 1:6-11
When they were together for the last time they asked, “Master, are you going to restore the kingdom to Israel now? Is this the time?”
He told them, “You don’t get to know the time. Timing is the Father’s business. What you’ll get is the Holy Spirit. And when the Holy Spirit comes on you, you will be able to be my witnesses in Jerusalem, all over Judea and Samaria, even to the ends of the world.”
These were his last words. As they watched, he was taken up and disappeared in a cloud. They stood there, staring into the empty sky. Suddenly two men appeared—in white robes! They said, “You Galileans!—why do you just stand here looking up at an empty sky? This very Jesus who was taken up from among you to heaven will come as certainly—and mysteriously—as he left.”
Children’s Message
Jesus’ Ascension | Saddleback Kids
Reflection: What Time Is It?
What time is it?
If Quakers were gambling people, then I’d be willing to bet that these past few months have left you with an oddly unmoored sense of time passing. How long ago did we start worrying about this new coronavirus? How long has it been since we met at the meetinghouse? How do we even begin to think about what the fall may look like?
Many folks reported that March felt like it took a year just to get through that month, and then April just zoomed by, such that the arrival of May was a shock. And now it’s Memorial Day weekend… how did that even happen?
So that exchange at the beginning of the passage hits a little differently this year than it has in previous years. The disciples, still hopeful that the kingdom would be restored according to their plans, ask this question: “Is this the time?”
And Jesus says, in response, “You don’t get to know the time. Timing is the Father’s business.”
You don’t get to know the time. Doesn’t that feel, well, timely?
Give me a clear schedule, I think, and I will follow it faithfully. Nothing in my life would suggest that that’s true, but I think it none the less. Tell me the plan, and I’ll be a good little worker bee.
I’m well-intentioned, but all of it’s premised in the Kingdom of God coming in the way that I expect, with the particular benchmarks I’m on the watch for. And when it doesn’t, I find myself once more standing confused at the feet of Christ, asking all the wrong questions.
Is this the time? You don’t get to know the time.
The disciples are on the far side of death and resurrection, now. They’ve seen their dreams shattered, and then fitted back together like stained glass into something more beautiful than what they had before.
And now, they think, maybe now is when the expected kingdom comes. Maybe now is when we get to kick some Roman butt.
Is it time? Are we there yet? So much of Scripture makes the people of God sound like whiny children in the back of a minivan. I think that’s intentional, and not inappropriate.
The disciples wanted to know when everything would change. We, more likely, want to know when things will go back to normal. In either case, though, what we’re given isn’t a timeline.
We don’t get to know the times. What we get is power.
You will receive power, Jesus says, when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.
The whole arrival of the Holy Spirit part is next week, on Pentecost. Just for now, though, focus on that exchange: not knowledge of time, but simply power.
Not a schedule to follow, but a power in which to live no matter what the circumstances call for. Not a detailed blueprint, but power to trust in the Loving One who holds the plans.
You will not receive certainty. You will receive power. And in that power, you’ll know what to do with your time.
Sharing in Silence
Waiting Worship
During waiting worship, we listen together for God’s voice. As a virtual participant in this service, this may mean a time of waiting worship with those gathered in your family or small group. It could also be an individual experience. These breath prayers may be helpful to you, as you wait for God’s presence. If you want an online experience, you can join the Ben Lomond Quaker Center Online Meeting.
Blessing and Sending
Close of Waiting Worship
Thank you, Friends, for blessing us with your mindful and loving presence here. As we move toward the end of our time of worship, join us again in song.
Closing Music
Crown Him | Southern Seminary
(Lyrics in the video.)
Closing Words
Thank you for sharing this virtual space with us! Christ is commissioning you, and don’t forget the “co” in commissioning: we do this together, with Christ who is with us always, even unto the end of the age. May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit, be with us now and always. AMEN.
Postlude
The Blessing | Hawaiian Churches
(Lyrics in the video.)