WORSHIP NOTES
This service may be used any time
depending on your context. It is written for congregational worship, but easily
adapted for other gatherings.
Hymns
Suggestions are made throughout
the service order. Alternative hymns include: VU
170, 226, 291, 295, 296, 323, 360,
375, 399, 509, 580, 590, 595, 597, 624, 634, 649, 878.
Participants
3-5 women are invited to take a
part in the service: the worship leader, the congregation's UCW
president/leader, a mother and daughter to light Memorial candle, a mother
& daughter-in-law for Ruth-Naomi monologue #1; a woman for monologue #2; and two women for the Mary-Martha
monologue #3.
Ensure that those with speaking parts
can be easily heard by the congregation, especially where there are no
microphones. The monologues should be delivered without notes but perhaps with
some prompter assistance.
Words of
Welcome and Introduction
Statement (to be read aloud)
The United Church Women, now commonly known as the UCW, was created in
1962 so that women of our faith could "share in a much more meaningful way
in all the work of the church within the congregation, in Presbytery and
Conference, and in the various boards of the Church under
General Council."
Women had already been active for a very long time in
the structured groups of the Woman's Missionary Society - "the WMS",
the Women's Association - "the WA", and the earlier "Ladies'
Aid" groups. With the inauguration
of the new UCW organization it was hoped that we could continue to do the same
work, only more efficiently. History indicates we have succeeded in this!
I now invite the UCW to stand as you are able. All the
women in the congregation are also invited to remain seated and read the UCW
purpose with us as we re-dedicate ourselves once again to our purpose, printed
in your bulletin.
Memorial Candle Lighting
The following text is read prior to lighting the
candle.
The legacy of many women of our congregations is with
the WMS, the WA, the Ladies' Aid and the UCW. As we light this candle, we give
thanks for their ministry, their dedication, and their vision, as we give
thanks for their lives to this congregation and our wider United Church of
Canada. As we light this candle, we invite their spirits to come and dwell
among us, and to live on in all we have done, all we do now, and all we hope to
accomplish.
Life Parable
This is an
opportunity to engage the children in the congregation or the congregation as a
whole.
Ask the listeners how many Biblical women can we name?
Limit time allowed to no more than 4-5 minutes. Then
invite them to share what they know about any of those women listed. Have some fun! Be sure to note the women
without names - just descriptions - in the Bible and offer help to get them
started. Wrap up on a positive note with congratulations for everyone being
so knowledgeable when they work together.
From our Scriptures
This is a selection in two parts
Do not read the scripture;
let the characters tell the stories.
Be sure to
include recognition of the source in the bulletin.
50th Anniversary M&S Project
This part of the service is
meant to be the announcement of our project with The Morogoro Women's Centre.
Relate and connect details of the project as fitting for your context. You
might have donation envelopes in the bulletin or pew for this purpose.
Invitation
to the Offering
Suggested invitation:
We have been given so much. Let
us offer that which has blessed us, so that we might continue to love others.
The offering will now be presented.
Celebration
of UCW Life & Charter Members
A suggested
reading:
These are the women who have blessed our congregation
and the wider church as, Woman's Missionary Society, Woman's Association,
Ladies Aid groups and the UCW over the history of our church.
You know them as mothers, sisters, grandmothers,
aunts, friends, teachers and so much more. Today we name them and honour them
as women of this
List the Life and Charter
members of your church in bulletin at this place, if possible or on back cover.
Read the names aloud at this time and invite those named who are present to
stand as they are able.
Prayers of the
People
Write a prayer appropriate for the
congregation, including thanksgiving for and blessing of UCW today and into the
future. OR use the one below editing as needed:
Let
us pray, and let us do so asking God to shape us in the image of our prayers.
God
of us all, on this special day of celebration, we thank you for the life and
history of our UCW.
We
give thanks for the freedom to live here; for its vast beauty, its wilderness,
and wealth of forest, mine, and sea. We praise you for its people, the people
whose ancestors have been here for thousands of years, and those who have just
arrived.
We thank you for the variety of our
traditions and our cultures, the riches of our spiritual and religious
heritage, the strength of our institutions.
We pray
today for our UCW sisters, and for all women of faith.
Indeed we pray for all people near and
far, as for our churches and institutions, that working together we may face
the future with confident hope,
abundant love, and faith in Your purpose
for our world.
Hear
our silent prayer now, the things we need to celebrate, the things we need to
let go, the people we embrace, and those we entrust to your tender care;
....time of silent reflection.....
We mean
well, O God.
Fill us with the desire to do your will
this day, and always.
In Jesus name we pray, Amen.