European Diaconal Forum
Järvenpää, Finland
Closing worship, 29.9.01
L Gracious God, for your love for
us, gentle as a shower healing
our pain, binding our wounds,
P we give you thanks.
L For your love for us, sure as the dawn,
transforming our darkness
and revealing your truth,
P we give you thanks.
L For your love for us, mercifully
steadfast calling us to you and
raising us up,
P we give you thanks.
L For your love for us,
Encouraging questions, open to
our doubts, making us vulnerable,
P we give you thanks.
L Urge us on, O Christ, to find
wholeness through serving you
by serving others in the power
of your Spirit.
L Out of the depth we cry to
you, O God.
P God, hear our voices :
L The cries of those in our history
and of those today who are
persecuted in your name.
P The cries of today's war victims.
L The cries of those who starve
and thirst.
P The cries of the lonely and
marginalised.
L The cries of abused children.
P The cries of battered women
and men.
L The cries of guilt and
indifference.
P The cries of shame and anger.
L We are all part of the crying as well
as of the guilt.
P We have all sinned against you.
L Forgive us our debts
P as we forgive our debtors.
L Make us free from guilt
P and help us to become
ambassadors for a new
creation in Christ.
SHARING, NAMING TEARS FROM OUR COMMUNITIES :
My tears have been my food day and night,
(Psalm 42)
Jesus said, Woman why are you weeping ?
(John 20)
"See, the home of God is
among mortals.
He will dwell with them as
their God.
they will be his peoples,
and God himself will be with
them;
he will wipe every tear from
their eyes.
Death will be no more;
mourning and crying and pain
will be no more,
for the first things have passed
away."
(Revelation 21)
COMMITMENT IN THE MIDST OF PAIN AND SUFFERING
I believe in God, who is love
and who has given the earth to
all people. I believe in Jesus
Christ, who came to heal us,
and free us from all forms of
oppression. I believe in the
Spirit of God, who works in
and through all who strive for
the truth. I believe in the
community of faith, which is
called to be at the service of all
people. I believe in God's
promise to finally destroy the
power of sin in us all, and to
establish the kingdom of
justice and peace for all
humankind.
Men : I do not believe in the right
of the strongest, nor the force of
arms, nor the power of
oppression.
Women: I believe in human rights,
in the solidarity of all people,
in the power of non-violence.
Men: I do not believe in racism, in
the power that comes from wealth
and privilege, or in any
established order that enslaves.
Women: I believe that all men and
women are equally human,
that an order based on violence
and injustice is not order.
Men: I do not believe that war and
hunger are inevitable and peace
unattainable.
Women: I believe in the beauty of
simplicity, in love with open
hands, in peace on earth.
All: I do not believe that suffering
need be in vain, that death is
the end, that the disfigurement
of our world is what God
intended. But I dare to believe
in God's power to transform
and transfigure, fulfilling the
promise of a new heaven and a
new earth where justice and
peace will flourish.
Song : RECONCILE
INTERCESSIONS
Silence
In between the song 'O Lord hear my prayer'
Go in faith: your journey is in
God's hand. And may the
winds of the Spirit blow free,
the courage of Christ be deep
within you and the
Creator give you new life.
Amen.