Thread by @DisabilityJ

1) WELCOME
Sunday November 3rd

2) Thank you for joining us at our weekly live Twitter service loosely based around The Ordinary Office.
We pray that you feel at home here and comfortable in the company of the many who gather in this virtual sacred space.
Join us as we pilgrimage “alone yet together “.

3) A wise old sailor once said “ the bottom is wet, the top is dry, if that changes you have capsized”
Thank you Lord for keeping us afloat for another week and for being able to gather here once again.

4) Tonight we are praying that this little gathering here online can grow and become an example of what it means to be a true community.

5) Let us begin.
In the name of the Father
and of the Son
and of the Holy Spirit.

All respond by Tweeting
the reply AMEN

6) So many of us have spent so long feeling spiritually homeless, refugees from normal church life with no place to call home.
Tonight we celebrate this online space, may it become a home to us.

7) To those who feel unwelcome

All respond by
Tweeting the reply
WELCOME

8) To those who feel shut out

All respond by
Tweeting the reply
WELCOME

9) To those who feel estranged
from church

All respond by
Tweeting the reply
WELCOME

10) To those who feel damaged
by bad
theology and teaching

All respond by
Tweeting the reply
WELCOME

11) To those who feel abandoned
or adrift

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Tweeting the reply
WELCOME

12) To those who simply want to be here

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WELCOME

13) To those who are simply curious

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WELCOME

14) To those who join us from church
communities to show us your support.

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WELCOME

15) To those who read this
at a later date or time.

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WELCOME

16) To anyone who feels they have been
overlooked by us, please believe us
when we say, you are welcome!

All respond by Tweeting the reply
WELCOME

17) To those who feel shut in by dark nights and winter weather

All respond by Tweeting the reply
WELCOME

18) Father, as winter approaches, nights get longer and days shorter many of us feel even more isolated than normal.
Evenings are our worst time as getting about becomes more difficult and darkness daunts us.
Make this place a haven for us, a space where we can find friendship

19) So take this scattered, rag, tag and bobtail band of pilgrims, each making our own way.
Unite us in this online place, draw us close as we gather here, alone and yet somehow together.

20) Enable us to put aside whatever hurt we carry just for the next few minutes that we may be able to hear your voice more clearly free from the pain of past hurt.

21) May we have fuel for the fire, a light for the dark, food on our table and friendship through these dark days.

22) So we take a moment, to compose our thoughts, to shake off the tensions of the week and to welcome you in to this virtual space, to be right here in the midst of us.

23) Take away all uncertainty for the future, be it political, financial, health related, whatever it is allow us to put those fears aside for the coming minutes and just enjoy this time with you.

24) We praise You,  Lord,  because we’re ALL fearfully & wonderfully made.
In your house there is room for all, there are no rejects.
There are no able-bodied, no disabled:
there are only His beloved children
all made in His image.
Beautiful in His eyes.

25) Even if the only company we’ve had today has been that of those we’ve shared prayer with online, we thank you for bringing us through this day
and join with all the others of this community, alone yet together.

26) For the times we have turned
away in anger.

All respond by Tweeting the reply
LORD HAVE MERCY

27) For the times we have blamed you

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LORD HAVE MERCY

28) For the times we have ignored you calling

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CHRIST HAVE MERCY

29) For the times we have closed our
hearts and minds

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CHRIST HAVE MERCY

30) REFLECTION.

“Community is a terrible place, a place where limitations and egoisms are revealed to us.”.
Jean Vanier

31) REFLECTION.

“The person who loves their dream of community will destroy community, but the person who loves those around them will create community.”
Dietrich Bonhoeffer

32) Even in the dark of night,
You leave a light on for me,
and are always watching over me.
 
Lamplighter! lover, friend,
You are the keeper of my dreams.
 be ours this night.

33) When our feeble faith deserts us
and fear runs amuck, lend us yours.

We know that will be enough
As it has been so many times before

34) Add your name as a reply here
so we can keep you in our prayers this week.

35) Here I am God, Alone!
So many churches don’t meet my needs, I can’t climb the stairs, I can’t hear the celebrant.
The language is too complex, I can’t read the literature, I have been so hurt by bad Bible teaching I simply can’t face it again.

36) We put our trust in you Lord as we grapple with the paradox of being on a journey with no known destination, where the future is intentionally hidden from us and the only known is not knowing.

37) We come to this online place where so many gather, alone & yet strangely together. In our loneliness, our brokenness, our feelings of being cut off, cast adrift & yet find much comfort here as we build this online community, an expression of your eternal love.

38) In the midst of our brokenness you give us life and call on us to reflect that life back to your church. Stay close to us, teach us to be satisfied only with your presence. Grant that we may bring healing and light to the broken places we encounter on this journey.

39) Father we thank you for this time together tonight, be with us as we learn to live with each other, with all our brokenness and pain, with our loneliness and isolation and bring us comfort in being alone together.

40) Father we thank you that although we are scattered, isolated or alone we have been able to be together in this virtual space, to share in your fellowship and love.

41) A BLESSING

May he be you night light
May he bar the gate as you sleep
And watch over you as you rest
And wake you refreshed
As the sun rises at dawn.

42) GO IN PEACE

In the name of the Father
and of the Son
and of the Holy Spirit.

All respond by Tweeting the reply AMEN

43) Please could you now go to
anordinaryoffice.org.uk/index.php/nigh…
and click the
AMEN
button to let others know you have
been praying with them tonight.