*I am standing on the sea shore,
A ship sails in the morning breeze and starts for the ocean.
She is an object of beauty and I stand watching her
Till at last she fades on the horizon and someone at my side says:
"She is gone."
Gone! Where?
Gone from my sight - that is all.
She is just as large in the masts, hull and spars as she was when I saw her
And just as able to bear her load of living freight to its destination.
The diminished size and total loss of sight is in me,
not in her.
And just at the moment when someone at my side says,
"She is gone",
There are others who are watching her coming, and other voices take up a glad shout:
"There she comes"
- and that is dying. An horizon and just the limit of our sight.
Lift us up, Oh Lord, that we may see further.
Bishop Brent
1862 - 1926
Call to Worship
In a world that often causes us to be afraid…
We gather in the promise of god’s peace.
We come to be renewed by Christs love.
We open ourselves
To the encouragement of the Holy Spirit.
During a time in history that often seems uncertain…
We gather in the promise of god’s peace.
We come to be renewed by Christs love.
We open ourselves
To the encouragement of the Holy Spirit.
Living in the midst of great ecological change and challenge…
We gather in the promise of god’s peace.
We come to be renewed by Christs love.
We open ourselves
To the encouragement of the Holy Spirit.
And trying to cope with the everyday stresses of modern life…
We gather in the promise of god’s peace.
We come to be renewed by Christs love.
We open ourselves
To the encouragement of the Holy Spirit