Tuesday, April 27, 2021
SHALOM ALEICHEM: LEAVING REGENT RETREAT 2021
1 | Looking Back
Welcome
Call to Worship
based on Philippians 1:6-11
As we watch for your presence and listen for your voice,
Come thou Triune God and Eternal King!
Come thou Wellspring of charity,
that our love might overflow more and more. >
Come thou Source of all wisdom,
that we might continue to grow in knowledge and understanding.
Come thou Shepherd who guides us down right paths,
that we might live pure and blameless lives.
Come thou Fashioner of all that is holy
that the one who began a good work in us
might bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ.
Come thou Fount of every blessing;
tune our hearts to sing thy grace.
Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing
Lyrics: Robert Robinson, Martin Madan | Tune (Nettleton): unknown
Come thou fount of every blessing, tune my heart to sing thy grace
Streams of mercy never ceasing call for songs of loudest praise
Teach me some melodious sonnet sung by flaming tongues above
Praise his name, I’m fixed upon it, the name of God’s redeeming love
Hitherto thy love has blest me; thou hast brought me to this place
And I know thy hand will bring me safely home by thy good grace
Jesus sought me when a stranger wand’ring from the fold of God
He to rescue me from danger bought me with his precious blood
Oh, to grace how great a debtor daily I’m constrained to be
Let thy goodness like a fetter bind my wandering heart to thee
Prone to wander, Lord I feel it; prone to leave the God I love
Here’s my heart, oh, take and seal it; seal it for thy courts above
Prayers of the People
Celtic Daily Prayer, Northumbria Community, 2002, 192-193.
Lord, I will trust You.
Help me to journey beyond the familiar
And into the unknown.
Give me the faith to leave old ways
And break fresh ground with You.
Christ of mysteries, can I trust You
To be stronger than each storm in me?
Do I still yearn for Your glory to lighten on me?
I will show others the care You’ve given me.
I determine amidst all uncertainty always to trust.
I choose to live beyond regret,
And let You recreate my life.
I believe You will make a way for me
And provide for me if only I trust You and obey.
I will trust in the darkness
and know that my times are still in Your hand.
I will believe You for my future,
Chapter by chapter, until all the story is written.
Focus my mind and my heart upon You,
My attention always on You without alteration.
Strengthen me with Your blessing
And appoint to me the task.
Teach me to live with eternity in view.
Tune my spirit to the music of heaven.
Feed me, and, somehow,
make my obedience count for You. Amen.
I Want Jesus to Walk With Me
Lyrics & Tune (Sojourner): African-American Spiritual (unknown author)
I want Jesus to walk with me
I want Jesus to walk with me
All along my pilgrim journey
Lord I want Jesus to walk with me
In my trials Lord walk with me
In my trials Lord walk with me
When my heart is almost breaking
Lord I want Jesus to walk with me
When I'm troubled Lord walk with me
When I'm troubled Lord walk with me
When my head is bowed in sorrow
Lord I want Jesus to walk with me
I want Jesus to walk with me
I want Jesus to walk with me
All along my pilgrim journey
Lord I want Jesus to walk with me
Lord walk with me
Lord walk with me
Lord walk with me
Story | Diane Stinton
Student Reflections | Lucy Jiani, Mary Frances Giles & Chris Agnew
Prayers of Thanksgiving
Doxology
Praise God from whom all blessings flow
Praise Him all creatures here below
Praise Him above ye heavenly host
Praise Father Son and Holy Ghost
BREAK
2 | Looking Ahead
Group Reflections | Faculty & Students
Staying Connected | Richard Thompson
A Liturgy for Leavings
Every Moment Holy Vol 1, 2019, 220-222.
Even in our goodbyes there is a
blessing, for the sorrow of parting is a measure of
the depth of the bond we have come to share in Christ.
Thank you, O God
that we do not walk this road alone,
but that this journey toward eternity and toward
your heart has been, from the beginning, one that you
ordained we should undertake in the glad and
good company of our fellow pilgrims.
O Lord, make us ever mindful of one another
unto the end that we would labor in the
days to come as those who would tend and
encourage the stories of those around us by
prayer and friendship and thoughtfulness and
conversation, affirming and sharpening and amplifying
one another’s good works, unto the end that your body
would be built up, and that your kingdom
would be more fully realized in this world.
Thank you, O God, for the mercy and the beauty
incarnated in the words and acts of these
your people, extended one toward another.
It is no accident that we were born in the same
epoch, and that our stories have twined in this time
and this place.
Let us therefore go forth and steward one another’s stories.
Let us journey from here together, as vessels of that mercy
and as stewards of that wild and wondrous beauty
that flows from the heart and mind of our Creator.
Grant, O Lord, that we might take our leave of one
another now, feeling a right joy for the blessings
of the hours we have shared, even as we feel
a bright and hopeful sorrow at their close.
Friends and saints and fellow pilgrims, we part now in the
confidence that in our diverging paths we walk the
same road, fanning the same flame, and that in time
we will meet again in a fellowship forever unbroken.
By your Spirit, O Christ, make us faithful in the meanwhile,
as we go out to labor in the diverse fields
to which you have assigned us,
laboring unto that better meeting,
and unto that new-made world
that is yet promised and that has already begun.
O Spirit of God, be as present in our parting
as you were in our gathering.
Be present in our journeys.
Be present in our days to come.
Be present in our works and in our words and in our hearts.
Be present in the bonds of our community, Lord Christ.
Be ever at work among us and through us.
Amen
Be Thou My Vision
Lyrics: Mary E. Byrne | Music (Slane): traditional Irish melody
Be thou my vision O Lord of my heart
Naught be all else to me save that thou art
Thou my best thought by day or by night
Waking or sleeping thy presence my light
Be thou my wisdom and thou my true word
I ever with thee and thou with me Lord
Thou my great Father and I thy true child
Thou in me dwelling to thee reconciled
Riches I heed not nor vain empty praise
Thou mine inheritance now and always
Thou and thou only first in my heart
High King of Heaven my treasure thou art
High King of Heaven my victory won
May I reach heaven's joys O bright Heaven's Sun
Heart of my own heart whatever befall
Still be my vision O Ruler of all
Closing Words | Claire Perini
Sung Blessing | Christ Be With Me
Lyrics: from The Lorica of St. Patrick | Tune: ©2010 The Brilliance
Christ be with me, Christ before me
Christ behind me, Christ within me
Christ below me, Christ above me, Christ be with me
At my right hand, at my left hand
As I lie down, as I rise up
As I stumble, as I fall down, Christ as I stand
Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of me
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me
Christ in every eye that sees me
Christ in every ear that hears me
Amen, amen