week Fourteen of ordinary time

by Jonathan Gabhart

Each week, our church’s Sunday liturgy concludes with a song and prayer after we celebrate communion together. This song has become a part of our musical canon in the past 5 years. It was written by my friend, Steven Rodriguez, who was the Pastor of Worship Arts at Pillar for several years. The lyrics are as follows:

You have fed us by your Word and at your Table

Now please send us;

By your Spirit, make us able to be faithful

in the meantime between now and the end

Amen.

It is a beautiful song that intimately connects the pivotal Word and Sacrament movement of worship to our being sent into the “rest of life.” It is a simple prayer with profound implications. We are praying that God keep us faithful in what we are about to do in the week in our working, playing, serving, loving, and (because of the way some or most people structure their weeks) our resting. I think there is some playful dissonance with the liturgical movement of being sent into what, for many, is a day off. In our gathered worship we build up energy to be a sign, instrument, and foretaste for God’s Kingdom (Lesslie Newbigin), but sometimes it feels like all will commence on Monday morning. I don’t think this needs to be the case. Sunday is the traditional Christian Sabbath because of Christ’s resurrection, but also, the world is structured socially and economically so that many folks do not have “Sunday off.” Whatever day is your day of rest, what might it mean to be sent into it? What are the ways you can be “faithful between now and the end” as you pause, be still, perhaps be silent before the Lord before commencing work again? 

https://pillarhymnal.bandcamp.com/track/ordinary-time-sending-song

Collect: 

Sending God, in your grace and love you come to us week after week, day after day to speak to us by your Word and meet us at your table; As we approach the between Sundays realities of our lives, show us the ways we can stay faithful even in our resting, so that we can be a sign, instrument, and foretaste of your Kingdom to a world that desperately needs you; Through Jesus Christ who goes with us in it all, Amen.