Prayers from GS 30 Worship 

Celebration of Covenant Renewal 
Tuesday, June 30, 2015
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and United Church of Christ
Led by Sharon Watkins, General Minister and President, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
Geoffrey Black, General Minister and President, United Church of Christ

Greeting
Christ is our peace! 
In Christ we are reconciled to God.
	Dear Friends, as the people of God gathered in 
the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) 
and the United Church of Christ, 
and affirming our place in the one universal church, 
let us worship God and celebrate with joy our ecumenical partnership.
Prayer 
Gracious God, our creator and friend, 
you are beyond our imagining 
and yet closer than our innermost thoughts.  
We thank you for your goodness toward all that you have made.  
We rejoice that you have made us one in Jesus Christ by our baptism, 
and that we are born from above by  water and the Holy Spirit.  
With the church in every time and place, 
we praise you, Holy God,  Blessed Trinity.  Amen.

Litany of Affirmation Based on Report adopted by the General Assembly and the General Synod in 1985

All:	
			that God, in Jesus Christ, has given the gift of unity to the church, 
and has made all one who confess Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

All:		Together we affirm [Sung by all]
			that all who have received Christ are called 
to manifest the unity of the church, 
for the sake of reconciliation among all Christians 
and all other persons throughout the world.
All:		Together we affirm [Sung by all]
			that our two churches, in their diversity, are kindred in Christ, 
members together in the one church of Jesus Christ, 
and that we have been called by God 
to labor for unity  among all Christians.

All:		Together we affirm [Sung by all]
			the new threshold to which, by God’s grace, 
our historic partnership has come, 
even while we acknowledge our participation 
in the continuing divisions within Christ’s body.

All:		Together we affirm [Sung by all]
			that “Christ is our peace” and that God, in Christ, 
calls us to fuller communion for the sake of our witness and service 
to a suffering world that cries out for justice, healing,  and peace.

All:		Together we affirm [Sung by all]
			as essential to our common journey as God’s people:  
the treasuring of Scripture and the apostolic faith, 
life in a worshiping community united by baptism 
and nourished by holy communion, 
and self-giving discipleship in and for the world.

All:		Together we affirm [Sung by all]
			that our brokenness is already transcended at the table of Christ, 
where we are called to repentance, to discover anew our unity in Christ, 
and receive God’s grace to witness 
to the saving presence of the crucified and risen Christ.  Amen.

			With gratitude for the blessings of God in the witness and service 
of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) 
and the United Church of Christ, 
and with renewed commitment to growth toward unity 
in our ecumenical partnership, 
let us go forth into the world, 
rejoicing in the power of the Holy Spirit. 

All: 		Thanks be to God!

Musical Refrain set by Thomas More Scott, Music Director of General Synod 30.  Permission to use is granted.