One thing we must be honest about—Christian faith does not guarantee a storm-free life. Trouble comes in a lot of ways, and we can’t always avoid it. But what we can do is trust in the one who brings us through and who strengthens us in the storm. Our God is stronger than the storm.

We Prevailed Against the Wind

A Call to Worship Inspired by Mark 4:35-41

UNISON:
The wind blew this week.
It knocked me off balance
Disrupted my deep days and
Commandeered my nights.
The wind blew this week.
It stole my finances
Battled my peace
And infected my health.
Did you hear how it howled?
Did you see the waste it left behind?
Speak to the wind
Rebuke the storm, LORD
Calm our souls

PEOPLE: We fought back the sleep
LEADER: PEACE BE STILL
We awoke the house
PEACE BE STILL
We dressed and we ate
PEACE BE STILL
We navigated the traffic
PEACE BE STILL
ALL:
We greeted and we fellowshipped
Still us now in this, YOUR Holy place.

Kachael J, Pentecost Liturgical Resources from Africana Writers 1, edited by Safiya Fosua, 2020.

Contemporary Call to Worship

Strength is commanding the wind and sea to obey,
Strength is wielding a slingshot in the face of a raging giant.
Strength is accepting vulnerability from inside the boat,
Strength is standing in solidarity with the powerless.
Strength is turning a cheek,
Strength is loving an enemy.
We come to worship
a God who redefines our vision of strength.

Written by Katherine Hawker, 1997. Posted on Liturgy Outside. http://liturgyoutside.net. Reposted: https://re-worship.blogspot.com/2012/05/contemporary-call-to-worship-proper-7-b.html.

Prayer of Trust

Loving God, when we are inclined to worry or panic,
speak with authority to us.
Speak directly through Jesus so that fears may be confronted
and our faith reinstated.
Through him and in him let us spend our days and nights
with the courage and peace of those who know
they are being saved and sustained
by an imperturbable grace.
And to you be the glory and praise;
Amen!

Written by Bruce Prewer, and posted on Bruce Prewer’s Home Page. http://www.bruceprewer.com. Reposted: https://re-worship.blogspot.com/2012/05/prayer-of-trust.html.

Peace Be Still

A Prayer Litany, Inspired by Mark 4:35-41

Leader: The winds of life’s terror and wave-storms of my reality are about to drown me!

People: Peace be STILL.

Leader: Splashes of disappointment, pain, fear, and guilt have entered our boat,
And I thought you were present. It doesn’t feel like it.

People: Peace BE still.

Leader: Your rest contradicts my restlessness, and I am shaken up.
How are you in this boat with me, and yet I can’t feel you?

People: PEACE be still.

Leader: You calmed the winds and the waves in the moments of our despair.

People: PEACE BE STILL!

Leader: I doubted you, but instead of condemning me, you proved yourself to me

People: Our doubts are beneath you; our fears are not above you;
Our storms may all surround you, and still they answer to your word. Teach us how to be peace. Teach us how to be. Teach us how to be still. Peace be still.

Valerie Boyer, Pentecost Liturgical Resources from Africana Writers 1, edited by Safiya Fosua, 2020.

Prayer of Approach and Confession

(inspired by Mark 4:35-41)

Lord God of all Creation we come to you from our storm-tossed lives to seek your peace; we come to you with our questions and uncertainties, our worries and anxieties, we come to you from our joy and our happiness – each emotion a kaleidoscope of our feeling in life’s changing patterns.

More than all of that we come to you because of what you have done for us in the love of Christ who bought our freedom by his sacrifice on the Cross and showed us new life in his resurrection life. We bless you for the love which has no dimension of length, breadth or height, coming as it does from the perfection of your being. We come to you knowing that sometimes we have received your grace in vain.

We have not relied on your word or wisdom; we have not shown any concern or compassion when we should have; we have not loved our neighbor as we love ourselves. We have remained silent when we should have spoken and spoken when we should have been silent.

We seize the moment to ask you from our discordant lives for yet another chance of hearing you say to us ‘Your sins are forgiven’. May the mark of that forgiveness be your grace in us as we respond with grace and gratitude to your love.

Eternal God as we ask that you accept our prayers through Jesus Christ our Lord, we pray that from the grace we have received, what we say and what we do will enable those around us to glimpse the life of the your Son -- who calmed the storm with words which still echo down the centuries, ‘Peace be still’ . . . Amen.

Written by the Very Rev. John Christie, and posted on the Church of Scotland’s Starters for Sunday website. http://www.churchofscotland.org.uk. Reposted: https://re-worship.blogspot.com/2012/05/prayer-of-approach-mark-4-35-41.html.

Commission & Benediction

(based on 2 Corinthians 6:1-8)

Put obstacles in no one’s way,
but rejoice in purity, knowledge, patience, kindness,
holiness of spirit, genuine love, truthful speech,
and the power of God.
Go in peace.