BEING WHITE ROCK: A CALL TO WORSHIP

A blog post about our “Being White Rock” series.
By: Rebecca Garrett Pace,
Minister of Worship & The Arts, and a total liturgy nerd.

This past Sunday we started our August series, “Being White Rock: Becoming Beloved Community.” This series is exciting for a lot of reasons, but it’s first and foremost a way for us to reconnect with each other during a really weird, potentially distancing time. It’s about discovering an incredible sense of belonging — you belong, and I belong, and we each belong in our own unique ways. It’s about discovering that believing isn’t saying the right words but being willing to question and doubt and discuss. It’s about becoming who we’re called to be in Christ, and discovering freedom and creativity in that calling. And ultimately, this series is about reminding us that we are so, so, so beloved.
As I do most weeks, I wrote the Call to Worship for last week, and we’ll actually continue to use that same Call each week for the next three Sundays. I love writing liturgy that can speak not just to one specific week but more broadly can speak to a whole series, can speak through multiple people’s voices, and can bring something new to the table each time you hear it. It’s (hopefully) like a song that you want to listen to more than once. You hear new words brought into focus each time.
So, this week’s blog is very simple: I want to share my words with you from the Call to Worship for our “Being White Rock” series. I hope that they remind you that, as we say each week, you are “loved, accepted, and called.” Take care!

Being White Rock: A Call to Worship

What does it mean to Belong? To belong means to be known by name, and to be accepted with all your quirks. To belong means to feel like you have nothing to prove, like you don’t need the “right” answers before you’re loved. To belong means so much more, too.

May we find deep belonging in Christ Jesus and his church.

What does it mean to Believe? To believe is about intellectual knowing and spiritual knowing, each in balance with the other. To believe means not tamping down our questions but asking them with boldness, and incorporating doubt into our faith. To believe means so much more, too.

May we find deep believing in Christ Jesus and his church.

What does it mean to Become? To become means to be on a journey, to be not yet arrived and still striving for our best. To become means to listen to God’s voice singing over us, calling us into our fullest selves. To become means so much more, too.

May we find deep becoming in Christ Jesus and his church.

What does it mean to be Beloved? To be beloved is to accept that there is nothing you can do to ever change God’s love for you, no matter what you have or haven’t done, no matter what you do or don’t believe. To be beloved is to reframe your entire being into God’s gentle heart. To be beloved means so much more, too.

May we find deep belovedness in Christ Jesus and his church.
You are welcome here! You are loved, accepted, and called! Let’s worship God together today, amen? 
Amen!