RISE Worship Element Archive
Special / Seasonal Elements
Celebrating the Baptism of Miguel Antonio Garcia
Pastor Amanda Miller Garber
Welcome/Brief Explanation of Baptism
The RISE Community is excited to be celebrating this very special day! Through the Sacrament of Baptism, we are initiated into Christ’s holy Church. We are incorporated into God’s mighty acts of salvation and given new life through water and the Spirit. All this is God’s gift, offered to us without price.
Lighting the Baptismal Candle
Representative of the Community (Seth Owens)
On behalf of the RISE community, I am honored to present Miguel Antonio for the sacrament of baptism. Your community celebrates with you today, and we love you! Miguel, you are a gift!
Profession of Faith for the Family and Community
Pastor: As Miguel’s family, I invite you to respond to the following questions.
As you guide, teach and love this child, will you seek and offer forgiveness and the healing and restoration of relationships? Will you accept the freedom and power God gives you to resist evil, injustice and oppression in whatever forms they present themselves?
Family: We will.
Pastor: Will you seek to embody God’s unstoppable love and persistent hope in every possible way?
Family: We will.
Pastor: By God’s grace, will you promise to follow the way of Jesus, embody his teachings, and mend God‘s creation – together with the beloved community of Jesus?
Family: We will.
Pastor: Will you do all in your power to raise this child in a community of faith that will help him more fully understand what it means to follow Jesus’ teachings of mercy, forgiveness, justice, grace, and love?
Family: We will.
Pastor: And to you, Miguel’s faith community, I ask the following:
As a community, will you nurture, encourage, and forgive one another, and hold one another accountable, as you seek to follow Jesus and mend God’s creation together? Will you include Miguel in your care and embody the love of Jesus for him?
The RISE Community responds:
With God’s help, we will proclaim God’s good news and seek to live like Jesus.
We will surround MIguel with a community of love and forgiveness, so that he may grow in his service to others.
We will pray for him, laugh with him, cry with him and seek to model God’s unconditional love for him and all of God’s beloved children.
Melissa Harmon shares the story of Jonah
Prayer before the Baptism
Let us pray.
Creator God, thank you for Miguel Antonio Garcia. Surround him with a community of love and forgiveness, so that he may grow in faith and remain deeply rooted in your love. Throughout his life, send your Spirit to strengthen and guide him. We ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen.
The Baptism of Miguel Antonio Garcia
The Signation
Presentation of the certificate and gift from the RISE community
A Final Blessing
(adapted from a quote by Archbishop Desmund Tutu)
Miguel Antonio,
As you grow, remember that God dreams that you and I - and all of us - will realize that we are family, that we are made for togetherness, for goodness and for compassion.
God loves you, now and forever!
Amen.
Liturgy of the Palms
Mark 11:1-11 (CEB)
1 When Jesus and his followers approached Jerusalem, they came to Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives. Jesus gave two disciples a task, 2 saying to them, “Go into the village over there. As soon as you enter it, you will find tied up there a colt that no one has ridden. Untie it and bring it here. 3 If anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘Its master needs it, and he will send it back right away.’”
4 They went and found a colt tied to a gate outside on the street, and they untied it. 5 Some people standing around said to them, “What are you doing, untying the colt?” 6 They told them just what Jesus said, and they left them alone. 7 They brought the colt to Jesus and threw their clothes upon it, and he sat on it. 8 Many people spread out their clothes on the road while others spread branches cut from the fields. 9 Those in front of him and those following were shouting, “Hosanna! Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord! 10 Blessings on the coming kingdom of our ancestor David! Hosanna in the highest!” 11 Jesus entered Jerusalem and went into the temple. After he looked around at everything, because it was already late in the evening, he returned to Bethany with the Twelve.
Choral Recitation of Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29 (NRSV)
Everyone is invited to wave palm branches while reading the “All” verses
Leader: O give thanks to the LORD, for God is good!
All: God’s steadfast love endures forever!
Leader: Open to us the gates of righteousness, that we may enter through them and give thanks to the LORD.
All: This is the gate of the LORD; the righteous shall enter through it!
Leader: We thank you that you have answered us and have become our salvation.
All: The stone that the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone!
Leader: This is the Lord's doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.
All: This is the day that the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it!
Leader: Save us, we beseech you, O LORD! O LORD, we beseech you - give us success!
All: Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the LORD. We bless you from the house of the LORD!
Leader: The LORD is God, and has given us light. Bind the festal procession with branches, up to the horns of the altar!
All: You are our God, and we will give thanks to you; you are our God, and we will extol you!
Leader: O give thanks to the LORD, for God is good!
All: God’s steadfast love endures forever!
AN EASTER BLESSING
~Adapted from a prayer by Michelle Torigian
As we enter a world where resurrection is possible,
Nudge us forward when the unknown is overwhelming.
Empower us when anxiety and amazement seize our spirits.
Allow our trembling voices to share Alleluias with a hurting world,
a world that needs to be reminded of your promise that this is not the end.
Open our hearts to our neighbors yearning for rebirth.
And allow us to see the empty tomb in each season of our lives.
Amen.