Churches across the PC(USA) can join in a common worship resource during the first Sunday of General Assembly

LOUISVILLE — On Sunday, June 28, commissioners and advisory delegates to the 227^th General Assembly will fan out across Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to worship with congregations at area PC(USA) churches. In past assemblies, those worship forays, arranged by the Committee on Local Arrangements, have been highlights for many GA-goers.

As of this week, worship planners and leaders across the country have a new resource to help them put together a worship service in their own context for that Sunday or another Sunday of their choosing. The 10-page “Gathering in the City” resource, which draws on the assembly theme “Persevering Toward Wholeness,” is here. Any or all of the worship elements, including three new verses for “Shall We Gather at the River” by the Rev. Dr. David Gambrell and a new hymn by the Rev. Dr. Deborah A. Block, pastor emerita of Immanuel Presbyterian Church in Milwaukee called “Leaves of the Tree,” are available for use.

“The idea is to have some common ideas and resources that can be shared not only in the Milwaukee area,” said Gambrell, Associate for Worship in Presbyterian Life & Witness. “We hope congregations throughout the PC(USA) might use or adapt some of the materials. There is freedom and flexibility in the Presbyterian practice of worship.”

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Gambrell gives credit to the Presbytery of Milwaukee’s COLA and to GA worship planners, including the Co-Moderators of the 226^th General Assembly, the Rev. Tony Larson and the Rev. CeCe Armstrong.

“We share this worship resource with you … and invite you to use as much as fits your context, though we do hope you use the intercessory prayers,” the COLA said in a statement. “The work of the assembly begins on Sunday afternoon [June 28], and our hope is that they feel all our prayers as they convene.”

The Co-Moderators “had a vision for the whole week of worship services that included the theme of gathering in the city for the opening service on Sunday morning,” Gambrell said. “They identified scriptures and themes that were the source of information for this service.”

Gambrell said it’s important to not only ground the worship resource in scripture, but to follow an order of worship “that will be familiar” to worship leaders who are guided by the PC(USA) Directory of Worship and draw on resources such as the “Book of Common Worship.”

Gambrell said he wrote three additional verses to Robert Lowry’s classic “Shall We Gather at the River” to draw the hymn close to Rev. 22:1-5, a passage that’s central for the 227^th General Assembly. “Hopefully, [the new verses will] reflect the theme and emphasis for this assembly,” Gambrell said.

He called Block’s “Leaves of the Tree,” set to the same tune as “God of Compassion, in Mercy Befriend Us,” a “really wonderful contribution to worship.”

The resource contains a Great Thanksgiving for those faith communities that plan to celebrate communion on that day. It also lists Revised Common Lectionary readings for June 28, including the Semicontinuous Track (Genesis 22:1-14, Psalm 13, Romans 6:12-23 and Matthew 10:40-42) and the Complementary Track (Jeremiah 28:5-9, Psalm 89: 1-4 and 15-18 and the passages from Romans and Matthew).

The resource suggests that preachers highlight themes of faithfulness and providence from Genesis 22, prophetic voices in times of crisis from Jeremiah 28, the church’s calling from sin to righteousness and death to life found in Romans 6, and the welcome of Christ found in Matthew 10.

For congregations seeking to connect to the theme of “Persevering Toward Wholeness,” the scriptural emphasis is Rev. 22:2, “and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.” Recommended readings including Isaiah 2:1-5 or Nehemiah 8:1-3; Psalm 48, 87 or 122; Hebrews 11:1-3, 12:1-2 or 12:22-24; and Rev. 21:22-27 or 22:1-5.

Preachers might focus on the gathering of God’s people (Isaiah 2 and Nehemiah 8), the gift of faith (Hebrews 11), the call to persevere (Hebrews 12), the promise of new creation (Revelation 21) and the hope of healing and wholeness (Revelation 22).

In addition to the two new hymns, six other hymns are suggested for use, including “God of Grace and God of Glory,” “Guide My Feet,” “The Church’s One Foundation” and “There is a Balm in Gilead.”

The Call to Worship is adapted from Psalm 122: The leader quotes the psalm, “I was glad when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord!’” and the people respond, “Our feet are standing within your gates, Milwaukee.”

The resource also includes a Prayer for Illumination. “We believe we need to pray for the work of the Holy Spirit in our midst when we gather for worship,” Gambrell said. “That’s an important theme as we prepare to do God’s work in discerning God’s will at the General Assembly — that new thing God is doing among us.”

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The Prayers of Intercession are indeed expansive. Prayers are offered for the PC(USA) and its members and congregations, for gathered commissioners, for the church throughout the world, for justice and peace on Earth, for the nation as it prepares to celebrate its 250^th anniversary, for the city of Milwaukee, for safety and hospitality in neighborhoods across the country, for those who are sick and suffering and mourning, and for healing: “Let us be leaves of healing, growing in faith and faithfulness and spreading the good news of your love; through Jesus Christ our Savior, Amen.”

Part of the resource, the Great Thanksgiving, is the work of the late Rev. Dr. Chip Andrus, who preceded Gambrell as an Associate for Worship, led the band Soul Highway and died of cancer in 2018 at age 51. Andrus memorably led congregational singing during plenary sessions of the General Assembly for a number of years.

“When I think of Chip, I remember him leading music at General Assembly and remember him with great thanksgiving,” Gambrell said.