The Abingdon Worship Annual 2024

By B.J. Beu and Mary Scifres

The go-to worship planning resource for all who plan weekly worship.

The Abingdon Worship Annual 2024 is a practical, lectionary-based resource for leaders who are responsible for planning worship. This thoughtful sourcebook offers a weekly theme with meaningful prayers and fresh litanies following a traditional order of Christian worship:

Invitation and Gathering Proclamation and Response Thanksgiving and Communion Sending ForthLiturgies and prayers are also included for special days, including New Year’s Day, Ascension Day, All Saints Day, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas Eve.

The Annual includes helpful reminders for Christian-year planning--including liturgical colors--and a scripture index. The authors also provide in-depth guidance and practical ideas for this new age of worship, helping readers understand and weigh their options for worshiping in digital spaces and unconventional places.

The Abingdon Worship Annual 2024 is a must-have sourcebook offering countless opportunities for planning meaningful and insightful worship.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Abingdon Press
• Release date: Apr 18, 2023
• ISBN: 9781791027056

B.J. Beu

B. J. Beu has served churches in the United Church of Christ for the past twenty years. Beyond his work on this resource, he has contributed sermons to The Abingdon Preaching Annual, developed and led worship services for his conference’s Annual Gathering, and served on the worship team for the UCC’s General Synod in 2013. A graduate of Boston University and Pacific Lutheran University, he is passionate about creative worship, preaching, and advocating for peace and justice. B. J. lives in Laguna Beach, California.

Book preview

January 1, 2024

New Year’s Day

Anna Crews Camphouse

COLOR

White

SCRIPTURE READINGS

Ecclesiastes 3:1-13; Psalm 8; Revelation 21:1-6a; Matthew 25:31-46

THEME IDEAS

Following the way of Christ can feel overwhelming and daunting. However, God’s goodness and abundance are resurrecting and restorative for all of creation, including us. Recommitting ourselves to the Christian walk this New Year’s Day requires praise of God’s faithfulness, trust in God’s mercy, and a willingness to open ourselves up to God’s provision. Only then can we be the vessels of hope God calls us to be.

INVITATION AND GATHERING

CENTERING PRAYER (Ecclesiastes 3)

For all the blessings of seasons past,

we give you thanks, O God.

For all the wonders of seasons yet to come,

we give you praise.

CALL TO WORSHIP (Psalm 8)

Everything that lives is imbued with the spark

of God’s divine creativity.

How majestic is God’s name in all the earth!

The sovereign Spirit of life breathes hope into us

to fulfill new possibilities, dreams, and visions.

How majestic is God’s name in all the earth!

The creator of all empowers us with a love so strong

it can silence the voices of fear and vengeance.

How majestic is God’s name in all the earth!

May God shine through us like stars of promise,

crowning us with the glory of your light.

How majestic is God’s name in all the earth!

OPENING PRAYER (Ecclesiastes 3)

Keeper of time, we come to this moment,

remembering the past and envisioning the future.

We know that all things are held tenderly in your care.

Your will for us is a deep and abiding joy,

as we live each day with passion and purpose.

Show us again the path of holy toil,

that we may find meaning and peace

in the work you lay before us.

Seasons change, but your call remains steadfast.

We come today, yearning to hear your voice anew.

Amen.

PROCLAMATION AND RESPONSE

PRAYER OF YEARNING (Revelation 21)

Lover of our souls, when we see only our faults

or the broken pieces of our lives,

you see us as beloved children.

Fill the scars of our hearts

with the gold of deep healing,

and strengthen our compassion

with empathy for the hurts of others.

Dwell with us in our innermost thoughts,

transforming them from despair to gratitude.

Wipe the tears from our eyes,

and make us buoyant with joy.

We pray these things in the name of our healing savior,

Jesus, the Christ. Amen.

WORDS OF ASSURANCE (Revelation 21)

See, God is making all things new!

It is done. The Alpha and Omega makes it so!

PASSING THE PEACE OF CHRIST (Matthew 25)

There are no strangers here, only the face of God in many forms. Let us greet one another with joy, knowing that God embraces us through the love we find in this place. Let us meet one another with compassion and grace, channeling divine abundance and acknowledging our need.

RESPONSE TO THE WORD (Matthew 25)

In a sea of faces filled with need,

demands pull us down like an undertow,

draining our energy and sapping our strength.

You are the creator of the oceans and of each soul.

You give us the power to swim, float,

even walk on water.

You give us all we require to do our part.

We come before you not sure we are ready,

but we are willing still.

Show us how to navigate these waters.

Calm our souls, strengthen our resolve,

and empower us for a new year of service. Amen.

THANKSGIVING AND COMMUNION

OFFERING PRAYER (Matthew 25)

You ask much of us, O God:

meals for the hungry

and water for those who thirst.

You ask us to give from our abundance:

clothes for the naked

and care for the sick.

You demand mercy and kindness:

compassion for strangers

and generosity to the downtrodden

and imprisoned.

We offer these things as well as our gifts

of time, talent, and resources.

Accept these offerings and bless them to your service.

Lead us, Great Shepherd,

to the people who need you most. Amen.

INVITATION TO COMMUNION

Whether we have all things or nothing,

God meets us where we are.

We are not our circumstances.

We are not our labels.

We are individual lights of divine inspiration,

seeking to join our hearts with our Source,

that we may live as Christ.

Come to this moment with your whole selves,

that God may nurture the divine spark within you.

COMMUNION PRAYER

Giver of Life, years come and go,

but your love remains eternal.

We bring our broken hearts, wildest dreams,

inner struggles, deepest needs, confusion, certainty,

and we place them at the table of your wisdom.

We come seeking the wine of resurrecting hope

and the bread of purpose and commitment.

Restore us, renew us, and ready us

for the tasks, blessings, and adventure

of the year ahead.

In the name of Christ Jesus, the one who calls us

and equips us to serve, we pray. Amen.

GREAT THANKSGIVING

The Lord be with you.

And also with you.

Lift up your hearts.

We lift them up to the Lord.

Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.

It is right to give our thanks and praise.

It is right, and a good and joyful thing,

always and everywhere to give thanks to you:

in seasons of hopefulness and joy,

in seasons of sadness and longing,

in seasons of plenty, in seasons of want,

in seasons when we are ready and willing,

in seasons when we struggle to simply breathe,

in seasons when we are loved by many,

in seasons when we are so lonely it hurts.

For being always with us, we praise your name,

joining the unending hymn of the faithful on earth

and all the company of heaven:

Holy, Holy, Holy Lord, God of power and might;

heaven and earth are full of your glory.

Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is the one

who comes in the name of the Lord.

Hosanna in the highest.

Holy are you and blessed is your Son, Jesus,

who has shown us the way to salvation.

In feeding the hungry, visiting the imprisoned,

caring for the sick, and blessing the stranger,

we see the way to build your commonwealth.

Remind us that your love was made manifest

when we were hungry, scared, sick, or alone.

Give us empathetic hearts, thoughtful minds,

and serving spirits.

May we fully embrace the path of our savior

with a love like his.

We remember that through the baptism

of his suffering, death, and resurrection,

you gave birth to your Church,

delivered us from slavery to sin and death,

and made with us a new covenant

by water and the Spirit.

(Words of Institution and Blessing of the Elements)

PRAYER OF CONSECRATION

As we enter into a new year of Christian discipleship,

unify this body of faithful persons,

that we may recommit to the service of others

and to the healing of the communities

we call home.

Infuse us with your Spirit,

that we may give praise in all circumstances,

and find blessings in the midst of challenge.

Bless us with an indomitable hope—

a hope that transforms even our darkest despair.

Amen.

SENDING FORTH

BENEDICTION (Ecclesiastes 3, Matthew 25)

May the shepherding spirit of Christ

be with you in this new season,

strengthening you as you strengthen others.

Remembering when you were strangers, sick,

imprisoned, or in need,

may you abundantly offer provision for others

with gratitude and mercy.

Trusting in the never-ending goodness of the Divine,

may you be a vessel of light and