Metropolitan/Urban Ministry Sunday • July 27, 2008

Metropolitan/Urban Ministry Sunday celebrates the work of urban congregations both within and outside of their communities. Use this collection of worship resources and suggested activities to help you plan your service on this day.

Worship Resources and Suggested Activities

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Suggested scripture texts

• Nehemiah 2:11-18 Rebuilding the walls of the city
• Jeremiah 29:4-8 Seek the peace of the city
• Jeremiah 32:1-15 Jeremiah buys the field at Anatoth, investing in the city under siege
• Isaiah 58:6-12 Seeking justice and restoring the vitality of the city
• Isaiah 6:2-5 The city will be called “My Delight”
• Isaiah 66:17-25 The New Jerusalem
• Matthew 9:35-38 Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their Synagogues, and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and curing every disease and every sickness
• Luke 13:34-35 Jerusalem is not forsaken
• Revelation 21:1-4 The holy city, the new Jerusalem

Suggested hymns

Taken from The Presbyterian Hymnal and published by Westminster/John Knox Press, Louisville, KY, 1990.

• #332 “Live Into Hope”
• #413 “All Who Love and Serve Your City”
• #424 “O Jesus Christ, May Grateful Hymns Be Rising”
• #437 “ Our Cities Cry to You, O God”
• #453 “O Holy City, Seen of John”

Call to Worship

(ISA 62:2-5, NIV)

Leader: The city will be called by a new name that the mouth of the Lord will bestow.

People: Jerusalem will be a crown of splendor in the Lord’s hand, a royal diadem in the hand of its God.

Leader: No longer will they call the city “Deserted,” or name its land “Desolate.”

People: The city will be called “My Delight” and its land “Married.”

Leader: As a young man marries a maiden, so will its Builder wed the city.

People: As a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will the Lord rejoice over the city.

Prayer of Confession (Unison)

Merciful God,

We confess before you our ambivalence concerning your dwelling place known as the city.

We take for granted the beauty and opportunities cities afford as centers of learning, science, art and culture. We tend to focus on the darker sides of city life. We are frightened by urban violence, anxious about living near folks different from us, and crippled by the scale of the problems.

We admit that it has sometimes been easier to leave the city than dwell in the complexity of its life; or if we had stayed, often we have clung to a past long over. Forgive us for not perceiving the new things that you are accomplishing in our city and every city. Open us to the vitality of new peoples in old neighborhoods, of different perspectives of looking at the world, of exciting new ways to worship. Help us to be citizens of the City of God not yet realized in the communities in which we live.

We are grateful for a vision of a Holy City, where Christ will reign, and all people will dwell in perfect unity and peace and respect. To this vision, may we be faithful. Amen.

Jesus in the City: a prayer of joy

Because you are the Maker and this is your city,
Because your beauty is here for all to see,
We give you thanks;
For people who serve,
For those that love the forgotten,
For those that feed the hungry,
For those that build houses for the homeless,

Because you are the Savior and this is your city,
Because your love is here touch,
Because we find you in each other,
We give you thanks
For cool cups of water,
Hot meals,
Places to bathe,
Beds in which to sleep,
Places to stay cool.

Because you are the Spirit and this is your city,
Because your life is here for us to share,
We worship you, O Giver of Life;
We give you thanks for
Nurses that heal,
Preachers who care,
Social workers that serve,
Legislators who advocate for poor and homeless people.

God of the City,
Maker, Savior, Spirit,
We give you thanks and praise
And pray that we may see your presence among us.
Amen.

— Prayer written by Illinois Coalition for the Homeless

Prayer for our Cities

Lord Jesus Christ,

Today, we share your tears for the cities of the world;
— still we have not loved the things that make for peace.

We weep for the divided cities:
where brother (and sister) fights with brother (and sister),
where anger feeds on hatred,
where prejudice blinds the eyes of comparison,
and even religion divides,
where children are taught to hate,
and old men (and women) relish ancient wrongs.

We weep for the cities of oppression:
where iron law imprisons freedom,
where thought is curbed and conscience stifled,
where the questioning spirit is called a traitor,
where art and civilizing truth grows barren,
and each must think in manner as his (or her) neighbor.

We weep for the cities of poverty:
where children live, but die too soon,
where eager hands can find no work,
where hunger rules and aid is short,
where mothers clutch uncomprehending young,
and where the little we could do, we fail to do.

We weep for cities, and for ourselves;
We have not learned the things that make for peace.

Lord,
turn tears to love,
and love to work.
Turn work to justice,
and all that makes for peace.

— This prayer comes from the National Council of Churches Women’s Delegation to the Middle East 2007

A Litany

Leader: For such a time as this

All: We have been called from the streets and churches to this place to share our wisdom as we discern the times.

Leader: In such a time as this

All: We have heard the cries of the hungry, the poor and the homeless. There are so many who need our care and compassion.

Leader: In every city, the powers and principalities are at work.

All: We affirm that God is in the midst of the city healing, challenging, comforting, supporting and sustaining.

Leader: In such a time as this

All: God has blessed us with gifts and talents which can support the gifts and talents of those with whom we work.

Leader: For such a time as this

All: God has called us to speak, to act, to live by faith so that the sounds of violence and the cries of distress will be turned in the music of dancing and the laughter of joy.

Charge

Beyond the frontiers of language, or race, or nation, unite us, Jesus!
Beyond our ignorance, our prejudice, our hostilities, unite us, Jesus!
Beyond our intellectual and spiritual barriers, unite us, Jesus!
O God, for your greater glory, gather together your separated Christians!

Suggested Activities

• Lift up the story about Warren Ave. Presbyterian Church in Saginaw, Michigan, in your 2007 Mission Yearbook for Prayer and Study (page 211), or any of the numerous stories written about metropolitan/urban ministry in the Mission Yearbook.
• Invite for your worship service a speaker from a local metropolitan/urban ministry/project in your community.
• Plan a local work project with a metropolitan/urban ministry during the weekend that you celebrate Metropolitan/Urban Ministry Sunday.
• Organize a work team to help build/rehab a house and rebuild a neighborhood in New Orleans.
• For more information about bringing a work team to New Orleans or in the Gulf Coast area, go to the Presbyterian Disaster Assistance Web site.
• Develop a long-term partnership ministry with a local metropolitan/urban ministry project such as a homeless shelter, after-school tutoring program or affordable housing development project.
• Plan a bible study session on biblical texts that speak about God’s love and presence with the people of the city.
• Plan a small group conversation to talk about the changes taking place in your community and in your metro/urban area. Invite leaders from your community or someone from your local planning agency to discuss the demographic changes taking place in your community and how other churches and organizations are responding to these changes.
• Organize a small reading group to discuss Ron Peter’s book Urban Ministry: An Introduction (Abingdon Press, 2007) or Vital Signs of Urban Congregations (2006). You can order Vital Signs from the Presbyterian Distribution Service (order PDS #72344-06-001). Call PDS at (800) 524-2612 or order online. Copies of Vital Signs are free.
• Be an advocate. Become more informed about public policy issues that are impacting the quality of life for people who live in metro/urban areas such as affordable housing, homelessness, livable wage, and public transportation. Visit the PC(USA) Washington Office Web site for more information about these issues and how to be an effective advocate.
• Take up a special offering or put into your annual mission budget financial support for a local metropolitan/urban ministry project.

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