This document summarizes the order of service for a closing worship event and fixing of pastoral appointments. It includes songs, prayers, affirmations of faith, and passages where the bishop charges both clergy and laity and they respond by pledging their commitment and support for one another. The event concludes with the bishop sending both clergy and laity forth to spread the message of God's grace through their ministries and daily lives.

1. Closing Worship &
Fixing of Appointments
Sunday, June 21, 2015 | 10 a.m.
Until the Whole World Hears!

2. Leader:
We have encountered
the Word, calling us
into communion
with God and
with each other,

3. All:
and calling us into
discipleship
to carry on Christ’s work
in our world.

4. Leader:
So we come together
here, joining hands
in the great quest:

5. All:
to worship God,
to love each other, and
to serve the world.

6. Holy God, we come full
of our own personal
experiences from the past
week to join in common
worship and mutual care.

7. Help us to bear one
another’s burdens, pray
for one another’s concerns
and see with a new and
clear perspective through
the lens of scripture,
tradition, reason, and
experience.

8. Give us faith in your
compassion,
home in your future
and love for all your
children. Amen

9. Christ for the
World We Sing
UMH 568. Words: Samuel Wolcott, 1869; Music: Felice de Giardini, 1769
OneLicense.net E-801569. All rights reserved.

10. Christ for the world
we sing,
the world to Christ
we bring,
with loving zeal;

11. the poor, and them
that mourn,
the faint and overborne,
sin-sick and sorrow-worn,
whom Christ doth heal.

12. Christ for the world
we sing,
the world to Christ
we bring,
with fervent prayer;

13. the wayward and the lost,
by restless passions tossed,
redeemed at countless cost,
from dark despair.

14. Christ for the world
we sing,
the world to Christ
we bring,
with one accord;

15. with us the work to share,
with us reproach to dare,
with us the cross to bear,
for Christ our Lord.

16. Christ for the world
we sing,
the world to Christ
we bring,
with joyful song;

17. the new-born souls,
whose days,
reclaimed from error's ways,
inspired with hope
and praise,
to Christ belong.

18. Leader:
Our lives are a journey, and
the road goes ever on. It’s a
road that began with our birth,
that winds its way through
meadows and mountains, that
crosses rivers and canyons.

19. People:
for the bread that has
sustained us on our
journeys, and for the guides
who have led us,
we offer thanks and
praise, O God.

20. Leader:
We pray for those whose
journeys end mere moments
after they have begun.

21. People:
We pray for those
who do not have the
strength to travel on.

22. Leader:
We pray for those whose
paths seem continually to wind
back upon themselves,
spiraling through poverty,
pain, prison of soul or mind
or body,

23. People:
and for those whose
paths coil with malice
until joy and power and life
itself are crushed out.

24. Leader:
In the landscape of your
abounding love, we know
there are paths leading into
tomorrows yet unfathomed.
There are days ahead when all
your children shall walk upon a
green and fruitful earth,

25. People:
unafraid of war,
unbeset by want,

26. Leader:
untroubled by pain or
loneliness, selfishness
or uselessness,

27. People:
help us to shape
such a world.

28. Leader:
Let our paths not
be narrow and
self-preoccupied.

29. People:
Let us build broad
highways, where all
may walk together
in beauty, tending the
gardens along the way.

30. Leader:
As we journey on
through pleasure and pain,
commitment and betrayal,
keep us mindful that
we do not walk alone;

31. People:
that you are Presence
in our midst;

32. Leader:
that in Jesus of Nazareth
you came and shared our
common lot;

33. People:
that you walk beside us
and dance ahead
of us into the future.

34. Leader:
Deliver us, we pray, from the
mire of grudges and regrets.
We yearn to break away from
all that, to come running to
your open arms, to your arms
that are spread wide with
mercy and acceptance.

35. Together:
All these things we pray
in the name of Jesus,
whose story brings life
to a dying world, hope
to a despairing people,
justice and love to a realm
of strife. Amen.

36. Go live through
the anthem and message.

37. Affirmation of Faith
From Touch Holiness: Resources for Worship, Updated,
page 233, Ruth C. Duck and Maren C. Tirabassi, eds; Pilgrim Press, Clevland, Ohio, 2012.
OneLicense.net E-801569. All rights reserved.

38. Together:
I believe it is a matter
of faith to stand up
for those who cannot
stand up for themselves.

39. I believe it is a matter
of faith to recognize equally
and love all members
of God’s human family
whatever their race, creed,
color, gender, gender identity,
marital status, physical
or mental capacity.

40. I believe God’s creation
is good, beautiful, sacred,
and therefore to condemn
any portion of God’s creation
is to condemn a portion
of God. This is sin.

41. I believe Jesus Christ came
to us to free all people
from sin and to make disciples
– people willing to live
Christ’s discipline of love and
justice for all.

42. I believe the Holy Spirit
is that power within us that
gives us courage and
stamina to face the truth
and to live it, even to die for it,
as Jesus died.

43. I believe in the resurrection,
the victory over death, the
truth that is life for all in Jesus’
name.
Glory be to God, the One in
Three: Creator, Savior, and
Holy power of love. Amen.

45. Doxology© 2001 Kadasha SEJ Praise and Worship Team. OneLicense.net E-801569. All rights reserved.
Praise God, from whom
all blessings flow;
praise God, all creatures
here below:
Alleluia! Alleluia!

46. Praise God, the source
of all our gifts!
Praise Jesus Christ,
whose power uplifts!
Praise the Spirit,
Holy Spirit!
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

47. Commissioning
of
2016
General and Jurisdictional
Delegates

48. Bishop:
Let us covenant together that
we shall not rest until God’s reign
of righteousness is realized
on earth as it is in heaven.
Delegates:
We shall not seek the illusory comfort
of easy answers but will do the
hard work of seeking God’s will
with each new decision.

49. Bishop:
We shall not succumb to the false Gospel
of individualism but shall pursue shalom, the
hope of justice for all God’s people.
Delegates:
We shall not be seduced by the appeal
of tribalism but shall consider
ourselves citizens of an order ruled
by Christ, to whom belongs
all honor and glory, authority and power,
world without end. Amen.

50. Bishop:
O God, as you anointed leaders and called
prophets of old, lead us to recognize our true
representatives and authentic leaders: men
and women who love your people and can walk
with them, who feel their pain and share their
joys, who dream their dreams and strive to
accompany them to their common goal.

51. People:
In your fire, with your Spirit,
embolden and commission these
representatives of the Western NC
Conference to transform our
discernment, to serve your people,
and to bring real glory to your name.

52. Go live through the
Fixing of Appointments

53. Covenant Prayer
Worship & Song, 3115. Words: John Wesley; Music: Jay D. Locklear and Adam Seate
Music © 2008 Jay D. Locklear and Adam Seate. OneLicense.net E-801569. All rights reserved
Please join the
Junaluska Singers
in singing the refrain

54. Refrain:
This is my prayer,
Lord, to you.
My promise and my vow,
strong and true.
And the covenant I make
on earth,
let it be fulfilled in heaven.
Amen.

55. Bishop:
All of us are bound together by
Christ’s love poured out for us
and through us to the world.
(Clergy Stand)

56. You are called to “a lifetime
of servant leadership in
specialized ministries among
the people of God.”

57. Clergy, through your
ministries,
will you interpret “the needs,
concerns, and hopes of the
world, and the promise of God
for creation?” to the church
where you are sent?

58. Clergy:
We are bound in covenant
together before God and
one another.
Bishop: The world cries out
for justice and mercy.

59. Deacons:
We go where we are sent to
represent the connection
between our worship of
God and serving in God’s
world.
We go to the community
where God is sending us.

60. Bishop:
The world needs to hear the
Word of God.

61. Elders, Associate Members,
Local Pastors:
We go where we are sent to
spread the good news in the
community where we are
sent, to administer the
sacraments, to be servants in
the church and in the world,
and to lead the congregation.

62. Charge to the Laity
(Laity stand)
Bishop:
“The world is our parish,”
John Wesley said.

63. You are the people of God,
living and serving in God’s
world. Will you receive these
persons, as your leaders, sent
to serve Christ, support and
lead the Church in ministry to
all the world?

64. Laity:
We reaffirm our faith in
Christ, and our commitment
to serving Him in our daily
lives. We receive these
persons as servants among
us, and will support them in
our shared ministries.

65. Bishop:
We are God’s people, called
to serve with radical hospitality,
to worship passionately,
to strengthen our faith
intentionally and purposefully,
taking risks in mission and
service, …

66. while giving all we possess
freely, extravagantly, and
generously through God’s
grace. God’s saving grace
stretches out to new
generations everywhere.

67. God’s grace
opens wide the hearts in all
cultures through the
compassionate giving church:
To welcome diverse people
of all languages, ethnicities,
and backgrounds,

68. To seek and find those
who are lost,
To restore the broken
through the movement
of the Holy Spirit.

69. To heal the sick with God’s
healing power.
And to unite those in need,
with a loving, merciful
God in salvation.

70. Bishop:
People of God, do you
love Jesus enough
to take up the cross
and follow Him?
People:
Yes, we affirm that
we love Jesus Christ.

71. Bishop:
Seek the lost, the broken,
and the hopeless with
the hope of the Gospel.

72. Bishop:
People of God, are you
holding the cross
ready to follow?
People:
Yes, we are holding the
cross, ready to follow.

73. Bishop:
Go into all the world,
sharing the
message of the cross
and resurrection.

74. Bishop:
People of God,
are you ready to serve?
People:
Yes, We are ready to
“follow Jesus, make
disciples, and transform the
word” serving the present

75. Bishop:
People of God,
spread forth the message
of God’s grace!
People of God, souls are
waiting; it is time to live
dynamic, Holy Spirit,
God-directed lives!

76. Go forth, serve whole-
heartedly, building vibrant,
dynamic missional churches
for the glory of God!
People:
Amen.

77. We’ve a Story to
Tell to the Nations
UMH 569. Words and Music: H. Ernest Nichol, 1896 OneLicense.net E-801569. All rights reserved.

78. We've a story to tell
to the nations
that shall turn their hearts
to the right,
a story of truth and mercy,
a story of peace and light,
a story of peace and light.

79. Chorus:
For the darkness shall turn
to dawning,
and the dawning
to noonday bright,
and Christ's great kingdom
shall come on earth,
the kingdom of love
and light.

80. We've a song to be sung
to the nations
that shall lift their hearts
to the Lord,
a song that shall conquer evil,
and shatter the spear
and sword,
and shatter the spear
and sword.

81. Chorus:
For the darkness shall turn
to dawning,
and the dawning
to noonday bright,
and Christ's great kingdom
shall come on earth,
the kingdom of love
and light.

82. We've a message to give
to the nations,
that the Lord who
reigneth above
hath sent us His Son
to save us,
and show us that God is love,
and show us that God is love.

83. Chorus:
For the darkness shall turn
to dawning,
and the dawning
to noonday bright,
and Christ's great kingdom
shall come on earth,
the kingdom of love
and light.

84. We've a Savior to show to
the nations
who the path of sorrow
hath trod,
that all of the world's
great peoples
may come to the truth of God,
may come to the truth of God.

85. Chorus:
For the darkness shall turn
to dawning,
and the dawning
to noonday bright,
and Christ's great kingdom
shall come on earth,
the kingdom of love
and light.