Opening Hymns

This is the Day of New Beginnings- 518

This is a day of new beginnings,

     time to remember and move on,

     time to believe what love is bringing,

     laying to rest the pain that’s gone.


For by the life and death of Jesus,

     God’s mighty Spirit, now as then,

     can make for us a world of difference,

     as faith and hope are born again.



Come and Find the Quiet Center- 575

Come and find the quiet center in the crowded life we lead,

             find the room for hope to enter,

             find the frame where we are freed:

             clear the chaos and the clutter,

             clear our eyes, that we can see,

             all the things that really matter,

             be at peace and simply be.


Silence is a friend who claims us.

             Cools the heat and slows the pace,

             God it is who speaks and names us,

             knows our being, touches base,

             making space within our thinking,

             lifting shades to show the sun,

             raising courage when we’re shrinking,

             finding scope for faith begun.


In the Spirit let us travel,

            open to each other’s pain,

            let our loves and fears unravel,

            celebrate the space we gain:

           there’s a place for deepest dreaming,

            there’s a time for heart to care,

           in the Spirit’s lively scheming

          there is always room to spare!


Water, River, Spirit, Grace- 366

Water, River, Spirit, Grace

           sweep over me, sweep over me!

          Re-carve the depths your fingers traced

          in sculpting me, in sculpting me, sculpting me.

(Repeat three times)