Copyright: © 1996 Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada. This rite may be freely reproduced for non-commercial purposes with acknowledgment and mention of the Lift Up Your Hearts web site http://www.worship.ca/ as the source. This liturgy was prepared by the Worship Planning Team for Lift Up Your Hearts, the 1996 ELCIC National Worship Conference. This rite has been approved for provisional use in the congregations and communities of the ELCIC.

This rite was born in the context of a national conference of the church and might serve for other national, synodical or regional gatherings. It can also be used by a congregation to greet the new year on Advent 1 or to gather the community on "Rally Sunday."

The congregation, together with presiding and assisting minister, paschal candle bearer, acolytes and other worship leaders, gathers outside the worship space. The font and paschal candle are central to the gathering. The font, for this occasion, can be a handsome basin placed on a suitable table. A cedar or evergreen branch rests in the font.

The presiding minister greets the congregation.

Greeting

P     What is it you seek?

C     To enter the church.

P     What do you ask of God's church?

C     To be a community wherein we receive and express our Christian faith, and find that faith renewed and refreshed.

P     What does this faith offer you?

C     Fullness of life.

P     What is the door to this fullness of life?

C     The font, in Holy Baptism.

P     Are you prepared to renew your Baptism?

C     We are!

Affirmation of Baptism

P     Sisters and brothers in Christ: In water and the Word at your Baptism, you died to the old life and rose again, children of God and inheritors of eternal life. In the Word read and proclaimed, you came to recognize the shape of the inbreaking realm of God, of which you are a citizen. At the table, you have been nourished by the true presence of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. I ask you to profess your faith in Christ Jesus, to reject sin and confess the faith of the Church, the faith in which we baptize.

P     Do you renounce Satan and all the spiritual forces of wickedness that rebel against God?

C     I renounce them.

P     Do you renounce the evil powers of this world which corrupt and destroy God's creation?

C     I renounce them.

P     Do you renounce all sinful desires that draw you from the love of God?

C     I renounce them.

As the people profess their faith, the presiding minister, using the branch, may sprinkle them with water from the font.

The text of the Apostles' Creed is that of the English Language Liturgical Consultation (1988). This, together with other ecumenical texts, may be found in With One Voice, page 55.

P     Do you believe in God, the Source of All Being?

C     I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.

P     Do you believe in Jesus Christ, the Eternal Word?

C     I believe in Jesus Christ, God's only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried; he descended to the dead. On the third day he rose again; he ascended into heaven, he is seated at the right hand of the Father, and he will come to judge the living and the dead.

P     Do you believe in God, the Holy Spirit?

C     I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection + of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.

P     You have affirmed your Baptism in the presence of God and this assembly. Will you continue to live together as God's people? Will you treasure the reading and proclamation of the Word, share the Supper in obedience and joy, and demonstrate the love of God in the lives you live?

C     We will.

P     Almighty God, who has given you the will to do these things, graciously give you the strength and compassion to perform them.

C     Amen.

P     Come, now, lift up your hearts to the God of our salvation.

C     Let us worship God!

Entrance

The entrance hymn or Psalm is sung. The paschal candle bearer leads the procession into the church. As people pass the font, they may trace the sign of the cross on forehead or over themselves with water.

In festival seasons, the liturgy continues with the Greeting and Kyrie or Hymn of Praise. In the Time of the Church, the liturgy may continue with the Salutation and Prayer of the Day.