• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Emerging Scholars Blog

InterVarsity's Emerging Scholars Network

DONATE
  • Home
  • About Us
    • About Our Bloggers
    • ESN Writing Inquiries
    • Commenting Policy
  • Reading Lists
  • Scholar’s Compass
    • Scholar’s Compass Discussion Guide
    • Scholar’s Compass Posts
    • Scholar’s Compass Booklet
  • Connect
    • Membership
    • Events
    • Donate
    • Contact Us
Home » Liturgies of Calling, Post 1 (Highlighting Community)

Liturgies of Calling, Post 1 (Highlighting Community)

September 20, 2015 by Mike Gehrling Leave a Comment

cathedral cross photoNow  and then, we’ll take a break from our Sunday Scholar’s Compass rhythm to share other material that can be used in personal reflection and communal worship, and this week we share a liturgy from a recent InterVarsity conference. Every summer, InterVarsity hosts  the Midwest Faculty Conference  as a time for faculty to rest, reflect, and meet with God and each other. This year’s theme was The Faculty Vocation: Exploring a Christian Anthropology of the Academic Life. Mike Gehrling,  InterVarsity’s Director of International Graduate Student and Faculty Ministry, crafted liturgies for worship at the conference around the theme of vocation. He shares them with us here.  


My Calling In Christ – a Liturgy based on Colossians 1:1-23

Song – In Christ Alone (Keith Getty and Stuart Townend)

Prayer of Thanksgiving

God and Father of our Lord, Jesus Christ,
we thank you for our faith in Christ Jesus.
We thank you for the love of all the saints.
We thank you for the hope laid up for us in heaven,
which we heard in the word of the truth of the gospel.

We thank you that the gospel has come to us,
even as it goes into all the world.
We thank you for the fruit Your gospel has been bearing in our lives,
from the day we first heard and knew Your grace and truth.

We thank you for those who have spoken the gospel to us . . .

(we name those whose witness led us to Jesus Christ).

Song – Christ Whose Glory Fills the Skies (Charles Wesley)

Statement of Faith

Christ is the image of the invisible God,
the firstborn over all creation.
For by Him all things were created
that are in heaven and that are on earth,
visible and invisible,
whether thrones or dominions
 or principalities or powers.
All things were created through Him and for Him.

And He is before all things,
and in Him all things consist.
And He is the head of the body, the Church,
who is the beginning,
the firstborn from the dead,
that in all things 
He may have the preeminence.

For it pleased the Father that in Him
all the fullness should dwell,
and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself,
whether things on earth or things in heaven,
having made peace 
through the blood of His cross.

Song – Center (Charlie Hall and Matt Redman)

Closing Prayer

O Lord,
fill us with the knowledge of Your will
in all wisdom and spiritual understanding,
that we may walk worthy of You,
fully pleasing You,
being fruitful in every good work
and increasing in knowledge of You.

Strengthen us with all might,
according to Your glorious power,
for all patience and longsuffering with joy.
We thank You, Father,
for You have qualified us to be partakers
of the inheritance of the saints in the light.

You have delivered us from the power of darkness
and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of Your love.
In Christ we have redemption
through His blood,
the forgiveness of sins.

Amen.


Part  of Mike Gehrling’s Liturgies of Calling series, appearing in the Highlighting Community feature of the Emerging Scholars Network Blog. Part 1.  Find Part 2  here.  Find Part 3  here.

Image courtesy of Unsplash at Pixabay.com.

Mike Gehrling
Mike Gehrling

Rev. Michael Gehrling is InterVarsity’s Director of International Graduate Student and Faculty Ministry, leading GFM’s ministry to international students and scholars across the country. He also serves as co-pastor of The Upper Room, a Presbyterian church plant in Pittsburgh, PA. Find him on social media @mikegehrling.

Share this:

  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email
  • Click to print (Opens in new window) Print
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
  • More
  • Click to share on X (Opens in new window) X
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window) Tumblr
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window) LinkedIn
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window) Pinterest

Filed Under: Christ and the Academy, Love Your Campus Tagged With: calling, community, hymns, Liturgies of Calling series, Love Your Campus, The Four Loves, theology of vocation, vocation

Reader Interactions

Leave a ReplyCancel reply

Primary Sidebar

Become a Member

Membership is Free. Sign up and receive our monthly newsletter and access ESN member benefits.

Join ESN Today

Scholar’s Compass Booklet

Scholar's Compass Booklet

Click here to get your copy

Top Posts

  • Rest and Flourishing: ESN Weekly Summer Readings for Faculty (Small Group or Individual)
  • A Prayer for Those Finishing a Semester
  • Book Review: The Problem of Pain
  • Rest and Growth: ESN Weekly Summer Readings for Grad Students (Small Group or Individual)
  • The Message of Genesis 1

Facebook Posts

Facebook Posts

Footer

Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy

Recent Posts

  • Encouraging One Another
  • Science Corner: Grandmother, What Grey Fur You Have
  • ESN Conversation: Nailing It

Article Categories

Footer Logo
© 2025 InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA®. All rights reserved.
InterVarsity, InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA, and the InterVarsity logo are trademarks of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA and its affiliated companies.

Member of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students

Privacy Policy | Terms of Use | Contact Us