Pause in the normal work of a presbytery meeting and ask people to spontaneously respond with a word of phrase to the question, “What makes a church different from other organizations in our society?” Collect 10 or 15 responses. Then change the question to “What is a special calling of elders in our churches?” Again, having recorded 10 to 15 responses of words of phrases, change the question again to, “What is unique about the call of clergy, CLPs and educators in our churches?”
The liturgist then takes the three lists and combines them into a litany of thanksgiving for our call as the Body of Christ. The lead in to each list might be something like, “Lord, we offer our praise and thanks that you have offered us the privilege of being a church. We hear our call to be: (list what you have heard about what makes the church different.) Then continue (perhaps with a different speaker) with “By your Spirit you have chosen elders to serve your church. We thank you for elders who are called to (read the list collected.) From out of the mystery of time, Lord, you have called as clergy and educators among us. They are called to (then offer the list.) Conclude with a singing the doxology.
Like Israel before us, it is important to remind ourselves that God has called us out as a light to the nations.
