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5/22/2019 0 Comments Call to Worship, Easter 6C Come, you who are on a journey of faith, and you who are on a journey of exploration.
Come, you who know the story, and you who are longing to hear it for the first time. Come, you who belong to the family of God, and you who want to join it. Come, and worship together at the edge of transformation and let your lives be changed by the Spirit in your midst! 5/17/2019 0 Comments Prayers of the People, Easter 5C You come to us in quiet moments, Lord,
revealing new possibilities, new ways of thinking about old ideas, and sometimes your people get up and go and sometimes we criticize those who do. Hear our prayers for prophets and apostles as they break new ground and proclaim your vision in word and in deed. Hear, also, our prayers for those who fear the thing they do not understand, who cannot wrap their heads around the new thing you are doing in our midst and the ways in which you call us to do it. Be present to all of us in these moments of inspiration, we pray, and grant clarity of vision and of call, that those who dare to follow will go courageously, and those who stay behind can be witnesses of your redeeming power. You send us out, equipped and empowered, to bring Good News to those who long to hear it. Grant us discernment that we do not go off half-cocked, Lord, Certain of our own will and claiming it is yours. Give us compassion for the stranger who is hurting, For the lonely who are lost and afraid, For those struggling with cognitive disabilities Who are trapped inside their deteriorating minds, For the feeble and the aged, For the powerless whose voices are not being heard Or acknowledged And help us stand for justice against those who abuse their power over others To create impossible situations that will follow them forever. You fall on us, Holy Spirit, and baptize us anew with insight and understanding and igniting a passion for living according to the will of God made known in Jesus Christ. Fan the flame you spark in us into flame. Restore to us the joy of salvation. Lead us into praise in all circumstances, knowing that you alone are sovereign and that you hold our days in your hands from the beginning of time. Send us forth into a world that longs to hear the Good News of the Gospel and equip us to make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Creator, the Redeemer, and the Sustainer of Life, and teaching them to obey all you have commanded.  Call to Confession
Repent therefore, and turn around, that your sins may be blotted out ... (Acts 3:19) Let us confess our sin together, and seek God's mercy. Prayer of Confession, Easter 5C It is us, God. We are the ones who claim to love you, but refuse to show love to our neighbor. We are the ones who witness our siblings in Christ reaching out to the stranger in our midst as Christ taught us by example and condemn them. We are the ones who claim the significance of freedom of religion -- but only if it is the kind of religion we have ordained as right and true, for we refuse to acknowledge that any other belief system could co-exist alongside our own. Forgive us, we pray. By the power of the Spirit within us, guide our turning away from egocentricity toward humility and unconditional love as exhibited in your Son, our Lord, that the kingdom you have promised might truly become reality in the world you created and redeemed. Assurance of God's Grace Your people shall all be righteous; they shall possess the land forever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I might be glorified. (Isaiah 60:21) In the name of Jesus Christ, we have been made righteous, our sins forgiven to God's glory. Thanks be to God! Since God has forgiven us in Christ, let us also forgive one another. The peace of Christ be with you. Please extend the peace of Christ to all whom you encounter this day. Life happened. Thank you for your patience. -- julie
5/14/2019 0 Comments Call to Worship, Easter 5C Gather together those who long to know you
and those who already do. Gather together those who are willing to be part of the new thing God is doing and those who fear it. Gather together those whom you call your own from every nation on earth and every way of thinking that all may be baptized anew by the Holy Spirit at work among your people. 5/10/2019 0 Comments Prayers of the People, Easter 4C For those who are in need, O Lord,
and for those who serve them unselfishly; for the hungry and the homeless, the lonely and the imprisoned, the addict and the recovering, Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayers. For those who are ill and dying, and desperately in need of your healing touch; for those in hospitals and at home in bed, for those with broken bones and those with broken hearts, Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayers. For those who grieve and for those who seek to comfort; for the elderly who have lost their independence and for their children whose roles have changed, for the parent who has lost a child, the family who has lost their sense of security, and the couple who have lost their desire for each other, Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayers. For the teachers and the healers, and for those who follow them; for their courage and their strength, their compassion and their care, their kindness and their wisdom, Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayers. For the faithful who still believe in miracles and for those participate in them, for the one who creates something out of nothing, who imagines and then makes real, who is inspired and inspires all around them, Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayers. Thank you for coming when we call for you, O God. Thank you for working through your people in the most extraordinary ways.  Call to Confession
The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23) Let us confess our sin before God and seek God's life-giving mercy. Prayer of Confession, Easter 4C We want to do good works, Lord. We have very good intentions. But we are too busy, too absorbed in our own business to focus on the concerns of our neighbor. We want to respond when called, Lord. We tell ourselves we will. But when the call comes, we are in meetings or trying to catch up on tasks and we trust that someone else will do it. We want to be healing agents in the world, Lord. We say we believe in the power of prayer. But when the time comes to pray, we hedge our bets, and call it your will when our prayers don't work the way we tell ourselves they should. Forgive us for our complacency, our apathy, our lack of action, Lord. Forgive our self-importance and our self-absorption. Inspire in us a spirit of compassion and a strength of faith that we might serve others in your name with mercy and with expediency. Assurance of God's Grace God has promised that when we confess our sin, God who is faithful and just, will forgive us our sin, removing it as far as the east is from the west and remembering it no more. In the name of the risen Christ, we are forgiven. Thanks be to God! Since God has forgiven us in Christ, let us also forgive one another. The peace of Christ be with you. Please extend the peace of Christ to all whom you encounter this day. 5/7/2019 0 Comments Call to Worship, Easter 4C Come, you who are devoted to serving others
and you who are looking for something bigger than yourselves. Come, you who are weeping, and you who are bewildered and afraid. Come from your places of fear and darkness, of uncertainty and despair, and worship the God of new life!  Call to Confession
Let the Lord's ears be attentive to the voice of our pleas for mercy! If the Lord should mark iniquities, who could stand? (Psalm 130:1-3, pp) Let us confess our sin before God and see God's forgiveness. Prayer of Confession, Easter 3C It is us. We are the persecutors. We are the ones who stand and accuse, sometimes from behind our computer screens, sometimes from behind cloak of anonymity, very rarely face to face, because very rarely are our accusations fair. Still they debilitate and destroy. Forgive us, we pray. Open our eyes to the way called "Straight," to the paths of righteousness, to life-giving, light-reflecting grace. Teach us to love as we have been loved and to grant a second chance to those with whom we disagree, so that we might more clearly see what you have brought us together to teach one another in your name. Assurance of God's Grace We waited patiently for the Lord; the Lord inclined to us and heard our cries. The Lord drew us up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set our feet upon a rock, making our steps secure. (Psalm 40:1-2, pp) In the name of the risen Lord, Jesus Christ, we are forgiven! Thanks be to God! Since God has forgiven us in Christ, let us also forgive one another. The peace of Christ be with you. Please extend the peace of Christ to all whom you encounter this day. |
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