CALL TO WORSHIP
Come, let us sing to the Lord! Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation.
Let us come to him with thanksgiving. Let us sing psalms of praise to him.
For the Lord is a great God, a great King above all gods.
He holds in his hands the depths of the earth and the mightiest mountains.
Come, let us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before the Lord our maker, for he is our God.
We are the people he watches over, the flock under his care.
OPENING PRAYER
Almighty God, we gather to sing your praise and to hear your word. In our worship today, help us to see your purpose for our lives—both our individual lives and our common life as a community of faith. Grant us the assurance of your love and power, that we may share our hope with the world around us. We ask this in the Name of your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
PRAYER OF THE DAY
O God of steadfast love, you have brought us into a new week, and so we place ourselves in your hands this morning. Unite us, we pray, within the mind of Christ. Grant us kindness and patience in our dealings with others. When we are filled with song, teach us to weep with those who are dejected. But should feel stressful or walled in by negative feelings, bring us into a broad place of freedom that we might rejoice with those who are glad.
We confess that we are too often caught up in wrongdoing and self-deception, in doubt and misunderstanding. Let your forgiving love lift our eyes to the face of your Son, which delivers your children from faithless fear.
Thank you for the work you give us to do and the free time to enjoy your gifts. But even so, lead us past our narrow lives. Remind us each day of the week to come that you are the One in whom we live and move and have our being; that yours is the path we are called to walk, and that yours are the promises in which we grow.
Listen now in the silence to our prayers for our own concerns, hear us as we lift up to you our loved ones, and assure us that you listen to our cries for the earth and its peoples.
Come, let us sing to the Lord! Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation.
Let us come to him with thanksgiving. Let us sing psalms of praise to him.
For the Lord is a great God, a great King above all gods.
He holds in his hands the depths of the earth and the mightiest mountains.
Come, let us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before the Lord our maker, for he is our God.
We are the people he watches over, the flock under his care.
—from Ps. 95
OPENING PRAYER
Almighty God, we gather to sing your praise and to hear your word. In our worship today, help us to see your purpose for our lives—both our individual lives and our common life as a community of faith. Grant us the assurance of your love and power, that we may share our hope with the world around us. We ask this in the Name of your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
PRAYER OF THE DAY
O God of steadfast love, you have brought us into a new week, and so we place ourselves in your hands this morning. Unite us, we pray, within the mind of Christ. Grant us kindness and patience in our dealings with others. When we are filled with song, teach us to weep with those who are dejected. But should feel stressful or walled in by negative feelings, bring us into a broad place of freedom that we might rejoice with those who are glad.
We confess that we are too often caught up in wrongdoing and self-deception, in doubt and misunderstanding. Let your forgiving love lift our eyes to the face of your Son, which delivers your children from faithless fear.
Thank you for the work you give us to do and the free time to enjoy your gifts. But even so, lead us past our narrow lives. Remind us each day of the week to come that you are the One in whom we live and move and have our being; that yours is the path we are called to walk, and that yours are the promises in which we grow.
Listen now in the silence to our prayers for our own concerns, hear us as we lift up to you our loved ones, and assure us that you listen to our cries for the earth and its peoples.
[A silence is kept.]
These prayers we offer in the Name of your Son Jesus Christ,
who with you and the Holy Spirit, lives and reigns,
God forever and ever. Amen.
—inspired by Cornelius Plantinga, Morning & Evening Prayers
INVITATION
God calls you from different places and situations to be a family. So come to the table, brothers and sisters, for no matter who you are or where you are on life's journey, you're welcome here. In this holy meal, be assured of Christ's love and be strengthened to do God's will.
COMMUNION PRAYER
COMMUNION PRAYER
Gracious God, we praise you that in your Son Jesus Christ, you have made us your children. Thank you for your gifts to us, and help us to use them for the glory of your kingdom. Above all, we thank you for the gift of your Son who gave his all that we might know the depth of your love. May his Spirit be present in the bread and the wine, that in this Supper we might discern his body and feel the redeeming power of his blood. This we ask in his Name, whose death conquered the grave. Amen.
BENEDICTION
The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace.
Go forth in the Name of the + Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
