CALL TO WORSHIP
Your unfailing love, O Lord, is as vast as the heavens; your faithfulness reaches beyond the clouds.
Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains, your justice like the ocean depths.
How precious is your unfailing love, O God!
All humanity finds shelter in the shadow of your wings.
Feed us from the abundance of your house.
Let us drink from the river of your delights.
For you are the fountain of life, the light by which we see.
Pour out your unfailing love on those who love you; give justice to those with honest hearts.
—based on Ps. 36:5-10
OPENING PRAYER
—PCUSA (alt.)
PRAYER OF THE DAY
O God of heaven and earth, we thank you that you for your creation, and for the day that you have made for us to live. We thank you for your call—sometimes sudden and disturbing, sometimes kindly and gentle—that draws us out of ourselves to live lives for you. We thank you for the opportunities to serve others, and for rest and refreshment.
We come to you this day in trust: Your word created the world, and with your word you sustain us, for we do not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from your mouth. We confess to you the times that we have been ungrateful or forgetful. Forgive us when we have chosen indifference or hatred over love. Overwhelm our tendency to hold grudges or our penchant to live in the past.
As you ordered the universe, so create distance between ourselves and all that lies behind us. Flood us with you holy healing Spirit, and free us to live in the presence. We ask this in the Name of Jesus Christ your Son, who with you and the Holy Spirit, lives and reigns, God forevermore. Amen.
COMMUNION PRAYER
Eternal God, you satisfy our hunger by feeding us with the bread of life, and you quench our thirst for righteousness by your mighty acts. Send now your Holy Spirit to settle upon these gifts that we might discern in them the presence of Christ. Send that same Spirit upon us, your children, that we might more fully love one another and serve you in the world. This we pray in Christ's Name. Amen.
Eternal God, you satisfy our hunger by feeding us with the bread of life, and you quench our thirst for righteousness by your mighty acts. Send now your Holy Spirit to settle upon these gifts that we might discern in them the presence of Christ. Send that same Spirit upon us, your children, that we might more fully love one another and serve you in the world. This we pray in Christ's Name. Amen.
BENEDICTION
In the cold of winter, we celebrate the warmth of God’s light breaking into the world; and so: May the light of God lead you, the warmth of Christ embrace you, and the flame of the Holy Spirit enliven you so that you know both hope and peace this morning as we part company and every coming day. Amen.
