PRAYERS FOR WORSHIP April 5, 2020
Greeting
We come seeking to find our lives in
the Lord Jesus.
We come seeking to be the Lord’s
faithful ministers.
We come to take our rightful place on
the side of the Lord.
Penitential Prayer
Love one another … turn the other cheek …
love your enemies … judge not … feed the hungry …
be reconciled with your brothers and sisters …
Forgive! Forgive! Forgive!
Lord we humbly acknowledge our unwillingness
to obey these commands is living proof of betrayal and disloyalty.
Forgive us Lord for our unwillingness
to be Your faithful ministers.
Blessing
Let us position ourselves now
to take our rightful place
on the side of the Lord.
PRAYERS FOR WORSHIP April 10, 2020
Greeting
The darkness of that fateful Friday
hangs over us,
as we gather to relive
this most solemn day in Salvation History.
Penitential Prayer
For the sins committed against ourselves;
for our neglect of body, mind, spirit —
Lord, show us Your mercy!
For the wrongs done to others —
to those we profess to love,
to those we pretend do not even exist —
Lord, show us Your mercy!
For the failures of our community
to meet the obligations of justice and charity,
Lord, show us Your mercy!
For these, and for all our sins,
Lord, show us Your mercy!
Blessing
Go in peace,
for Jesus humbled himself for our sake,
and became obedient unto death.
Go in joy,
for the Father has given Him the Name
that is above every name.
Go in hope,
for at His Name every knee shall bow,
and every tongue confess that
Jesus Christ is Lord.
PRAYERS FOR WORSHIP April 12, 2020
Greeting
He came singing love! He lived singing love!
He died singing love! He rose singing love!
If the song is to continue, we must do the singing!
Penitential Prayer
Easter is the joyful celebration of what the
Resurrection Power of God is doing in our lives.
Because of God’s Resurrection Power,
the Christ Spirit is in us now. But are we
open to the experience of it?
Do we honestly and truly rejoice in
the experience of it?
For our failure to REJOICE, REJOICE, REJOICE,
in the Resurrection Power of God, we ask for
forgiveness Lord for not acting as your true
Easter people.
Blessing
Go! And perhaps the high point of your
Easter celebration will be that because you cared enough to share, someone out there will have risen from the empty tomb in his or her life.
PRAYERS FOR WORSHIP April 19, 2020
Greeting
Though unlike doubting Thomas,
we do not touch our Lord’s wounded palms,
We are, nonetheless, the Company of His Believers.
Though unlike doubting Thomas we do not place our hands into His side,
We are, nonetheless, in the Place of His
Risen Presence.
We are truly blessed,
for though we have not seen,
we have come in faith.
Penitential Prayer
Father, we live in a time of great confusion. Technology advances with frightening speed.
But for every problem solved, a new one emerges. We long for lost simplicity.
We ache for spiritual rejuvenation.
We long and we ache,
but few of us take any positive action
to redeem our times.
Therefore, Father,
we confess that we are often apathetic;
we are often indifferent;
we are often negligent;
we are often detached.
Father, we confess these deficiencies and resolve to reenergize ourselves; to give witness in the world to Your healing, reconciling, harmonizing power.
Blessing
Fear not the darkness
for the Lord is with you always.
Abide not in confusion
for the domain of the Spirit is harmonious.
Go in confidence
for the Risen Christ lights up the way.
PRAYERS FOR WORSHIP April 26, 2020
Greeting
We have entered the house of the Lord,
Let every voice sing out in praise;
Let every heartbeat with love and adoration.
We have entered the house of the Lord,
the Gateway to peace,
the Gateway to peace and blessed fulfillment.
Penitential Prayer
Today, we resolve to make an earnest accounting of our shortcomings.
We acknowledge our greed, and pray that
we might grow more charitable;
We acknowledge our biases, and pray that we might grow more open-minded;
We acknowledge our insensitivity, and pray that we might grow more understanding;
We acknowledge our lusts, and pray the we might
grow more temperate;
We acknowledge our self-centeredness and pray that we might grow more other-centered.
Father, we pray that through Your Infinite Love we may be cleansed.
Blessing
As we return, absolved of sin, to our families and to our neighborhoods and work communities, let us practice the Christian art of caring and forgiveness.
Let us share in boundless measure the Lord’s blessings which we have received.