PRAYERS FOR WORSHIP February 5, 2012
Greeting
Open your hearts to God’s welcome:
He knows us individually — and our first name;
He knows the story of our life — page-by-page;
He follows us, step-by-step — from cradle to grave;
He understands us;
His arms are open to receive us.
What a Miracle is God!
Penitential Prayer
Apart from the miraculous, there is
no God,
no Jesus,
no mankind,
no creation,
no love,
no eternal life.
God forgive our disbelief in miracles!
Blessing
May God be in your mind,
and in your understanding.
May God be in your eyes,
and in your looking.
May God be in your mouth,
and in your speaking.
May God be in your heart,
and in your doing.
PRAYERS FOR WORSHIP February 12, 2012
Greeting
The chains of sin are broken,
Our faith is not in vain.
Our most extravagant hopes are legitimate.
Our greatest loves are certain
Our deepest wounds are healed.
Jesus saves!
Penitential Prayer
Lord, we confess that we often cry out in dismay,
“Look what the world has come to!”
and less often sing out in delight,
“Look what has come to the world!”
Lord, how often we forget that the greatest discovery of our life is that we have a Savior.
Lord, forgive our forgetfulness.
Blessing
A Christian person is the most free person of all,
and subject to no one;
A Christian person is the most dutiful person of all
and subject to everyone.
PRAYERS FOR WORSHIP February 19, 2012
Greeting
Jesus is accessible — He listens!
Jesus is approachable — He understands!
Jesus is embraceable — He loves!
Because Jesus cares,
He is with us now:
listening
understanding,
loving,
healing!
Penitential Prayer
Lord, we confess our contribution to one of the fundamental ills of our time: the lack of human access, people-to-people access. We have lulled ourselves into a false sense of optimism that, somehow, increased technology will produce a living environment in which there will be greater opportunity for closer, richer, personal relationship. Perhaps there has never been an Age when one-to-one contact has been so difficult to achieve;
students attempting to reach teachers, and
teachers their students;
patients their doctors;
clients their lawyers;
consumers their producers;
tenants their landlords;
citizens their representatives;
children their parents.
Lord, we have played a part in creating a dehumanizing atmosphere in which we seem to be forever standing in the wrong line. And even the right line seems to lead us not so much to warm, fleshy human beings as to that mysterious, impersonal, untouchable, inaccessible force people constantly refer to as “they.”
For these failures in human contact and for our own personal lack of approachability and accessibility, have mercy on us, our Heavenly Father!
Blessing
“Jesus Christ … Son of God … was not alternately ‘Yes’ and ‘No’: He was never anything but ‘Yes’”
Go, and follow His example;
“Yes!” to the Father’s Will;
“Yes!” to the Son’s example;
“Yes!” to the Spirit of Love;
“Yes! Yes! Yes!” to one another!
PRAYERS FOR WORSHIP February 26, 2012
Greeting
During this season of Lent
Let us follow our Lord Jesus Christ –
past the street corners of conflict,
up the mountain of glory,
through the garden of prayer,
beside the hill of agony,
through the darkness of the tomb,
to the life of triumph and joy.
During this season of Lent,
let us follow our Lord Jesus Christ.
Penitential Prayer
During this time of the year, in which we consider the sufferings of the Lord on our behalf, we become sensitive to how unworthy we are.
May this year’s observance of Lent make us very much aware of our helplessness and of our complete dependence upon God’s Love for our salvation.
Lord, forgive our stubborn unawareness.
Blessing
Go forth from this place in humility,
knowing it was for you Christ suffered,
knowing it was for you He died in hope,
knowing it was for you He lives.