PRAYERS FOR WORSHIP
May 2, 2010
Greeting
We come to this House to do many things:
sing and listen
learn and pray
seek guidance and give thanks.
There are many things to do here
but only one reason why we are here:
our love.
Come, join your brothers and sisters
in song
in prayer
in thanksgiving
in love.
Penitential Prayer
God, our Father, we confess that we have not loved You or our neighbor as we should. We have often neglected opportunities to do good and we remain blind to Your weightier demands.
We resolve to turn from the sins we know.
We ask You to show us the sins we do not recognize.
We resolve to forgive any who have wronged us and
to seek reconciliation with any from whom we are
estranged.
And now we beg Your pardon and ask Your help.
Blessing
Let us go and proclaim our Christianity!
We will not need
signs
or billboards
or advertisements.
For the world will know who we are by our love.
Go now as a People in love.
PRAYERS FOR WORSHIP
May 9, 2010
Greeting
Give praise to the Lord our God!
Give thanks, for He is
not a God of thunderbolts, but rainbows
not a God of vengeance, but reconciliation
not a God of hostility, but peace.
Come worship the Lord in His House of Peace.
Penitential Prayer
Lord, we have remained cool to the fire of Your Word.
We have not dared to live for others.
We have thought too little about who You are
and who we are.
Remember not the words of malice spoken to our neighbor.
Remember not the times we withheld words of understanding.
Lord, we have remained trapped in our narrow prejudices.
We have failed as Your peacemakers. We have continued to live by subtle forms of violence — in our homes, in our city, in our world.
Lord, we have failed to accept the mighty resources You never cease to offer us for peace and tranquility, and for wholeness of life.
Blessing
“Blessed are the peacemakers,for they shall be called the Children of God.”
We are the Children of God,
ministering
healing
touching
understanding
reconciling
and loving.
May we go and build a new world on a foundation
of love!
PRAYERS FOR WORSHIP
May 16, 2010
Greeting
Consecrated in one baptism,
joined as one People,
we are here to worship the One Lord!
Come, celebrate our Oneness with the Lord
and each other.
Penitential Prayer
Lord, we confess our idea of “oneness” is not what You have taught us. Instead of seeking unity with You and one another, we seek our own isolation.
We are into comfort, not sacrifice.
We are into style, not substance.
We are into escapism, not discipleship.
We are into self-service, not service to others.
We are into getting ahead, not helping those
left behind.
We are into good living, not Your Good Life.
Forgive us for this lack of love in our lives.
Help us today and every day to live Your Presence in our lives, so that we may be reminders of You to those around us.
Give us the strength to love, and then to keep loving so that we may be one even as You, Your Son and the Spirit are one.
Blessing
Being created by One Lord,
and united by one baptism,
we leave this House with one hope …
May we live as One People!
PRAYERS FOR WORSHIP
May 23, 2010
Greeting
Though we do not touch our Lord’s wounded palms,
We are, nonetheless, the Company of His Believers.
Though 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 to 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
May 30, 2010
Greeting
Let us rejoice, for
these gifts we are making
will spread the Teachings of Christ;
these gifts we are making
will further the Cause of Christ;
these gifts we are making
will proclaim the Peace of Christ;
these gifts we are making
will reveal the Love of Christ.
Let us rejoice in these gifts!
Penitential Prayer
Father,
there are persons among us who desperately need to know
there is a way out of the deepest pit of human
degradation and despair.
there are persons among us who desperately need to put
their trust in someone who can show them the way.
The question is, “Why do we hesitate to lead them out of the pit of despair and show them the way to New Life?”
For our reluctance to gift them with new hope by sharing with them Your gift of New Life,
Father we beg Your forgiveness.
Blessing
Go now, in the hope that there will be a time this coming week when, in word and deed, your lifestyle convinces someone else that a Gracious God is in control!