Worship Resources

LITURGY 1: Choosing Good

Call to Worship
Leader Come, worship in community —
People The community of the saints.
Leader Saints?
People Yes, saints! Called by God, in covenant with God,
Leader a consecrated people,
People living God’s love in the world,
Leader demonstrating that love in practical service.
All Come. Let us worship with hearts and praise and service.

Opening Prayer
Our hearts come heavy with concerns for our own family members and friends, and for those far from us who also greatly need your presence and who need our help. Our hearts come joyous with your love and concern for us, and joyous with the good we have done this week in keeping with your will. We come to you, O God, in many conditions. We come to worship you. Amen.

Prayer of Confession
Leader O God, the enormity of what we have done,
People the enormity of what you have asked us to do that we have not done,
Leader the seriousness of our sins,
People the consequences to others of our disobedience,
Leader weigh heavily on our hearts.
(Pause for silent reflection)
Leader We ask your forgiveness,
People your grace and mercy.
Leader We ask for a turning of heart,
People a turning to you and a cleansing of our hearts and spirits.
All We humbly and earnestly ask your forgiveness, O God.

Words of Assurance
Leader God is a God of justice and high expectations, yes; and yet also a God of com-passion and understanding. Understanding ourselves now to be forgiven by God — each of us forgiven to the depths of our being! — let us reach out to the world with compassion and understanding and choose to bring news of God’s grace to the world.

Litany (adapted from Hebrews 13)
Leader God has said,
People “I will never leave you or forsake you.”
Leader So we can say,
People with confidence!,
All “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can anyone do to me?”
Leader Thus made bold by God’s love,
People We will be God’s servants in the world.
Leader Let mutual love continue:
People Show hospitality to strangers.
Leader Do good.
People And share what you have.
All For such sacrifices are pleasing to God.

Invitation to the Offering
“For God so loved the world, that God gave God’s only begotten Son.” Being part of that world, and feeling that amazing love, we choose to respond with gifts of our own, gifts of love for the world.

Dedicatory Prayer
Through these gifts, O loving God, we can go where we cannot travel. We can witness where our voices cannot be heard. We can speak in languages that we have never learned. We can love those whom we have never seen. So, bless your realm through our love, represented by our gifts now dedicated to you. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Charge and Benediction
Let us go now as Spirited servants and disciples, powerful in doing God’s will, energetic in extending the love of Christ. Choose to be builders of justice and agents of God’s hospitality for all. Amen.

LITURGY 2 (with communion): Like a Spring

Call to Worship
Leader Holy God, we come to worship.
People We delight in drawing near to you.
Leader We bring offerings of praise.
People We long to please you.
Leader Make our sacrifices acceptable in your sight.
All Show us the way you would have us go.

Opening Prayer
Holy and gracious God, we welcome this new day and this hour — a moment to refresh our spirits in your house and at your table, an hour to celebrate your love and generosity to us. Open our hearts and our ears, that we may hear your message for our lives. Open our eyes
and our lives, so that we may better reflect you in the world beyond these walls. Amen.

Prayer of Confession
Leader Loving and patient God, we come to you with troubled hearts.
People We’ve quarreled and blamed and sought advantage over others.
Leader Our consciences are guilty, too.
People We’ve treated others unfairly and neglected to do good.
Leader Our hands aren’t so clean, either.
People We have held tightly to our resources and failed to share our blessings.
Leader We have forgotten whose we are, and who we represent.
All Grant us the blessing of forgiveness and the grace to move forward on a new and righteous path.

Words of Assurance
Leader Children of God! You shall call and God will answer!
People We are forgiven. A new path awaits!
Leader Listen for the voice of God, for God will guide you continually.
All We will listen. We will follow.

Litany
Leader We’ve been busy at worship, Bible study, and church meetings.
People But is this the sacrifice that God desires?
Leader Then what is the right thing to do? How should we praise God?
People Get rid of unfair practices! Fight for the oppressed! Cancel debts!
Leader But we obey the letter of the law.
People Do you share your food with the hungry? Open your home to the homeless? Help someone pay their electric bill?
Leader But I put something in the plate each Sunday…
People Be generous with those in need. Speak out on their behalf. Take action to reflect God in the world.
Leader And that will please God?
All Then your light shall break forth like the dawn. You shall be like a spring of water, whose waters never fail.

Invitation to Communion
As we prepare to approach Christ’s table, to share in the feast of the people of God, let us stop for a moment to remember other feasts Jesus celebrated —
• the feast at the wedding in Cana, where Jesus turned water not only into wine, but into the best wine offered by the host
• the feast of the loaves and fishes, where a few shared and all went away full
• the meal from wheat gleaned on the Sabbath; the festive dinner in the home of Lazarus, Mary and Martha; the breakfast on the shore of the Galilee after his resurrection

When Jesus was around, no one went hungry. So, as we remember the feast in the Upper Room, let us also remember our responsibility to act on behalf of the one who died for us —
the one who calls us to go into the world to heal the sick, house the homeless, feed the poor, and fight for release of the oppressed.

Communion prayer
Gracious God, you have been generous to us. Even when we suffer and feel stretched, we know we are far better off than many who share this world with us. Give us hearts so full with remembrance of your blessings that they spill over in the desire to share our bounty. Help us remember more often our abundance than our lack, and open our eyes to those who need our kindness. Let this feast nourish us to be Christ in the world.

Invitation to the Offering
A spring of water, whose waters never fail, gives freely — bubbling over in its abundance
and knowledge that God’s gifts will never run dry. In the spirit of that spring, let us bring our offerings — giving not just out of our own excess, but out of our first fruits. Let us return our gifts to the source, who promises to bless and multiply them to enable us to bring help and healing to a hurting world.

Dedicatory Prayer
Generous and loving God, we thank you for the resources you have entrusted to us, and we return to you a portion of those gifts to further your work in the world. Join our gifts with others, bless and multiply them, so that all of your children may live in health and safety, rejoicing in each new day and sharing what they have to make our world look more like the world you desire.

Charge and Benediction
Jesus has left the building! Follow him into the world, bringing light where there is darkness, offering water where there is thirst, serving food where there is hunger, struggling for freedom where there is oppression. Rejoice in your blessings, and do not neglect to do good and to share what you have.