a community creating for the relentless return of Sunday
Here, we worship God as one Church:
The Church Reformed and always Reforming.
Here, the Holy Spirit pours over us:
Reforming us into the Body of Christ.
Here, we return to our roots:
Seeking the beginnings, middles, and ends of our faith. Amen!
Submitted by Rev. Lucus Keppel, Ancho Community + Corona United Presbyterian Churches, New Mexico
Eternal God, infinite in power, wisdom and goodness: Let the desire of our souls be to you; let us draw near you with our hearts, and not only with our lips; and worship you in spirit and truth. Let your word be spoken and heard by us as the word of God. Give us attentive, hearing ears, and opened, believing, understanding hearts, that we may no more refuse your calls, or disregard your merciful, outstretched hand, or slight your counsels, but be more ready to hear. Put your laws into our hearts, and write them in our minds, and let us all be taught by you. Let us magnify you with thanksgiving, and triumph in your praise. Let us rejoice in your salvation, and glory in your holy name. Open our lips, O Lord, and let our mouths show forth your praise. And let the words of our mouths, and the meditations of our hearts, be acceptable in your sight, through Jesus Christ our Lord and only Saviour. Amen.
Adapted from Richard Baxter’s Savoy Liturgy of the English Presbyterians, 1661, by Daniel Hayward, South Stormont Pastoral Charge, The United Church of Canada, South Stormont Township ON.
Call to Reconciliation
Seeking to follow Jesus, we often wander down the wrong roads. Impatient
with God’s schedule, we rush off to do things our way. Let us confess our
foolishness, that we might receive God’s hope for our lives.
Unison Prayer of Confession
Your words are given to us, Author of Life, so we might be reformed,
but we are intent on changing others. Your words are offered to us so we
might be transformed, but we are focused on conforming to our culture. Your
words are spoken to lead us into new life, but we hold our old ways tight to
our chests.
Forgive us, God of Wonder. Do not remember our sins, but continue to
touch us with your steadfast mercy. Show us how to be persistent in living
out our faith, even as you were so tenacious in offering us your grace and
life in Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.
Silence is kept
Assurance of Pardon
L: Jesus reminds us that we are to be resolute in our lives of faithfulness
and service. The good news is that God is steadfast in filling us with love
and grace.
P: We are forgiven people. May we live as sisters and brothers in Christ,
God’s children in word and deed, in hope and joy. Thanks be to God. Amen.
Submitted by Rev. Thom Shuman, Lectionary Liturgies.
One: Light and dark, sea and sky, all things vast and intricate,
All: These God created.
One: People and communities, ecosystems and empty space,
All: These God created.
One: Large and small, simple and complex,
All: God called it good.
One: All that is seen and unseen is filled with God’s creative energy,
All: and God called it good.
One: In the beginning, God created.
All: Still God creates today, in us and around us and through us,
and behold: it is very good.
Submitted by Rev. Teri Peterson, the Presbyterian Church of Palatine, IL
Call to Confession
Friends, we are made in the image of God, but that does not make us God. Though we often prefer to pretend we are perfect, when we ignore our sin we deceive only ourselves and there is no room for God’s truth to dwell in us. When we confess our sin, we experience the grace and mercy of God in the here and now. Before God, with the people of God, let us confess to our faults and our failings. Let us pray.
Prayer of Confession
Creator God, with a word you formed us from the dust of the earth and breathed the breath of life into us. You call us to live as stewards, reflecting your glorious image into the world.
When we have scorned your gift of creation, placing ourselves over and above rather than within and among, forgive us.
When we have ignored your gift of creativity, believing it inferior to the gifts of the intellect, forgive us.
When we have sought you in heaven and ignored you on earth, forgive us.
~silence~
Gracious God,
fill us again with your creative spirit, that your image may shine forth in our lives. We pray in the name of your creating Word made flesh, Jesus the Christ. Amen.
Declaration of Forgiveness
In the beginning, God planted goodness deep within creation—and through the grace of God, poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, we are able to live as the Body of Christ, showing that goodness to the world. Friends, live and believe this good news: In Jesus Christ, we are forgiven. Thanks be to God. Amen.
Submitted by Rev. Teri Peterson, the Presbyterian Church of Palatine, IL
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