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Year B

confession: walking reluctantly

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(inspired by Ann Weems’ poem “The Walk”)

For those of us who walk along this road reluctantly, Lent is not our favorite time of year.

You call us to rest and reflect, O God, but we’d rather be more active – planning and scurrying around. The Lenten season is too contemplative to suit us. Besides we don’t know what to do with piousness and prayer. Perhaps, Merciful God, we’re afraid to have time to think, for thoughts come unbidden. Perhaps we’re afraid to face our future knowing our past.

Give us courage, O God, to hear your word and read our living into it. Give us the trust to know we’re forgiven, and give us the faith to take up our lives and walk in your path.

submitted by Rev. Shannon Meacham, Pastor, Ashland Presbyterian Church, Cockeysville, MD

confession: ready, willing, and able?

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God of our renewed lives,
we talk about being better people…
doing things differently…
living more disciplined lives;
but we always talk about doing it tomorrow…
or next week…
or after the beginning of the new year.
Meanwhile, your Spirit surrounds us…
and we swat you away like a pesky fly…
because we don’t have the time, or the energy,
to be transformed.
So lead us to a quiet place of readiness…
and inspire, in us, a willing attitude…
so that we may be able to welcome your newness…
even now…as we offer our silent confessions…

Submitted by Scott Cervas, pastor at Meadowthorpe Presbyterian Church (Lexington, KY)

Lenten communion: covenant keeper

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L: May the God of Lent be with you.
P: And also with you.
L: People of God, open your hearts.
P: We open them to the One who calls us ‘Beloved.’
L: Beloved of God, give thanks and praise to the One
who loves you forever.
P: We sing our hymns of joy to the One
who leads us into the kingdom.

Hearts overflow with you, Covenant Keeper,
as we lift our hearts to you.
When there was no time as we know it,
you crafted day and night,
so we could wait for you in every moment,
tasting the savory goodness of grace.
You imagined those moments
of gathering us to your side
to teach us all the wonder of your ways,
but we turned our ears towards
the whispered invitations of the Evil One,
running off to play in the wilderness
with rebellion and death our guides.
You recalled the promises you had made
to Noah, to Sarah, to Joseph, and to Hannah,
and so sent the prophets to remind us
of the good gift of your covenant
and to point out the ways to your heart.
When we continued to ignore their words,
you sent Jesus to be with us,
to set us free from the imprisonment
we had created for ourselves.

So, we lift our voices with those who waited patiently,
and with those who trust your covenantal promises,
joining the choirs of heaven and earth,
who forever sing of your hope and love:

P: Holy, holy, holy, Everlasting God of grace.
Every living creature in heaven and earth sing your praises.
Hosanna in the highest.
Blessed is he who sits as your right hand of mercy.
Hosanna in the highest.

Faithful and holy are you, Creator of all,
and blessed is Jesus Christ, Steadfast Love and Hope.
When he could have stayed at your side
during the days of our rebellion and pride,
he came to be our friend and guide.
When he could have feasted on your power,
in those days of glory with you,
he came to prepare a Table for us
where our hardened hearts might be softened,
and our broken lives might be made whole.
When he could have the angels waiting on him,
he came to serve us your forgiveness and grace,
enduring death on the cross
so we could have life forever.

As we begin once more our Lenten journey,
as we seek to follow faithfully, remembering
the life, the death, the resurrection of Jesus,
we tell the story of that mystery we call faith:

P: Christ died to set us free from sin;
Christ rose to break the power of death;
Christ will come again, to bring the kingdom
as close to us as God’s heart.

Pour out your Spirit of imagination
upon this bread, and this cup,
gifts of your good and wonderful creation.
As we are embraced at the Table
by the One who has prepared it for us,
may we open our hearts to welcome
our sisters and brothers.
As we have been set free by your love,
may we proclaim freedom to the prisoners
confined by fear and oppression;
as we are filled with the Bread of life,
may we never cease feeding
the hungry of our world;
as we are nurtured by compassion’s cup,
may we go out into the wilderness around us,
to take the lost, the last, the least, the little
by the hand to walk together
into that kingdom prepared for all your children.

And we we are gathered around the Table
with your beloved children of every time and place,
our songs will join together as our tears of joy mingle,
singing your praises forever and ever to you:
God of David and Rebecca, of Mary and Noah;
Jesus of the outcast and lonely;
Spirit of those who seek peace and reconciliation:
God in Community, Holy in One. Amen and Amen.

 

Submitted by Rev. Thom Shuman, author of Lectionary Liturgies.

confession: flood of worries

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Call to Reconciliation

God takes broken promises and turns them into vows of faithfulness.
God takes our biggest failings and shapes lives of service. God
listens to our prayers of confession and changes them into songs
of mercy. Let us come to the One who pours forgiveness into
our lives, praying,

Unison Prayer of Confession

We admit we are hesitant to walk to Jerusalem and beyond with
you, God of Glory. In a world where we worry about tomorrow
before enjoying today, we race by your moments of silence, of
learning. In that flood of worries, which can overwhelm us, we may
miss that assurance that you have not cut us off from your grace.
In the deserts of our desires, we may ignore that feast of hope, of
joy, of life you offer to us.
Forgive us and have mercy on us, Gentle Guardian of our souls.
In humility, may we offer our lives to others. In love, may we share
your grace with everyone we meet. In hope, may we wait for you
all our days, as you come to us in the life and joy of Jesus Christ,
our Lord and Savior.

Silence is kept

Assurance of Pardon

L: In this place we find God’s word, God’s way, God’s love,
God’s forgiveness. What more do we need to sustain us
as we continue as pilgrims along the Way?
P: In every wilderness, on every road;
in every moment, in every life;
in every journey, in every heart,
we receive the daily bread we need – God’s hope,
God’s mercy, God’s joy. Thanks be to God, we
are forgiven. Amen.

Submitted by Rev. Thom Shuman, author of Lectionary Liturgies.

confession: forgotten covenant

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Prayer of Confession

There are times O Spirit that we forget all that you have given us.   Our sight has become obscured.   We have forgotten that rainbows which still grace the skies are reminders of your Great Love.   Your covenants take on infinite number of colors and shapes, and in our confused nature, we want to push everyone and everything into one box, one shape, and one size thinking that this is how You would want things.  How wrong we have been.   Remind us that your creative genius cannot be boxed up, that your covenants cannot be controlled.   In this time of worship send your Spirit to disrupt and then renew our troubled souls.   Restore in us the hope of your promises.  We pray all these things in the name of the One who came to redeem all of Creation.  Amen.

Submitted by Rev. Shannan Vance-Ocampo, Watchung Avenue Presbyterian Church, North Plainfield NJ