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Year B

Simple Confession based on Psalm 139

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From Laura Becker, Pastor, Northminster Presbyterian Church, Chattanooga, TN

Call to Reconciliation
The psalmist declares that God who creates us – God who loves us, God who redeems us – searches us and knows us completely. Before a word is on our tongues, God knows it completely. And we are assured that there is nowhere we can go that is separated from the presence of God. Let us pray our prayer of confession in silence, and then speak the words of the psalmist together.

Prayer of Confession

(Silent Prayers)

Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my thoughts. See if there is any hurtful way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. Amen. (Psalm 139:23-24)

confession: call

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Submitted by Rev. Scott Cervas, Meadowthorpe Presbyterian Church; Lexington, KY

God…you call us…and sometimes…we duck under the table…
hoping you didn’t notice us when you walked into the room.
You call us…and sometimes…we grab a stapler and a stack of papers…
trying to look too busy to be bothered at the moment.
You call us…and sometimes we just say, “No!”
We know that we aren’t expected to do everything…
but we often forget that you call us to be our selves
in the places where our very self is what is most needed.
So give us the grace to say “Yes” to your call…
even now…as we offer our silent confessions…

Confession: you speak…we don’t listen

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Submitted by Rev. Teri Peterson, Ridgefield-Crystal Lake Presbyterian Church, Crystal Lake IL.

on reading 1 Samuel 3

One: Lord, you call,
but we do not always recognize your voice.
All: Sometimes we don’t listen carefully.
Sometimes we’re caught off guard.
One: Lord, you call,
but we haven’t always taught others to hear you.
All: Sometimes we stand in the way,
allowing our voice to ring out over yours.
One: Lord, you call,
but we don’t always believe our ears.
All: Sometimes we believe we know better.
Sometimes we think you can’t possibly be calling us,
or her, or him.
Forgive us, Lord, our unpracticed listening,
our closed ears.
Help us to hear.
Amen.

call to worship – based on Psalm 139

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submitted by Michael Morgan, organist, Central Presbyterian Church, Atlanta, Georgia; seminary musician, Columbia Theological Seminary; and author of the Psalter for Christian Worship

One: O Lord, you have searched us and known us.
All: Before we move or think or speak, you know our actions and our words.
One: You breathed life into us, and shaped us in human form to serve your purpose and sing your praise.
All: We praise you for the gifts of substance and spirit, of acceptance and expectancy, of lineage and legacy.
One: How wonderful are your thoughts, O God!
All: How vast is the expanse of your grace and love!
One: Praise the Lord!
All: The Lord’s name be praised!

Sunday’s Coming: working toward January 15

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Here we are, beginning Ordinary Time all over again, but the stories are anything but ordinary. Or maybe they’re so ordinary they’re extraordinary. After all, it’s not uncommon to not understand what’s happening when we hear the voice of God…or what’s happening when someone else hears God’s voice but we don’t. And the affirmation of the psalmist that God surrounds us all the time is one that brings great comfort to many people (though I’ve met one or two who find it a little creepy!). And how often do we really recognize Jesus in the everyday things, like walking through town, enjoying a picnic under a tree, or talking with friends? Luckily, some of us have friends who will be persistent with their “come and see!” Or maybe this week you’re going with Paul’s very full text, reminding us that all things are lawful, but not all things are beneficial, and our bodies are temples of the Holy, so maybe we should treat them as such.

Personally, I wish I’d not procrastinated on an idea I had months ago, for a skit in which people hear many things but haven’t cultivated the relationship to know what to listen to. It seems it would make a perfect introduction to a sermon on Samuel–if you’ve never talked with God before, how would you know God’s voice? It’s fodder for a drama…but I didn’t get around to it in time. Maybe in three years!

SO: what are you thinking? What are you writing? What are you humming? Let’s write some liturgy together!