CALL TO WORSHIP
For God alone our souls wait in silence; our hope is from him.
God is our rock and our salvation; our fortress, we shall not be shaken.
O people, do not put your faith in riches, for power belongs to God.
We will trust in God at all times, for he is the source of unfailing love.
O God, the source of our lives: We gather together this morning seeking refuge from the chaos of the world, and finding in you our rock of hope. Receive our praises, hear our prayers, and bless our hearing of your word, that our minds may be renewed and our spirits strengthened to serve our neighbors in the Name of Jesus Christ our Lord, who taught us to pray.
PRAYER OF THE DAY
O God, our Eternal Ruler: In reverence, we greet you here at the beginning of a new week. We praise you, O Lord Most High, and give to you our love and loyalty.
Forbid, we ask you, that our thoughts in the days to come should be occupied only with the passing spectacle the world offers us. Instead, lift our minds to those things that are unseen, and yet eternal. Help us not to settle for the things we can grasp with our senses and experience in time, but increase our longing for your peace which surpasses human understanding.
O Lord, you who see and know all things, give us grace, day by day, to know you more clearly, love you more dearly, and follow you more nearly. Help us to see you as you see us—deeply and unconditionally loved, and yet not the center of the universe. Thus may we more fully take refuge in your care and forgiveness. Cause our thoughts to dwell on the life and death of Jesus Christ our Lord, so that we may interpret our lives in the light of his saving acts, and see our neighbors through his eyes.
And now in the silence, hear our prayers of thanksgiving for all your blessings, and take from our shoulders those things which burden us.
[A silence is kept.]
All this we pray in the Name of Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit, lives and reigns, God forevermore. Amen.
THANKSGIVING
Transforming God, take these expressions of our labor and turn them into hope for the weak, freedom for the oppressed, and peace for the war-torn. Take us, flawed as we are, and manifest in us your unfailing love, faith that can move mountains, discipleship no matter the cost, and a patient trust in your power to create change. We pray in Jesus’ Name. Amen.
