Monday, October 25, 2010

For October 31, 2010 -- Reformation Sunday

CALL TO WORSHIP/OPENING PRAYER
Ezekiel was called to the valley of dry bones;
and wondered if those bones could live.
We have been called to this place,
and sometimes wonder what the future will bring to the church.
Who has called us here?
The God who brings life.
Why are we here?
To be refreshed, to be renewed, to be sent out with hope.
As we sing and pray and listen,
may God open our hearts and minds to new possibilities
And when our worship is ended?
May we go out ready to meet a changing world. Amen.

COMMISSIONING
Ezekiel stood in the valley of dry bones
and saw how God could bring new life.
Sometimes our churches feel like that valley
and then the breath of God blows through and brings new life.
Sometimes our world looks as desolate as sun-bleached skeletons,
and so we are called to speak God's Word of hope and life.
As we go into the world,
May we carry hope, and promise of renewal. May we be agents of Life.

Monday, October 18, 2010

For October 24, 2010 -- 22nd Sunday After Pentecost, Year C

OPENING PRAYER
God of our pride and our humility, move among us in this hour of worship. Open our eyes to the realities of being beloved, imperfect beings. Fill our hearts with the promise that we are special and worthwhile. And then send us out to share Your love and promise with all we meet. We pray in the name of Jesus, who taught his friends to pray together saying...

PRAYER FOR AND ASSURANCE OF GRACE
Gracious and Loving God, you call us to a life of balance and realism and hope.
But sometimes we lose our balance, we see the world through filters that twist what we see.
For those times we become too quick to blow our own horn and blind to our own mis-steps;
forgive us and remind us of the reality of being imperfect beings.
For those times when we fail to recognize how special we are, when we feel worthless and ashamed;
forgive us and remind us that we are beloved and worthwhile, created in Your image.
...time of silent prayer...
In the beginning we are told that God looked at the imperfect Creation and proclaimed it to be very good. As part of that Creation we are loved and accepted, flaws and all. When we wander from The Way, we are forgiven and drawn back.
Thanks be to God! Amen.

COMMISSIONING
As worship draws to a close, service continues.
And so we leave this place to live and to serve.
Go, remembering that you carry God's love with you,
and so we will strive to remind all we meet that they are Beloved, that they are worthwhile, that they are accepted.
And we go to make that reality a force for growth in our world
AMEN