Liturgy

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,

who chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world,
who destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ,

who has forgiven our sins according to the riches of his grace,
and has made known to us the mystery of his will.

This is our God.
This is our story through our Savior.
This is why we worship him as a community.

This is why we give thanks and pray in the name
of the Father,
of the Son
and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.

Congregational Prayer

In prayer, let us confess to God as a community.

Holy, Perfect God,
We admit that we put other things above you in our lives.
We say we long for you, but we actually long for more stability
and more comfort.

Lord, you will come with darkness for us
if our hearts remain captive to anything but you.

We confess that we are openly rebellious against you.
We are fallen, never to rise again unless you lift us up.

Lord, we fail to worship you with our hearts.
Our spiritual gatherings are hollow
when our hearts are slaves to lesser things.

We pay you a visit on Sunday, but we long to go home to other gods.

Lord God, we confess that we break your heart.
Forgive us when we gather before you half-heartedly,
waiting to go back to worshipping ourselves.

When we truly worship you, we will seek good and not evil.
We will seek justice and grace.

Lord God, have mercy.
Renew our hearts within us.
Make us long for you, our Creator and Savior,
God in community, holy in One,
Amen.

Reflection

How can community help you in how you go and live?
What are the things in our lives that are distracting us from God and his mission?

Benediction

May the extravagant love of God, the Father
fill our hearts and minds, and his embrace hold us
when we feel unworthy to be called his children.

May the friendship of Jesus, our companion
rid us of any notion that we are nothing
and may we find our home with him in his Kingdom.

May the Spirit of life release us from a world of disillusionment
so that a new joy wells up in our lives.

Let us go and reconfigure the world
in our friendships,
in our work-places,
in our families,
in our streets
and in our world.

Go proclaim the story of our Christ,
serving in the name of the Father,
of the Son
and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.

Go in peace and live the church.
See you throughout the week.

[Photo by Jocelyn Catterson @ Flickr]