Worship April 8

CENTERING PRAYER: “Grant me, O Lord, good digestion, and also something to digest. Grant me a healthy body, and the necessary good humor to maintain it. Grant me a simple soul that knows how to treasure all that is good and that doesn't frighten easily at the sight of evil, but rather finds the means to put things back in their place. Give me a soul that knows not boredom, grumbling, sighs and laments, nor excess of stress, because of that obstructing thing called 'I'. Grant me, O Lord, a sense of good humor. Allow me the grace to be able to take a joke and to discover in life a bit of joy, and to be able to share it with others.” – St. Thomas More 

 

  

        

CALL TO WORSHIP                                                                                                            Trinity United Parish

Joy is loose,

In the wiggles of the children,

The whispers of the youth,

The smiles of the adults.

We praise God for this glorious day,

Let the praise break forth in the most unlikely places and in silly ways.

Joy and praise fills our hearts and in our songs

Let the laughter be deep, for we are God's people.

Come! Let us worship our God with our love and our laughter!

 

   PRAYER OF CONFESSION                                                                                                  Thom Shuman

   You know better than we do, Amused God, what important people we believe we are. Believing we have to be serious all the time, we miss out on the joy of your creation. Choosing to feast on the pain of the world, we skip the picnic offered in paradise. Clinging to the despair which is our best friend, we ignore Jesus, the one who can bring us home to your heart.

 

   Forgive us, Heart of Joy, and make us open to the startling, and upside-down, ways in which you work. Fill us with Easter's laughter; fill us with your healing joy; fill us with the love poured into us through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. (Silent Confession)

 

   PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE AND THE LORD’S PRAYER

Our Father, who art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name.  Thy kingdom come.  Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.  Give us this day our daily bread.  And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.  And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever.  Amen.

[Prayer requests may be given to the pastor before the service.]

 

 

† AFFIRMATION OF FAITH - Apostles’ Creed

I believe in God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ his only son, our Lord; who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; he descended into hell; the third day he rose again from the dead; he ascended into heaven and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.  I believe in the Holy Ghost, the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.  Amen.

 

  

SCRIPTURE READING                                                                                             John 20:19-31                                                                                                     

For the sermon "You Had to Be There", click here.