Worship Prayers for Dec. 29

CENTERING PRAYER* 

The Work of Christmas Begins

When the carols have been stilled, 

When the star-topped tree is taken down, 

When family and friends are gone home, 

When we are back to our schedules 

The work of Christmas begins: 

To welcome the refugee,
To heal a broken planet,
To feed the hungry,
To build bridges of trust, not walls of fear,
To share our gifts,
To seek justice and peace for all people,
To bring Christ’s light to the world.

CALL TO WORSHIP

One: Creator God, Who burst the universe into life and is in every atom and every soul,

MANY: We rejoice that You are in our midst right now.

One: We break off from the frazzle and the dazzle of daily life to focus on You,

MANY: to re-calibrate our tired engines, to recover our lost perspective, and renew our sense of purpose.

One: We open our hearts to Your love, our minds to Your wisdom and our souls to Your presence.

MANY: Let us be fully present for You and wholehearted in our worship today.

PRAYER OF CONFESSION Adapted from Church of Scotland

God, our parent, You gave us life and You gave us the blueprint for how to live. Yet, despite the framework You made for us, we often turn away and, instead, fall back on our own exhausted resources. And so, we don’t lead the lives You would have us live. In our action and inaction, we are not the friends and neighbors that we should be. Yet You love us. You embrace us and our muddled humanity. You never abandon us. You offer us renewal, the promise of a fresh start, and the certainty of salvation. And so, today, we offer You our confession. We remember – and rejoice at – Your offer of redemption through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Silence for personal confession.

For the sermon of Pastor M.P., click here.

*by Michael Dougherty, a variation on Howard Thurman’s ‘When the Song of the Angels is Stilled’